• Govt spends over $100m on US lobby firms

    Jul 27
    The Sri Lankan government spent over $100 million in hiring US lobbying firms in an attempt to improve its international image following the launch of an UN inquiry into mass atrocities.

    Following Thompson Advisory Group LLC (TAG) and Majority Group, the government has now hired the Madison Group and Beltway Government Strategies, reported Ceylon Today.

    Madison Group, which has been hired until June 2015, is "assisting the Ministry of External Affairs with creating situation awareness of current affairs in Sri Lanka", the paper said.

  • Trade will improve if Tamil issue solved – India

    The Indian government has told Sri Lanka that it needs to find a solution to the Tamil political question in order to make progress in trade between the two countries.

  • Police deny detaining Tamil journalists

    The spokesperson of Sri Lanka’s police force, Ajith Rohana has denied that a group of Tamil journalists travelling to a workshop in Colombo were detained and said that only their vehicle was taken into custody.

    Rohana said the police was not aware that the people travelling in the van were journalists and that they were stopped due to a tip-off that the vehicle was smuggling heroin, reported Colombo Page on Sunday.

    Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya, spokesperson for the Sri Lankan army also dismissed the journalists' account that the military planted the drugs during the stop.

  • Sri Lanka rejects US accusations of witness intimidation
    The Sri Lankan Army Spokesman, on Saturday, rejected US accusations of witness intimidation in the Presidential Commission to Investigate Missing Persons, reports Colombo Page.

    “We request that if such incidents have taken place, kindly provide the information to the Army rather than make such false and baseless allegations against us,” said Brigadier Ruwan Wanigsuriya.

    He further added that the US should be voicing its concerns to the Sri Lanka government and not speaking to the media.

  • Asylum seekers transferred to Australian detention centre
    The 157 asylum seekers were transferred to a detention centre in Western Australia on Sunday, shortly after landing on Cocos Islands after four weeks on a boat at sea, the Guardian reported.

    Three aircrafts were used in the transfer with the first taking off at 12.40pm local time.

    See more here.

  • Only an international independent investigation will provide truth and justice - GTF
    Only an ‘impartial independent international investigation can establish truth and serve justice,’ said the Global Tamil Forum spokesperson, rejecting the recently announced Presidential Commission of Inquiry on Missing Persons.

    “When we do not have any faith in the commission or its limited mandate, why would anyone even consider being engaged in such a flawed process? The answer to your question is ‘No’,” said the GTF spokesperson Suren Surendiran, when asked by the     Sunday Leader if the Tamil diaspora would contribute to the investigation.

    Questioning the credibility of a presidential inquiry, Suren Surendiran added,
    “When an alleged party to crimes is involved in the decision making process of choosing the investigators or the counsel of advisors and their terms of reference for the investigation, that may not be impartial.”

  • TNA remains sceptical over government commission
    The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said it remained sceptical over the government's Missing Persons Commission, despite the government's attempts to increase its credibility through reportedly widening the mandate and appointed three international experts.

    Highlighting the government's previous high profile appointments that still failed to yield answers, the TNA spokesperson, Mr Premachandran said in an interview to the Sunday Leader on Sunday:
    "The question is why the government took all this time to do that.
    Previously under several occasions the government appointed commissions and international experts to overlook investigations but none was implemented successfully."
    "With regard to Udalagama Commission, the government did not let the experts to overlook the investigations and act independently. We have previous examples why we cannot rely on the government. We do not know exactly what is going to happen to this Commission. Therefore we will need to discuss its new mandate."
  • Police stop peace march citing Buddhist clergy opposition
    Photograph DailyMirror.lk
  • BFF...?
    Photograph Lalith Perera

    The TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran engages with the former Sri Lankan army commander Sarath Fonseka.

  • Displaced families settled in Koppai dispute orders to vacate 'government land'
    Displaced Tamil families from the High Security Zones in Valli North that settled in occupied land vacated by the Sri Lankan Army in Koppai protested against an order from the Regional Secretary instructing them to leave ‘government land,' reports Uthayan.
  • Court case against SL navy postponed again
    The court proceedings against 7 Sri Lankan navy personnel accused of gang raping two Tamil school girls were postponed again on Friday until July 31st, reports Uthayan.

    The case was postponed as no one attended court on behalf of the victims, aged 9 and 11, the paper said.

  • Military stop Tamil journalists travelling to press workshop, driver detained
    08:45 BST

    The Sri Lankan security forces stopped and interrogated a group of 11 Tamil journalists travelling from Jaffna by road to a press workshop in Colombo on Friday evening for over six hours, before releasing the journalists and detaining the driver for further questioning.

    Unidentified men, suspected to be military intelligence, followed the group as they travelled through Jaffna town in a hired private vehicle, sources in Jaffna told the Tamil Guardian.

    Shortly after passing through Kilinochchi, the vehicle was stopped by police officers at Maankulam, who accused the occupants of failing to stop at the Elephant Pass check point.

    Questioning the occupants, officers attempted to search the vehicle, only allowing the group to continue the journey after they had identified themselves as journalists and informed the police of the details of the workshop they were due to attend.

    The check point and routine screening of vehicles at Elephant Pass stopped many months previously, locals told the Tamil Guardian.

    Shortly after, two plain clothed police officers and three army personnel stopped the vehicle at the Oomanthai check point, interrogating the journalists and inspecting the vehicle once again, when one of the soldiers was seen placing a small bag under the driver seat of the vehicle, the journalists said.

  • Judicial Medical Officer confirms rape injuries on school girl
    The Judicial Medical Officer at Jaffna Teaching Hospital confirmed the rape and sexual violence of two school girls following a physical examination of their injuries, TamilNet reported, citing legal sources in Jaffna who had access to the medical report.

    "The physical injuries suffered by the first victim have established repeated vaginal penetration by the abusive SL navy men. The girl has injuries also in other parts of her body," the news site said. See more here.

  • Protesters disrupt workshop in Colombo for Tamil journalists
    11:12 BST

    A press workshop in Colombo for Tamil journalists was disrupted today after protesters gathered outside Sri Lanka's Press Institute, where the workshop was to take place, the journalist Dushyanthini reports.

    Last night, eleven Tamil journalists travelling to the workshop were stopped and questioned by security forces, whilst the driver of the vehicle was detained. See more here.

    "This was the 3rd training for northern journalists which was disrupted in just 2 months (May-July 2014)," Dushyanthini tweeted.

  • Regions in the Jaffna unidentifiable after military flattening say Tamil IDPs
    Tamils that were allowed to temporarily leave the Sri Lankan Army’s enforced High Security Zones (HSZ) to return to visit their original areas of residence have found that homes,  schools and community buildings have been flattened, reports BBC Tamil.
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