Reconciliation

Amid claims by the Sri Lankan government that all displaced persons in Mannaar district have been resettled in their own villages, uprooted residents of Mu’l’likku’lam in Musali DS division of the district, who were evicted from their homes in 2007, are still refused entry to their village by the Sri Lanka Navy, which has changed […]

Dianne Silva The United States yesterday urged the government to control para-military activity in the North and for Tamil police personnel to be deployed to the North. The US Assistant Secretary of State Robert O. Blake told journalists he was concerned about Human Rights in Sri Lanka. “I am concerned about human rights. I discussed […]

”FORUM-ASIA stresses that this Council must continue its demonstrated leadership in seeking accountability for the allegations of gross violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. To this end, the findings and recommendations contained in the report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on accountability issues in Sri Lanka must be brought to the agenda […]

12 September 2011: The Government of Sri Lanka has not taken credible steps to ensure accountability for the grave allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity identified in the April 2011 report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka. Nor has the government pursued policies to reconcile the country’s ethnic […]

Mahinda SamarasingheIt is my privilege to once again address this august body as head of the Sri Lanka delegation. We come here as always, Madam President, to share with the members of this Council and the other representatives of the community of nations, our experiences in overcoming the several challenges we face in the present […]

Minister wants land powers for North and East To early to devolve police powers – HisbullahSeptember 8, 2011, 12:00 pm Zacki JabbarDeputy Minister of Child Development and Womens Affairs A. L. M. Hisbullah told The Island that it was alright granting North and East administrations control over land, since it was over two years since […]

Voicing concern over the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka post the conflict, the CPI(M) today asked the government to play a more active role in rehabilitating and relocating them as per India’s commitment under the peace accord between the two countries.The demand was made through a memorandum submitted by a CPI(M) delegation to Finance […]

RAJAPALAYAM: The Sri Lankan government has not provided even basic amenities to the Tamils in that country, MP of the Sri Lankan Tamil National Council Seenithamby Yogeswaran said here on Wednesday. The Lankan MP told reporters that the traditional places of worship of 28 lakh Tamils in the country were being destroyed and their culture was […]

GA says further 42,000 people will soon be resettled in former HSZs The government of Sri Lanka has informed the Supreme Court (SC) that nearly 36,000 families earlier removed from high security zones (HSZ) in Jaffna have been recently resettled.The Jaffna Government Agent Emelda Sukumar has submitted the details to the SC in response to […]

”Since the end of the military conflict in Sri Lanka in May 2009, the situation with regard to asylum seekers from Sri Lanka has become even more of a challenge than before. Thousands of Tamils fled the island as the final military operations jeopardized civilians lives with impunity. Two years after, there are still many […]

The combined Socialist Alliance (SA) yesterday strongly supported the appointment of a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) as a means of finding a lasting solution to the North-East conflict and said the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) report could be used as a launching pad to start talks.Lanka Sama Samasamaja Party leader and Senior Minister Tissa […]

“For six months we continued with talks, engaging the Government of Sri Lanka. But, there was no constructive outcome. The Tamil National Alliance cannot just keep continuing without any results, just for the sake of ‘engaging’ and ‘continuing’ the talks giving room for Sri Lanka to project an impression to the outside world that it […]

Instead of Tamil grievances alone, committee will have broader mandate Sunday Times Political Editor Contrary to earlier expectations of a Parliamentary Select Committee to address Tamil grievances, the Government will now appoint one “to recommend and report political and constitutional measures to empower the people of Sri Lanka as one nation.”Thirteen Cabinet Ministers are among […]

”Significantly, the statistics show a remarkable degree of congruence between Sinhalese and Tamils on key issues, and a surprisingly positive opinion being held by a fairly large percentage of Tamils on the most contentious and polarising issues. ” Dayan Jayatilleka“Seek truth from facts” (Deng Xiaoping) There is an extensive survey of public opinion, the results […]

“Muslims may not be a community distinct from the Tamils, but they have some special problems pertaining to their security. […] Tamil support for Muslim security and peace could open a new chapter in Tamil-Muslim relations,” says an article by A.R.M. Imtiyaz and S.R.H. Hoole,appeared in Routledge-published July issue of Journal of South Asian studies. […]

D.B.S. Jeyaraj Ten Sri Lankan Tamil political parties may seek solace from agony for two days on August 23rd & 24th in the Indian capital of New Delhi.10 Tamil parties are invited to attend a conference named “Agony & Solace” to be held at New Delhi’s prestigious Constitutional club of India Although titled”Agony and Solace” in […]

Dr. Paikiasothy SaravanamuttuThe existing constitution is more than enough for us to live together. I don’t think there is any issue on this more than that. “I mean this was given as a solution for the whole thing with the discussion of these people. I mean now the LTTE is gone, I don’t think there […]

 As thousands of students begin uninterrupted schooling after a lapse of years, education officials in Sri Lanka’s former northern conflict zone are facing a shortage of teachers.John Edward Solemn, assistant education director of Vavuniya South, an educational division, said the lack of teachers, especially in rural schools and in the subjects of English, mathematics and […]

EC Deshapriya Susitha R.Fernando Amid opposition political parties objecting and expressing concern over the Election Commissioner’s recent move to reduce the number of seats in the Jaffna district, legal experts claimed it was against the Constitution.They said the move could have severe repercussions on the peace after 30 years of bloodshed.Besides concerns by various parties, […]

Tisaranee Gunasekara“The talk of political solution is irrelevant” Gotabhaya Rajapaksa (Interview with India Today) Watching or reading an interview with Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is a rewarding experience. The Defence Secretary often says outright, usually in very blunt language, what his brothers try to conceal.While Mahinda and Basil Rajapaksa may prevaricate, wrapping unpalatable truths in misleadingly attractive linen, […]

The Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, brother of His Excellency the President and an important policy-maker in the Government, has been quoted in the “Headlines Today” (Daily Mirror, Wednesday, August 10th, 2011, Page 4), that there was little scope of going beyond the current levels of devolution.He has further stated that the existing constitution is more […]

R.K. RadhakrishnanProfessor Ratnajeevan Hoole, a respected Sri Lankan Tamil academician and a prominent returnee after the military defeat of the Tamil Tigers, said on Thursday he was forced to leave the country.“Yes, I left through Colombo airport for London before I am arrested. I will work in the U.S. till lawyers can sort this out […]

Negotiating a political arrangement for post-conflict Sri Lanka can be considered daunting for Sri Lanka as it is for the US to resolve its debt crisis. The hard stand taken by the TNA even after three decades of death, destruction and untold suffering by the Tamil people is comparable to the unyielding stand taken by […]

 Sumanasiri LiyanageAt the time of writing, it appears that the talks between the UPFA government and the Tamil National Alliance are on the verge of collapse. It has been reported that the TNA wants the government to address some issues if the latter is willing to continue talks. The government’s argument varies.Some Ministers have said […]

Rohan AbeywardenaTamil National Alliance Leader R. Sampanthan in the aftermath of last Thursday’s somewhat tough stand taken with the government in giving it ten days to respond to the devolution proposals the TNA had put to the government about five months ago sat with The Island for a long interview and insisted that they had […]

 Dayan JayatillekaThe threatened suspension of talks by the Tamil National alliance benefits no one, the Tamils or the Sinhalese, the TNA or the government, the North or the South. Or if I may amend my statement immediately, it would benefit only the extremists on both sides of the ethnic fault lines, within and outside the […]

Sri Lanka’s major Tamil party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) says that it has reached to a situation where they are unable to continue further talks with the government on political reforms.TNA parliamentarian M.A.Sumanthiran told BBC Sandeshaya that they are awaiting a response to three issues; the structure of governance, the subjects and functions allocated […]

Text of a press release issued by Mr.Sajin Vass Gunewardane MP& Secretary of the Committee after suspension of talks with Govt by the TNAAt the meeting which the government delegation had with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on Thursday 4th August 2011 the TNA announced that they would not agree to set a date for […]

The Socialist Youth Union says that the Army has disrupted a cricket match organized by them in Dhramapuram, Kilinochchi yesterday (August 02). Issuing a press release, the SYU says that the match was organized to coincide with the Brotherhood day held on July 23. Several army officers had arrived while the match was underway and summoned to […]

TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran’s call for a change of attitude on the part of the Tamil Diaspora in the West on the question of the TNA engaging with the Lankan state on working out a solution to the conflict is most timely and we hope it would be given some consideration. Besides, the MP has […]