Dead bodies in exclusion zone - British MEP

Charles Haviland
 The number of civilian war deaths remains hotly disputed
A Member of the European Parliament who’s just led a delegation visiting Sri Lanka says he believes there are many bodies of dead civilians buried in exclusion zones where the final fighting of the civil war took place in 2009.

HR Action Plan spurring wide benefits

*President committed to improving HR status *Economic, social development gaining hugely
The government yesterday said that the implementation of the National Human Rights Action Plan (NHRAP) will help enhance the massive achievements already made in the protection of human rights and that it will bring positive benefits in the form of economic and social development and tranquillity.

At UN, Pillay Says Deferring Sri Lanka Visit Until LLRC Report, Won't Count Deaths

Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, When High Commissioner on Human Rights Navi Pillay appeared at the UN on Friday, Inner City Press asked her about inaction on the killing of civilians in Sri Lanka, including the performance of the UN and certain high UN officials. Inner City Press also asked how many civilians she believed had been killed in Sri Lanka, and if she was seeking a second terms of HCHR.

Social activists: Colombo must resolve the Tamil question

Melani Manel Perera
" Tamil Indians " in Sri Lanka (originally from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu) still have no right to citizenship or basic rights: work, food, home and land. Even women and children suffer discrimination. Although Sri Lanka is a signatory of the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Some retired judges breaking the law: MinistryS

ANDUN A. JAYASEKERA
The Justice Ministry is in a quandary as to how to reclaim millions of rupees worth of movable and immovable properties from several retired High Court Judges who continue to use these properties illegally even after several years of retirement, a senior ministry official said yesterday.

Sri Lanka lawmaker speaks for food freedoms, voiceless minority

(LBO) - A Sri Lankan lawmaker has spoken out for food freedoms, after a fellow parliamentarian and prime minister proposed banning an imported food heavily consumed by Tamil speaking minority citizens.
Harsha de Silva, a lawmaker representing Sri Lanka's main opposition spoke out against a proposal by Prime Minister D M Jayaratne to ban the import of wheat flour.

Rauff ready to convey pardon plea

Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem said today he would consider appealing to President Mahinda Rajapaksa to pardon former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka if such a request was made by Mr. Fonseka’s family members.

Underworld operative kidnappe

(Srilankamirror) - A man said to be a leading underworld operative in Thalawathugoda has been kidnapped. Police sources said along with two of his accomplices, the man nicknamed ‘Sudda’ was abducted at Athurugiriya.

Abductions escalate in North, families urged to approach Co-Chair Ambassadors in Colombo

[TamilNet]
21-year-old Tharsan Kannuchamy, who was earlier released after detention by the Sri Lanka Army following Vanni war, has been reported missing since Monday this week, according to a complaint lodged by his family with the SL Police in Chu'n'naakam in Jaffna. Mr. Tharsan was last seen leaving for work to a shop in Jaffna from Uduvil, where his family has recently settled after living in the nearby town of Chu'n'naakam.

Government says 'sorry' for nun's arrest

Sri Lanka Government says it apoloises for the raid of Missionaries of Charity Convent in Moratuwa and the arrest of its superior nun. "This is a serious and very sensitive issue. The apology by the cabinet minister responsible for the subject is a clear indication of the government's stand on this matter" Cabinet Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told media on Thursday.

White vans now dole out justice!

Gayan Kumara Weerasingha
The infamous white vans are back in circulation, only they’ve switched targets. It’s not LTTE suspects or members of the media anymore but underworld bigwigs and drug traffickers who are now looking over their shoulders. Karate Dhammika, a high profile mafioso type, fell victim to the white van 7-1operation but a few weeks ago.

Namal Perera, Sarath Fonseka and the plight of Sri Lankan media

 Lucinda Fleeson
There’s a saying that Sri Lanka has plenty of media freedom. Journalists are free to write whatever they wish, and everyone else is free to kill them. So I tried to hide my worry as I stood at the curb in the passenger drop-off lane at Dulles International Airport outside Washington , D.C. , in late September 2009 and hugged Namal Perera as he set off for home on the South Asia island off the coast of India .

STF deserter mows down girl friend’s family

An STF deserter on Wednesday night killed father, mother and elder sister of his 19-year-old girl friend, Harshini Nirosha Satharasinghe, before shooting himself dead at Kotaweheramankada in the Hambegamuwa police area.STF deserter mows down girl friend’s family

SL Police backed robbery group exposed in Mannaar

 [TamilNet] The Sri Lankan Police in the city of Mannaar has been backing a 10-member gang to fuel communal hatred among the sections of Tamil speaking people in Mannaar, legal sources in the city told TamilNet Tuesday. The ploy has come to light after the gang leader with Muslim name, allegedly a convert from Hindu background, has been caught following a number of criminal acts in the city.

"Groundless accusations against the sisters of the missionaries of charity and 'Prem Nivasa' "

“ Some news papers in the published articles, had mentioned about money being taken by the Sisters for adoption, in some news papers, it was Rs. 07 lakhs or Rs.35, 000/= and different figures were given. These are totally lies. Some news papers reported saying that they found a couple who had come at that time with Rs.35,000/= to take a child for adoption.
INSIDE STORY: Prem Nivasa- who ? what ? why?

Land Issues in the Northern Province - Post-War Politics, Policy and Practices

Land Issues in the Northern Province: Post-War Politics, Policy and Practices by Senior Researchers Bhavani Fonseka and Mirak Raheem at the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) is the most recent endeavour by CPA to critique and provide alternatives to land and related issues in the post-war Northern Province in Sri Lanka.

‘Tolerance of Sinhalese is not cowardice’

(Srilankamirror) - Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka has warned all anti-Sinhalese forces against taking tolerance, a characteristic of the Sinhalese, as a sign of cowardice.  He was speaking at a function organized by the JHU to mark the eighth death anniversary of Ven. Gangodawila Soma Thera, lankacnews reported.

‘Farewell my dear Father’: A tribute by a daughter to a fine human being

Ruwandi Silva
 Death,deprivation,loss and suffering is not necessarily the monopoly of Tamils in Sri Lanka alone. Other ethnicities have also suffered , many at the hands of those belonging to the Tamil ethnicity. As for the majority community there was a particular brand of violence which victimized them greatly.I am talking of the two insurrections in 1971 and 1988-89 by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna(JVP).

Sri Lanka media group challenges websites blocking

BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI
 A media rights group has filed a court challenge over the Sri Lankan government's blocking of five news websites for content that was deemed insulting, a spokesman said Tuesday. The local Free Media Movement filed a fundamental rights application in the Supreme Court on Monday on the basis that the blockade breaches the people's right to information and freedom of expression, the group's convener, Sunil Jayasekara, said.

Sri Lanka under fire over PR firm Bell Pottinger speech President Rajapaksa's UN speech was allegedly ghost-written by Bell Pottinger

Sri Lanka has strongly denounced a report in a UK newspaper which said a leading lobbying company wrote a speech on behalf of the president. In a report on Tuesday, the Independent quoted a Bell Pottinger company spokesman as saying it wrote a speech the president gave to the UN in 2010.

We wrote Sri Lankan President's civil war speech, say lobbyists

Exposed: Public relations firm's dealings with some of the world's most controversial regimes
Senior executives at Bell Pottinger told undercover reporters that they were so influential that they had written a key speech given by the Sri Lankan President to the United Nations.

High profile money lender abducted .

A 55 year old businessman who was known to be a high profile money lender in Kotahena had been abducted this morning resulting in protests in the area, the police said.

Free media seeks SC order to lift ban on websites

Sarath Dharmasena
 The Free Media Movement yesterday filed a fundamental rights violation petition in the Supreme Court seeking the lifting of the ban on five websites in Sri Lanka.  The websites named were Sri Lanka Mirror, Lanka Guardian, Lanka E-News, Lanka News Web and Papparazi news.com

Strategic Batticaloa borderland appropriated for colonisation

[TamilNet] 2,500 acres of lands in Mangka'la Aaru, located along Chengkaladi-Badulla A-5 road, a border village of Batticaloa district, are to be sold to Sinhala businessmen and to foreign investors, informed sources in Paduvaankarai told TamilNet.

Latest abduction suspicion on Govt

Ruwan Chandimal Depp was abducted by a group claimed to be policemen, says his wife
Police in Sri Lanka said that the family of an alleged underworld figure lodged a complaint over his abduction.
Police spokesman Ajith Rohana told BBC Sandeshaya that police in Warakapola has received the complaint of the abduction of Ruwan Chandimal Depp early Sunday.