militarisation

Photo: An aerial shot of Colombo, Sri Lanka | Credit: Flickr, Creative Commons . After persistent allegations of mass atrocities committed during the long running civil war, a new Sri Lankan Government in 2015 pledged to the international community that it would establish an ambitious reform and transitional justice programme. Four years later, many victims in the country […]

The controversial ‘MiG Deal’ remains in the public spotlight as evidence continues to surface of the Rajapaksa Government’s complicity in engineering the dubious 2006 arms deal, and of scandalous attempts to hide the truth of the deal from the public. Sunday Times Defence Correspondent, Iqbal Athas, who first exposed the alleged scam in December 2006, […]

“We want to sleep, cook, eat in our own house and farm our own land” 700 days is a long time for a day and night protest outside an Army camp. Since March 1, 2017, the people of Keppapulavu, located in the Mullaitheevu district in Northern Sri Lanka, have been doing just that. They have […]

The Westminster Magistrate’s Court has issued an arrest warrant for Brigadier Priyanka Fernando of the Sri Lankan army earlier today, having found him guilty of violating the Public Order Act. Fernando was found guilty of violating sections 5 and 4A of the act, with the court stating that his actions were threatening, caused harassment, and […]

“We haven’t finished excavating yet. We will continue until we get to what we call a bone-free margin, to rule out any more bones,” says W.R.A.S. Rajapaksa (Below), Consultant Judicial Medical Officer at Mannar District General Hospital.   | Photo Credit: Picasa Meera Srinivasan . The recent discovery of a mass grave in Mannar town in Sri […]

In addition to the ongoing process of releasing private and state lands in the North and East, hitherto being used by the Army with no impact on national security needs, HE the President has directed further to release state lands, being used as Army farms in those provinces without delay. Accordingly, 1099 acres of state […]

The UK Foreign Office responding to the petition “Refer Sri Lanka to International Criminal Court, if it continues to fail to implement its commitment made to the UNHRC Res. [A/HRC/RES/30/1] by March 2019”. signed by over 10,000 British citizens said that the UK is committed to supporting the Sri Lankan Government’s efforts to improve the […]

This reading list examines Mahinda Rajapaksa’s tenure as Sri Lankan President from 2005 to 2015. On 26 October 2018, Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn in as Prime Minister, triggering a political crisis. Sri Lankan member of Parliament, Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, termed his appointment “unconstitutional.” Rajapaksa is currently unable to muster a majority in Parliament, and the removal of […]

Sri Lankan experts say a mass grave found earlier this year in the north-western town of Mannar has turned out to be the country’s biggest such site. More than 230 skeletons have now been found at the grave in the former war zone, up from about 90 in August. Human rights groups say at least […]

Image: Journalists orgnisations hold a vigil for journalists killed in Sri Lanka ( File Photo) Criminal Investigations Department OIC – Gang Robberies Nishantha Silva has been transferred out of the Department with immediate effect, raising serious concerns about the high profile abduction cases the official was handling. Silva was the chief investigator on several major […]

Image: Many Tamil activists see the ousted Ranil Wickremesinghe as less brutal than Mahinda Rajapaksa. by Kumaravadivel Guruparan. In November 2014, Maithripala Sirisena, who was then a cabinet minister and member of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, broke ranks with his leader, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and agreed to be the common presidential candidate of the Opposition, […]

The dismissal of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe following the withdrawal of the SLFP headed by President Maithripala Sirisena from the government alliance has plunged the country into a political crisis. The president has appointed former president Mahinda Rajapaksa as the new prime minister.  The changing of governments and leaders is part and parcel of democracy.  […]

Oct 24, 2018 /ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s police on Wednesday arrested a senior navy officer for the abduction and murder of two Tamil businessmen underscoring the crimes committed under the cover of the island’s ethnic conflict. Lieutenant Commander K. A. Dayananda was taken before a magistrate and remanded in custody till Thursday over the double […]

Image: Fallen “LTTE  war heroes ” cemetery in 2004. The Sri Lankan State’s erasure of the complex history and experiences of the war manifest in varying ways across the country; military monuments that showcase a single victory narrative, the construction of Buddhist statues in Tamil-majority areas and the blatantly incorrect signboards at several of these locations. Then, there is […]

In this photo provided by the United Nations, the United Nations Security Council meets on the situation in Mali, Friday, Oct. 19, 2018 at U.N. Headquarters.(Manuel Elias/The United Nations via AP) UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations asked the government of Sri Lanka on Friday to immediately repatriate the commander of its 200-strong contingent […]

SAMPANTHAN’S PREFERENCE OF GANDHI OVER PRABHAKARAN. SAMPANTHAN’S BLOWING HOT AND COLD INDICATES THE PREDICAMENT THE TAMIL LEADERS ARE GOING THROUGH. THE FREEING OF PTA DETAINEES, THE RELEASE OF OCCUPIED LANDS AND THE ISSUE OF MISSING PROGRESSING IN SNAIL PACE. THE CONFESSION ON THE ARMED STRUGGLE LAST WEEK WAS HIS UNDERSTANDING OF THE REAL GROUND SITUATION. […]

Image: A mother looking for her disappeared son’s name on a memorial panel- (c)Ishara S. Kodikara – AFP. Thank you, Mr. Presiding Member. I would like to express a few views, Sir, on this Office for Reparations Bill which has come up somewhat belatedly. But we are all happy that it has come up. In […]

Former Secretary to the then Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda, has held him and Lt. Commander Sumith Ranasinghe accountable if 11 children had gone missing after being abducted. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) yesterday (26), informed Colombo Fort Acting Magistrate Deemani Baddewela that Rear Admiral Shamal Fernando, the former Secretary to former Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda, […]

The key state witness in an abduction case has written to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, complaining that his employer, the Sri Lanka Navy, is victimising him and blocking his promotion. Lt. Cmdr. Krishan Welagedara is a leading witness in a Habeas Corpus application filed in respect of five young Sinhala, Tamil and […]

Image: iral Ravindra Wijegunaratne. Sri Lanka cabinet snubs President over arrest of military chief. ECONOMYNEXT – President Maithripala Sirisena summoned an emergency cabinet meeting to defend the country’s senior-most military officer who is facing imminent arrest for allegedly shielding a mass murder suspect, but failed to secure agreement. The noon meeting of the cabinet ended after […]

In its first interim report, the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) recommended the government to suspend state officials including members of the armed forces and police who were named as suspects or accused in criminal actions relating to abductions and enforced disappearances, pending the final determination of such cases. The OMP report said the government […]

Image: Jamaldeen Jennifer Weerasinghe and Sarojini Naganathan. (2 September, 2018.)After explosive revelations in Court in Navy 11 youth abduction case : Families of missing boys hope justice is finally within reach.  by Maneshka Borham Jamaldeen Jennifer Weerasinghe and Sarojini Naganathan The investigation into a suspected Navy abduction for ransom racket has led to explosive revelations in […]

by S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole. The Anti-Mahaweli Tamils’ Heritage Forum submitting a petition to Mullaitivu District Secretary Ms. Ketheeswaran on ‘Colonization’ The Anti-Mahaweli Tamils’ Heritage Forum submitting a petition to Mullaitivu District Secretary Ms. Ketheeswaran on ‘Colonization’ We in the North fear the troops. It is just not Tamils. We have seen viral videos of […]

Image:Forensic archaeologists were brought in after building workers unearthed human remains. By Anbarasan Ethirajan, BBC News, Mannar.  Experts in northern Sri Lanka are trying to identify the remains of dozens of bodies in a mass grave in the country’s former war zone. So far the skeletal remains of more than 90 people have been unearthed in […]

By P.K.Balachandran. Colombo, August 25: The United States and Japan have both cast their eyes on the Eastern Sri Lankan port of Trincomalee to counterbalance the presence of the Chinese in Hambantota in the South and Colombo in the West and its growing clout around the Bay of Bengal. The Trincomalee harbor was meant to […]

Nirmala Kannangra. Following the statements made in open courts by the defence counsels Shavendra Fernando PC and Attorney-at-Law Asitha Siriwardena, against the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), when the magisterial inquiry into the abduction of 11 Tamil youth in 2008 was taken up two weeks ago, blaming the latter for not naming certain tangible suspects in […]

The relationship between Sri Lanka’s military politics is a topic that gets occasional media attention. However, there is hardly any serious scholarly work on the subject, despite the fact that maintaining a framework of balance in civil-military relations during and after the civil war has surely been a major policy preoccupation among the country’s civilian […]

Image: President Jayewardene did not appeal to stop the violence and never made a apology. [Extracted from the Report of The Presidential Truth Commission on Ethnic Violence (1981-1984)] On the night of 23rd July, around 11.30 p.m. 13 soldiers on a routine patrolling in the North, travelling in a jeep and a truck came under […]

By Namini Wijedasa. (22 July 2018) The Human Rights Commission’s (HRC) Chair Deepika Udagama this week denounced what she said were sinister efforts to interfere with the work of her institution and to bully it into adopting specific positions. Deepika-Udagama-2018.1 Deepika Udagama In recent weeks, the HRC–and, in particular, its Chair–was targeted by nationalist politicians. […]

(19 July 2018)  The Associate Editor of Rivira Sunday newspaper Tissa Ravindra Perera has been summoned by the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) to record a statement on Friday (20) over ongoing investigation of a news article. In a letter, the TID Director informed the Rivira Newspaper Chief Editor that the TID had launched an investigation […]