Reconciliation

The government has rejected a recommendation by the LLRC to pay compensation in lieu of dead LTTE members, ‘Divaina’ reports.’Quoting highly placed government sources, the newspaper noted that no country in the world had compensated for the terrorists. The recommendation, which is an act of overstepping of limits by the LLRC, is also a violation […]

New Delhi: Centre on Tuesday termed as “completely baseless” a Sri Lankan newspaper report about existence of LTTE camps in Tamil Nadu, saying there was no such facility anywhere in the country.  “It is completely baseless. There is no LTTE camp anywhere in India, including Tamil Nadu,” Home Minister P Chidambaram told a press conference […]

Col. R. HariharanSubterranean threats to India-Sri Lanka relations According to a news item in the Colombo daily “The Island,” Sri Lanka intelligence services have received information that around 150 terrorists who returned to Sri Lanka from India were now hiding in the North and the East.They are reported to have undergone “a special arms training […]

Teresita SchafferTeresita Schaffer, a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, was U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka from 1992-1995.  The meeting in Geneva is over, leaving a sour taste in everyone’s mouth. It’s time to put Sri Lanka’s political rebuilding on track, and repair US-Sri Lanka relations in the process.Despite the dark conspiracies […]

The Indian government is planning to send an all-party delegation, led by Lok Sabha opposition leader Sushma Swaraj, to Sri Lanka next month.  According to PTI, the aim of their tour is to press for stopping all atrocities against Lankan Tamils and also look into their living conditions after the end of the LTTE.Swaraj has […]

The people in the former war-torn areas will not be able to enjoy the hard won freedom after decades of war if the government does not settle them back in their ancestral lands, says a provincial minister from the ruling party in Sri Lanka.Wimalaweera Dissanayake, the land minister of the eastern province, made these remarks […]

The Harper government is dispatching a delegation to Sri Lanka as it presses the country to launch a post-war reconciliation with its Tamil minority.  Sending the delegation to Sri Lanka, which has sometimes restricted access for foreign officials, is intended to underline Ottawa’s keen interest, which includes lobbying other nations to back a United Nations […]

International Crisis Group, The Sri Lankan military’s control over the political and economic life of the Northern Province is deepening the alienation and anger of northern Tamils and threatening sustainable peace.Sri Lanka’s North I: The Denial of Minority Rights and Sri Lanka’s North II: Rebuilding under the Military, the two latest reports from the International […]

Full statement release by TNA below:14 March 20121.0 The Government of Sri Lanka has serious issues with regard to telling the truth and keeping its promises1.1. In response to Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe’s statement to the 18th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council [UNHRC] on 12 September 2011, the Tamil National Alliance [TNA] issued […]

The Resolution that is proposed to be taken up at the 19 Session of the UNHRC in Geneva on war crimes allegations and accountability issues since the war concluded in May 2009, wants the Sri Lankan government to provide an assurance it would implement all recommendations made by the LLRC appointed by the President as […]

Dear Wise Leaders,Good Day to you all.It is coming close to 3 years since the bloody civil war in SriLanka ended. I am sure you are aware – that war was a colossal humanitarian disaster. Several tens of thousand innocent human lives were lost. Attempts are being made by the International community to encourage the […]

The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) yesterday proposed a two-pronged strategy to facilitate national reconciliation process.  GTF spokesman Suren Surendiran said that implementation of positive recommendations made by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) should be prioritized, while accountability issues addressed through an international investigative mechanism.A true international effort, with the backing of key regional […]

D.B.S. JeyarajDirect discussions beween Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Tamil National Alliance(TNA) leader Rajavarothayam Sampanthan to revive stalled talks between the ruling regime and the TNA ended in failure. A one to one meeting without aides held at “Temple Trees” on Tuesday February 21st between the President and the senior TNA Trincomalee district MP […]

“However, on the ground specific problems that hamper the transition from war to a sustainable and meaningful peace are left unaddressed. In particular, the challenge of reconciliation remains. Our failure to act now will result in all communities losing a historic opportunity to address the conflict and its impact.” Sri Lanka today faces a range of […]

Fr. Sarath IddamalgodaThe report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on ‘Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation’ when taken as a whole is rather weak because of its inherent limitations, but some of the recommendations made in the report by the commission are quite positive and therefore can be used as a constructive tool to move in […]

 The European Union (EU) has expressed satisfaction with the resettlement process in Sri Lanka three years after the war between the Sri Lankan military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ended.  The Sri Lankan government should be commended for the efforts it took to resettle most of the war displaced people, Xinhua quoted […]

A draft towards a National Reconciliation Policy is currently being prepared and will be presented shortly for public discussion by Presidential Advisor on Reconciliation and MP Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha.  “I hope that this is looked at seriously, adjusted as necessary, and then adopted and implemented expeditiously,” Prof. Wijesinha told the Daily Mirror yesterday.Commenting on the […]

Ahilan KadirgamarIf President Rajapaksa is serious about a political solution to the Tamil question, he should outline his vision and a timetable for constitutional change.Soon after meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa last month, Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna disclosed to the media, “The President assured me that he stands by his commitment to pursuing […]

”It is unfortunate that the President failed to take the opportunity presented by Independence Day to show the nation and the international community that it had already begun to implement the LLRC recommendations, and make a break with the past. The LLRC itself thought fit to mention in its final report that its interim recommendations […]

Around 60 diplomats belonging to African, Latin American, West Asian and European countries, based in New Delhi were brought to Jaffna on Sunday to showcase them on ‘development’ and ‘reconciliation’ taking place in the country of Eezham Tamils occupied by genocidal Sri Lanka. The exercise was organised and fully backed by the Establishment in New […]

MA.Sumanthiran MP Interviewed by Namini Wijedasa The Tamil National Alliance can bring even radical Tamil diaspora groups like the Global Tamil Forum and the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam on board provided the government offers a ‘proper solution’ to the ethnic conflict, said M. Sumanthiran, TNA parliamentarian, in an interview last week. Excerpts: Namini Wijedasa: Will […]

Key player TNA’s participation subject to Govt. fulfilling pledges made at bilateral talks President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s decision to call a meeting of all political party representatives to persuade them to nominate members for the proposed Parliamentary Select committee (PSC) to find a solution to the national problem has not been received with much enthusiasm by […]

Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka Even if everything the TNA says is true, it is still making a mistake, or perhaps two or three, and is on the verge of yet another wrong turning in the history of error that marks over half a century of Tamil politics.  If the TNA’s fears of prevarication on the part of […]

The US government has decided to grant space and opportunity to Sri Lanka to come up with concrete proposals on reconciliation and accountability issues. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has invited External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Pieris to visit Washington in March to discuss Sri Lanka’s plans to “move ahead on reconciliation and accountability issues […]

The Tamil National Alliance yesterday insisted that land, police and finance powers be included in the devolution discussions with the government and all three had to be prerequisite for the party to sit on the proposed Parliamentary Select Committee to hammer out a final solution “We initiated the dialog with the government on the proposed […]

In the backdrop of a deadlock in talks between the government and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the TNA said yesterday that they would welcome an international mediation at this time to facilitate future negotiations. At a recent meeting with Dr. Alyssa Ayres, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian affairs, […]

The visit by an Indian External Affairs Minister to Sri Lanka is always an important affair. Sri Lankans of all communities and political leanings watch it carefully. They listen to the statements and read between the lines. To many, especially for the Sri Lankan Tamils and the committed democratic sections of the Sri Lankan andIndian […]

”The National Peace Council is of the view that procrastination will not resolve the problem but only harden the attitudes of the Tamil polity. Despite the end of the war more than two and a half years ago, little has been forthcoming so far in terms of any advance towards a political solution that is […]

“The president assured me that he stands by his commitment to pursuing the Thirteen Plus approach” SM Krishna Government Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told journalists in Colombo on Thursday that the government expects to establish a senate to ‘represent minority groups and for consultation’. However, Minister Rambukwella said that Thirteen Plus does not include devolving […]

India today underlined the need for Sri Lanka to devolve powers to Tamil-dominated provinces envisaged under a key constitutional amendment in a “very visible manner” to fulfill the political aspirations of the minority ethnic community.Wrapping up his four-day visit to Sri Lanka during which he visited the war-ravaged North and Southern parts of the country, […]