Day: 11 March 2017

Colombo (AFP) – President Maithripala Sirisena came to power in Sri Lanka promising justice for war crimes, breaking from his hawkish predecessor and presenting the island with its first real shot at a lasting peace. But that optimism has been sorely tested as Sirisena, having missed a two-year deadline to investigate war-era abuses, declared he would never prosecute his soldiers, rejecting outright fresh UN calls for an international trial. “I am not going to allow non-governmental organisations to dictate how to run my government,” he said a day after the…

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Trincomalee student killings Karuna’s UK criminal conviction for fake diplomatic passport The CID is actively investigating several violent crimes and other serious offences that were not pursued by the police under the former regime, the Nation reliably learns. While public attention has been focused on the investigations into attacks on media personnel following the surprise arrests of five army spies last month for the abduction and torture of former Nation Deputy Editor Keith Noyahr, court records reveal that the investigations include a probe into the use of a false passport…

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Selvanayagi lost her arms in Sri Lanka’s war 27 years ago Few students in Vadamarachchi, part of Sri Lanka’s northern peninsula, had heard of Visual Basic until Sebastian Selvanayagi started offering a course in it at her modest computer centre. “Even basic programming languages haven’t come to our village in a big way,” she said, entering a small room in her home, in Vetrilaikeni in Vadamarachchi East, where five desktop computers are kept. As her office assistant switched one of the systems on, Ms. Selvanayagi sat down and quickly typed…

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Life continues to be a struggle for 45-year-old Kathir, a former Tamil Tiger combatant, and his family. Kathir was one of the 12,000 Tiger cadres who underwent a rehabilitation process soon after the end of the war. Kathir was lucky to be released after a year of rehabilitation. “I was disabled due to the war and therefore my time at rehabilitation centres was just one year,” he said. However, getting back to normal life was not as easy as Kathir had thought. “The people accepted me back into society. I…

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There have been increased incidents of military intimidation in the last couple of weeks in areas like Pilakudiyirippu (near Keppapulavu), Paravipaanchan in Kilinochchi, and Puthukkudiyiruppu – former military held lands which have been released to former residents after sustained protests, human rights activist Ruki Fernando said. This culminated in the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) questioning Fernando during a visit to Pilakudiyirippu on March 9, he added. “I was talking to a few of the residents when two people in civilian clothing came up to me. They asked me who…

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Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman for his latest move in forming a new political party, the Tamil United Independent Front -Thamilar Aikkiya Suthanthira Munnani. According to Karuna Amman, the purpose of forming a new party is to provide livelihood opportunities to former LTTE cadres and to assist widows of LTTE cadres and war victims. The party will be based in the East –Batticaloa- and be more focused on issues pertaining to the North and Eastern parts of the country and the people living therein. However, some sections of society believe…

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The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) today welcomed the report on Sri Lanka by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights backed the observation that ‘stronger, tangible results needed to be forthcoming without further delay to prevent any further dissipation of hard-earned trust.’ While acknowledging the Sri Lankan Government’s constructive engagement with United Nations’ human rights mechanisms; visible progress on constitutional reform process; positive developments on the broader human rights agenda; and commendable efforts on consultations towards establishing transitional justice measures, the report was emphatic that the ‘fulfilment of transitional justice…

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By R. Sampanthan – R. Sampanthan I raised this question, because our people have come to the very end of their frustration. Today, in the blazing sun, in the rain when it is rainingand in the night when there is dew, they are protesting with their families. Their wives, their children, their infants are all joining in the protest and it is unbearable. This situation cannot continue. It must be brought to an end and we want the Government to realize and take very early action to bring this situation…

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ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka has come under renewed international criticism over police failures to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of what it calls “emblematic cases,” including the assassination of Lasantha Wickrematunga. The UN Human Rights Council received a report outlining systematic failure of Sri Lanka’s police to prosecute suspects in 11 high profile cases it considers emblematic of the culture of impunity even after the end of a decades-long war. The report buttressed its demand for international judges to try war criminals in Sri Lanka by pointing to police failures to…

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