Courtesy The Daily Mirror While claiming that the group of 35 Myanmar refugees would be sent to third country, the Government today revealed that a total of 1,333 asylum seekers and refugees were residing in the country under the protection of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Addressing the media at the weekly […]

By Sugeeswara Senadhira Courtesy Ceylon Today On 2 October 1987, the Sri Lanka Navy received a tip off about a boat seen in the Palk Strait and that it may be carrying a large stock of arms. The follow up action by the Navy resulted in the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), that came to Sri […]

By Shivanthi Ranasinghe Courtesy Ceylon Today Confronting us is the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance Bill (ICPAPED). If the provision of this bill is incorporated into local law, we give foreign governments jurisdiction over our own citizens – namely the agents of the State, which may be political or military. […]

Source: PTI Sri Lankan troops did not commit war crimes but the individuals within the forces may have done the atrocities during the three-decade-long war against the LTTE, former minister Basil Rajapaksa said. Rajapaksa’s remarks came while addressing reporters in Jaffna to launch Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), the new party formed by Rajapaksa loyalists […]

By Sanja de Silva Jayatilleka Courtesy The Island The 36th session of the UN Human Rights Council closed just a few days back, on the 29th of September. At that session, there were allegations of genocide, systematic discrimination, rape and torture in custody, extrajudicial killings and militarization leveled at Sri Lanka besides a call by the […]

Hafiz Saeed-Rohingya Link EXPOSED | The Debate With Arnab Goswami

Editorial Courtesy The Island September 29, 2017, 12:00 pm The UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Colombo has issued a clarification as regards its reference to suicides in a previous statement on the prevailing drought here. It says that though it in the first media release attributed two suicides to the drought, now it has learnt that […]

by Prof. G. H. Peiris August 27, 2017 Introduction Muslims in the multi-ethnic polity of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka shares with the other nation-states of South Asia the phenomenon of complex ethnic diversities based upon distinctions of religion, language, caste and tribe. Three ethnic groups – Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim – make up more than […]

by Dr. Palitha Kohona Courtesy The Island September 26, 2017, 8:47 pm (Continued from yesterday) On April 25, General Sarath Fonseka, the Commander of the Army, was targeted by a pregnant suicide bomber who had managed to infiltrate the military hospital compound in Colombo. He barely managed to survive and had to be airlifted to Singapore […]

By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya Global Research, September 18, 2017 The Indian Ocean Conference (IOC) organised by the India Foundation and held at the Sri Lankan Prime Minister’s official residence ‘Temple Trees’ from Aug. 31 to Sept.1, was billed as a gathering of Indian Ocean Region countries and ‘other concerned nations’ with a view to advancing ‘Peace, Progress and […]

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION-URGENT APPEAL PROGRAMME Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information regarding the case of Sanath Kumara Wijethilaka (34) of Dambulla Headquarters Police Division, who was killed in the early hours of 5 September 2017. Sanath was a transgender man. His dead body was lying on the ground of a […]

Dr Palitha Kohona Courtesy The Island Sri Lanka is a rare case where a brutal terrorist challenge to the state was comprehensively defeated, substantially through its own efforts, despite all the advice, reservations and fears publicly expressed to the contrary. Unfortunately, the elimination of terrorism has won it few plaudits internationally. Instead, the tables have been turned […]

Sultan M Hali Courtesy The Pakistan Observer PRIMA facie, the so-called Islamic State (IS or Daesh) is receiving a hammering in Syria and Iraq but fresh information has come to light that the terror mongers are engaged in a recruitment drive in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka using social media tools. According to PTI (Press Trust […]

by C.A. Chandraprema Courtesy The Island September 20, 2017, 10:46 pm It is not the policy of this newspaper to comment on articles published by other newspapers or websites. However given the importance of the ‘Bill to introduce into local law the provisions of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced isappearance’, […]

Courtesy Mail on line Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena (L) and then first Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka (R) look on during a commemorative ceremony in Colombo on May 19, 2017, marking the eight anniversary of the end of the islands Tamil separatist war Sri Lanka’s ex-army chief Sarath Fonseka Tuesday said he had been denied […]

Premalal Ferdinando Switzerland Govt. politicians are lying about the mandate of the OMP.  The Office of the Missing persons act (OFFICE ON MISSING PERSONS (ESTABLISHMENT, ADMINISTRATION AND DISCHARGE OF FUNCTIONS) ACT, No. 14 OF 2016 is available at: http://imadr.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Sri-Lanka_OMP-Act-No.-14_2016.pdf. From Art. 10(2) and Art 12(b)(i) it is clear that OMP has the mandate to investigate past […]

BY PANCHAMEE HEWAVISSENTI Courtesy Ceylon Today Former Army Chief Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka’s rhetoric on alleged war crimes committed by Sri Lanka’s armed forces became the subject of criticism by many people. Among them was Ven. Elle Gunawansa. Sarath Fonseka called him a man in robes and a lunatic. Ven. Elle Gunawansa said he prefers not […]

by SANJA DE SILVA JAYATILLEKA Courtesy The Island   [The writer is author of ‘MISSION IMPOSSIBLE-GENEVA: Sri Lanka’s Counter-Hegemonic Asymmetric Diplomacy at the UN Human Rights Council’, published by Vijitha Yapa and now available at the International Book Fair, BMICH.] September 14, 2017, 9:21 pm The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance […]

Courtesy ANI Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu) [India], Sep 12 (ANI): 12 Indian fishermen, who were apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy from Delft Island were produced in Oorkavalthurai court on Tuesday. The Sri Lankan court has remanded the fishermen in Jaffna jail up to September 26. Yesterday, 12 Indian fishermen, along with two boats were caught by the Sri Lankan navy […]

Northern Province Chief Minister C.W. Wigneswaran: Army holding about 85,000 acres in North By Cyril Wimalasurendre Courtesy The Island September 10, 2017, 10:53 pm KANDY – Alleging that the army continued to hold about 85,000 acres of land in the North, Northern Province Chief Minister and former Supreme Court judge C.W. Wigneswaran, on Saturday, sought the […]

by Lakshman I. Keerthisinghe Courtesy  Ceylon Today As for the ways by which rulers over others may become implicated in their crimes, there are two …tolerance and protection…we must hold that a person who knows of a crime and is able and bound to forbid it and does not do so, himself commits a crime … […]

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) on Tuesday welcomed the statement made by Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka that Sri Lankan security forces had committed war crimes against Tamils during and after the war ended. Issuing a statement, the TGTE said ‘confirmation of war crimes by Sri Lankan forces comes after eight years of denial […]

BY FAIZER  SHAHEID Courtesy Ceylon Today A new trajectory has been carved leading into the already existing list of war crimes allegations against the Sri Lankan Army that seeks to reroute the investigations to hold Sri Lanka as a whole accountable. The war crimes charges were filed by South America based International Truth and Justice Project […]

By Neville Ladduwahetty Courtesy The Island September 5, 2017, 8:28 pm Civilians, in conflict zones, have two choices. One is to leave the conflict zone and seek refuge in transit refugee camps, set up within the country, in which the conflict is taking place, or seek the safety of transit camps, in other countries, despite the […]

Courtesy The Island Joint Opposition leader Dinesh Gunawardena will raise the LTTE backed Tamil Diaspora move against General Jagath Jayasuriya following Regional Development Minister Field Sarath Fonseka alleging that the wartime Security Forces Commander, Vanni had committed crimes and he continued violations of human rights after becoming the Commander of the Army in July 2009. […]

Mail on Line A human rights group has filed two cases against retired general Jagath Jayasuriya (C) over his role as a senior army officer during and after the island’s long ethnic war Sri Lanka’s president Sunday defended his ambassador to Latin America who faces war crimes allegations over his role as a senior army […]

By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan Courtesy  Ceylon Today Tall and well-built, retired Army General, Jagath Jayasuriya, who was posted in Brazil as the Sri Lankan Ambassador, is back in town with mounted allegations against him related to his posts as a military man and an ambassador. He said that although he was the Vanni Commander, he was […]

by C.A.Chandraprema Courtesy The Island September 2, 2017, 7:37 pm Former Army Commander Jagath Jayasuriya completed his stint as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Brazil and arrived in Sri Lanka last week. It would appear that just as he was leaving Brazil, some international human rights groups had filed war crimes lawsuits against him in Brazil and […]

Courtesy The Daily Mail (UK) A human rights group this week filed two cases against General Jagath Jayasuriya in Colombia and Brazil, who until recently was Sri Lanka’s ambassador in several South American countries Sri Lanka’s former army chief on Friday accused his successor of committing crimes against suspects during the island’s civil war and […]

Courtesy  Gulf Times Sri Lanka has played down India’s concerns regarding Hambantota port, with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe saying Colombo won’t enter into a military alliance with any country or make its bases available to foreign countries. Sri Lanka signed a $1.1bn deal with China in July to lease the Hambantota port to Beijing. A […]