militarisation

Camelia Nathaniel. Former Senior DIG Prasanna Nanayakkara who is currently in custody, had been involved in concealing evidence and displacement of the diary of journalist Lasantha Wickramatunge and for the removal of pages of the police report, the CID told court yesterday. This was revealed when the case relating to Lasantha Wickramatunge’s killing was taken […]

By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan. Renowned international Jurist and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, claimed that the violent attack against Muslims by Sinhala Buddhists in the Kandy administrative District was “not a religious clash, but another expression of brutality pervasive in society, a legacy of the long war and two insurgencies. […]

Image:  Digana after mob attacks. Associated Press/Pradeep Pathiran . Even as I write these words, Kandy is burning. Muslims, their homes and their properties are being targeted in the name of Buddhism, within shouting distance of the Temple of the Tooth. If the custodians of the Tooth Relic, the chief prelates of Malwatte and Asgiriya, look […]

Image: Military in Digana after 27 Muslim owned shops were set on fire by Sinhalese mobs. CPA Calls Authorities to Take Swift Action to Prevent Further Violence and to Arrest and Prosecute Individuals Advocating National, Racial and Religious Hatred. March 06th 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) condemns the recent violence […]

Image: Sri Lankan troops stand guard near a burnt house after violence in Digana, a central district of Kandy. Photograph: STRINGER/Reuters. Sri Lanka has imposed a nationwide state of emergency for the first time since the civil war-era in response to days of violent unrest between Sinhalese and Muslim communities. The special measures permitting soldiers to […]

Image: Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu  ( Lake house photo) The aftermath of the local government election has been fraught with political tension and the uncertainties of coalition politics. Leading civil society activist and Secretary of the Consultative Task Force on Reconciliation mechanisms, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu says these confusions must not be allowed to overshadow the 2015 mandate […]

Global Tamil Forum calls on the international community to use all its leverage to ensure accountability and reconciliation has not reached a dead-end in Sri Lanka. The warning signs are all there. Almost nine years after the end of the war and two and a half years after co-sponsoring a UNHRC resolution calling for comprehensive […]

Photo: PTI. Among rural Sinhalas, the belief that former president Mahinda Rajapaksa was cheated out of a victory in the last presidential election held in January 2015 resonates strongly. Many even believe that Rajapaksa’s defeat was a conspiracy hatched by the western powers. Apparently, these voters were largely responsible for the victory of the political […]

Image: Solders patrolling Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s commitment to human rights is being debated in Geneva at the 37th session of the Human Rights Council, which meets in Geneva from 26 February to 23 March 2018.  There is a considerable amount of international dissatisfaction with the slow pace of progress due to the long delay in […]

Image: Children of a war affected family in Vanni, Sri Lanka, July 2017; Addressing the issues related to poverty is necessary for a successful TJ process. (c) s.deshapriya. Transitional justice in Sri Lanka: current challenges and issues. (Advanced copy of the section on Transitional Justice in SLB No. 13 titled Transitional Justice and Constitutional Reform:  […]

Image: From to left to right – Lasantha, alleged killer squad leader Handavitharana and their boss Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. ECONOMYNEXT – The arrest of a retired senior Deputy Inspector-General has revealed how the police scuttled its own investigations to protect military intelligence men who carried out the assassination of editor Lasantha Wickrematunge. Senior DIG Prasanna Nanayakkara […]

Image: 365th day of protest in Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka by the families of the disappeared. (Tweeter photo) 366 days (as of 20th Feb) is a long time to be at a 24 hour roadside protest. That’s how long Tamil families of disappeared in Kilinochchi have been there. In the coming days and weeks, protests by […]

R.Sampanthan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thought I would say a few words on this debate. The people have delivered a verdict and, in a democracy, the people’s verdict must be respected. The Hon. Member who moved the Motion and the Hon. Member who seconded the Motion have referred to various matters. I think, Sir, […]

Image: Rajapaksa  is waiting to capture the power to establish autocratic family rule in Sri Lanka. Kishali Pinto Jayawaradene. Those who are bewildered by the results of Sri Lanka’s local government elections a week ago need a harsh reality check if not a resounding knock to the head.. Massive public discomfiture For it must be […]

Mangala Samaraweera. On the 8th of January 2015, fifty one percent of Sri Lankans voted for the vision put forth to them by our unity candidate Maithripala Sirisena: that the time for dictatorship in our country was over, and that those committed to re-establishing democracy in Sri Lanka must unite to ensure that government serves […]

Image: The symbol of Civil Security Division’s Seva Vanitha Unit on the   ‘uniforms’  given to  military run pre-school children in Vanni.  In its Concluding observations on the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Sri Lanka United Nations Child Rights Committee  wants the government to ensure that all schools currently run by the military are […]

A retired IGP is among the number of police officials are tipped to be arrested over the killing of Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickeremathunge, reports state controlled Daily News. Further the report hints that former strong man Gotabhaya Rajapaksa aslo will be questioned regarding the missing diary of the murdered editor. The report follows: The […]

(Geneva) – The Sri Lankan government has failed to fulfill its pledge to abolish the abusive Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. For decades, the PTA has been used to arbitrarily detain suspects for months and often years without charge or trial, facilitating torture, and other abuse. “The Sri Lankan […]

Image: Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at a seminar on the safety of journalists in Colombo in December 2017. Despite Sri Lanka’s commitments to address impunity, no justice has been secured in the cases of 10 murdered journalists. (AFP/Ishara S. Kodikara) By Steven Butler/CPJ Asia Program Coordinator . It was the police line-up from hell. Forget all those “Law […]

By Mangla Samaraweera. 8 January 2018, marks the ninth anniversary of one of the most heinous crimes ever committed against Sri Lanka’s constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of expression. It was nine years ago, today, at 10:45 a.m. that I received the news that Lasantha Wickrematunge, the fearless editor of The Sunday Leader, and my […]

Commander of the Army  wants 1/3 of the Army be deployed for nation-building projects, says a report posted on SL Army web site. The report provides some details of  work SL Army’s on going construction work. The report does not provide details of its own business activities or  civilian projects in the Northern province. The report […]

Image: R.Sampanthan ( credit: The Hindu) Meera Srinivasan. Sri Lanka’s seniormost politician on the government’s record on the political solution to the Tamil issue R. Sampanthan, leader of the Opposition in Sri Lanka’s Parliament, is also the country’s seniormost politician, having been in politics for more than six decades. In the January 2015 presidential poll, […]

Image: Many women have lost husbands or family members due to war, whether by death or disappearance. Savini Ganhewa. In 2009, the 26 years of civil war in Sri Lanka, much of which was fought in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of the country, came to an end. Many women in the war-affected regions have dealt […]

Image: Military checking the candidate lists at Jaffna DS offcie. pix by Kajeepan. Army Commander Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake says the Army must have information on the candidates contesting the Local Government (LG) elections. Speaking to the BBC Sinhala service, Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake said that gathering information on candidates and other key members of society […]

Image: Keppapilavu land struggle has been ongoing for nearly a year (credit: @garikaalan) A 300-day protest staged by a group of persons demanding that the army vacate 133 acres at Keppapilavu in the former LTTE stronghold Mullaitivu had been brought to an end by relocating troops stationed there, Rehabilitation Ministry spokesperson  has told The Island. […]

Image courtesy of Tamil Guardian.  The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, OHCHR, Geneva Through: UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka, Colombo07 Your Excellency, We have lost all hope. There is no political will to trace the forcibly disappeared in Sri Lanka. We have continued the struggle in the heat and rain and have been on the road […]

Image: Sri Lanka Police in action in Tamil dominated Jaffna. (Credit corporatewatch.org) The Association of Chiefs of Police (Rtd.) of Sri Lanka has passed a resolution against completely devolving to the Provincial Councils the subject of Law and Order in its recently held AGM. This resolution is based on wrong information and flawed conclusions. This is  an […]

Last year in March when Ranil Wickremesinghe blew the 67candles on his birthday cake, he offered the first slice he cut to Maithri. Not to Maithree, the wife. But to Maithri, the President. And though she may have felt snubbed the prized first slice was not given first for her delectation but to her new […]

Sri Lankan soldiers recorded these terrible crimes on their mobile phones and camcorders – and over the past four years, more and more of this footage has emerged. Callum Macrae. To the Tamils of northeast Sri Lanka and to much of their global diaspora, Isaipriya was a star: a presenter and actress who came to […]

Inspector General Pujith Jayasundara has told a public gathering that the President and the Prime Minister would not tolerate the NGOs, which are dependent on foreign aid  reports Daily Mirror.  he has sad this  at a function held at Mallawapitiya in Kurunegala on 14th November. defending the President Sirisena he has said that it is important […]