A case of homes, schools and livelihoods sacrificed in the name of security

Meera SrinivasanIt has been a long while since the Jaffna school lost its building to the Sri Lankan army — which uses it for its High Security Zone (HSZ) — in 1990.
Between classes on Friday, their last working day before Christmas break, a few children at one of the oldest public schools in Jaffna were running about, giggling and chasing one another. The name plate outside had in bold letters its name: ‘Nadeswara College, Kanakesanthurai’.

SRI Lanka: JHU, Buddhist Monks party calls for the arrest of PM

Prime Minister D. M Jayarathne should immediately resign or he should be arrested immediately if he fails to divulge the name of the official who had asked for the clearance of a container which had 131 Kg of heroin, the Jathika Hela Urumaya said.

Sri Lanka: Ruling party MP Suriyapperuma goes on a tirade against Singh, Cameron and Obama; FM, G.L.Peiris not perturbed

85-year old parliamentarian, who is four years older than the Indian premier calls him ‘nakiya’

UPFA National List MP J.R.P.Suriyapperuma hurled abuses at Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Parliament yesterday calling him an old man (nakiya) and a fool who will soon be thrown out of power by the Indian people. Eighty five year-old Mr. Suriyapperuma, who is four years older than the Indian Prime Minister directed his ire at Premier Singh for failing to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) held in Colombo last month.

Truth and reconciliation without whitewash : the message of Nelson Madela to Sri Lanka

National Peace Council
With the passing away of Nelson Mandela the world has lost one of the greatest and most extraordinary human beings of modern times who showed that change that improved the lives of all around was possible. As the first post-apartheid era President of South Africa, he led the transformation of his country from one that was ostracized by the world to one that is admired as a beacon of hope.  The National Peace believes that his greatest contribution to South Africa and to the world was to ensure that anger over crimes of the past, including his 27 years as a political prisoner, would not motivate future laws and actions.

Sri Lanka: President to meet Kenyan leader

Uhuru Kenyatta

President Mahinda Rajapaksa will head to Kenya for talks, at a time the Kenyan leadership is facing a trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
President’s spokesman Mohan Samaranayake said that President Rajapaksa will first travel to South Africa to pay his respects to the late South African President Nelson Mandela.

On violation of citizens' right to information and social dialogue through blocking of news websites

Press Release
This is to notify the public that their right to information and social dialogue that can only be safeguarded through uninterrupted, free and independent functioning of media that now extends into web sites with access to internet, is being severely obstructed by the Rajapaksa regime that claims it stands for freedom of expression, media freedom and independence.

CHOGM mooted TRC, ill-fit for Sri Lanka, say ANU fellow, legal scholar

Establishing a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) modeled on the South Africa (SA) experience, viewed by Sri Lanka backers as an urgent need to mitigate possible strong actions by the International Community against Sri Lanka over its rights violations, appears as an imminent outcome from the recently concluded Commonwealth Meeting [CHOGM]. But a Sri Lanka journalist who is a visiting Australian National University fellow, says whereas in the post-apartheid South Africa context and under the leadership of Mandela, TRC was made to work in SA, in Sri Lanka proposing a TRC without defining what it means, makes the effort appear only as "another procrastinating tactic."

Sri Lanka: Chief Minister of the NPC called for international action on sinhalese colanisation in North

 The Chief Minister of the NPC called  for international action against the Sri Lankan government’s program of settling Sinhalese families on Tamil-owned land forcibly appropriated by the military.
He said he had done everything possible to appease the Sinhalese and win back Tamil rights and he had reached the end of his journey. Now he calls for international action to stop colonisation of the North-East.

South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission process will not succeed in Sri Lanka

by Niran Anketell

Reconcilation & conflict resolution    As the dust settles on the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Colombo, the press has reported that Sri Lanka may be considering the establishment of a South Africa style Truth and Reconciliation Commission with the assistance of the Commonwealth and South African government.

Sri Lanka: TNA ready to offer active support to address the accountability issues

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) today offered active support to the government to address the accountability issue if the government meets certain conditions.
Among the conditions, the TNA said is the need for the government to agree to make an honest effort to address the issue with an open mind and work with the international community including India and the US and learn from the South African experience.

Nelson Mandela life story: An unconquerable spirit

Ahmed Kathrada

“Mdala” – “old man”, as Nelson Mandela and I used to call each other on informal occasions – was, like all human beings, not free of weaknesses and failings. He was an uncommon amalgam of the peasant and the aristocrat; the democrat par excellence, but not without a touch of the autocrat; at once proud and simple; soft and tenacious; determinedly obstinate and flexible; vain and shy; cool and impatient. He was, however, always a people’s person.

Prison life is tailor-made to bring to the fore the best and the worst in human beings. Mdala – during our years together on Robben Island and, later, at Pollsmoor – stood with the rest of us in every aspect of prison life, through the bad and through the good. He was offered better clothing and better food by the authorities; he refused.

DMK for probe into war crimes in Sri Lanka

The DMK has issued a notice seeking a discussion, under Rule 193 in the Lok Sabha, against the human rights violations and war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan defence forces against Tamils during the civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Banned by the Censor borad. President clears political satire Pusswedilla after a protest

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has cleared the latest edition of the popular political satire ‘Pusswedilla’ to be staged after the Colombo Gazette had reported that the censor board had banned the new comedy.
The Director of Pusswedilla, Feroz Kamardeen, told the Colombo Gazette that the President had contacted him today and inquired about the censor board ban.

Sri Lanka: BASL demands end to military involvement in police functions

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has requested the government not to extend the validity of gazette notification 1817/331, whereby the armed forces may be called out to maintain public order in all parts of the country.
"The said Gazette appears unnecessary, disproportionate and imprudent and could lead to great abuse as was evident from the serious incidents that transpired at Rathupaswala, Weliweriya in August this year", it said.

India to host Northern Chief Minister Wigneswaran next month

India is planning to host Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister Justice C. V. Wigneswaran next month. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid had extended an invitation to Wigneswaran when he met him in Jaffna in October.

Sri Lanka: Death of 3 suspects in Po;ice custody; another case of extra judicial killings - BASL

Dead body of a killed suspect

The explanation given by the police regarding the death of three suspects who were under police custody arrested in connection with the killing of a police officer and his wife at Kamburupitiya, is unacceptable and the whole incident smells of another case of extra judicial killing.
 The explanation that the 1st suspect arrested was killed by police firing when the suspect (was hand cuffed) tried to pick up a weapon to shoot at the police officer, when the suspect was taken to recover the weapons used in the crime and the explanation given regarding the deaths of the two suspects attested few days later that the suspects have fled from police custody (hand cuffed), and jumped into the Denagama tank is hilarious. The circumstances surrounding the death of these suspects need investigation by a special commission.

South Africa: Nelson Mandela’s Death a Tremendous Loss; Life Epitomized Brave Struggle for Freedom, Equality, Justice

(Johannesburg) – The death of Nelson Mandela on December 5, 2013, is a tremendous loss, not only for South Africa, but for the world. 

Mandela, who led the decades-long struggle against apartheid in South Africa, was jailed for 27 years for his activism. Released in 1990, Mandela became South Africa’s first post-apartheid president in 1994. He was widely credited for shepherding the country’s peaceful transition to a more equitable and democratic system.

Sri Lanka: Police and a pro-government gang intimidate and threaten peaceful women protesters

FMM PRESS RELESE


The Free Media Movement expresses its concern that the police and the pro government violent gangs are continuing to violate the people's inalienable right to peaceful assembly in Sri Lanka disrupting and threatening them.

Sri Lanka: Victims coerced to produce false affidavits on controversial birth control in Vanni

Colombo has instructed Tamil health officials in Ki’linochchi district to obtain ‘affidavits’ from women who were subjected to a controversial coercive population control in three coastal villages of the district. The women are being approached to sign a document stating that they received subdermal implants on their own request for contraceptive protection.

Will MR pit India against South Africa?

Rajapaksha abd Zuma

Upul Joseph Fernando
 Mahinda seems to have hit upon the idea of a new strategy to counter the looming threat of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), adopting another damaging resolution at its upcoming March 2014 sessions. This new strategy is to accept the involvement of South Africa in the reconciliation process, as it had evidently shown much interest in it from about 2012. South African Ambassador in Sri Lanka at the time was the key player in setting the diplomatic ball rolling in that direction, by encouraging and organizing a visit by the South African Deputy Foreign Minister to the country, on a sort of fact-finding mission.

DMK to flag Lanka's alleged war crimes, Katchatheevu island

Katchatheevu

DMK would demand a resolution for an independent inquiry into the alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka and raise the issue of retrieving Katchatheevu from Sri Lanka in the winter session of Parliament.
Briefing reporters after an all-party meeting convened ahead of the winter session of Parliament here today, DMK Parliamentary leader T R Baalu said his party would also seek a discussion on the outcome of CHOGM summit held recently in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka heroin scam hits office of PM Jayaratne

Charles Haviland
DM Jayaratne DM Jayaratne said that that police investigations into the heroin seizure are continuing Sri Lanka's prime minister has ordered staff not to write letters in his name, after drug traffickers obtained a letter written by a secretary in his office to authorise a heroin shipment.
DM Jayaratne said that action would be taken against the sender.

Wigneswaran complains to UN Special Rapporteur Dr. Beyani re militarisation

Dr. Beyani

Ananth Palakidnar
Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C.V. Wigneswaran, had urged the United Nations to assist in removing the obstacles created due to the heavy military presence in the Northern Province, when he met the on IDPs, Dr. Chaloka Beyani. He is on a five-day tour in Sri Lanka.
Dr. Beyani who arrived from Geneva, visited Jaffna and met the Chief Minister at his office yesterday. Provincial Councillor, Ananthi Sasitharan, was also present during the meeting. Dr. Beyani had verified in detail about the post-war humanitarian and the political development in the Northern Province.

US: Patience with Sri Lanka could 'wear thin'

Nisha Biswal

MATTHEW PENNINGTON
WASHINGTON (AP) — International patience could wear thin with Sri Lanka unless it takes action to address allegations of atrocities during the island nation's civil war, the top U.S. diplomat for South Asia said Tuesday. Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal stopped short of endorsing a deadline set last month by British Prime Minister David Cameron, who said he would call for a U.N.-backed inquiry into allegations of war crimes unless there was progress on postwar reconciliation by March.

SRI LANKA: The Unfair impeachment of the Chief Justice? Unfair Inquiry of only "Six Hours"- detailed facts & truths.

The most astonishing, outrageous and mysterious aspect of the Impeachment proceedings is: How? The entirety of the 'actual Inquiry proper' of examining and recording of all the evidence of several witnesses, producing and marking enormous amount of complicated documents, was speedily and hurriedly rushed, in about Five Hours, of one continuous sitting, on the 7^th and the deliberation, preparation?