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Chair of govt commission accuses NGOs of inflating disappearance numbers

Aug 11, 2014

The chair of the government's commission into disappearances accused civil society organisations of falsely inflating numbers of those missing in the North of the island.

“After all the publicity that was given, we only received about 375 complaints from Mannar,” said Maxwell Paranagama. The commission held public sittings in Mannar last week.

“When we asked the organisation to forward the family members of those who went missing, if there is such high number, the organisation failed to do so,” he added.

The Tamil National Alliance, the Tamil National People's Front, and the prominent civil society campaigner, the Bishop of Mannar, have criticised the domestic inquiry, stating it is unable to provide justice to the Tamils.

Sri Lanka invites Kerry to visit and see for himself

Aug 11, 2014

Extending an invitation to the US Secretary of State John Kerry, Sri Lanka's Minister of External Affairs said he should visit to see for himself.

“I invited him to visit Sri Lanka and see what we have accomplished on the ground during the past five years after the war was over,” Minister GL Peiris told the Daily Mirror.

The invitation comes after Peiris last week warned foreign envoys to be impartial and refrain from interfering within Sri Lanka's domestic affairs.

MoD's National Secretariat to investigate 4 NGOs

Aug 11, 2014

The National Secretariat, which works under Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence, is to investigate four NGOs, after they allegedly failed to comply with recently introduced government restrictions, the Daily Mirror reports.

“We are carrying out investigations at the moment. Once investigations are over, we will decide on the action to be taken against them,” the chair of the Secretariat, Saman Dissanayake, said stating that some of the NGOs had been banned previously.

In July Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence sent letters to all non-governmental organisations, demanding that they refrain from activities beyond their mandate, including press conferences, workshops, training for journalists, and the publication of press releases.

Failure to support presidential development projects is a sin says chief monk

Aug 11, 2014

A monk speaking at the Presidential opening of a Buddhist temple, warned public servants that they would pay for their sins in the next life if they failed to serve the public and the president.

Udugama Sri Buddharakkitha Thera of the Asgiriya section said, on Sunday, that public servants were expected to serve the people and extend their support to development projects launched by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, reports the Island.lk.

Government to add another international name to domestic commission

Aug 10, 2014

An Indian human rights activist is to be included in the Sri Lankan government's disappearances commission, the NDTV reports.

Avdash Kaushal, leads an NGO names Rural litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK), which focuses on the indigenous tribe of the Northern Himalayas.

Last month the government appointed three international experts to advise the commissions, just as the UN inquiry, OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL), into mass atrocities committed against the Tamil people was to begin.

This latest appointment comes days after the UN inquiry launched its call for witness submissions. See more here.

However, despite the appointments, President Rajapaksa has stressed that the international experts will not have any investigative power.

No media freedom on island says Batticaloa bishop

Aug 10, 2014

The bishop of Batticaloa condemned the lack of media freedom on the island, adding that "freedom of speech and media freedom for journalists is essential," the Uthayan reports.

“There is currently no media freedom in our country. Media freedom is important [and] everyone has freedom of speech, but here, journalists or media are not able to function freely," he said, speaking at an event in the Marai region of Batticaloa.

Access to Sri Lanka not necessary for investigation says UN Human Rights Chief

Aug 10, 2014

The United Nations top human rights official stated investigators do not need to visit Sri Lanka, in order to carry out a full and credible investigation into war crimes committed by the government.

Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation,

"There is a wealth of information outside of Sri Lanka which can be tapped into."

"The credibility of the report will depend on it reflecting proper standards of corroboration of evidence, whether the team is allowed into the country or not."

Citing the cases of Syria and North Korea, both of which had UN investigations into human rights abuses carried out, Pillay went on to add,

"Hardly anyone, apart from the Syrian and Democratic People's Republic of Korea governments, are questioning the credibility of these two inquiries, so I don't see why it should be any different in the case of Sri Lanka”.

See more from Business Insider here.

Sri Lanka says US should examine root causes of anti-Western sentiment

Aug 10, 2014

Sri Lanka's External Affairs Ministry rejected a security message issued by the United States last week, which had warned its citizens about increased anti-Western sentiments and violent demonstrations in Sri Lanka, stating that the US should itself examine the root causes of the widening gap in relations between the two countries.

In a statement released on Monday, the Ministry said it "takes serious note" of the message, which it said "regrettably creates a false and alarmist view of the conditions prevalent in Sri Lanka".

"There have been no instances of violent protests targeting the US Embassy, its diplomats, officials or citizens, though claimed by the US State Department’s Security Message, that such incidents could occur."

BBS tells Rajapaksa - discipline ministers or 'we will have to tame them'

Aug 10, 2014

The leader of the Buddhist monk group, Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) told the Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa to take action against ministers whose actions the group condemned, warning, "if he [Rajapaksa] fails to correct those [ministers] behaving incorrectly then we will have to tame them".

“The President cannot shy away from taking the responsibility for the action of ministers. We cannot allow him to mollycoddle everyone including the wrongdoers," BBS leader, the Buddhist monk, Galagodaatte Gnanasera told a press conference, the Daily Mirror reports.

'Sinister' demographic changes made in North-East to stop need for political solution - TNA

Aug 9, 2014

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) accused the government of ‘sinister’ militarisation and land appropriation in the North-East with a ‘definite purpose’ of changing the demographic composition of the North-East with the aim of making a political solution for the Tamils ‘irrelevant and unnecessary.'

Highlighting that thousands of Tamil families lost their land to the Sri Lankan military in High Security Zone in the North-East, the TNA leader R Sampanthan, during a statement made in parliament on Thursday, asked if there was a ‘sinister’ motive to the appropriation of Tamil land.

Sampanthan said that the land appropriation in the eastern provinces was to break the linguistic continuity of the North-East, whilst highlighting that the Northern and Eastern provinces were historically Tamil areas, and insisting they must become one unit of devolution, with one provincial council. His statement further warned that there was a strategy to break up the ‘linguistic continuity’ of the North-East as part of the government plan to remove the need for a meaningful political solution for the Tamils.

He added that, though promises had been made by the Supreme Court to release these lands back to the Tamil people, the commitments had not been met and civilians were not able to resettle in their original lands.

Extracts reproduced below.

“There are tens of thousands of Tamil families in this position. Why is there no serious effort to address this issue? Despite all the protests and demonstrations that are taking place in the North and the East, despite the matter having been raised in Parliament on several occasions, why is this issue not being addressed seriously? Is this attitude of the Government not indicative of the Government having a sinister objective? I want to pose this question."

“All this is being done because you want to change the demographic composition of the North and the East and you want to change the cultural and linguistic identity of the districts in the North and the East. These things are being done with a definite purpose, the purpose being to change the demographic composition of the Northern and Eastern Provinces and the cultural and linguistic identity of the Northern and Eastern Provinces so as to make a political resolution, a political solution irrelevant and unnecessary. That is the objective with which you are pursuing this agenda,” he later said in an answer to his question.

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Chair of govt commission accuses NGOs of inflating disappearance numbers

Sri Lanka invites Kerry to visit and see for himself

MoD's National Secretariat to investigate 4 NGOs

Failure to support presidential development projects is a sin says chief monk

Government to add another international name to domestic commission

No media freedom on island says Batticaloa bishop

Access to Sri Lanka not necessary for investigation says UN Human Rights Chief

Sri Lanka says US should examine root causes of anti-Western sentiment

BBS tells Rajapaksa - discipline ministers or 'we will have to tame them'

'Sinister' demographic changes made in North-East to stop need for political solution - TNA

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