Sri Lanka: AHS undergraduate activists assaulted in custody and hospitalised; Academics condemn.

A student leader assaulted  in custody

Of the 17 student activists arrested on Friday, four were admitted to the Accident Ward in the National Hospital yesterday, after sustaining injuries while in police custody.

However, the activists claim that two of the more seriously injured students have not been hospitalised despite pleas, a claim denied by the police. The Student Unions claim that the 13 students were brutally beaten by the police while in custody. The students were arrested at two different locations on Friday.

UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention: CPA Dr. P. Saravanamuttu has applied for the position of the Asia-Pacific member

Dr. Saravanamuttu

SLB

Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, member from Asia-Pacific States

Executive Director of the Centre of Policy Alternatives of Sri Lanka Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu has applied to the position of Asia-Pacific member of the United  Nationas Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. There are 10 candidates for the position, and members will be selected  by June 2014.There are five members in the working group selected to represent all parts of the world.

13 A: India’s decisive response to oppose any dilution of the 13 A is morally necessary and politically imperative

N.Sumanthiran

The Government of Sri Lanka recently revealed its agenda to further restrict minority freedoms and autonomy in the country. It seeks to: (1) repeal constitutional provisions granting people the freedom to determine administrative boundaries (2) amend the Constitution, so as to permit the Central government to freely and arbitrarily legislate on provincial matters — even without the consent of the people of a particular province and (3) remove altogether provincial powers over land and police.

13 A:Tthe media communiqué by inida was pretty much plain talking

A bit of arm twisting by India may be good for Colombo 
Two weeks back, during a Cabinet meeting, as some of his Cabinet Ministers exchanged verbal barbs over the proposed changes to the 13th Amendment, President Rajapaksa, who had been quietly listening to the heated exchange of words, broke the silence to remind them that he knows how to obtain the required two-thirds majority, in order to pass the proposed amendments, if he wishes to do so.

Leftist parties to boycott PSC on 13 A

The leftist parties of the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) have decided to boycott the proposed Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on removing land and police powers devolved to the Provincial Councils.
A spokesman for the leftist alliance said they have been informed by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) that they too will not be participating in the PSC.

TMVP/ Pillayan is against changes to the 13th Amendment

The Leader of the T,.M.T.P party and the Member of the Eastern Provincial Council Sivanathurai Chandrakanthan has had a central committee meeting to discuss about  the 13th amendment. It was unanimously agreed that amendments or to withdrawals of powers they are not agreeable.

Minister urged to publish reports on prison riots soon - Friday Forum

Chandrasiri G 410pxPrison Reforms Minister Chandrasiri Gajhadeera has been urged by the Friday Forum- the Group of Concerned Citizens to publish soon the reports on the Welikada and Vavuniya prison riots.
The letter signed by Jayantha Dhanapala and Prof. Savitri Goonesekere notes that when persons in the custody of a state institution meet with violent death it is a matter of the widest public concern, well beyond the immediate one of the victims and their families.

LLRC Recommendations Not Met by 13A - Offcial website of the GoSL

The recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) have come to be accepted by the International Community judging from the repeated references to it both nationally and internationally, in complete disregard to the Government’s National Plan of Action that was developed by incorporating selected recommendations in the LLRC Report. In the meantime, India while supporting International Resolutions to implement LLRC Recommendations is also insistent that Sri Lanka implement the 13th Amendment evidently unaware of significant incompatibilities between the two.

Les Misérables in Colombo Court

 A Colombo Court yesterday (29) released a suspect from a case that was dragging on for ten years over the theft of Rs. 50.

It transpired in Court that the suspect was reported to have been kept under remand custody for over three months.

Colombo Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage who perused the case proceedings expressed surprise when he found that the case filed against suspect Indika Maduranga of Akuressa had dragged on for ten years.

What is the position of the TNA with regard to its President Mr Premachandran’s statement of interim adminstration?

Meeting in Jaffna

Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka
It was doubtless in the spirit of the Sinhala-Tamil New Year that the Tamil (ultra?) nationalists presented the Sinhala hawks the gift of especially moronic remarks to the visiting Indian parliamentary delegation.
Here we are, with the 13th Amendment and provincial level devolution hanging by a thread, the most important state official in the island advocating its abolition

New arrest wave hits East: Long retired Tigers also detained

The exercise of sending ex-militants to rehabilitation again was begun by the Defense Ministry in Batticaloa at the beginning of this month (February 13th 2013). And under this so far six people have been arrested from Mandur, Kathiraveli, Mangkeni and Naasiventhivu and sent to the Boosa Detention Camp.