‘Equal Rights’ awareness campaign disrupted by Police .

Campaign in Jaffna

Police interrupted a banner-signing campaign held in Borella, which was one of a series of awareness programs held island-wide today (23rd) by the Movement for Equal Rights (MER). The MER had begun the program entitled “no to another black July”, around 9am in the town of Borella, when police officers attached to the Borella police station arrived at the location and informed them to stop the campaign and remove the banner.

Sri Lanka: Tamil, Muslim, Up country leaders team up at EPRLF Conference

The 34th Conference of the EPRLF (Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front) is  to be held on 20 July 2014, at Weerasingham hall Jaffna. TNA leader R. Sampanthan, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader and Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem and Upcountry People Front leader Radhakrishnan, Party leaders  Selvam Adaikkalanathan, Dharmalingam Siddartan, Democratic People Front leader Mano Ganesan, Nava Sama Samaja Party Secretary Dr. Wickramabahu Karunaratne, United Socialist Party secretary Siritunga Jayasuriya will attended the conference, Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran said.

Sri Lanka’s rehabilitated ex-combatants struggle to adjust

PUTUKKUDIYIRUPPU, 4 July 2014 (IRIN) - Five years after the end of a 26-year civil war, most former combatants from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in northern Sri Lanka have been rehabilitated and re-entered civilian life, but whether war-disabled or not, many are finding genuine integration difficult, according to rehabilitees, government officials and humanitarian workers.

Cyril Ramaphosa : What’s he doing out here, in Sri Lanka?

TRC South Africa based on truth

Ranga Jayasuriya
 Not usually, does the second in command of a regional power, flanked by a presidential delegation, fly thousands miles to some embattled small State, disguised as 'tourists' to talk to the adversaries of a protracted domestic problem. However, Cyril Ramaphosa, the Deputy President of South Africa and the ruling African National Congress, pretty much did that-- at least if you are to believe the Sri Lankan government's initial remarks on the visit by the South African delegation.

Sri Lanka:Ramposha’s Visit Only For Discussions – Minister Wimal Weerawansa

The National Freedom Front (NFF) is opposing any kind of foreign mediation on the national issue. However, the NFF did not consider the visit of the Deputy President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa as’ interference’ as the government has assured them that the visit is confined to mere discussions.

Club de Madrid calls to stop clashes between Muslims and Sinhalese in Aluthgama & Beruwala

The Club de Madrid has been following with deep preoccupation the recent clashes between Muslims and Sinhalese in Aluthgama & Beruwala as part of what seems to be another manifestation of religious intolerance.  The Club de Madrid has been warning for many years of the dangers of ignoring the build up of intergroup tension and even its encouragement by some in leadership positions in some parts of the world, and it is saddening the lesson has not been learnt and situations like this continue to arise.

Denying responsibility for Alutgama violence will not suffice

Gota: Denying responsibility

 Jehan Perera

Addressing members of the national advisory committee to the Ministry of National Languages and Social Integration, Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara gave substance to the conviction of those who believe in the prospects for peaceful coexistence and harmony within Sri Lanka's multi ethnic and multi religious society. He said that a majority of MPs of the government were opposed of the actions of the extremist groups that had engaged in anti-Muslim activities.

Reveal the truth; JHU, NFF ask why Ramaphosa is in Sri Lanka; who invited him?

Ramaphosa

Two main constituent parties of the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Government, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and the National Freedom Front (NFF), who were up in arms against the visit of the South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, are now demanding to know as to why he is in the country.  While accusing the government of not revealing to the country why Ramaphosa is arriving here, both parties warned that government will have to face grave consequences if the Deputy President is in the country to broker a power devolution package.

Sri Lanka’s national interests lie in cooperation not confrontation with UNHRC probe

Cyril Ramaphosa

Jehan Perera

It cannot be coincidental that hardly two weeks after the UN Human Rights Commissioner named the team that would investigate past human rights violations in Sri Lanka, the South African reconciliation initiative is also moving forward again.  There was a pause for a while, but once again there is an appearance of movement.  A high powered South African delegation headed by its Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to be in the country in the next few days. 

Civil activities and freedoms curbed, five years after Sri Lanka's civil war

 Militarisation institutionalised

''Five years after the war, Sri Lanka is still in a post-war phase, the guns have fallen silent, the war is over, terrorism was defeated. However, we haven't moved yet into what I would call a post-conflict phase. And what I mean by that is that the sources of conflict that gave rise to the war are still be sustained, reproduced and even new sources of conflict are being put on the agenda. So in that respect, the trajectory of developments in over the last five years hasn't been particularly propitious, not withstanding the fact that full scale war has ended. ''

An assessment of Sri Lanka, five years after the civil war, says ethnic minorities are no better off and the sources of conflict are still being sustained.

CPA condemns religious intolerance & violence

The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA)  has condemned the violence unleashed in Aluthgama, Beruwela and Dharga Town over the past few days. In a statement, the CPA says, "The recent events are the latest and most serious manifestation of the politics of hurt, hate and harm that constitute the gravest challenge to pluralism, the rule of law and democratic governance in our country and epitomise the depth of the crisis of the Sri Lankan State."

Sri Lanka : TNA, SLMC to jointly work on N&E issues

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) have decided to join hands and work towards finding a solution to the problems faced by the people of the North and East. Parliamentarians of the two Parties met at the Kalmunai Municipal Council on Friday (30) to discuss the possibility of working together.

TNA appeals to CM Jayalalitha: Help us to achieve peace based on justice and equality

TNA leader Sampanthan ( The Hindu)

TNA leader Sampanthan writes to TN Chief Minister Jayalalitha

Dear Chief Minister,

I write to you as the leader of the Tamil National Alliance , democratically elected to substantially representate the Tamil People, particularly in the North East of SriLanka, for instance in the last election held in the Northern Provincial Council (NPC), despite the election being held under the intimidatory presence and involvement of the armed forces as concluded by both international and local observers, the TNA secure 30 out of 38 seats in the NPC.

A climate of fear and intimidation has been re-imposed and has now escalated in the North - C.V. Wigneswaran

C.V. Wigneswaran (photo: Nation.lk)

Wiggie wants Mahinda to walk the talk

“Going as part of President Rajapaksa’s entourage would give the impression that all is fine between the Northern Provincial Council and the Government of Sri Lanka, when in fact it is not,” said Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C.V. Wigneswaran.

Wigneswaran, who hit headlines last week following his refusal to join a Presidential delegation to New Delhi to attend Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony, pointed out: “It is unfortunate that public affairs have become an exercise in tokenism. We act for world consumption but not with sincerity. I declined the invitation because I did not want to become a party to tokenism.”

Celebration of the War Victory and Suppression of the Remembrance

Sri Lanka Briefing note, May 25 2014 
Sunanda Deshapriya
Celebration of the War Victory Day

The May 18 this year marked the fifth anniversary of war victory by the government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The day is celebrated as the annual War Victory Day by the GoSL with a military parade and remembering the 'War Heroes' (solders died in the war). Usually all diplomatic missions too are invited to the celebration making it a state event. Further the month of May is designated as the 'War Heroes Commemoration Month ' by the GoSL.

JUTA President Dr Rasakumaran decries TID questioning for organising commemoration ceremony

Left overs of the Final Battle (ST)

Jaffna University Teachers Association (JUTA) President, Dr A. Rasakumaran who was questioned by the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) for his involvement in organising a commemoration ceremony in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the war’s final phase, says he did not do anything illegal.

“I did not do anything against the law. We have the right to remember our lost ones. There are no such rules in the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) that says we cannot commemorate those who died in the final battle,” he said.

Sri Lanka: Vae victis; The double-edged sword that is ‘Victory Day’

''In the past five years, other groups have also been relegated to the ranks of ‘the conquered’. The long arm of State oppression has struck at the heart of dissent, pushing student activists, human rights campaigners, journalists and academics to the fringes of Sri Lanka’s post-war politics. Religious hate groups are threatening renewed and devastating conflict between communities. What the marginalisation of political, religious and ethnic minorities really means is that Sri Lankans are essentially living in a period between wars''

Dharisha Bastians

Sri Lanka: Gotabhaya defends suppression of remembrance in North and East

Policein Jaffna ( file photo)

If EU can why cant we asks military

Hitler ltteThe Ministry of Defence (MOD) and military says if countries like those in Europe can ban even the salute of former dictator Adolf Hitler then there is nothing wrong in Sri Lanka banning commemorating the LTTE.

Military and MOD spokesman, Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said that last weekend the authorities had prevented events being staged in the north which could be seen as glorifying the LTTE.

Students at University of Jaffna commemorate Mullivaikkal massacre

Tamil nation remembers Mullivaikal massacre 5 years on, amidst military ban 
Students at University of Jaffna commemorate Mullivaikkal massacre 5 years on, amidst death threats and military ban.  In commemorative events across the North-East and the world, the Tamil nation marked 5 years since the massacre of tens of thousands at the end of the armed conflict on May 18th 2009.

Sri Lanka: Death threats issued to journalists and Jaffna uni staff, students over May 18 remembrance

The heading of the warning

A death threat has been issued to staff and students at the University of Jaffna, as well as journalists over their attempts to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the Mullivaikal massacre despite the military banning any public events. In a flyer distributed around Jaffna today, the staff, students and journalists were given a "final warning" against those "encouraging or resurrecting terrorism".