Day: 8 July 2015

Refer Sri Lanka to International Criminal Court

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Refer Sri Lanka to International Criminal Court We, the undersigned people from around the world, urge the United Nations to refer Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or to establish a similar credible International Judicial Mechanism for investigation and prosecution of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed against the Tamil people by the Sri Lankan State.According to the UN Internal Review Report on Sri Lanka, there were “credible estimates” of civilian casualties of 70,000 Tamils during the first six months in 2009. As the former U.S.…

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Post-war national reconciliation: Diaspora factor by GTF

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By Shamindra Ferdinando The UK headquartered Global Tamil Forum (GTF) had been ‘in the thick of things’ when the US moved a resolution, against Sri Lanka, at the 19th session of the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), in March, 2012. The successful US resolution was the first of three moved since the conclusion of the war, in May, 2009. The US stepped-in after a Canadian attempt to garner support for an anti-Sri Lanka resolution in Geneva, in the previous year, flopped. GTF’s Suren Surendiran had been among those…

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Conditional nominations for MAHINDA

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Conditional nominations for MR CBK will join the fray to counter MR nominations Fresh issue over UPFA national list slots Rasika Jayakody President Maithripala Sirisena, after lengthy negotiations with different stakeholders of the UPFA, has agreed to offer conditional nominations for former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. According to conditions laid out by the President, Rajapksa should only contest from Hambanthota and he will not be named as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the UPFA. In addition, he will not be appointed as the head of the campaign or the district leader,…

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TNA in tough bargaining stand

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BY S. Gurunathan The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) would not go behind any government, adopting a surrender policy. After the forthcoming parliamentary election, the TNA would adopt a tough bargaining policy to achieve its political target on behalf of the Tamil community, said K.Thurairatnem, Eastern Provincial Councillor and a prospective TNA candidate at the parliamentary election, from the electoral district Batticaloa. He further said that Tamil community was hailed as being responsible for sending home the past regime led by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. “Tamils voted for a change in…

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Rajapaksa returns to test Sri Lanka’s democracy

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The re-emergence of Sri Lanka’s controversial former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, as the leader of the main opposition alliance in the country’s general elections in August, and as potential prime minister, appears to signal the end of the country’s brief democratic honeymoon and a return to divisive politics as usual. Former Sri Lankan president Mahindra Rajapaksa. (Flickr/Mahindra Rajapaksa.) Six months after his stunning victory in Sri Lanka’s presidential election, Maithripala Sirisena faces a renewed challenge from the man he ousted. Sirisena’s triumph gave new life to Sri Lanka’s battered democracy, which had…

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”Support is now more obvious than it was in 2005 and 2010” says Mahinda

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‘We have nothing to gain by helping any other country to become a threat to India,’ former Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is on the comeback trail, tells Rediff.com senior contributor Nitin A Gokhale in an exclusive interview. Mahinda Rajapaksa, who lost the Sri Lankan presidency earlier this year, plans to contest the parliamentary election and likely become prime minister. He spoke exclusively to Rediff.com contributor Nitin A Gokhale. Will you be a prime ministerial candidate in the upcoming parliamentary elections? If yes, will you be the SLFP candidate? I will be contesting the…

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Mahinda or Ranil?

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Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa after having been given nomination to contest the 17 August, 2015 General Election under the UPFA ticket on Friday, in probably his first interview to the media, reproduced by this newspaper on its yesterday’s edition, revealed his prime ministerial ambitions. In a 10 questionnaire interview with rediff.com, an Indian website, he sidestepped the first question as to whether he would be the SLFP led UPFA’s premier candidate, despite that being one of the key issues revolving round Rajapaksa’s re-entry into politics. Nonetheless he let the cat…

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