• British officials met Sri Lankan military advisers shortly after 70,000 Tamil civilian deaths in May 2009

    Aug 07
    The Police in Northern Ireland (PSNI) held a meeting between British officials and a Sri Lankan military adviser a month over 70,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the Sri Lankan government’s final onslaught in May 2006, reports The Guardian.

    A freedom of information request resulted in UK government lawyers confirming  that no official minutes were taken during the meeting, in Belfast between the two parties.

    A researcher from the pressure group Corporate Watch, who submitted the Freedom of Information (FOI) request raised questions over Britain’s demeanour with the Sri Lankan government after May 2009.

    Speaking to The Guardian Phil Miller said,

    “We are being kept in the dark about what went on at this Belfast meeting. Did Britain raise any concerns about Sri Lanka’s massacre of Tamils before it let the PSNI continue its role as ‘critical friends’ with Colombo?”

    Yasmine Ahmed, from Rights Watch UK, said

    "The British public has a right to know the nature and extent of UK government cooperation with and support to the Sri Lankan government during a period of brutal violence and severe human rights abuses against the Tamil population."
  • Chief Monks urge BBS and government ministers to make amends
    Chief Prelates urged the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) to resolve its differences with government ministers through dialogue during a meeting in Kandy on Friday.
  • Rajapaksa accuses UN organisations of 'deliberate' violations of principles of justice
    The Sri Lankan President accused United Nations organisations of ‘deliberate’ violations of fundamental principles of justice and rule of law, reports the Colombo Page.

    Addressing the opening ceremony of the Third South Asia Judicial Roundtable on Environmental Justice, on Friday, Rajapaksa said,
  • Lawyers for families of disappeared request further excavations of Mannar mass grave

    Lawyers representing families of disappeared Tamils have filed an application in court, requesting further excavation of a mass grave that was unearthed in Mannar in December last year, reports BBC Tamil.

    The remains of at least 80 people were excavated from the mass grave in Thirukketheeswaram, with many of the wounds discovered on the bodies believed to have been caused by gunshots. Both the Bishop of Mannar and the Tamil National Alliance called for an international investigation into the mass grave site.

    The Sri Lankan courts approved the request for further excavations, and also ordered an affidavit from the Mannar regional chair person, who stated that there were no records of a cemetery in the area, to be produced before them.

    See more from BBC Tamil here.

  • Rs 73.17 billion spent on salaries for security forces

    Salaries for Sri Lanka’s Army, Navy and Air Force cost Rs 73.17 billion (US$ 560 million) in the year 2013 alone, stated a government minister on Friday.

  • We will not kneel down before any powerful nation - GL Peiris
    Defending Sri Lanka's opposition to the UN inquiry into mass atrocities, the country's minister of external affairs, GL Peiris, reiterated that Sri Lanka "will not kneel down before any powerful nation and compromise the national interests", reported the DailyMirror.lk.
  • 21y old missing after travelling to Kilinochchi
    A twenty-one year old Tamil man has been reported missing by his father, after he failed to return home from Kilinochchi, the Uthayan reported.

    Thavarasa Tharshikan, a building mason from the Iyattaalai region of Varani, left home last Monday to travel to Kilinochchi for work.

    His father has reported the disappearance at Kodikamam police station.

  • 1 dead after SL military hit and run in Mullaitivu
    One man has been killed and another injured during a hit and run incident near a Sri Lankan navy base in Mullaitivu, when a Sri Lankan military tractor crashed into a motorcycle on 2 August.

    The military personnel driving the tractor ran away from the scene immediately after the crash, reported the Uthayan newspaper.
  • AIADMK lawyers protest over presence of Sri Lankan official in Chennai
    The legal wing of the AIADMK held a demonstration in Chennai today, protesting against the presence of a Sri Lankan government official at a conference in India.

    The protesters said that Deputy Director of Sri Lankan Agricultural Ministry, Chandrasiri, was at the event, despite Indian police officers alleging that no Sri Lankans were present.

    Led by R Sivasankar, the lawyers chanted slogans condemning Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and a recent derogatory article on the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence website about Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.

    See more from the Times of India here.
  • Minister accuses West of 'double standards' after mob disrupts disappearances meeting
    Sri Lanka's Cabinet spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella accused Western countries of “double standards” after several countries condemned the disruption of a meeting for families of the disappeared by a mob of Buddhist monks.

    Rambukwella accused Western countries, which he called “5 star” democracies, of being hypocritical in condemning the mob disruption,     Colombo Gazette reports.
     
    The monks had violently disrupted the meeting, which was being attended by Tamil families from the North, and Western diplomats, accusing them of “selling our motherland for dollars.”

  • Tamil student detained by anti-terror police at Sabaragamuwa University
    Students at Sabaragamuwa University, in the island's south, protest against arrest. Photograph BBC Tamil
  • Government blames NGOs for meeting disruption
    Sri Lanka's Ministry of External Affairs blamed a row between two NGOs for the disruption of a meeting for families of the disappeared from the North on Monday, claiming that police had brought the alleged altercation under control.

    "According to reports, a meeting had been organized by the NGO 'Right to Life Human Rights Centre' involving families of disappeared persons from the North. However, another NGO, the 'Dead and Missing Person's Parents Front', had sought access to the meeting, demanding that their grievances be heard too. An ensuing argument had led to a tense situation which had subsequently been brought under control by law enforcement authorities," the Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

    Accusing the diplomats from western missions, who had been present at the meeting, of "being involved in a manner lacking objectivity", the Ministry said their behaviour had "led to the emergence of a pattern of such potentially volatile situations giving rise to the perpetuation of mistrust amongst communities at a sensitive juncture in the country’s history."

    The Ministry's account runs contrary to reports by journalists present at the meeting, who described an angry mob led by Buddhist monks entering the building and shouting at Tamils gathered to discuss the disappearances of their loved ones. See here.

  • Deported asylum seekers face abuse on return to Sri Lanka
    Asylum seekers who were deported by Australia after their boat came into difficulty at sea as they fled Sri Lanka, have faced abuse with beatings and interrogations on return, the Guardian newspaper reports.
  • Locals protest against Navy land grab in Mullaitivu
    The Sri Lankan navy is to appropriate 617 acres of land in Mullaitivu in order to build a navy base, the Northern Provincial Council's deputy speaker said this week.

    Despite locals holding land deeds for the area, an announcement stating the land is to be appropriated as the original owners have not been identified, Jeganathan said, appealing to the Chief Minister to act.
  • International experts on presidential commission will have no investigative power – Mahinda Rajapaksa

    President Mahinda Rajapaksa reiterated the government’s position that the three international experts appointed to advise the presidential commission on disappearances do not have the mandate to hold investigations.

    Speaking to Sri Lankan media on Tuesday, the president added that the government was considering expanding the international advisory committee to six.

    External Affairs Minister GL Peiris said at the press briefing that Sri Lanka rejected outright paragraph 10 of the UNHRC resolution passed in March this year, which called for an international investigation into war crimes.

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