• International war crimes investigation is the only first step says UK opposition leader

    Jan 29

    The leader of the UK Labour Party Ed Miliband repeated his call for an independent international investigation into mass atrocities, stating it would be the first step towards satisfying Tamil grievances around the world.

    In a video message to the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils annual dinner, Mr Milband called on Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena to “fully cooperate with the ongoing investigation” being carried out by the UN Office of the High Commission for Human Rights.

    “I am very clear,” said the UK opposition leader.

    “Only a full and transparent independent international investigation into allegations of war crimes can be the first step towards satisfying and allaying the deep hurt and grievances of Tamils in Britain and around the world.”

  • Relatives of disappeared protest in Batticaloa

    Photos: Battinews

    Protestors in Batticaloa demanded to know the whereabouts of people who were disappeared from 1958 to more recent times, urging the new government to provide answers, Battinews reported.

    Relatives of the disappeared were joined at the Gandhi Square by TNA MPs P Ariyenenthiran and Pon Selvarasa, who were given a petition by the protestors, calling on President Maithripala Sirisena to take action.

  • Sirisena-government ignored Tamils in budget - TNA MP

    The TNA spokesperson Suresh Premachandran charged that the new government, under President Maithripala Sirisena, has ignored Tamil concerns in the latest interim budget,  saying it was a continuation of the policy of every previous government, reported the Uthayan.

  • ‘Many challenges’ remain, says Hugo Swire in Jaffna


    Hugo Swire with members of the Jaffna Press Club

    Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister Hugo Swire, visiting Sri Lanka this week, said that the people of Jaffna still “face many challenges”, following meetings with Northern Province Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran and journalists from the Jaffna Press Club today.

    Commenting on his visit Mr Swire stated he was “pleased to have visited Jaffna”, adding,

    “Northern Sri Lanka suffered much throughout the country’s long conflict and the people there still face many challenges. This was part of the reason why Prime Minister David Cameron also prioritised visiting Jaffna when he was in Sri Lanka for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2013.”

  • New Sri Lankan govt says 'thinking of having our own local inquiry'
    Sri Lanka's new government said it was thinking of launching its own local inquiry as an answer to allegations of mass atrocities committed against the Tamil people during the final stages of the armed conflict, currently under investigation by the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

    “We are thinking of having our own inquiry acceptable to them to the international standards,” the government's spokesperson, Rajitha Seneviratne told press in Colombo on Wednesday.

    “It will be a new local inquiry. If we need, we will bring some foreign experts.”

    The decision to hold an yet another internal inquiry remains controversial however, with the     UK and Canadian governments urging the new president, Maithripala Sirisena, to cooperate with the UN inquiry already underway, and Tamils in the North-East and diaspora, calling for an international process in order to ensure the necessary independence and credibility.

  • Sri Lankan military must be removed from North, Wigneswaran tells UK minister
    The removal of the Sri Lankan military from the Tamil areas is the most important issue at present, the chief minister of the Northern Province, C V Wigneswaran told the UK's Minister for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Hugo Swire during a visit to Jaffna on Thursday.

    Speaking to reporters afterwards about his meeting with Mr Swire, Mr Wigneswaran said he had also warned     of the change in the ethnic demography of the Tamil areas due to state sponsored resettlement of Sinhala people.

    Asked by the visiting UK delegation what change the Northern Province had experienced since the new government, Mr Wigneswaran said: "I told them the new government appears to be giving us some benefits [such as] the changing of the governor [to the province] from a military person to a civilian.

    "However, these are very small issues," he added. "If we look at big issues, removing the military is an important."

  • Confusion remains over Sri Lanka's pledge to return land to Tamils says Wigneswaran
    The chief minister of the Northern Province, C V Wigneswaran said confusion remained about whether the land belonging to Tamils in the North would be returned to its rightful owners, despite an announcement on Thursday by Sri Lanka's new government that it would give back the lands.

    Mr Wigneswaran who met with the UK minister for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Hugo Swire today in Jaffna, said that the visiting UK delegation had asked about the government's announcement.

    "I replied, it has been announced, however, the prime minister has already said that they will not reduce the number of military camps. Therefore this creates some confusion," Mr Wigneswaran told reporters after the meeting with Mr Swire.

  • Tamils have no trust in local inquiry by Sri Lankan govt says TNA spokesperson
    The spokesperson of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said the Tamil people have no trust in a local inquiry process by the Sri Lankan government into mass atrocities committed against the Tamils at the end of the armed conflict, rejecting the new government's pledge to launch another domestic commission to investigate the allegations.

    Stating that the UN inquiry, which is underway and due to publish its findings at the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva next month, was "trustworthy and acceptable to all", the spokesperson, Suresh Premachandran, said the "the current Sri Lankan government must firstly accept that report [by the UN inquiry]" and cooperate with future steps by the council.

    Speaking to local journalists on Wednesday, Mr Premachandran said: "Everyone in Sri Lanka knows what happened to former internal inquiry reports. Either they [the reports] have not been implemented or an inquiry itself has not been conducted."

  • Visit to Uthayan 'brought home' challenges journalists face - David Cameron

    Cameron inspects bullet holes in Uthayan printing press during his visit in 2013

    British Prime Minister David Cameron has spoken of his experience in visiting the violence-hit Uthayan office in Jaffna in 2013, during a debate on press freedom in parliament earlier this month.

    Responding to a question by Conservative MP John Whittingdale, who asked the prime minister to reaffirm the British government's commitment to protect the safety of journalists, in relation to the attacks on Charlie Hebdo, Mr Cameron said the visit to the Uthayan office brought home what journalists in other countries had to face.

    "This most struck me when I visited Jaffna, in northern Sri Lanka, and went to see a newspaper office that had been shot up, bombed and burned. That brings home what journalists in other countries have for years faced in bringing the truth and putting it in front of the people, which is a vital part of a free democratic system," the prime minister said.

  • Concrete reconciliatory steps required in Sri Lanka for Tamils to return to North-East says Tamil Nadu CM
    In a letter to the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu,  citing an “atmosphere of fear” and “intimidation” said that though the new presidency in Sri Lanka was a symbol of hope, an environment “of possible human rights violations has not entirely dissipated,” due to apprehensions regarding the high concentration of the Sri Lankan army in Tamil areas. 

    He further called for the autonomy and democratic rights of the Tamil people in the North-East of Sri Lanka, to be fully protected, to protect them from further subjugation, reports the Times of India.

    The conditions in Sri Lanka’s North-East are not conducive for voluntary repatriation of Tamil refuges in Tamil Nadu, said the state’s chief minister, O Paneerselvam.

    Highlighting the fate of thousands of internally displaced Tamils in Sri Lanka, Mr Paneerselvam, said, "there is a concern that Tamils could be reduced to a minority even in their own traditional habitation areas."
  • UK MPs call for Sri Lanka to co-operate with UN inquiry or face sanctions

    British MPs, highlighting the need for the new government of Sri Lanka to take concrete steps to reconcile with Tamils, called for increased pressure on Sri Lanka to cooperate with the UN inquiry into mass atrocities, whikst debating the issue of ‘Tamils in Sri Lanka’ at the House of Commons on Wednesday morning.

    Noting concerns about the new Sri Lankan government’s demeanour towards the Tamil community, and later highlighting that “only a political solution that recognises the rights of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, including that to self-determination, can address the root cause of the conflict”, the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPGT), MP Lee Scott, said,

    “I am concerned, however, that the new Government of Sri Lanka have stated that they will not change the policy towards the Tamil community in Sri Lanka or demilitarise the areas in which Tamil people live.”

    Mr Scott added that further pressure on Sri Lanka, through action such as “vetoing future loans from the international Monetary Fund (IMF)” may be an avenue to encourage change for Tamils in Sri Lanka. 

    Expressing concern at the make-up of the new Sirisena government, Mr Scott added, “The new president was a member of the same party as his predecessor.”

  • Sri Lankan President vows to strengthen ‘national security’

    Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena pledged to implement new plans that will strengthen “national security”, in an address to the Ministry of Defence on Thursday.

    Mr Sirisena, who also holds the title of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, said “every effort would be initiated in strengthening the National Security within the Democratic framework as per the Constitution.”

    He further added that it was the “expectation of the government to implement a programme to strengthen national security locally and internationally,” reports ColomboPage.

  • Tamils in Batticaloa remember 1987 Kokkadichcholai massacre

    Remembering the 83 Tamils shot dead by Sri Lanka's elite police officers in Kokkadichcholai on January 27 1987, residents of Batticaloa held a memorial event on Wednesday.

    The Special Task Force (STF) officers raided a prawn factory in the village in the East, shooting dead the workers, which including seven boys aged between 12 to 14.

    Relatives of those who were massacred lay candles and flowers in their memory.


    "Martyrs may die, sacrifice never dies," read a memorial banner by the event organisers, the Ilangai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK).

  • Sri Lankan military threatens Vali North residents ahead of UK minister visit
    The Sri Lankan military threatened displaced residents from Valikamam North ahead the Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office minister, Hugo Swire's visit to Jaffna later that day, the Jaffna based newspaper, Uthayan reported.
  • Only one way to shield Gotabhaya from war crimes prosecution' - Ryan Goodman

    Sri Lanka’s former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa would only be safe from war crimes prosecution by the United States under one condition, writes Ryan Goodman – if the Sri Lankan government were to prosecute him for war crimes themselves.

    Mr Goodman, Professor of Law and Co-Chair of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University School of Law, cited Sri Lanka’s “long-standing extradition agreement” with the United States which obligates Sri Lanka to extradite “persons sought by the authorities of the [United States] for trial or punishment for an extraditable offence.”

    “Sri Lanka has already formally agreed to give the United States access to criminal suspects in such cases,” says Goodman.

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