Month: February 2015

Tamil “Extremists” target Sampanthan and Sumanthiran of the TNA as “Traitors”

Karu

By D.B.S.JeyarajTamil National Alliance(TNA) leader Rajavarothayam Sampanthan MP and TNA National list Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran  won many hearts and minds by participating in the  official Independence day ceremony  held in Battaramulla on February 4th. The diplomatic community in Colombo   hailed it as a commendable  symbolic gesture towards ethnic reconciliation in a land torn asunder by decades of communal strife and bloodshed. The small step taken by Sampanthan and Sumanthiran was praised as a giant leap for national unity by all progressive sections of Sri Lankan society desiring justice, equality,harmony and…

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Doctor found not guilty of FGM on patient at London hospital

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Jury acquits Dr Dhanuson Dharmasena of subjecting a mother to female genital mutilation after he delivered her baby at Whittington hospital in 2012 A hospital doctor has been acquitted of carrying out female genital mutilation (FGM) on a patient, in the first prosecution since the practice was outlawed in England and Wales 29 years ago. A jury took less than 30 minutes to find Dr Dhanuson Dharmasena, 32, not guilty of subjecting a mother to FGM after he delivered her baby. A second man, Hasan Mohamed, 41, was also found…

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British Tamil Forum unhappy

Karu

By Manjula Fernando The decision to defer the human rights report on Sri Lanka by six months by UN Human Rights High Commissioner Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein, received mixed reactions from different stake holders here in the domestic front as well as elsewhere. UN Human Rights High Commissioner Prince Zeid Ra’ad The Government immediately welcomed the reciprocation while two key sponsors of the March 2014 resolution which mandated the investigation and report, the US and the UK, aligned with High Commissioner Prince Zeid’s decision on the basis of giving…

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Tamils show displeasure to TNA & Govt

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By J. Yogaraj The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) says passing the resolution has nothing to do with the TNA having a smooth relationship with the Central Government. This cannot be accepted. You show one face to the Northern Province and a different face to the Central Government. Already the TNA has got a strained relationship with Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi Districts. When Mavai Senathiraja went to those places on routine political work, people had shown their displeasure and anger. Posters were put up by Jaffna University students to show their agitation…

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Thirteen Things That Will be Said and Left Unsaid by Mangala Samaraweera at the UN Human Rights Council

Karu

By S. V. Kirubaharan – The Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, Mangala Samaraweera, is scheduled to speak on the opening day of the 28th session of the UN Human Rights Council – UN HRC, in Geneva, on 02 March 2015. With my experience of Sri Lanka and the UN Human Rights forums, I predict that the following will be said. Many facts and realities will not be disclosed to this august forum. 1 –       Mangala Samaraweera will inform the UN HRC that a new President has been elected by all…

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Jaffna’s Water Contamination: Is the Chunnakam Power Plant Responsible?

Karu

Protests were held in Jaffna last week against alleged crude oil leakage by Chunnakam power plant. The protests which included students of schools, as well as hunger strikers demanded that action be taken to resolve the issue of leakage of crude oil by the Thermal power plant, which is alleged to be the cause of water contamination in wells in Jaffna. The protesters say that almost 400,000 litres of crude oil has been leaking from the Chunnakam thermal power station and seeping into local water supplies. They also demand the…

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Karuna Says 1990 Massacre Of Policemen Was War Crime

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Member of Parliament Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman stated that the massacre of more than 600 unarmed policemen after they had surrendered to the LTTE can be considered as a war crime. Taking part in the live political talk show ‘Sathyagaraya’ on ITN, he said that while massacres that took place under Pol Pot in Cambodia and using chemical weapons against the Kurdish people in Iraq could be considered war crimes, the last stages of the war in Sri Lanka did not see war crimes committed by Sri Lankan Forces.…

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Truth and justice are un-deferrable

Karu

The news that the Human Rights Council has agreed to a request made by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to postpone publication of the report of a UN investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka was cheered by some in Sri Lanka.  Elsewhere there was chagrin, for example an outfit calling itself Sri Lanka Campaign has expressed disappointment. Let’s begin with the disappointment. Well, let’s begin with the disappointed.  It is no secret that the Sri Lanka Campaign is a misnamed outfit. From its inception they have been…

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Missing TAMIL’s issue In Maithri’s Modi Meet

Karu

By N Sathiya Moorthy President Maithripala Sirisena’s maiden overseas visit after assuming office to the northern Indian neighbourwill be noted more for what was left unsaid in public than said. Official pronouncements and announcements on the visit did not refer to the two T-words’ the Tamil issue and the Thirteenth Amendment. The Indian grace in this regard in particular should go a long way in sending out clear signals to the stake-holders in Sri Lanka, where their own venues and avenues for finding a solution should like inside the united…

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SLFP-UNP talks over con. reforms deadlocked

Karu

by Shamindra Ferdinando Having briefed a parliamentary group chaired by Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe as regards the SLFP’s constitutional proposals on Thursday afternoon in Parliament, the SLFP discussed the same with President Maithripala Sirisena later in the day. President Maithripala Sirisena chaired the Central Committee meeting of the SLFP at the party headquarters. Well informed sources said that the SLFP had stressed that the repealing of executive presidential powers should coincide with far reaching electoral reforms whereas the government insisted that doing away with dictatorial powers should receive priority during the 100-day project.…

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Lanka Parliamentary Elections Only After Reforms: Cabinet Spokesman

Karu

COLOMBO: The next Sri Lankan parliamentary elections will be held only after the Maithripala Sirisena government completes all the constitutional and electoral reforms which it had promised to carry out in the run up to the January 8 Presidential election, cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said here on Thursday. “People are more interested in  reforms than in any mid-term elections to parliament.At any rate, the present parliament has more than a year of life left, ” he pointed out. The government had earlier said that it will carry out all the…

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SSA praise Tamil Organisations in South Africa

Karu

NEW DELHI: Almost a year after Prabhakaran’s death and the decimation of the LTTE, Sri Lankan intelligence agency had requested its South African counterpart to probe whether LTTE cadres, had held a military training camp in their country in May 2010 which was suspected to have been attended by individuals from Australia, Canada and UK. Interestingly, South African intelligence had rejected it saying the information could not be confirmed while maintaining that such allegations have been made since 1998. The secret intelligence cable is part of the spy files from…

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Sri Lanka: Press Ahead on Rights Reforms

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(New York) – Sri Lanka’s new government should advance a reform agenda to address past and ongoing human rights problems in the country, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to the newly elected president, Maithripala Sirisena. The government has already undertaken important new initiatives, such as reviewing cases of detainees under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, lifting restrictions on media reporting, ending Internet censorship, and removing nongovernmental organizations from Defense Ministry oversight. However, many important human rights concerns still need to be addressed. Among them are the use…

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A walk in Colombo’s Somalia

Karu

By Shaahidah Riza Weligoda slums, also known as ‘Somalia,’ is just behind the Colombo Harbour in Mattakkuliya, walking distance from the Madampitiya Cemetery, where over 3,500 families live congested, more than two families sharing a small shack. Ceylon Today paid a visit to Colombo’s Somalia. “These people live in abject poverty and are not disturbed by all the nefarious activities that take place here. It is a haven for drugs and similar crimes. They are immune to arrests and prisons,” said a social worker who greeted us. The director of…

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Tamil community optimistic of a just solution

Karu

The Tamil community is confident that a National Government to be formed after the next Parliamentary Election will resolve the ethnic issue within two years, TNA Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran said. Addressing the media yesterday in Colombo, the MP said that President Maithripala Sirisena during his Presidential Election campaign had promised to resolve the ethnic issue within two years under a National Government. “From the way this Government acts we are confident that the present government is sincere and is showing a keen interest in resolving the national issue,” Sumanthiran added.…

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SLMC calls for a political solution

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The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) says real peace can be experienced in Sri Lanka only once a political solution is presented. SLMC leader and Minister of Urban Development and Water Supply Rauff Hakeem said that while the war has ended there needs to be a political solution which meets the needs of all communities. Hakeem said this when he met a high level South African delegation in Colombo today led by South Africa’s International Relations and Cooperation Deputy Minister Nomaindia Mfeketo. The SLMC leader and Nomaindia Mfeketo discussed a wide…

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I left due to threats from Gota: Ex-SSP

Karu

Former Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and Police Media Spokesman Prishantha Jayakody,who arrived from Australia a short while ago, claimed that he fled the country because of threats byformer Defence Secretary GotabayaRajapaksa and some of his henchmen.He said he was compelled to leave under political pressure and fears for his life.“I served as the Police Media Spokesman and as Ratnapura SSP in Ratnapura but I had to leave the country because of severe political pressure I faced. When I refused succumb to these pressures I received death threats from former…

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Defend The Right Of NPC To Pass Genocide Resolution

Karu

By Siritunga Jayasuriya – United Socialist Party (CWI-Sri Lanka) unequivocally defends the right of the Northern Provincial council in its attempt to bring the focus of the world on the Brutal war that killed 100’s of thousands of innocent Tamils in the North & the East of this country. Especially this resolution was passed by the NPC in the circumstance where the new Maithri government is pressurising the human right council in Geneva not to present the report in March and postpone the their sub- committee report till next September.…

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President of Uruguay Mr. Jose Mujica the former Tupamaros Guerilla leader, A Role Model For President Sirisena?

Karu

By Mano Ratwatte – Indian media experts write in patronizing and condescending tones about how Sri Lanka’s newly elected President Mr. Sirisena should emulate PMModi or use Modi as a role model? I think not. Indians and Modi should look at Mr. Sirisena and use him as a role model. They do have one similarity in the sense neither was well known until thrust into the limelight by elections. Modi was a local figure in Gujarat (served 3 terms as Chief Minister) until he took over the election commission leadership…

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No faith in domestic probe – Bishop of Mannar

Karu

The Bishop of Mannar, Dr Rayappu Joseph, today said that a domestic investigation into allegations of human right violations cannot be trusted and that is the reason the Tamil people placed their faith in an international probe by the UN. “However, we were deceived by the United Nations,” he said, speaking to reporters following a protest held in Jaffna against the deferring of the UNHRC report on Sri Lanka. The protestors handed over a letter to the Rt Rev Dr Rayappu Joseph, requesting him to submit it to the UN…

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