The Sri Lankan External Affairs Ministry has released a statement expressing concern over the “alleged use of chemical weapons” in Syria.

Complaining about P

OUR STAND ON A POLITICAL SOLUTION

The principles and specific constitutional provisions that the TNA considers to be paramount to the resolution of the national question relates mainly to the sharing of the powers of governance through a shared sovereignty amongst the Peoples who inhabit this island. The following salient features of power sharing are fundamental to achieving genuine reconciliation, lasting peace and development for all the Peoples of Sri Lanka:

•     The Tamils are a distinct People and from time immemorial have inhabited this island together with the Sinhalese People and others

•     The contiguous preponderantly Tamil Speaking Northern and Eastern provinces is the historical habitation of the Tamil Speaking Peoples

•     The Tamil People are entitled to the right to self-determination

•     Power sharing arrangements must be established in a unit of a merged Northern and Eastern Provinces based on a Federal structure, in a manner also acceptable to the Tamil Speaking Muslim people

•     Devolution of power on the basis of shared sovereignty shall necessarily be over land, law and order, socio-economic development including health and education, resources and fiscal powers.

The Sri Lankan government today apologized for the ‘marriage proposal’ made to United Nations Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay, by the Minister of Public Relations and Public Affairs, Mervyn Silva.

The Sri Lankan government

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has reiterated that Prime Minister David Cameron and he will be attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo.

The recent appointment of retired Supreme Court Judge, C.V Wigneswaran, as the Tamil National Alliance's Chief Ministerial candidate for the Northern Provincial Council election, has been widely welcomed by many within the Tamil nation, the Sinhala nation and the international community. Even those that argue the Northern Provincial Council or the 13^th Amendment is futile – as it will not be able to halt the Sinhala colonisation or land grab under way present, let alone tangibly contribute towards the Tamil nation's demand for accountability, justice and the right to self-determination – are supportive of the TNA's decision to field a candidate of Wigneswaran's calibre. However in the weeks that have passed, what was almost unanimous support, is now a slightly apprehensive one. In amongst an array of contentious remarks, Wigneswaran's comments regarding the diaspora and its role within the long-standing conflict and Tamil struggle against oppression, are cause for concern.

Endorsing the labelling of the diaspora as “inflexible and dogmatic” in an interview, Wigneswaran recently commented,

"They [diaspora] would like me also to take up their cause and the rest of it. These don't concern me whether it is self-determination, separation, this or that This is a long term plan. I am talking about short term plans.."

"My point is, look, you keep your views to yourself. So let me do a service to the people that are suffering. So let me do my work. You go on talking what you want to talk. I am not concerned."

Such views, emblematic of his recent comments regarding the diaspora, made in his capacity within the TNA, are deeply troubling. Not only does it seek to alienate the diaspora from Tamils in the North-East as 'disconnected' and thereby ignorant, but by telling the diaspora to "keep your views to yourselves" and labelling their work as "their own cause," the TNA effectively disembodies the diaspora from their family and the Eelam Tamil nation.

Sri Lanka’s president Mahinda Rajapakse has asserted that the government will not bow down to foreign pressure or local conspirators.

A human rights group, Centre for Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (CPPHR)  working in the North-East accused the Sri Lankan police of harassing them after their meeting with United Nations Human Rights Chief, Navi Pillay, last week.