Reconciliation

We are deeply disappointed that a Bill to repeal the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act of 1951 (MMDA) has been tabled in Parliament by MP Ven. Athuraliye Rathana on 8th January 2020. It is claimed that the purpose of the Bill is to address the grievances of Muslim women and children. In reality, it does not represent […]

(New York) – Respect for fundamental human rights in Sri Lanka is in serious jeopardy following Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s election as president in November 2019, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2020. Rajapaksa, along with his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was named prime minister, were implicated in numerous human rights violations during their previous years in […]

We are bang into the New Year. The new session of Parliament has been opened by the President. Parliamentary politics could move to a new swing, with a government not having a formal majority in the House. There is also another political tune at play – that of the National Anthem. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa acknowledged […]

It was an eventful year in Sri Lankan politics in 2019. If not a year of crisis, perhaps the term chaos sums it up most accurately. The year started with several political tugs-of-war between former president Maithripala Sirisena and former prime minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, after Sirisena sacked Wickramasinghe and swore-in Mahinda Rajapaksa , quite unconstitutionally. These dramatic events paved the […]

Parliamentarian of Tamil National Alliance (TNA), M.A. Sumanthiran says the incumbent government is marring the national reconciliation process. Speaking to the media of the government’s decision to sing the national anthem only in Sinhala at the upcoming National Day celebration, the parliamentarian said, this indicates the direction in which this government is moving in order […]

The task of Buddhist monks is to uplift the minds of their followers and not to change governments (Ven. Galkande Dhammananda Thera)   President GR should be ever indebted to the Sangha, because without its tireless canvassing he would not have achieved what he did on 16 November. Given the volatile ethno-religious cleavages and unpredictably shifting […]

Speaking at the press conference today held in New Delhi on the visit of Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime minster of India has said that ” I am confident that the Government of Sri Lanka will carry forward the process of reconciliation, to fulfill the aspirations of the Tamils for equality, justice, peace and […]

Gotabhaya Rajapakse [Credit: AP Photo] The international messages of congratulations sent to Sri Lanka’s newly-elected president, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, all underscore the fact that the strategically-located island is enmeshed in geo-political rivalries, centred above all on Washington’s determination to undermine Chinese influence throughout the region and prepare for war. Rajapakse, an ex-military officer and defence secretary […]

Image: Gotabaya Rajapaksa met with  India’s external affairs minister S. Jaishankar on 20 Nov 2019. The Indian government expects Sri Lanka’s new government led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to take forward the process of national reconciliation in order to meet the aspirations of the Tamil minority for “equality, justice, peace and dignity”. This was the […]

Image: Sri Lanka’s new president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, gestures after addressing the nation during his swearing-in ceremony at the Ruwanwelisaya temple in Anuradhapura on Nov. 18. LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES. Gotabaya Rajapaksa of the Sri Lanka People’s Front was sworn in as president of Sri Lanka on Monday, after defeating Sajith Premadasa of the United National Party […]

“Accepting our request and rejecting the call to boycott or to vote for a Tamil candidate and by voting for Mr. Sajith Premadasa the Tamil people have sent a clear message to the leaders of our country and to the international community, that the Tamil people are firm in achieving their rights, within a united […]

Sri Lanka’s eighth presidential election held last Sunday has produced an outcome that has surprised the winners, the losers as well as the observers. The most obvious, and arguably disquieting, and utterly unanticipated trend that became immediately visible is the re-sharpening of the majority-minority divide in the citizens’ electoral choices across the country. Mr Gotabhaya […]

Image: Sri Lanka’s elections chief Mahinda Deshapriya displays ballot boxes that will be used in the upcoming presidential election in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Thursday, October 31, 2019. The voting is scheduled to be held on November 16.  © 2019 AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena. (New York) – The winner of Sri Lanka’s presidential election on November 16, 2019 will face enormous challenges to […]

I condemn in the strongest possible terms your desperate attempt to drag the Venerable Mahanayake Theras of the Three Nikayas into your fearmongering election campaign. On Wednesday, you publicly appealed to these Venerable Prelates to inject themselves into a political debate on your behalf by manipulating and misrepresenting the letter and spirit of my election […]

Who is winning? This seems to be the question many people these days are keen to find an answer to. Whenever this question is put to me, my usual answer is one that disappoints the interlocutor: “It is difficult to say. But I can tell you a little bit about what I speculate as the […]

Image; Ruling party presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa presenting his manifesto to Chief monk of the Malwatta chapter. (Image from SP tweeter)  R.K. Rudrakrishnan. Sinhala majoritarianism dominates the campaign for the November presidential election. THERE were quite a few visitors at the world’s emptiest airport, the Chinese-built Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, just over 200 kilometres south […]

  NPP candidate launches manifesto titled ‘Hope of a Nation’ Strengthening democracy and rule of law, ensuring corruption free administration prioritised Public security and national peace also on top of agenda Pledges to downsize Cabinet to 25 and cut retirement perks for politicians National Peoples’ Power (NPP) presidential candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake yesterday unveiled his […]

23 October 2018 Johannesburg: The International Truth and Justice Project has called for a review of all naval cooperation with Sri Lanka after it found a large number of top Sri Lankan navy commanders were complicit in torture, disappearance and murder that occurred inside naval sites from at least 2008-14. “The Sri Lankan Navy: Turning […]

Mangala Samaraweera. At a Press Conference on 15 October 2019, Presidential Candidate of the SLPP, Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, dismissed Sri Lanka’s commitments to our citizens on human rights, rule of law, and processes for truth-seeking, reparations, and guarantees of non-recurrence including Resolution 30/1. He also dismissed the need to address the grievances of families from […]

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Presidential candidate, former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa today dismissed allegations on LTTE cadres who surrendered to the military during the war. Rajapaksa also said that if he becomes President his Government will not recognize the UN Resolution on Sri Lanka which was passed by the UN Human Rights Council in […]

Three retired service commanders, Air Chief Marshal Roshan Goonetileke), Admiral Tisara Samarasinghe and General Daya Ratnayake, has  alleged that the war winning military was being penalised in terms of the Geneva Resolution co-sponsored by the government, in Oct 2015. They were speaking at a special press conference organised for the same purpose on 13 Oct […]

Image: The illegal cremation of a Buddhinst monk, despite a court order not to cremate him on the temple land. In a hard hitting letter to president Sirisena, TNA leader R. Sampanthan  says that “failure to independently investigate what happened at Neeraviady Pillayar Temple in Chemmalai, Mullaitivu will only confirm and further encourage this growing trend of […]

Image: Sri Lankan Muslim women walk past a roadside shop selling metal plaque engraved with phrases from the Holy Quran in Colombo [File: Eranga Jayawardena/AP] A “harsh and dangerous” crackdown on Sri Lankan Muslims following deadly bombings on Easter Sunday poses a major threat to the Indian Ocean nation’s peace and security, a think-tank has warned. The assailants […]

Image: A group of Muslim women from Hambantota: “We have lived here for generations”. The much anticipated, debated, and controversial presidential election is now just around the corner. The candidate for the SLPP was confirmed and announced; and while there maybe a comforting confidence among the party about securing the majority Sinhala Buddhist vote, winning […]

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Sri Lanka is going into another presidential election in a few weeks with unresolved human rights issues and undelivered promises in hand. The Executive Presidency continues unabolished despite repeated promises of the presidential candidates who came to power in the last 25 years. Though the 19th Amendment to the Constitution trimmed the powers […]

Image: A solider having a look at (temporary) the memorial wall for the disappeared at OMP on 31 August 2019. © Sunanda Deshapriya Office on Missing Persons (OMP) says the Government has failed to heed the recommendations made by them on Military and Police officers involved in enforced disappearances. According to the Chairperson of the […]

Images of the Hindu Deity Krishna mistaken for Buddha images. By Arjuna Ranawana. Women’s activists are angry and exasperated by police detaining women wearing sarees or dresses with the images of Hindu Deities on them. Activists say there has been a rash of such incidents recently. Some of the images, particularly of the Hindu deity […]

Image: A relative of a disappeared writing on the memorial wall at OMP on 30 Aug 2019. © Sunanda Deshapriya. UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka- Statement on the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances. “No-one has been forgotten” Today we stand up for the rights of the victims of enforced disappearances and their relatives. […]

Image: People of kokkuthoduvai, Kokkilai and karunatkerni villages held a campaign in Mullitivu town to stop encroaching their lands under the name of Mahaweli “L” Zone development. Nearly 300 farmers both men and women who have been deprived from their  agricultural lands and water resources peacefully marched to the Mullaitivu Government Agent”s office and handed over […]

(24 August 2019, London) The appointment of Shavendra Silva (Silva) as the new Commander of the Sri Lankan army is a deeply troubling development. For the Tamil community, this signals the end of the road for reconciliation efforts from the Sri Lankan Government. For the international community and all those interested in human rights and […]