Day: 12 May 2016

Events to mark remembrance of victims of final war begin

Karu

Events to mark the remembrance of victims of the final war began today. Northern provincial council members and families of those killed during the final stages of the war attended the event held in the North today. The events which began today will be held for a week at different locations with the final event set to take place at Mullivaikal. Northern Provincial Council member M.K Sivajilingham said earlier that there was an attempt to block the events but yet the events will go ahead as planned.  Sivajilingham said the main event…

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COPE Chairman says Ministers shielding corrupt officials

Karu

By Anuradha Herath COPE Chairman and JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti says it has become impossible to take action against corruption and other large-scale vices taking place at ministries as ministers themselves and their henchmen are engaged in such acts. He said that at some ministries those engaged in corruption have been shielded by the ministers themselves. The JVP MP asserted if the ministers are interfering in taking action against those involved in corruption at ministries and other public institutions, then legal powers should be vested in COPE and that a…

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TNA calls for probe into UN torture claims

Karu

In today’s News Update: FCID arrests Basil Rajapaksa Cricket: Sangakkara hopes Perera gets recall after doping U-turn TNA calls for probe into UN torture claims Basil Rajapaksa at FCID The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) called on the government on Thursday to take immediate action against investigators who were accused of torturing and sexually abusing suspects, seven year’s after the end of the island’s civil war. Leader of the main opposition group, the Tamil National Alliance, R. Sampanthan, told Xinhua that recent findings by UN Human Rights Officials who had visited…

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MAY 18 – Commemorating victims of war allowed, LTTE not allowed – Govt

Karu

State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene says that the government has no issue with the commemoration of victims of Sri Lanka’s war but any attempts to commemorate the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will not be allowed.  “The LTTE is a terrorist group recognized by the world. We have no problem with the commemoration of those who perished during the war. I think that is a tradition in the world.”  “However, we will not allow any LTTE flags or commemoration of the LTTE organization. That has been banned,” he…

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Can a New President Lead Sri Lanka Into an Era of Peace?

Karu

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Leaders of Sri Lanka, an island nation at the foot of India, have repeatedly promised a political solution to the ethnic strife that has caused heartache and bloodshed for much of its nearly 70-year history since independence. Committee after blue-ribbon committee has recommended that the majority Sinhalese, primarily Buddhists who immigrated from India centuries ago, relinquish some political power to the minority Tamils and Muslims, allowing them a measure of local self-governance. And yet one president after another has failed to do so. Now a president…

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Sri Lanka police arrest former leader’s brother over land deal

Karu

COLOMBO, May 12 (Reuters) – A brother of former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa was arrested on Thursday by the police Financial Crimes Investigation Division over a land deal allegedly involving money laundering, his lawyer and police said. Several members of the Rajapaksa family are facing police investigations for alleged financial crimes. They include Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was president for a decade until January 2015, his brothers Basil and Gotabaya, his wife Shiranthi and sons Namal and Yoshitha. Rajapaksa’s younger brother, Basil, a former economic development minister, is on bail…

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Sri Lankan police arrest scores of Tamil youth

Karu

The Sri Lankan government has unleashed a major crackdown against Tamil youth in the country’s war-ravaged north and east. Since March, more than 23 Tamils have been detained under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Most of those arrested were allegedly former members of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE), which was militarily defeated in 2009. May 18 marks the seventh anniversary of the end of 26-year communalist war, during which hundreds of Tamils were arrested, disappeared and murdered by Sri Lankan security forces and associated paramilitaries.…

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