Over 50% of LLRC recommendations implemented , President tells the media

President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday said that 50 per cent of the recommendations made by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) had been implemented in line with the government’s post-war national reconciliation policy.  Commenting on the National Action Plan to implement LLRC recommendations as regards international humanitarian law issues, President Rajapaksa emphasized that the implementation of LLRC recommendations had not been prompted by the passage of a UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka in March.

In conversation with M.A. Sumanthiran, TNA National List MP

M.A.Sumanthiran, is a National List Member of Parliament from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). Groundviews has carried in the past the Minister’s submissions to Parliament against the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, for which he faced the most outrageous heckling and insults within the legislature itself, and from fellow MPs from Government. With this and other media reports in mind, we begin the conversation on the obvious question – whether he thought it was worth it, in hindsight, to become a Member of Parliament instead of just sticking to his law practice.

Breaking the Ghostly Silence on Rape

 Public awareness and advocacy
can help save young children

By Amantha Perera
 - It was the ghostly silence that struck him hardest as he walked through the Colombo suburb of Kirulapone the day after the lifeless body of a six-year-old girl had been discovered floating in a filthy canal, Kumar de Silva, a well-known local media personality, told IPS.  The autopsy report later revealed that the child had been raped by a 16-year-old relative and his two friends, and then dumped in the canal, where she drowned.

Govt. won’t introduce ‘Right to Information Act’ at the expense of national security

Media Ministry Secretary Charitha Herath yesterday emphasized that the introduction of the ‘Right to Information Act’ couldn’t be at the expense of national security.  In spite of the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009, the government couldn’t share everything, the Media Secretary said. Herath was responding to queries raised by those participating at the SAARC Media Internship Programme (SMIP) for journalists and media officials, at the Galadari hotel.

Recommendations of LLRC Report and Implementation Proposals of National Plan of Action

By Namini Wijedasa
The government made it clear last week that there will be no separate event on National Day to express solidarity and empathy will all victims of the war, as recommended by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.
What would be observed instead was the present practice of continuing to “express solidarity as one nation and one people”, said the National Plan of Action to Implement the Recommendations of the LLRC.

TNA and TN want to revive Eelam dream – Champika .

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R.Sampanthan and Tamil Nadu leaders are gearing up to give life to the dead Eelam dream of the LTTE terrorists, said Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka at a Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) convention in Maharagama today.  Addressing the gathering, Ranawaka said, “TNA Leader R.Sambandan is trying to start a second Eelam war, while Tamil racists are trying to revive Eelam racism through countries and towns such as New York, London, Australia, France and India. 

‘TNA PSC boycott, major fetter in LLRC implementation’

Prof. Vitharana

The Tamil National Alliance’s non- participation in the proposed PSC remains a major fetter to implement LLRC recommendations even as the government’s National Action Plan to implement Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) recommendations within a specific time frame is made known internationally, said Senior Minister of Scientific Affairs Prof Tissa Vitarana. 

FUTA Wants Govt to prioritise and invest in education

by Dr.Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri

6% of GDP for Education: Who is telling the truth?
Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) is asking the government to prioritise education and to invest in education.
Towards this end FUTA has shown a concrete figure of measurement: the allocation on education as a percentage of GDP.
This is a globally accepted measurement and the figure of 6% has been agreed to by the Sri Lankan government at many forums. FUTA has also shown that the government is not anywhere close to meeting this standard.

Sujatha Senaratne new Additional Secy. Health

Minister and  his wife

In an unprecedented move, a top administrative position has been carved out in the Health Ministry for a Cabinet Minister’s wife whose earlier attempt to secure the directorship of the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL) was stalled following a Supreme Court (SC) directive, officials said.
NHSL deputy director, Dr. (Mrs) Sujatha Senaratne, wife of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Minister, Dr. Rajitha Senaratne received her appointment last week as Additional Secretary (Public Health Services), one of the most powerful slots in the government health sphere.

Tamil Civil Society Memo to the TNA regarding the Eastern Provincial Council Elections

Bishop Rayappu
at the front

''We believe that by including the above in their election manifesto that there is a possibility that the TNA can lessen the impact of the argument that the Tamil people have accepted the Provincial Council system and a demerged North and East by participating in these elections. It is very important that our rejection of the provincial council system and a demerged North and East is clearly communicated to the International Community.''

Jobs for thousands of graduate trainees in Eastern Province , Backdated appointment letters to circumvent election laws

More than 2,000 graduate trainees in the Eastern Province have been given backdated appointment letters after the Provincial Council was dissolved ahead of fresh elections, officials said yesterday.The move was a clear violation of the election laws that prevent job appointments during the elections.  A senior government official told the Sunday Times the appointments were granted on instructions from ‘higher authorities’, but he declined to elaborate.The Sunday Times learns that some of the new recruits assumed duties on June 29 – two days after the dissolution of the council. Since then more appointments have been made.

Bribery Commission probing 60 cases of alleged graft, says wants more officers, vehicles to combat bribery and corruption

Justice Balapatabendi

The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption (CIAOBC) is investigating over 60 complaints of corruption and illegal assets acquisition against politicians including MPs, Provincial Councillors (PCs) and members of Local Authorities, Commission Chairman Justice D.J.De S. Balapatabendi said.
 Along with these the Commission is also investigating complaints against several senior public officials including departmental heads, he said.

LLRC roadmap: An ‘action plan’ to suit the US, not us!

Kusal Perera

 Photo credit: Daily FT

The government announced (26 July, 2012) it has drawn up a comprehensive “National Action Plan to Implement the Recommendations of the LLRC” and has released same to the public domain. This comes after the Geneva Resolution and the discussions the Rajapaksa government had thereafter with the US administration. Immediately after the Geneva Resolution was adopted in March 2012, Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton extended an invitation to External Affairs Minister Peiris, for a discussion in Washington that was accepted by Minister Peiris.

Govt under fire from left allies; Govt goes against LLRC

Dew

The Socialist Alliance (SA) yesterday alleged that the forthcoming election to the Eastern Provincial Council could jeopardize the post-war national reconciliation process.  The government couldn’t be unaware of the ground reality, Senior Minister Dew Gunasekera, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka [CPSL] told The Island yesterday.  The SA comprises UPFA constituents, CPSL, Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and the Democratic Left Front (DLF).

SL military removes Kuddimani remembrance posters, harasses former MP in Jaffna

Kuttimani and Jegan 1982

The occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) together with the SL Police on Thursday arrested former Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian and the political coordinator of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation, a registered political party in the TNA alliance, for having put up posters remembering 54 Tamil political prisoners, including pioneer TELO leaders Kuddimani and Thangathurai, who were massacred inside the Welikade prison in Colombo in the SL state-sponsored pogrom against Eezham Tamils in July 1983.

Julampitiye Amare Ordered By Court To Observe Sil In April

Court order and Amare

An order issued by the Tangalle High Court on Julampitiye Amare in April this year has come under scrutiny by members of the legal fraternity.
While giving due respect to the court, the order issued by the judge in relation to Amare on an attempted murder case in the Middeniya Police Division in Weeraketiya is atrocious and would not help the development of the law.
High Court Judge Chandrasena Rajapaksha on April 23, 2012 has released Amare on previous bail when he had appeared before court after absconding for seven years and ordered him to observe Ata Sil and made to surrender two T56 weapons in his possession in open court.

Sri Lanka: Law & Society Trust Condemns Mannar Court House Attack

The Law & Society Trust views the reported attack on the Mannar court house by a group of persons, allegedly as a result of instigation by a Government Minister over an order made by a judicial officer as well as (reportedly) threatening phone calls made to the Mannar Magistrate cum District Judge regarding the same, with severe concern. It must be noted that an attack on a court house constitutes a most severe infringement of the independence of the judiciary.

Govt. to submit LLRC implementation report to UN soon – Prof. Peiris

The government would submit the report which had listed the implementations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission to the United Nations within the next two or three days, External Affairs Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris told a joint news conference at the External Affairs Ministry auditorium yesterday.  He was addressing the joint news conference with Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga to announce the progress made in the implementation of the recommendations of the Lessons learnt and Reconciliation Commission, at the auditorium of the External Affairs Ministry.

Cabinet approves National Action Plan on LLRC

Read the Report as a PDF
The Cabinet of Ministers yesterday approved the National Action Plan on the implementation of recommendations made by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).  The Plan lists out implementation of recommendations according to Activity, Key Responsible Agency, Key Performance Indicator and Timeframe.
The action plan covers International Humanitarian Issues, Human Rights, Land Return and Resettlement, Restitution/ Compensatory Relief and Reconciliation.
Priu

Sri Lanka: War Abuse Inquiries May Take 5 Years

Sri Lanka estimated Thursday it may take up to five years to investigate alleged killings of ethnic Tamil civilians by government troops at the end of the country's devastating civil war — a timeframe criticized as an attempt to outlast international attention. The government recommended that investigators conclude inquiries into alleged killings within a year and start court proceedings up to four years after that.

Lawyers file petition against minister Bathiudeen

Minister Bathiudeen.

Seven senior lawyers today (July 25) filed a petition in the court of appeal against industries minister Risath Bathiudeen.  They are seeking an order for legal proceedings against the minister on a contempt of court charge.
Threatening the Mannar magistrate, provocation that resulted in an attack on the Mannar courts complex and asking the Judicial Services Commission to transfer the magistrate are the accusations leveled against him.

Fears for deported Tamil man

Daniel Flitton

IMMIGRATION officials have forcibly deported a Tamil man suffering mental health problems to Sri Lanka, despite revelations former asylum seekers have been beaten and tortured on being sent home.
In what threatens to be the first of as many as 150 cases of Tamils being involuntarily sent back to Sri Lanka on failing to win refugee protection in Australia, a man in his early 30s was taken from a detention centre to Tullamarine airport yesterday and put on a flight to Bangkok, bound for Colombo.

The writing on the campus wall

Ahilan Kadirgamar
As with most other societies ravaged by civil war, Sri Lanka’s public institutions have all suffered. Beginning in the late colonial period and continuing into the post-colonial era, the state made critical economic and social investments, particularly in universal free education and health care as well as a strong public service. Indeed, it was these investments that held the country together during the decades of war. The end of the war provided an opportunity to rebuild those state institutions and restructure the state to address the grievances of the minorities.

LLRC witnesses forced to accept death certificates for people handed over to SLA

A group of Sri Lanka Army officers from the JOSSOP camp in Vavuniyaa, which is the operational headquarters of the occupying SL military in Vanni, have been visiting Mullaiththeevu district in recent days, exerting pressure on the families of the missing persons in the district to receive death certificates for the victims. Suresh Premachandran MP of the Tamil National Alliance, who held a press conference in Jaffna on Monday, said that some of the families declare that they had personally handed over their family members at Oamanthai checkpost during the final hours of the war in 2009. “If these members were handed over to the SLA, then the SL military is answerable for their death,” Mr Premachandran said.

Analysis: Bridging the language divide in Sri Lanka:Language could prove key to the country's peace

A street sign in Colombo with Sinhala
at the top followed by Tamil and English

(IRIN) - Enhancing practical efforts to uphold the language rights of millions of ethnic Tamil-speaking Sri Lankans could play a key role in the country’s long-term peace and reconciliation, say analysts and activists.
"Language parity is one of the biggest challenges to Sri Lanka's peace and reconciliation efforts, and indeed its future. Without it, I doubt we will ever be able to move forward,” Wijedasa Rajapakshe, a human rights lawyer and writer on jurisprudence, told IRIN in Colombo, the capital, which is located in the south of the island.

Tamil politicians urge global action in releasing POWs, political prisoners

Addressing a press conference in Vavuniyaa on Tuesday, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) called for immediate release of all political prisoners who are held without any charges in the Sri Lankan prisons. Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, representing the Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) said that the International Community, especially the countries that backed the internal LLRC mechanism of Colombo in the resolution passed at the UN Human Rights Council's Sessions in Geneva earlier this year, are primarily responsible for the fate of the Tamil Prisoners of War and political prisoners. Those who attended the funeral of Nimalarooban, braving the threats posed by the Sri Lankan military and intelligence operatives, told TamilNet that the victim had sustained fatal injuries on his head.

Time to End Arbitrary Detention in Sri Lanka

By Govind Acharya

Right now, hundreds of people are languishing in detention in Sri Lanka. They haven’t been convicted of any crime; indeed, they haven’t even been charged with any crime. Their detentions violate international law. Many of them are tortured while in custody. Some detainees have been killed.
More than three years after the end of Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war, security laws enacted to combat armed opposition groups continue to be used against outspoken, peaceful critics, including journalists, and others.
No one has been held accountable for these crimes. Impunity for human rights violations is the norm in Sri Lanka.

GoSL Version: Minister Bathiudeen denies allegations

Minister of Commerce and Industry Rishad Bathiudeen has reiterated that he never made any threat to the Mannar Magistrate and District Judge, and had not seen the Judge or contacted him over any matter.

He said that as a responsible Minister, he knows the gravity of the crime and the consequence of threatening a member of the Judiciary or interfering in the judicial process.

Sri Lanka: Militarizing the Land and Terrorizing the Minds

Military in Jaffna

by Nirmanusan Balasundaram
 “Given that 75% of the army’s divisions are stationed in the Northern Province, in addition to other formations such as task forces and independent brigades and regimental units, it is not unreasonable to assume that at least 60% of the army, i e, approximately 180,000 personnel, are stationed across the Northern Province.” - Notes on the Military Presence in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province | Economic & Political Weekly, July 14, 2012

Nearly four decades of asymmetric war between the Sri Lankan state and the Tamil guerrillas ended in an unprecedented bloodbath, which was seen by some as “unacceptably high”.

Pathetic plight of war widows in Eastern Province

By Camelia Nathaniel
Despite the fact that it has been three-and-a-half years since the war that ravaged this country ended, the sufferings of thousands of war widows have been ignored. 

These widows continue to live in poverty and suffer from social stigmatisation and economic deprivation, purely because they have lost their husbands.

According to the Assistant Divisional Secretary of Koralai Pattu in Valachchna, there are an estimated 374 war widows in the Koralepattu village in the Valachchenai Divisional Secretariat alone. The majority of them have had no proper education and are struggling to feed their families, said.

How a cabinet Minister threatened a Magistrate cum Additional District Judge

Minister Bathiudeen with President

By Hemantha Warnakulasuriya
One of the worst indictments on JRJ’s tenure was his interference with the judiciary. As a man inebriated with power, he would not permit anyone to correct him or caution him that by his attitude he would eventually destroy himself and the country he rules.The voters were inveigled into believing in the ‘Dharmishta Samajaya’ he promised to establish, when there was, as he opined, freedom of the individual intertwined with the independence of the Judiciary.

MaRa regime orders 14 MI 171 helicopters –during 30 year war only 15 were bought !

The Rosoboron Export Co. of Russia had revealed yesterday (22) that SL has placed an order with that Co. to import a further 14 helicopters of the MI 17 category by middle of this month at a cost of Rs. 40,500 million !
Of the two factories which turn out these MI 17 helicopters , one of them situated in Ulana-uday has already begun manufacturing them .

Anandasangaree appeals on behalf of resettled in Vanni

by V. Anandasangaree

Leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front V. Anandasangaree yesterday pleaded on behalf of resettled internally displaced people, when he said were starving as they had been provided with dry rations enough only for six months.

Anandasangaree in a statement titled ‘Open appeal to leaders of all political parties, important personalities and religious dignitaries in India,’ says: "With limited scope for employment, there is hunger and farmine prevailing, in the Vanni District."

BASL to file charges against Bathiudeen

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) is in the process of finalising charges to be filed against Industries and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen’s alleged actions against the Magistrate of Mannar. 

Child Rape on the Rise in Sri Lanka

By Feizal Samath

 (IPS) - A spate of child rape cases in Sri Lanka has angered child rights activists and moved the government to consider tightening the relevant laws and making the offence punishable with the death sentence.
A government statement released in parliament in May said that of the 1,450 female rape cases reported in 2011, child rape accounted for 1,169, alerting authorities and activists to a rising trend.

Srilankamirror charged under Obscene Publications (Amendment) Act

The CID today (July 23) informed the Colombo Magistrate’s Court that they have found material violating the Obscene Publications Act from the computers seized from the office premises of Srilankamirror.

SL minister Badurdeen competes with SLA on appropriating lands in Vanni amid protests

Jaffna Lawyers protest

While more than 2,000 war-affected families are struggling without lands in Karaithu'raip-pattu division of Mullaiththeevu district, Sri Lankan minister of Trade, Rishard Badurdeen, has planned to appropriate 1,500 acres of forest land along Mu'l'liyava'lai - Nedungkea'ni Road promising the lands to his supporters from elsewhere in the island, sources at Karaithu'raippattu divisional secretariat told TamilNet.

Moral Resilience of Non-Violent Resistance of North-Eastern People is Remarkable

1958: Tamil beaten up by Sinhala gang

By M.A. Sumanthiran M.P
There is a growing trend in the political culture of the North that the rest of the country does not seem to have taken note of.  The advent of the ‘grease yaka’ saw people coming out on to the streets in large numbers to apprehend these offenders, and in several instances, confront military personnel who they thought were harbouring the offenders.

Never ending sorrow of Northern Muslims!

Oct 1990 Jaffna: Muslims expelled

By M.S. Shah Jahan
“Some 40,000 deeds have been given to Tamil refugee families within the past three years. However, not a single plot of land has been provided to any one of the Muslim refugee families in the North.
Why is the Muslim community in the North receiving step motherly treatment?”

Inactive Police Commission is a rich resource for some

According to the Auditor General Rs. 30,852,097 has been spent in 2010 on Police Commission that has been inactive since 9th April, 2009 due to non appointment of members for it.

In the absence of Neelan post-war Tamil Nationalism finds itself in state of ideological disarray and strategic confusion

Neelan

By Asanga Welikala
Sunday 29th July 2012 is the thirteenth death anniversary of Dr Neelan Tiruchelvam, which will be commemorated, as is now customary, with the annual Neelan Tiruchelvam Memorial Lecture.

Calls mount to investigate secret Swiss accounts

Opposition politicians and civil society activists are calling for a full investigation into secretive Swiss bank accounts worth more than US$ 85 million (Rs. 11.2 b) held by wealthy Sri Lankans and institutions. This follows the Sunday Times’ July 1 exclusive exposure of this issue.

Genocidal land grab extended to new division in Batticaloa

The SL state-sponsored genocidal land grab has now reached to Ea'raavoorpattu (Chengkaladi) DS division, civil sources in Batticaloa said. In recent days, Sinhala settlers have cleared several acres of forest along Magncha'l Aaru, located 5 km east of Maha Oya junction on A5 (Chengkaladi-Badulla) highway, renaming the area in Sinhala as ‘Mangalagama’.

PC polls: 23 relatives of govt. politicians in the fray

Despite the SLFP General Secretary, Minister Maithreepala Sirisena, announcing earlier that relatives of the ruling coalition politicians would not be given nominations to contest the forthcoming provincial council elections, 23 relatives of government politicians have been given nominations to contest on the UPFA ticket, the JVP claimed yesterday.

The die is cast for the Lankan judiciary - Kishali Pinto Jayawardane

Akin to the 18th Amendment to the Constitution which had been brewing for quite some time before it was actually passed by a supine Parliament, the uproar in Mannar over the burning of the courts last week was certainly predictable, despite those who threw up their hands in horrified surprise.

Rupavahini pockets public funds donated for tsunami relief

The Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation, the country’s national television network with the widest outreach, has caused raised eyebrows among Parliamentarians in the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), the watchdog body that monitors finances in the state sector.
The reason will no doubt raise many an eyebrow among the public too. The SLRC called for public donations after the devastating tsunami in 2005.

CID collects evidence from phone calls to judge

Pic by R.S. Lambert.

 

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has begun collecting ‘scientific and technical’ evidence from phone calls which Minister Rishad Bathiudeen is alleged to have made to Mannar Magistrate and Additional District Judge Anthonipillai Judeson, threatening him to change a court order.

Blood is thicker in politics: UPFA nominations a family affair

Despite the governments’ assurance that no relatives of politicians would be allowed to contest the upcoming provincial elections, several of them have received the ruling party nominations.�Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva had earlier said the decision to keep relatives out of the provincial elections was aimed at encouraging young politicians to enter active politics.

AG informs SC: Nimalaruban's body will be released to parents

Protest against Nimalruban killing

The Attorney General yesterday filed a motion informing the Supreme Court that the body of Ganeshan Nimala Ruban would be released to his parents on July 23, 2012.

Eastern Provincial Elections and The Muslim Congress – 1

By D.B.S. Jeyaraj
The advent of elections to the Eastern Provincial Council has caused the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) to come under the media spotlight during the past week. There was much interest and speculation over the course of action to be adopted (or not adopted) by the premier political party of the Sri Lankan Muslim people.

Mannar: Disaster waiting to happen, Editorial, The Island

Mannar is said to have returned to normal following Wednesday's violent protests, which left several police personnel injured and a court house and a police station damaged. But, let's not lull ourselves into a false sense of complacency.

Security sections look for ‘intelligence’ in Killinochchi

Military in Kilinochchi

It is reported that youths in various areas in Killinochchi are being forcedly taken away by personnel of the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) to be questioned.  While being questioned many youths are assaulted and scolded using abusive language say these reports.

SL military harasses, confiscates ICRC clearance of ex-LTTE members in Vanni

Military in Jaffna

A psy-ops squad, operated by SL Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, has started to ‘interrogate’ and harass former fighters and members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who have been released after the detention and so-called rehabilitation programme.

Remove Minister Badureen & facilitate criminal prosecution - LfD

Rishad Badurdeen

Responding to the threats exerted by the Cabinet Minister Rishad Badurdeen on the Mannar Magistrate (Mr. A. Judeson), the Lawyers for Democracy (LFD) urges the President to remove the said Minister with immediate effect. Confirmed information discloses that the Minister has interfered with the course of justice and threatened the Magistrate and thereafter the court houses came under attack.

Hakeem denounces threatening of Mannar judge; Arrest the Minister-BASL .

Police became onlookers!

Minister of Justice Rauf Hakeem today stated that as a fellow lawyer and member of the Bar Association, he strongly condemns the alleged threatening of the Mannar Magistrate by a Minister and the attack on the court complex.

Courts close in protest

Work at almost all the courts around the country came to a standstill today in protest over allegations that government Minister Rishard Badhudeen had threatened a judge in Mannar.

Rights Group Warns Shrinking Space for Expression on the Internet and Social Media in Asia

The space for free speech and expression on the Internet and social media in Asia is shrinking and faces increasing challenges, said the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), a Bangkok-based human rights NGO, during the launch of its latest report titled, “Internet and Social Media in Asia: Battleground for Freedom of Expression”, in Tokyo, Japan today.

The Arrogance of Power

by Jayantha Dhanapala and Professor Savitri Goonesekere
The story of a plane, a pilot and a puppy would not ordinarily interest the average Sunday newspaper reader. Add to this an account of an angry and vicious outburst by a powerful public official and you have an explosion which raises issues that should concern all citizens of this country.
The reported response of the Secretary of Defence Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa in a telephone conversation with the editor of the Sunday Leader, Frederica Jansz, is, we believe, unprecedented.

SL Military intelligence alleged of attacking house of prominent Judge in Jaffna

Unknown attackers, believed to be Sri Lankan military intelligence operatives, on Wednesday night attacked the house of Point Pedro District Judge Ms Srinithy Nandasekaran with coconut fruit buds (kurumpaddi) that are hard as stones, causing damage to the roof of her residence.

Lawyers in North protest against SL Minister Badurdeen following violence in Mannaar

Lawyers protesting in Kilinochchi
 

Lawyers and legal employees of Magistrate's Courts in North on Thursday protested against the SL Minister of Trade, Rishard Badurdeen, for inciting community violence at Koanthaippiddi jetty in Mannaar and for causing mob violence against Mannaar Court complex on Wednesday.