Minister Weerawansa tells President Rajapaksa to drop International experts at once!

No Intl Experts for probe! - Wimal

Wimal Declares War On International Experts Appointed By President 

The Jathika Nidahas Peramuna led by Minister Wimal Weerawansa has raised objection over the appointments of international experts as consultants to the Sri Lankan Commission inquiring into the cases of missing persons. Writing a letter to the President today, Minister Wimal Weerawansa has said international experts are “puppets” who are serving the international judicial system that is only serving the interests of western imperialists.

Sri Lanka: Rajapaksa's internatioanl experts to study Darusman report

Members of the panel,
including Darusman  with UN SG

◾Experts say Govt. asked them to advise ‘local commission probing alleged war crimes by all parties to conflict’

◾‘Coming in with an open mind’: Ex-UN war crimes prosecutor David Crane

◾Foreign advisors to seek clarification on disputed matters from Govt. and Army

Dharisha Bastians

UNP accuses Government on appointing foreign experts to war crime probe

U turn?

UNPThe main opposition United National Party (UNP) today accused the Government of making a U-turn on investigations over the war by expanding the mandate of the missing persons commission and also appointing three foreign experts to oversee the investigation. The UNP noted that a proclamation issued by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gazetted on July 15, among other matters, calls for an investigation into alleged war crimes.

Sri Lanka: Was It A Genocide? – Analysis

IDPs in Vanni

Dr. Parasaran Rangarajan

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were one of the most advanced militant groups in the world listed as the world’s greatest terrorist threat by the United States (U.S.) Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) ahead of Al-Qaeda¹. A lot has been made out of the destruction of the LTTE and end of the civil war in Sri Lanka ending in a bloody scene for civilians in the early months of 2009. However, the question which lingers in the minds of the international community is was the final stage a “genocide” under the cannons of international law?

Sri Lanka: JHU objects to apponiment of internationnal experts

The government’s appointment of a committee as an alternative to Navi Pillai’s committee is an infringement by the government of its own policy of opposing outside mediation, says the government affiliate JHU in a statement. The statement by its media spokesman Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe says his party has neither been informed nor consulted as a UPFA partner regarding the appointment of the committee. Warning the country about this committe, the JHU says it strongly objects to its appointment.

Sri Lanka govt. says UN panel’s sittings overseas unjustified

Mass grave, Sri Lanka ( file photo)

The government has strongly opposed the decision by UN panel to initiate investigations into alleged human rights violations and war crimes against the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE, in three separate places overseas, terming it as an unjustifiable move. Foreign media reported that the three member committee panel appointed by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), on this regard, will be holding hearings in New York, Geneva and Bangkok.

UN team on Sri Lanka to have sittings at New York, Geneva and Bangkok

Navi Pillay

The UN team, which has been put together to investigate allegations of human rights violations and war crimes against the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), will be holding hearings in New York, Geneva and Bangkok, Express news service of India said. The team constituted by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), would of course seek permission to hold sittings in Sri Lanka. But it is unlikely to get it as the Lankan government has rejected any international probe.

Sri Lanka: Scepticism Over Latest Probe [on war deaths]

Sir Desmond , Prof Crane and Sir Geoffre

• Analysts fear three experts’ advice may end like IIEGP

By Easwaran Rutnam

The Government announcement last week that the mandate of the Presidential Commission on missing persons had been expanded to investigate civilian deaths during the war and the appointment of three internationally acclaimed experts to advice the commission came as a surprise to many. Some fear if the advice of the three prominent experts are highly critical then they may just end up in the bin like the International Independent Eminent Group of Persons (IIEGP) in 2008.

Sri Lanka: Experts To Seek Fair Probe; OHCHR To Monitor Developments

Mavil Aru 2005 (photo:raedtiger)

 Easwaran Rutnam
The Chairman of the three-member Advisory Council appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa last week to the Commission of Inquiry on Missing Persons, which has now been tasked to investigate alleged war crimes, says he will look to ensure the investigation is conducted in a fair manner. President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed Sir Desmond de Silva as the Chairman of the Commission while Sir Geoffrey Nice and Professor David Crane are the others experts in the Advisory Council.

It has now become absolutely clear, that what took place at Aluthgama/Beruwela should be seen as a Government-backed anti-Muslim pogrom

Aluthgama carnage

Sri Lanka Muslims have to turn to  the most effective instrument available: the international community 

Sri Lankan Muslims at the cross roads 09 –  by Izeth Hussain

The present article and my earlier ones of July 5 and 12 are meant to constitute a unity, focusing on the questions of what really the Aluthgama/Beruwela outrages signify, and what action can be taken by the Muslims to safeguard their lives and their legitimate interests. I concluded my last article by arguing that the Muslims should, in order to safeguard their legitimate interests, turn to the Government, even though it is carrying out an anti-Muslim project, and also have recourse to the civil society.

Sri Lanka FM G.L. Peiris blame UN probe team of hypocrisy

Rupert Colville

External Affairs Miniter, Prof. G. L. Peiris yesterday said that the government of Sri Lanka couldn’t accept a secret investigation team tasked with inquiring into alleged atrocities committed during the eelam war IV.
Prof. Peiris was responding to yesterday’s The Island exclusive headlined ‘UN sidesteps critical issues, refuses to name investigation team’ with strapline ‘OHCHR’s and Pillay’s positions contradictory.’

Govt. gets going on domestic inquiry

• President appoints three international war crimes prosecutors to advise Commission
• Disappearances Commission mandate broadened to probe civilian deaths during final stages of war
• Commission to probe if armed forces adhered to laws of armed conflict and humanitarian law
• Mandate expanded based on LLRC report section dealing with civilian deaths in No Fire Zone in 2009

By Dharisha Bastians

Sri Lanka: Time to shake up Sri Lanka’s “business as usual” with India

''   India should prevail upon Rajapaksa for a course correction in keeping with his promises to India on resuming the political process with the Tamil representatives.
   Rajapaksa should be made to address concerns of India and international community on Sri Lanka’s accountability for alleged human rights violations and war crimes articulated in the UNHRC resolutions.

 Col. R. Hariharan

Over hundred Vavuniya camp POWs killed on Gota’s order - Army commanding chief gives evidence

(File photo)

The International investigation team appointed by the UN human rights Council to inquire into the alleged crimes committed during the final phase of the war and other grave human rights violations across the country commenced its proceedings officially day before yesterday (15) . A high ranking commanding officer of the army told Lanka e news that he is ready to give evidence before the international human rights commission pertaining to the war crimes.

Sri Lanka Govt appoints international experts to investigate war deaths

''I am of the opinion that it is expendient that the said Commission of Inquiry should have the benefit of the advice of distinguished international experts, whose internationally recognized expertise and experience encompasses legal and other relevant dimensions of the matters set out above. I hereby appoint the following to serve on an Advisory Council to the Commission of Inquiry to which I may appoint other experts as may be required from time to time, to advise the Chairman and Members of the Commission of Inquiry, at their request, on matters pertaining to the work of the Commission''
Read full gazette below:

Sri Lanka Urges U.S. to Reduce Human Rights Focus as China Gains

Sri Lanka is urging the U.S. to avoid letting human rights concerns dominate the relationship between the countries five years after the end of a civil war that killed as many as 40,000 civilians.
Reconciliation in Sri Lanka is occurring at a “rapid pace” and the government is focused on strengthening its economy, Sajin de Vass Gunawardena, a lawmaker and coordinating secretary to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, said in an interview in Washington. Human rights issues shouldn’t hinder closer economic ties with the U.S., he said.

Sri Lanka's Downward Spiral; It has ramifications that extend well beyond a small island nation

The U.S. Congressional Caucus on Ethnic and Religious Freedom in Sri Lanka held a hearing on July 9 in Washington, D.C. The caucus, created in 2013, is co-chaired by Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) and Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio). It remains to be seen how effective this newly created group will be but -- given the recent developments in Sri Lanka -- there is no question that there was plenty to discuss at the gathering.

Aside from the persistent ethnic and religious violence that plagues the country, the war-torn island nation is still grappling with a bunch of problems as it struggles to make the transition from a postwar country to a post-conflict one.

UN Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions seeks Sri Lanka visit

Christof Heyns

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns has sought a visit to Sri Lanka.The Special Rapporteur had even last year sought a visit to Sri Lanka but to no avail. Heyns has said that he encourages the Governments of Sri Lanka and a few other countries to accept his pending request for a visit. The Special Rapporteur had recently called on the Sri Lankan authorities to take urgent and firm measures to bring the perpetrators of the killings in Aluthgama to justice and ensure the immediate adoption of robust protective measures.

Asylum-seekers in Sri Lanka: Paradise lost

The Economist

DOZENS of Pakistani asylum-seekers have been locked up in a detention camp in southern Sri Lanka following mass arrests that the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, says it never saw coming. The sweep started on June 9th in Negombo, a breezy seaside resort famous for its churches and beaches,on Sri Lanka’s west coast. Police went door-to-door with immigration officials and rounded up 142 men in seven days. Families wailed as the men were whisked away, without explanation, to a notorious prison known for housing terrorist suspects.

Ramphosa assured TNA that South African involvment would be complementary to Indian and Western initiatives

Ramphosa in Jaffna

Wigneswaran briefs Tamil journalists on meeting South African Envoy Ramaphosa

A South African delegation, comprising South Africa's Special Envoy to Sri Lanka and South Sudan, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Nomaindia Mfeketo, the deputy minister of South African International Relations and Cooperation, visited Jaffna on Tuesday and spent one hour with Northern Provincial Council (NPC) Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran. Addressing the press following his meeting with the South African delegation, Mr Wigneswaran said Mr Ramaphosa assured him that the 'South African involvement' would not be contradictory to the 'political initiatives' by New Delhi and to the Geneva-based war-crime process supported by the Western countries.