• TNPF: 'local investigatory process has to be rejected outright'

    Photograph Tamilwin

    Speaking at a press conference in Jaffna on Friday, the leader of the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF), Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam expressed "grave disappointment" on the UNHRC resolution 22/1, and asserted that the call for a "local investigatory process has to be outright rejected". 

    Commenting on the resolution, he went on to say that the TNPF wished to "unreservedly distance" itself from it, citing three reasons: the call to use local mechanisms in order to carry out investigations, the resolution's emphasis on the LLRC, and the inclusion of the government's pledge to hold Northern provincial council elections.

    See here for audio clip on TamilNet. Transcribed verbatim below:

  • Mahinda Rajapaksa defiant

    Rejecting the UNHRC Resolution 22/1, Mahinda Rajapaksa said,

  • Annual ritual to humiliate SL at UNHRC' - SL HC to India

    Defending bilateral ties between India and Sri Lanka, the High Commissioner of Sri Lank to India, Prasad Kariyawasam, said told The Week that the resolution was brought about by "LTTE lobbies from the west".

    He added:

  • Sri Lanka will not be discussed at CMAG – spokesperson

    A spokesperson for the Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma has said that Sri Lanka will not be on the agenda at the forthcoming Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group.

    Several countries have tried to include Sri Lanka on the agenda, especially due to November’s controversial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, hosted by Colombo.

  • IPL teams request dropping of Chennai venue

    After demands by Tamil Nadu students that the IPL bars cricket players from Sri Lanka, reports have emerged that teams of the Indian Premier League have told the Indian cricket board to drop Chennai as a venue for matches.

  • USTPAC: 'Strong international action on Sri Lanka is well overdue'

    Commenting on the UNHRC's resolution on Sri Lanka, the US Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC) said that “strong international action on Sri Lanka is well overdue”.

    USTPAC spokesperson, Dhamy Rajendra said:

  • Soldiers busy with beauty salons

    A piece in The Economist examines the military’s role in Sri Lanka.

    See extracts below, for full article click here.

    JOSEPH STALIN is unhappy. The boss of a Sri Lankan teachers’ union claims that the country’s schools are losing their independence. Last month, unions say, nearly 4,000 headteachers were invited to interviews at the National Cadet Corps. Successful applicants will get 45 days of training, and then full military titles. The idea, supposedly, is to improve discipline in schools.

    The army’s grip is spreading across Sri Lankan society. Activists talk of a general effort to promote military culture among the young, especially among the ethnic Sinhalese majority.

  • Sri Lankan group’s threat to Indian Tamils

    A Sri Lankan organisation has said they will attack Indian Tamils who visit Sri Lanka as revenge for attacks on Singhalese in Tamil Nadu.

  • Diaspora Tamils protest in solidarity with Tamil Nadu

    Tamil groups across the world held protests, hunger strikes and awareness events in solidarity with the demonstrating students in Tamil Nadu earlier this week.

    Hundreds of primary school students in Idinthakarai and Kanchipurum marched through the streets of Tamil Nadu wearing masks of 12-year-old Balachandran Prabhakaran, who was executed by Sri Lankan Army soldiers.

     

  • Amnesty, HRW criticise UNHRC resolution for falling short of international probe

    The UNHRC resolution passed Thursday highlights past and ongoing human rights violations in Sri Lanka, but regrettably fails to establish an independent and international investigation into alleged crimes under international law, Amnesty International said.

  • ICJ calls for CHOGM venue change

    The International Commission of Jurists have welcomed a recently passed UN HRC resolution on Sri Lanka, and called upon the Commonwealth to change venue for the upcoming CHOGM away from Sri Lanka.

    Responding to the passing of the resolution, Alex Conte, of the International Commission of Jurists, said,

  • Failure of the UN system - BTF

    Commenting on resolution 22/L1 British Tamils Forum (BTF) said the "United Nations have failed a people on its own mandate of human rights," adding, "a clear political divide is apparent on the resolution passed today after being watered down to gain support of some voting member States."

    See here for full statement.

  • Canadian foreign minister Baird welcomes resolution

    The Canadian Foreign Affairs minister, John Baird, welcomed the UNHRC's adoption of resolution 22/L1 on Thursday. 

    In a statement, Baird said:

  • Sri Lanka fumes over Indian support for resolution

    In light of India voting in favour of a resolution on Sri Lanka at the UNHRC and increasing anti-Sri Lanka sentiment in Tamil Nadu, Sri Lankan government ministers, political parties and even media have reacted furiously.

    Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa reportedly expresseddeep disappointment with India”, saying the resolution employed “double standards” over “unsubstantiated allegations”.

    He went on to add, "would India address its accountability issues to the satisfaction of Western powers or the UN"?

    Rajapaksa has also called for all Sri Lankans to refrain from travelling to Tamil Nadu, “until the situation improves”.


    Meanwhile the Official Government News Portal of Sri Lanka posted an article entitled “India bowed down to American dictates”, adding that,

    “India became a lame duck under the domineering fist of Americans”.

    The Daily Mirror carried a lead banner that read “India joins USA to beat SL”.

    In an editorial headed “Geneva: A triumph for hypocrisy”, the Island slammed India writing,

    Ironically, it fully backed Sri Lanka’s war on terror during which crimes against civilians are alleged to have occurred. It was fully au fait with the situation in the Vanni—it had its personnel on non-military duty in the operational areas—and if there had been excesses on the part of the Sri Lankan military it should have made a direct intervention to stop the war at that juncture.”

  • UNHRC session on SL resolution begins
    Published 10:36am Geneva time.

     

    The final text of the draft resolution brought on Sri Lanka - Promoting reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka' - tabled at UNHRC session.

     

    Follow @TamilGuardian Twitter for live commentary and images of final draft texted tables by the United States.

Subscribe to Tamil Affairs