International relations

India will seek withdrawal of emergency regulations and probe into human rights violations against Tamils in Sri Lanka, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said on Thursday.Winding up a short duration discussion on the problems of Sri Lankan Tamils, Krishna said in the Rajya Sabha, India would pursue with Sri Lanka for a lasting political settlement […]

India’s Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy has said that he was willing to visit Sri Lanka to ensure a solution for the Tamils if MDMK general secretary Vaiko and Naam Thamizhar Iyakkam leader Seeman admitted that their efforts had failed.“I would have met the Sri Lankan President and demanded a few changes to the Constitution,” […]

Leader of the Tamil National Alliance and veteran MP R. Sampanthan expresses his concerns on devolution, emergency laws and the Indian role, maintaining that no ultimatum was issued to the government on the ongoing talks or a decision to terminate talks taken. ‘All we ask is that before the next round of talks, there be […]

Amantha Perera Although the Sri Lankan government has evaded calls for an international probe into alleged excesses while militarily defeating Tamil separatism in 2009, it may yet be called to account at the September session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).The United States has asked Sri Lanka to place its own internal investigation under […]

< a href=”http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/article2375336.ece?textsize=large&test=1″ title=”Large Text Size” >T+</a> · <a href=”http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/article2375336.ece?textsize=small&test=2″ title=”Small Text Size”>T-</a> The Bharatiya Janata Party is mobilising funds from the public in Chennai for providing relief to the displaced Tamils in Sri Lanka, according to L. Ganesan, member of the national executive committee of the party. Talking to newspersons here on Friday, Mr. […]

Gota responds to ‘a brother out of control’ assertion Shamindra FerdinandoDefence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa yesterday expressed concern over The Hindu unfailingly targeting him on the basis of a recent interview he did with Indian TV channel, Headlines Today, in Colombo.Addressing a symposium on post-war challenges at the BMICH, to coincide with the launch of www.outofwar.com, […]

Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s remarks that the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s call for economic sanctions against Sri Lanka were politically motivated, has once again brought the question of sanctions back into public consciousness — unfortunately. Tamil Nadu’s politicians, — the likes of Vaiko, who, though shrewd, are not famous for their economic reasoning […]

Expert Panel with UNSG Says panel report could still go to UNHRCSunil JayasiriClaiming that the Expert Panel report on Sri Lanka known as the Darusman report has not been formally submitted to the Human Rights Council yet, the UN said it expected to see that concerned Member States would “take it up and push for […]

”This includes an outrageous comment that because a Tamil woman, an “LTTE cadre” who was a British national, interviewed in the Channel 4 documentary was “so attractive” but had been neither raped nor killed by Sri Lankan soldiers, the allegation of sexual assault by soldiers could not be true. For this statement alone, Mr. Gotabaya […]

Weerawansa A Sri Lankan minister on Tuesday criticised the External Affairs Minister SM Krishna’s suggestion for investigation into alleged human rights abuses in the island during the final battle with the LTTE.“The Indian foreign minister has said that human rights abuses in Sri Lanka need investigation. I would like to tell him that investigation must […]

Questioning the legitimacy of the Indo-Sri Lanka accord on Katchatheevu with the island nation “dishonouring” the agreement, BJP state president Pon Radhakrishnan on Monday pitched for scrapping the accord.“Sri Lanka is unwilling to accept the agreement. It has ruthlessly been killing the Tamil Nadu fishermen…. and there is no point in India honouring the accord. […]

The leader of the Catholic church in Sri Lanka has warned that the country risks being isolated in the face of international criticism. In his sermon to hundreds of thousands of Catholics on their annual pilgrimage to Madhu church, Mannar, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith called upon the authorities to come up with a “learned response” to […]

 Nimal SanderatneThe Sri Lankan economy has functioned with only part of its potential capacity for the good part of its last three decades. Although some economic activities prevailed despite the war, most of the region was a battle zone rather than a thriving economy. This applied to all three sectors of the northern and eastern […]

United Kingdom applied to the General Court of the European Union (CVRIA) for leave to intervene in the case (T 208/11) against the ban on the Liberation Tigers filed by Victor Koppe, attorney from Amsterdam-based Bohler Advocaten representing the LTTE, legal sources in Amsterdam said. The case is against the Council of the European Union’s […]

The latest diplomatic blunder with the United States comes at a time when relations between Washington and Colombo have hit a new low. Beginning last Monday, the External Affairs Ministry has become proactive to canvass members of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Briefing notes have been sent out to the country’s diplomatic missions […]

 “We are not going to give up till all those people involved in genocide are brought to justice,” said India’s former Foreign Minister and a top leader of the Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) Yashwant Sinha Friday,questioning the motives behind New Delhi’s silence on the UN Chief’s expert panel report that found credible evidences for the […]

China will extend increasing support to infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka and will also back the country’s efforts to promote reconciliation without any external interference, Premier Wen Jiabao told visiting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in talks here on Thursday.Mr. Wen said China was also ready to “promote communication” between the two countries with regard […]

Sri Lankan defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s remarks on the alleged war crimes rocked the Tamil Nadu assembly on Thursday, with Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa saying they were highly condemnable.Hitting back at Rajapaksa after the latter had asked her to mind her own business and not interfere in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka, Jayalalithaa said […]

Priyamvatha/Rajesh Sundaram  The UN says over 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed during the last stages of the 30-year civil war in Sri Lanka. NGOs put the figure at over a lakh and fifty thousand. The UN also says that the Sri Lankan military committed war crimes. But the Lankan government is in denial with defence […]

Shihar Aneez (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday started a four-day state visit to China, with support against a Western war crimes push and deeper economic ties on his agenda.Here are some facts about Chinese’s financial cooperation and investment in the Indian Ocean island nation:OVERALL: China was Sri Lanka’s largest lender in 2009 […]

  “We support a full and credible and independent investigation of alleged violations of international human rights and law and international humanitarian law in Sri Lanka. We want to see the Sri Lankans do this themselves in a way that meets international standards. So what I would say to Sri Lankan critics is take your […]

 D.B.S. JeyarajSri Lanka Tamil issue likely to be raised in India’s Upper&Lower houses of Parliament&Tamil Nadu legislative assembly today August 11th 2011.Tamil Nadu politicians in well-coordinated moves plan to raise the Sri LankanTamil issue in the central&state legislatures simultaneously. D.Raja of Communist Party of India (CPI) has given notice to raise this issue in the […]

Millions affected by violence against health-care personnel and facilities10-08-2011 News Release 11/191 Geneva (ICRC) – Assaults on health-care personnel, facilities and vehicles in conflicts and violent upheavals leave millions around the world without care just when they need it most. This is the key finding of a new report presented by the International Committee of […]

The United States said Tuesday that if Sri Lanka does not “quickly” investigate “in a way that meets international standards” allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the final months of the island’s war in 2009, “there’s going to be growing pressure from the international community for exactly the kind of international action […]

”Whether committed by the US or Sri Lanka, by government officials or separatist groups, serious human rights abuses should be investigated and perpetrators held to account.”  by Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch In a report released last month Human Rights Watch called on the US government to launch criminal investigations into allegations of detainee abuse authorized […]

The United States on Monday called again for a “transparent accounting of Sri Lanka’s actions” during the final months of the island’s war. Addressing reporters State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the UN panel of experts is a mechanism “that should be taken advantage of” and that “an international mechanism to look at these is […]

New Delhi-based news channel, Headlines Today, which has brought wide media focus in India on Sri Lankan war crimes after broadcasting the Channel 4 documentary, Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields, followed with a debate recently, on Monday said it was to broadcast an exclusive documentary of its own on Tuesday, titled “I witnessed Genocide: Inside Lanka’s […]

Mr  Rajapaksa also told Headlines Today that Sri Lankan would not devolve any more powers to the minorities in spite of the promises it made in the past.  “If they are interested in the welfare of (Tamil) people, it is useless calling for international investigation,” Rajapaksa said in an interview in Colombo. “What does that […]

Police in Chennai, South India have instructed hotels in the city not to accommodate pilgrims from Sri Lanka after two attacks on visitors from the island.The knee-jerk reaction by the police has led to pilgrims cancelling their plans to visit the Maha Bodhi Society in Chennai, Deccan Chronicle reports. “A few hotels and lodges in […]

Christy Mahesh SilvaIndia will appoint a special representative who would work with the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration directly regarding a political solution to the North and East. This representative who is expected to be appointed soon is to visit Sri Lanka and may be based here on a long term basis. “The Indian government is not […]