Tamils in Malaysia held a protest on Thursday against the former Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa's visit to the country for the Asian Political Parties summit during September 1 - 4. Burning an effigy of the former president, protesters decried him as a war criminal who had massacred Tamils in Sri Lanka. The deputy chief minister of Penang, P Ramasamy also criticised the Malaysian government's invitation to Rajapaksa stating the invitation was insensitive to the feelings of Tamils given his role during the end of the armed conflict. “Rajapaksa is infamous for unleashing terror on...
Photograph: Adaderana.lk Dozens of Sinhalese protestors had to be dispersed by Sri Lankan police as they demonstrated against UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon in Colombo today, as he embarked on a visit of the island this week. Sinhala parliamentarians and Buddhist monks staged the demonstration on Thursday, despite a court order against any protests. Police were forced to hold back the demonstrators as they marched towards the United Nations compound in Colombo, where the UN Secretary General was due to arrive. "The UN is asking for investigations to punish us for defeating terrorism," said...
Mr Ban arrived on Wednesday evening to Sri Lanka, following a visit to Myanmar to embark on his visit of the island. As he visited the UN office, Sinhala protesters gathered outside, condemning the UN's push for accountability for mass atrocities committed during the final stages of the armed conflict. He held talks with the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday evening shortly after arriving. An official press release said the two "exchanged views on the status of development in areas of deepening democratic governance, delivering the transitional justice agenda and promoting...
The Sri Lankan Campaign called on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to demand Sri Lanka provide a “full and proper reckoning” for human rights abuses, as he landed on the island on Wednesday. Campaign Director of the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice Fred Carver wrote to the secretary general ahead of his visit, stating that “Sri Lanka’s transition from armed conflict to a lasting and a sustainable peace is far from complete, and it is important to maintain the high level of international pressure and scrutiny necessary to see it through”. "Ongoing violations of human rights, including...
Human rights activists in Toronto marked the International Day of the Disappeared this week, with a seminar highlighting the parallels between the experiences of “disappearances” in Poland and Sri Lanka. August 30 th marks the International Day of the Disappeared – a day focusing on the egregious human rights violations faced by those who have “disappeared” in conflict, migration and other contexts of violence . Originally commemorated following the efforts of several local and regional groups in Latin America that collectively formed the Latin American Federation of Associations for...
There is evidence to implicate Sri Lankan military intelligence officers in the disappearance of the journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda, the attorney general told the country's supreme court on Tuesday. The additional solicitor general was quoted by the Colombo Page as stating, "two army intelligence officers posing as two LTTE members had built a personal friendship with the missing cartoonist and they have abducted the journalist and taken away to the Girithale army camp." Mr Ekneligoda, who was a cartoon journalist critical of the former president's regime, disappeared six years ago.
A 26 year old former LTTE cadre was detained and taken into a white van in Kilinochchi on Tuesday, locals reported. The detention has not been confirmed by the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID), who has been responsible for recent white van abductions and detentions of former LTTE cadres in the North-East. News of the latest detention has sparked fear within families of former LTTE cadres living in Kilinochchi, who continue to be visited by TID officers claiming to be carrying out 'routine investigations'.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) called for medical facilities to be established in order to deal with shrapnel injuries. Stating that over 1000 Tamils were living with shrapnel embedded into their bodies as a result of bomb blasts in Vavuniya and Jaffna, the TNA MP Shivasakthi Ananthan called on the government to take action. He added that 113 were students, the Daily Mirror reported.
Sri Lanka’s flagship airline carrier is set to face losses of $50 million with the upcoming closure of Colombo airport’s only runway, reports IANS . SriLankan Airlines will lose 17% of its seat capacity during the closures, set to take place for 8 hours every day from January through to April 2017. The struggling airline is facing a debt of almost $4 billion, with the Sri Lankan government calling the company a “landmine” for the economy, says Xinhua . The airline faced even more controversy recently after a pilot failed an alcohol test moments before he was due to take off with a plane full...
MDMK chief Vaiko called on the United Nations Human Rights Council and the Red Cross to help locate the whereabouts of Tamils who had disappeared during the final stages of the armed conflict. In a statement in India, he highlighted the disappearances of several LTTE leaders, some of whom had been photographed under Sri Lankan military custody. Amongst them are thought to be LTTE leaders Yogi, Baby Subramaniam and political wing leader Ezhilan. “There is no information about them even though seven years have passed since the end of the war,” said Vaiko. “There are reports that the captured...