The Sri Lankan government should begin by investigating Deputy Minister Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan or Karuna, asserted Human Rights Watch on Thursday.

Statement:

'The Sri Lankan government should act on the call by a government deputy minister to investigate war crimes by examining his own role in serious abuses.

Addressing a group of American Sri Lankans who were visiting Temple Trees on Tuesday, the Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa reminded them of what is expected of them: 'unstinting support from all Sri Lankans living abroad'.

He added that 'Sri Lanka needs not only the support of the expatriate community but also of the diaspora community to overcome the anti-Sri Lankan forces in the international arena.'

See here for a press release by the Sri Lankan embassy in the USA.

Sri Lanka is facing a constitutional crisis following the impeachment of the Chief Justice concluded a report by the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute, which was released on Thursday.

See here, but also our editorial 'Ruling the Law'.

Drawing attention to CHOGM 2013, IBAHRI co-chair, Sternford Moyo stated:

In an interview to the Times of India, Alan Keenan of the International Crisis Group (ICG) outlined the Sri Lankan government's litany of failings to make progress on reconciliation or accountability.

Highlighting that "Tamils have long suffered from a denial of their collective right to self-rule within a united Sri Lanka", Keenan added that "these problems have continued and, in some ways, grown worse since the end of the war."

See interview here. Reproduced in full below:

Q: According to the ICG, how is Sri Lanka`s consolidation of power impacting the process of post-war reconciliation?

KEENAN: There is no process of reconciliation or accountability and the government has made no attempt to remedy the long-standing poli-tical marginalisation of Tamils. It has made it clear it has no intention to devolve meaningful power to Tamil and Muslim areas in the north and east. It has refused to acknowledge the terrible suffering of Tamils and the loss of civilian lives in the last stages of the war, focussing only on the sacrifices of government troops.

Also, it has refused to conduct any independent investigations into alleged war crimes by government and LTTE forces or other violations of human rights suffered by members of all of Sri Lanka's communities. The further concentration of power in the Rajapaksa family and the executive, achieved through the impeachment of the chief justice, will make reconciliation and accountability even harder.

Q: What does such a situation mean for minority rights?

KEENAN: The rights of Tamils and Muslims are under grave threat. Tamils have long suffered from a denial of their collective right to self-rule within a united Sri Lanka as well as from a regular denial of many of their individual civil and political rights. These problems have continued and, in some ways, grown worse since the end of the war.

Sri Lankan cricketers should boycott the Indian Premier League (IPL) demanded the JHU (Jathika Hela Urumaya) and the National Buddhist Council, handing over a petition to Sri Lankan cricket's governing body on Thursday.

The chairperson of the National Buddhist Council, Rajawatte Wappa Thero, said:

In an interview with the BBC Sinhala service, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Robert O. Blake said that the US worked very closely with India in drafting the resolution, passed last week at the UN Human Rights Council.

Interview With BBC Sinhala Service - US State Department

Please see below for excerpts, for interview in full click here.

Question: [W]ith regard to the resolution passed yesterday, Indian media reports say that U.S. vetoed a last minute attempt by the Indian government to bring in some resolutions, some amendments, especially calling for some international involvement in monitoring LLR’s implementation. Is that true?

Blake: Well let me just say with respect to India that we worked very closely with India throughout the process and we indeed welcomed some of the changes that India made. So we were quite satisfied with the cooperation that we had with India, and I think going forward it will be very important for all of the international community to continue to work with India to encourage progress, since India has quite a lot of influence on the island.

Question: Did India propose any amendments at the last moment?

Blake: Like I said, we consulted closely throughout the entire process.

Question: Right.

The original draft proposed by the United States was in the opinion of observers was pretty much toned down at the last moment. Is that because of Indian influence?

Blake: I reject that premise. I don’t think that it was toned down in any way. I think it remains a very fair and balanced text that again reaffirms that Sri Lanka had to take meaningful action on reconciliation and accountability.

The UN Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka last week rightly invoked mixed sentiments. On the one hand, the passing of the second resolution in two years and the advocacy efforts that accompanied it underlined that Sri Lanka remains firmly on the international agenda and that the coalition of state and non-state actors pursuing accountability for the slaughter of tens of thousands and continuing rights abuses is expanding. On the other hand, the quest for consensus on the Council, and in particular the support of India, resulted in a significant weakening of the resolution’s force and the introduction, as Delhi’s pound of flesh, of elements deeply antithetical to the goals of accountability and justice, and injurious to the political aspirations of the Tamil nation.

The Tamil Nadu Assembly has adopted a resolution calling for a referendum among Eelam Tamils in the North-East of the island of the Sri Lanka, and those who have fled the conflict, on the formation of an independent state of Tamil Eelam.

Announcing the decision in the Assembly on Wednesday, the Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said:

The day after Tamil Nadu banned all Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket matches with Sri Lankan players, Sri Lankan cricketers responded...

Arjuna Ranatunga

Slamming the IPL governing council's decision to withdraw Sri Lankan cricketers from Chennai matches, the former Sri Lankan cricket captian, Arjuna Ranatunga, told Sri Lankan cricketers to "think of their country" and boycott the entire event, due to begin on 3rd April. Ranatunga asserted that playing else where in India under current circumstances would mean having "endorsed the human rights violation charges."

Ranatunga said:

"... as far as cricketers are concerned I think if they can't play in south India (Chennai) they should play in other part either. I personally feel if players are not welcomed in one part of India they should not be part of any IPL,"

"The excuse that the south Indian politician gave was war crimes. And, I am sure the players should take that into consideration and think of the country and pull out from the entire Indian Premier League,"

"What most people seem to ignore is that both Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi are wanting to stop Sri Lankans playing in Tamil Nadu because they accuse Sri Lanka of human rights violations. So playing in other (Indian) states while skipping Tamil Nadu is an endorsement of human rights allegations against our country,"

"Players must be made aware of this as the world will say that Sri Lankan IPL players have unwittingly endorsed the human rights violation charges,"

"I think what IPL should have done was pulled out all the matches from south India if they are so keen on Sri Lankan players participation. But, it's all political gimmick,"

Muttiah Muralitharan

Expressing disappointment at the IPL's decision, Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan claimed that he "did not have any problems as a Tamil", and invited the Indian authorities to "come and see how we are living in Sri Lanka and forget what happened in the past."

See here for what the Tamil civil society of the North-East said earlier this month on life for Tamils at present.

Speaking to NDTV, Muralitharan who currently plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore said:

“It’s a sad [day] for cricket as we are not allowed to play in a certain part of India. It is a government decision, if they cannot provide security for us, we have to be cautious,”

Sri Lanka's cricket squad for the T20 international against Bangladesh in Kandy announced a new addition today... the son of Minister Keheliya Rambukwella.

Yesterday Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to India, Prasad Kariyawasam said he was 'concerned about mixing of politics and sports'. 

Here's a sample of the distinction between politics and cricket in Sri Lanka: