• Tamil Nadu fishers ‘relieved’ at India cricket loss against Sri Lanka

    Tamil Nadu’s fishing community expressed relief at India’s loss to Sri Lanka in the ICC T20 cricket world cup final, as a previous win was followed by attacks at sea believed to revenge by Sri Lankan navy personal, the Times of India reports.

  • UN rights probe an ‘international trap’ set by India – NFF

    The National Freedom Front (NFF), a partner of President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling coalition, warned the Sri Lankan government against being caught in an ‘international trap’ set by ‘enemy forces’ in the guise of an international investigation into wartime atrocities, reported ColomboPage.

    A spokesman for the NFF, Mohammad Muzammil, told reporters that India’s motives in abstaining on the UN resolution against Sri Lanka were doubtful. He accused India of secretly backing an international investigation, and claimed Delhi was instrumental in getting two previous resolutions on Sri Lanka through the UN Human Rights Council.

  • Transcending Terror

    The Sri Lankan government's proscription last week of 15 Tamil diaspora organisations and over 400 individuals was a brazen attempt to instil fear into the Tamil people. Over and beyond those specifically named or officially affiliated to the organisations, given the organisations' mass membership, the proscription criminalises a quarter of the Eelam Tamil population, and all Tamils living on the island who engage with them. It is the mass banning of Tamil civil society. Sri Lanka's broad definition of 'terrorism', including those demanding Tamil political rights and those that criticise human rights abuses by the state, effectively encompasses any threat to Sinhala Buddhist hegemony. Any remaining faint hopes of reconciliation, are made even more unlikely. Ultimately and entirely in keeping with the Sri Lankan state's overarching and long-standing project of consolidating its hegemony, the proscription - ironically only made significant by virtue of the nation's very inextricable connectedness - is an attempt to dismantle the Tamil nation and thereby seek to extinguish the nation's political aspirations.


  • Testifying tantamount to treason - SL Minister

    The Sri Lankan government may take legal action against people testifying before any UN implemented commission, reports Ceylon Today.

    Minister of Mass Media Keheliya Rambukwella said:

  • Sri Lanka won't cooperate with UN warcrimes probe - Peiris

    Sri Lanka will not cooperate with the United Nations’ inquiry into wartime mass atrocities, Foreign Minister GL Peiris said Monday, in comments reported by Reuters and AP.

    "Where the government is required to do anything to support the investigation or to participate in it, the government will not do that," he said.

    "They [UN] will have to tell us what they want to do. But the clear policy decision had been taken that we do not associate ourself with the inquiry and we do not submit to the jurisdiction of the investigating committee," he said.

    "Nobody can come here without the cooperation of the Sri Lankan government," he added.

    The government had not accepted the UN investigations due to concerns over its legality, fairness, and some conflict of interest issues, he said.

  • Proscription proves reconciliation is a non starter without international intervention - Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam
    The Sri Lankan government's proscription of 15 diaspora organisations and over 400 individuals proves that reconciliation will not take place without meaningful international intervention that recognises Tamil self-determination, Mr. Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, the President of the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF), told the Tamil Guardian today.

    "The international community has been harping on a non existent reconciliation, but the listing of Tamil organisations and activists is yet another step that proves that reconciliation will remain a non starter unless the International community intervenes in an unambiguous and meaningful manner by themselves recognising the Tamil peoples right to self determination," he said. 

    "Anything short will only embolden and legitimise the path the Sri Lankan state has chosen,"
    Mr. Ponnambalam added.

  • Rajapaksa sends thank you letter to Indian PM for UNHRC abstention
    President Mahinda Rajapaksa once again expressed Sri Lanka's gratitude over India's decision to abstain during the UN Human Rights Council vote on a resolution calling for an international inquiry into Sri Lanka, through a letter to the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

    The letter, described by the Times of India as a 'warm thank you letter', is the latest in a series of gestures by Sri Lankan state officials and security forces thanking India for its abstention.

  • Police conduct search operation inside Jaffna Uni hostel
    A search operation was carried our by Sri Lankan police inside a Jaffna University student hostel this morning, reports Uthayan.

    The security forces arrived unannounced and proceeded to search the entire premises, said students, shaken by the incident.

    When asked who was responsible, the officers reportedly replied that the Officer in Charge was not present.

    Belonging to the University of Jaffna, the hostel is situated in Koppai.

  • Canadian government pledges to work towards Tamil community's peace and security
    Commenting on Sri Lanka's proscription of Tamil diaspora groups, the Canadian Minister of  Foreign Affairs, John Baird, said today his government would remain focused on helping the Tamil community live with peace and security.

    Responding to questions on whether the government would stand up for Canadians targeted in the Sri Lankan proscriptions, the minister said,
  • Sri Lanka makes ‘policy decision’ to 'reject outright' OHCHR warcrimes investigation - paper

    Sri Lanka’s government has taken “a policy decision” to “reject outright” the international probe into the island’s wartime mass atrocities authorised by the UN Human Rights Council in a resolution passed on March 27, the Sunday Times reports.

    The paper also quoted sources at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which the HRC resolution mandated to conduct the probe, as saying the international investigative mechanism would be in place within three to four weeks.

    At a meeting of party leaders last Sunday, three days after the UN vote, the ruling coalition made “a policy decision that the government would in no way allow an OHCHR international investigation in Sri Lanka under any circumstances,” the paper said.

  • Dialogue with govt will be unsuccessful without normalcy in North-East - Suresh Premachandran
    Efforts to initiate dialogue between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will be unsuccessful unless there is normalcy in the North-East, Suresh Premachandran, the party spokesperson, told the Tamil Guardian today, ahead of a visit by the TNA to South Africa later this week.

    "If there is no normalcy in the North-East area then the people will not be with us, and dialogue cannot continue without keeping the people with us," Mr. Premachandran explained.

    Stressing however that this was "not a pre-condition" to the talks, Mr. Premachandran said,
    "We have already spoken to the South African High Commissioner about this. I myself have personally spoken to him before Geneva on this, that we need normalcy."
    "Without normalcy dialogue cannot continue," he added.

  • Sri Lanka to strengthen ties with Bahrain
    Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa will boost ties with Bahrain on a scheduled visit to the country later this month, announced the Bahrain news agency today.

    The Sri Lankan Ambassador to Bahrain, Anwar Rajakaruna, met with Bahrain officials today to discuss the itinerary of Rajapaksa’s visit later this month.


  • Western Provincial Council minister calls for ban on TNA

    A minister for the Western Provincial Council has called on the Sri Lankan government to ban the Tamil National Alliance, reported the Daily News.

    Udaya Gammanpila, who is also a legal advisor to the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), said that the political philosophy of the LTTE should be countered more aggressively by the government, adding that the TNA should also be banned if it called on the government to lift the ban on diaspora organisations.

    “Sri Lanka has done only a fraction of what other countries had done to immobilise the political will and functions of terrorist organisations who have been defeated, ” Gammanpila said.

  • Singapore launches capacity building projects in Jaffna
    The Singapore Foreign Affairs Minister, K Shanmugam, today, launched a new youth development project at Jaffna Library.

    The community development project by the Singapore International Foundation (SIF), aims to enhance English Language communication amongst Jaffna youth, by providing learning resources and training for English teachers in Jaffna.

    The project aims to help at least 3,000 children aged between 10 and 18 years old within the Jaffna district.

  • Work towards political solution beyond 13A to avoid international pressure, says India
    The Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Y.K Sinha, addressing the Foreign Correspondents Association, urged Sri Lanka to work towards devolution of powers beyond the 13th amendment and a political solution to deal with international pressure.
    “Our emphasis, in this context, has been to encourage the Government of Sri Lanka to take forward the process of broader dialogue and show concrete movement towards a meaningful devolution of powers, through full implementation of the 13th Amendment and going beyond," said the high commissioner.
    Sinha further reiterated that India had outlined on a number of occasions, the need for steps towards genuine reconciliation, that included investigations into allegations of human rights violations, restoration of normalcy in affected areas, reduction of ‘high security zones’, satisfactorily addressing the issue of missing persons and redressed of humanitarian concerns of affected families.

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