Day: 16 July 2018

The historic Dutch Fort of Jaffna, recently restored at a cost of Rs 104 million is emerging as a bone of contention, with the military trying to relocate troops to the archaeological site, in order to release occupied private lands back to their rightful owners. Regional politicians and civil activists are strongly opposing the move saying it would increase the military footprint in the formerly embattled town and hamper tourism activity Its recent request to relocate several small camps in the Jaffna peninsula into the historic Jaffna Fort, is threatening…

By Ananth Palakidnar Chairperson of the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) Rev Fr. S.J. Emmanuel in a candid interview with Ceylon Today spelt out the shortcomings affecting the people in the North and East. He said as far as strengthening peace and reconciliation, apart from depending on politicians all right-thinking people must engage themselves in the peace building process. Religious leaders and intellectuals should not  leave room for extremist ideologies and must play their role with farsightedness to face the challenges in creating peace in the Island. Despite the Government taking…

Clowns Or Murderers: Our Hobson’s By Tisaranee Gunasekara – “There is no Viyath Mawatha; it is just a word for a programme. Clearly this is a carrying forward of Mahinda Chintanaya…”  ~ Mahinda Rajapaksa (4.7.2018)[i] The news was sensational, yet it was downplayed. The chief incumbent of a temple in Ratnapura strangled a police sergeant to death. The monk has been absconding after being charged with sexual abuse. The sergeant went to the temple to hand over the summons. He went alone and unarmed; after all, he was going to a temple to…

Colombo bishop is a racist! – UK TAMIL NEWS Cardinal supported killing of thousands of Tamils by Rajapaksha … www.uktamilnews.com/?p=22514 28 Aug 2016 – Serious doubts have been cast on Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjithand his political agendas to support Mahinda Rajapaksa … By Jude Fernando – Jude Fernando “Pope Francis: no crime ever deserves the death penalty,” by Vatican Radio, March 20, 2015 Public policies that treat some lives as unworthy of protection, or that are perceived as vengeful, fracture the moral conviction that human life is sacred.— United States Conference of Catholic Bishops “Many…

The military is handing back to the original owners another 522 acres of private land under its control in the Jaffna Peninsula, a senior army officer told the Sunday Times. The military is still occupying 3,100 acres of private land in the peninsula. According to Military Spokesman Sumith Atapattu, the military has already given back 3,800 acres of land to the owners. “We have received part of the money from the Ministry of Rehabilitation to relocate our military camps and as soon as we receive the balance, we will be…

Army Commander Mahesh Senanayake today said in a media statement that as a responsible Army, SLA would not close down Army camps in the Northern Province as alleged by some media reports. “The Army urges the public not to be misled by those unfounded and false media reports, but continue to repose the full confidence in the Army, considering its past services as well as the roles and tasks, now being performed across the country,” he said in the statement. He said; “Under any circumstances the Sri Lanka Army (SLA)…

The Constitutional Assembly, represented by the whole Parliament, is expected to come up with a draft constitution, which is considered a political document until it is passed in Parliament with a two-thirds majority and approved at a referendum by the people.  The much awaited report of the constitutional Expert Panel, also known as the ‘Zero draft’, which is expected to form the basis for the final draft of Constitution, will be presented to the Steering Committee when they meet on Wednesday, July 18, authoritative sources told the Sunday Observer. The…

By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan People in the Jaffna Peninsula, who have shown complete distrust in the Office of the Missing Persons’ (OMP) mission, staged a protest at the Jaffna Weerasingham Hall where the OMP sitting was being held yesterday. The OMP officials were gathered for a two-day outreach mission, their first in the Jaffna peninsula. Over 600 persons, from the families of the missing persons, walked into the hall and held photographs of the missing members and began crying and claiming that this Office was never going to look into…