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The CID is nearing the end of its investigation into the May 2008 abduction and assault of former deputy editor of The Nation newspaper, Keith Noyahr, according to a detailed three-hour oral submission made to the Mount Lavinia Magistrate’s Court by Senior State Counsel (SSC) Lakmini Girihagama last Wednesday on behalf of the Attorney General. Objecting to bail being granted to former Director of Military Intelligence, Major General Amal Karunasekara, SSC Girihagama laid out the evidence collected by the CID over the span of their 18-month long investigation, which has so far led to the arrest of eight serving and former officers of the Directorate of Military Intelligence, on charges of complicity in the abduction and assault of Noyahr on May 22, 2008. According to […]

The annual US human rights report noted that the Sri Lankan Government has made limited progress toward establishing additional transitional justice mechanisms. The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2017 made public by Acting US Secretary of State John J. Sullivan, noted that there were some reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings. According to the report, interviews by human rights organizations found that torture remained endemic throughout the country, including for those charged with offenses under the PTA. Suspects arrested under the PTA, including since the war ended in 2009, gave accounts of torture and mistreatment, forced confessions, and denial of basic rights such as access to lawyers or family members. Several released former combatants reported torture or mistreatment, […]

By The “Sunday Times”Political Editor A lesser known fact among most politically literate Sri Lankans was a directive Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe issued to all parliamentarians of his United National Front (UNF) ahead of the National New Year. On Monday April 9 he told them to refrain from criticising the 16 Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) MPs who had voted in favour of the no-confidence motion against him. That comprised six Ministers, the Deputy Speaker, four State Ministers and five Deputy Ministers. The backdrop to Wickremesinghe’s directive, also lesser known, was a meeting a three-member United National Party (UNP) delegation had with President Sirisena, leader of the SLFP, on Sunday April 8. It comprised Ministers Malik Samarawickrema, Mangala Samaraweera and Vajira Abeywardena. Their talks were centred […]

By Lucien Rajakarunanayake Leading politicians of all hues anointed with the auspicious Avurudu oil are moving to the New Year, taking them to new challenges in national and party politics, and facing the realities of a unity government having members seated both in the Government and Opposition. The prorogation of Parliament, coming after many years when this tradition was ignored or was not required by the realities of day-to-day politics and governance, did bring about some quiet and helped give a bigger focus to Avurudu festivities. The departure of President Maithripala Sirisena to the UK for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting also brought some calm to what could have been a period of heated political debate in the context of the jolting developments in post-No […]

No-Confidence Motion against the Leader of the Opposition Then it was Amirthalingam and now it is Sampanthan, both of whom happen to be Sri Lankan Tamils.   This is the second NCM against Opposition Leader in Sri Lanka; Amirthalingam faced an NCM in JR’s Govt. The No-Confidence Motion against the Leader of the Opposition seems inevitable unless saner counsel prevails within Opposition   The JO decided to submit a letter to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya demanding that R. Sampanthan be removed as the Opposition Leader    JO to agitate nationally and internationally for the removal of Sampanthan   Failed to exercise his duties properly   Sampanthan says ready to face an NCM should one be moved against him by the JO   By D.B.S. Jeyaraj  Hell hath no fury as an Opposition […]

“CHARGE GOTA!” Says Nambuwasam CoI On Welikada Massacre By Ruwan Laknath Jayakody, Kavindya Chris Thomas and Kavindya Perera – CoI into the 2012 Welikada Prison Incident/Nambuwasam Committee on Welikada riots/massacre Recommends charging Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Chandra Wakishta, Indika Sampath, Kodippili, Shantha Dissanayake The prosecution of six high ranking officials previously attached to the Ministry of Defence, the State Intelligence Service, the Prisons Department and the Sixth Gajaba Regiment of the Army in relation to the Welikada Prisons incident of November 2012, has been recommended by a Committee of Inquiry which probed into the matter.  The Committee of Inquiry into the Prison Incident Welikada – 2012 (C.I.P.I) has recommended charging former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, former Head/Director of the State Intelligence Services and the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) […]

Failing, Sri Lanka should be referred to ICC & and a Referendum for Tamils to decide their future destiny, to ensure a peaceful, permanent political solution. LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM , April 18, 2018 /EINPresswire.com/ — Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) today urged the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) to suspend Sri Lanka from the Commonwealth, until the Government fully implements the recommendations made by the UN Human Rights Council Resolution L 30/1 (due by March 2019). Failing this, Sri Lanka should …..Read More…

Deputy leader of the UNP Ravi Karunanayake says some in the joint opposition hid behind good governance to cover up their fraud and corruption. He made the comment in response to questions raised by the media after a sports equipment distribution at the UNP’s Thotalanga office yesterday (18), also attended by the party’s councilors in the Colombo municipal council. The corrupt that infiltrated the government caused inconveniences to the UNP ministers too, he charged. Therefore, the government had to focus on its internal disputes, rather than on serving the public. He pointed out that the no-confidence motion against the prime minister availed an opportunity to identify the SLFP conspirators who sabotaged the government. Admitting mistakes by both parties in the government, he stressed that the […]

The Chief Minister of the North East Province, C V Wigneswaran, has alleged that the Sri Lankan Government had not taken steps to retrieve the land, houses and other properties belonging to Tamils that were illegally occupied by Sinhalese during the ethnic crisis when thousands of Tamils fled the island nation, the Times of India reported. Wigneswaran said this during an informal interaction with reporters at Old Courtallam in Tirunelveli, India after taking part in a book release function on Saturday. According to the CM, Tamils who chose to live in Sri Lanka despite the ethnic crisis had been facing serious problems from the Sinhalese. He claimed that thousands of properties of Tamils had been encroached upon by Sinhalese as their owners had left behind […]

By Roel Raymond Hot on the heels of the ‘no-confidence’, or ‘no-faith’ motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last month, the ‘Joint Opposition’ (JO), the largest opposition group in Parliament, is in talksto bring a no-confidence motion against Opposition leader and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) chief Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, on charges he sided with the government during the  no-confidence motion brought against the Prime Minister. The JO is of the opinion that as the leader of the Opposition in the government, Sampanthan is duty bound to vote against the government. A final decision on if it would bring a no-confidence motion would be made after Parliament reconvenes on May 8, having been prorogued by the President on April 13. Meanwhile, Sampanthan made it clear in Trincomalee this week, he was prepared […]

If new Constitution process was stalled permanently, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP R. Sampanthan’s holding of Opposition leader’s post would be meaningless, Minister Mano Ganesan said today. He said in a tweet that the issue between the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) had put the Constitutional process to back seat. “Not the issue of the UNP and the SLFP but the new constitution as solution to national issue topped Sampanthan’s priority list. If new Constitution process is stalled permanently, Sampanthan’s holding of Leader of Opposition would be meaningless,” he tweeted. He said it was sad to notice that the Sinhala nation had failed to understand and respect Sampanthan’s message of ‘dropping Eelam State and coming into Sri Lankan State […]

Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit Apologises to Journalist Lakshmi Subramanian of “The Week” for Patting Her Cheek at a Press Conference. In the wake of criticism of his action of patting a woman journalist’s cheek after she posed a query at a recent press conference, Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit has said it was an “act of appreciation Continue reading ‘Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit Apologises to Journalist Lakshmi Subramanian of “The Week” for Patting Her Cheek at a Press Conference.’ » Don’t know the accused woman, says Tamil Nadu governor Banwarilal … https://www.firstpost.com/…/dont-know-the-woman-says-tamil-nadu-governor-banwa… 55 mins ago – Tamil Nadu governor Banwarilal Purohit said that he has not even seen face of the suspended assistant professor Nirmala Devi, who has been arrested on charges of luring four […]

Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran is hoping to form a new political party as an alternative to the Ilankai Tamil Arachu Kachchi (ITAK) to contest the upcoming provincial council elections, a source close to him said yesterday. He contested the 2013 elections under the banner of the ITAK-led Tamil National Alliance (TNA) though however, he fell out with the ITAK leaders later. The source said the chief minister would form a new party move for a broad political alliance as an alternative to the TNA to contest the elections. The TNA leaders are on record saying the TNA would not nominate Mr. Wigneswaran. When asked about the latest political development, Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) Leader Suresh Premachandran said the chief minister had […]

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected twice as President, Under executive presidency, head of the state possesses all relevant executive powers. In 2010, he adopted an amendment to the Constitution allowing him to contest any number of times. Mr. Sirisena’s present government restored the two-term limit in 2015 through the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, Hence Sri Lanka’s former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is constitutionally barred from contesting again to become President, has opted to support a proposal to abolish the executive presidency. Bandula Gunawardena, chairperson of Mr. Rajapaksa’s ‘Joint Opposition’, told reporters on Tuesday that Mr. Rajapaksa has conveyed this to Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who has given the proposal to abolish the executive presidency. Next session on May 8 “But Parliament must […]

Sri Lanka’s army commander warns Tamils: as we give to you, we can take back Sri Lanka’s army commander warned Tamils that the army was able to take back what it ‘granted’ to the Tamil people, whilst … parents who are gathered here today. What I ask of you as an army commander is that for your children, your siblings, the upcoming With the latest release of lands in Thelippalai recently, 50 percent of those currently in IDP centres would be able to return to their rightful lands, Commander, Security Force–Jaffna, Major General Darshana Hettiarrachchi said. The Sri Lanka Army, in keeping with the government’s policy of returning lands held by the military to its rightful owners, released another 683 acres of land to 964 […]

By Usha S Sri-Skanda Rajah – Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah As the search for justice for victims of the Tamil genocide continues. – While the application of ‘universal jurisdiction’ by individual states to prosecute war criminals must be pursued rigorously, the way forward for member states of the UN Human Rights Council is to lobby the UN Security Council for an ICC referral or for the establishment of an international special criminal tribunal for Sri Lanka. This is part 3 of a series of articles showing the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) cannot rely anymore on the Sri Lankan government to prosecute members of its armed forces and senior political leaders – those responsible for, “some of the worst crimes in the 21st century.” The way forward for member states of the […]

Fear of Rajapaksa’s return among the Tamils will work well for the government. Although the drift was halted to a certain degree under the new unity government, reconciliation did not take place and the communities did not come together.  ”The government was saved by the LTTE and Tamil diaspora groups” This is a racist theory and reflects the fact that we, as a nation, have not moved away from conflict paradigms.  The new unity government did not concede anything to the Tamils to the utter disappointment of the Tamil people.  No meaningful action was introduced to establish the promised truth-seeking mechanism and to investigate the alleged war crimes, largely due to the fact that they will anger Sinhala nationalist voters. They will not happen in […]