Attempts to frame Gota over Matale

Attempts are being made to frame Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa over the human skeletal remains found at Matale, Director of the Media Center for National Security Lakshman Hulugalle said.
Hulugalle said that the sudden interest of opposition political parties in the Matale mass grave is with an ulterior motive.

He said that the Defence Secretary was the coordinating officer in Matale during the time the people were said to have been buried in the mass grave.

National Action Plan Does Not Deal With Even Half of the Constructive Recommendations by the LLRC

M. A. Sumanthira interviewd by Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema
TNA parliamentarian, Attorney-at-Law M. A. Sumanthiran says the international community has realized that the request for time and space is not a genuine one but only for the government to implement its own agenda. He observed that if the government acts responsibly at least at this stage and engages constructively with the international community following the adoption of the 2013 resolution at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the country could deal with all outstanding issues.

Tamil students forced to sing national anthem in Sinhala

Sunil Jayasekara
The Hanwella Lanka Sabha Tamil college is a school where the Tamil children of the area have their education. The national anthem is sung here in Tamil at the morning assembly  and other events. This was the procedure until June 2012.

Kamalawathi’s search for missing sons; Will Gotabhaya answer?

Missions sons: will Gotabhaya answer?

A grieving mother of two teenage sons who were abducted by the Army in 1989, narrates how she was stopped and sent back when she went to meet then Military Coordinating Officer (MCO) for Matale, Lt. Col. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

By Ranga Jayasuriya
The two teenage sons of K.G. Kamalawathi were snatched by the soldiers who arrived at her residence during a notorious ‘military round up’ of local youth on 13 December 1989. The two teenagers, Susantha Janaka (18) and Rohana Nishantha (17), were GCE Advanced Level students at Science College and Vijaya Vidyalaya, Matale.

One of the grave threats faced by the minorities today comes from the incensed mob and Police inaction during mob violence

Police in conversation with a monk who was leading  the mob against Fashion Bug

 M.A.Sumanthiran M.P.
‘Towards a peaceful environment to live with confidence, without fear of crime and violence.’ This is the current Vision of the Sri Lanka Police, unambiguously declared on its official website.

How many of us live today with confidence and without fear?

Minister Wimal Weerawansa calls on UN to probe on human skeletons in Matale

Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities Minister Wimal Weerawansa said that a full-scale investigation should be conducted on the human skeletons found in a mass grave at Matale which have been identified as those disappeared during the 1988-1989 insurrection.
 
The UN says that the Government should conduct credible investigations on the alleged human rights violations. Why can't the UNHRC conduct a similar credible investigation on the mass grave at Matale, the Minister told the Sunday Observer.

BASL disturbed by unusual transfers of judicial officers ( who opposed the Impeachment)

CJ Mohan Peiris at work

The Executive Committee of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has appointed a subcommittee to look into the recent transfers of several district court judges and magistrates who have not even completed their tenure of three years in their courts.The transfers were made by the Judicial Services Commission chaired by Chief Justice 44 Mohan Pieris.

Constitutional Reform proposals for common Presidential candidate by put forward by Maduluwewa Sobitha Thero

Ven Maduluwewa Sobitha Thero

1. Abolition of Executive Presidency

The Executive Presidency (EP) shall be immediately and totally abolished with a return to a Parliamentary form of Government.
The best thing that can happen is for the present Government to agree to the abolition of the Executive Presidency and bring a constitutional amendment to that effect.

Sinhalese Have no Option But to Satisfy Aspirations of The Tamils Sooner or Later

Kuldip Nayar

Sri Lanka and India, although separated only by a channel, have never gotten along well. It is like the UK and France being at war with each other, centuries ago. Both Colombo and New Delhi are really distant neighbours. Their mistrust is so deep that one attributes all types of motives to the other. Yet, all their enmity is not over territory or policies but on the discriminatory treatment meted out to Tamils living in Sri Lanka.

Indian parliamentary team to visit Sri Lanka

A delegation of six Indian parliamentarians will visit Sri Lanka between April 8 and April 12. They will also visit Colombo and Jaffna during the trip, which is being organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

The Rajapaksa Hegemony; Is there a way forward?

 Robinhood

According to the prevailing state of affairs, the way the GOSL behaves, allowing continuing lawlessness and impunity, the disobedience to oblige international resolutions, the failure or the delay or the casual approach to address, respond and resolve desperate issues such as land, resettlement, livelihood, ethnic harmony and social integration in the north, the delay and the unwillingness in implementing the LLRC to establish genuine civil administration and rule of law, it appears there are factors deliberately fasten by the government preventing to implement and to obstruct the smooth function of all above.

Matale Mass Grave: All extra-judicial killings of all eras should be probed transparently – Sajith

Sajith Premadasa, MP

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, as the Defence Minister, who should initiate such a probe– Nimal

The Government has not as yet decided to probe the Matale mass graves and the matter had not been even taken up at Cabinet level, a frontline government Minister said yesterday.

This follows the discovery of 154 skeletal remains in the Matale hospital grounds by digging the ground to set up a bio-gas plant in November last year. Radio carbon dating had revealed that the mass grave belonged to the 1987-1990 era, which was during the UNP governments led by Presidents J. R. Jayewardene and Ranasinghe Premadasa.

Sri Lanka Continues to Strangle the Press

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On March 26, BBC World Service Director Peter Horrocks announced the suspension of BBC broadcasts on the state-owned Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) after “continued interruption and interference” of its Tamil-language broadcasts. Incidentally, the disruptions began on March 16, a day after the UN Human Rights Council began its examination of war crimes in the final stages of a bloody civil war in Sri Lanka, which ended in 2009 with the defeat of the Tamil Tigers.

Over 100 UPFA politicians behind bars

Over 100 politicians representing the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) are in police custody at present, facing rape, robbery and murder charges, sources from the Police Headquarters said.
About 50 politicians accused in several such cases are in remand custody at present and another 10 are serving prison sentences. Others are currently facing court trials.

Temple land acquired illegally in K’nochchi - MP

Tamil National Alliance MP, S. Sritharan, has brought to the notice of the Government Agent (GA), Kilinochchi, the attempt made by a private firm in Anuradhapura to acquire three acres of land that belongs to the Uthiravengai Vairavar Temple, closer to Kilinochchi town, that comes under the purview of the Kanagambikaikulam Grama Sevaka Division.

New Buddhist shrine built at Trinco Saiva sacred site

The newly constructed Buddha shrine and the name board at the site of Kanniyaa Hot Wells

[TamilNet] A Buddhist shrine has been built at the precincts of Kanniya Hot Wells a Saiva sacred site in a traditional Tamil village in Trincomalee district. A fifteen-acre land has been appropriated by the SL Government Agent Major General (retd.) Ranjith de Silva on the instruction of Colombo. The Buddhist shrine has a signboard giving the name of the place of worship as ‘Unuthiya Lin Rajamaha Viharaya’, meaning the ‘Royal Great Temple of the Hotwater Wells’.

BJP threat to establish Eelam in SL: Govt. should reassess foreign policy – UNP

The failure of the government to provide meaningful devolution to the North and East of the country, had resulted in India’s government in waiting, Bharatha Janatha Party (BJP), threatening to carve out Eelam for Sri Lankan Tamils, the UNP said yesterday.

Sobitha Thero and team present constitutional reform proposal

Rev. Maduluwawe Sobitha

• Sweeping reforms call for abolition of presidency, executive prime minister, shortening of Parliament life to five years and a caretaker government during elections
• Movement to field common candidate to abolish system within 120 days of poll if MR fails to do away with system

Proposals for sweeping constitutional reform founded on the basis of the abolition of the presidential system, drafted by a team of senior lawyers, was handed over to the Chief Prelates of the Malwatte and Asgiriya chapters in Kandy yesterday.

Sri Lanka: Where are the core values? Four violations within a week!

Basil Fernando

The International Bar Association in the executive summary of their report entitled, 'A Crisis of Legitimacy' issued in March 2013 makes the following recommendation to the Commonwealth:

The Commonwealth should assess the seriousness with which the Sri Lankan authorities take these Recommendations, monitor the urgency with which they are acted upon, and consider with great care:

A section of the Colombo-based international press had been trying to influence the local media over accountability and media issues - Military spokesperson

Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasuriya

''A section of the Colombo-based international press had been trying to influence the local media over accountability and media issues, the Brigadier alleged. He urged the media not to be a destabilizing factor and engage in actions inimical to national interests, though the military wouldn’t dispute the right of the media to report whatever incidents.''

A special court should investigate the Matale mass grave and all stakeholders who were holding authority at that time - JVP

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) established a special committee yesterday to collect details of its members who had gone missing between the years, 1987-90, in the Matale District and requested the families to come forward with the information, in order to identify the perpetrators.

Anti-Muslim Leaflets Circulated Widely in Weligama as Bodhu Bala Sena Stages Rally

D.B.S.JEYARAJ
Weligama in Matara District of the Southern Province has become the latest venue of anti –Muslim activity in Sri Lanka.Weligama meaning “Sandy Village”in Sinhala is situated 144 Km from and is a well-known tourist destination in the Island.Although Sinhalese are the preponderant majority in the area the population of Weligama is diverse with Muslims,Tamils,Burghers and Malays living in amity there.

The fire at ‘Muhudu Maha’ Viharaya in Pothuvil: JHU blames muslims

The sudden fire which had broken out at the ‘Muhudu Maha’ Viharaya may be the work of saboteurs and not a natural fire has added the Jathika Hela Urumaya.
The Jathika Hela Urumaya’s media spokesman Nishantha Warnasinghe had issued a notice in this regard under his signature.

The ticking clock of extremism

    Whipped up by hard-line groups, the anti-Muslim frenzy sweeping the country reached a pivotal moment last Thursday. Under the cover of darkness, an angry mob, led by men in saffron robes, stormed a clothing chain consistently and repeatedly vilified by the Bodu Bala Sena and affiliate groups. Video footage emerging soon after the brutal assault that left several injured showed law enforcement once more powerless in the face of a rampaging crowd. Less than a week later, all 17 suspected vandals were released, the charges dropped for the sake of ‘national unity’. The signal to the other groups chomping at the bit to take the anti-Muslim rhetoric to the next level is clear – they have nothingto fear

Sri Lanka: Eradication of anti Muslim violence needs deeds instead of words - NfR

Networking for Rights cautiously welcomes  President Mahinda Rajapakse’s   recent statement  that his government will not tolerate racism and religious intolerance.