• England cricket captain says decision to tour Sri Lanka lies with the government

    Speaking as the English cricket team began their tour of Sri Lanka, England’s cricket captain Andrew Strauss stated that it was up to the British government to decide whether or not to tour the island.

    As Sri Lanka comes under increasing pressure regarding allegations of war crimes and the airing of Channel 4's documentary on British television on Wednesday night, Strauss was questioned on whether the English team was comfortable playing cricket against Sri Lanka. He commented,
    "It's a bit of a tricky one. All round us, we see atrocities taking place all over the world and in war a lot of unsavoury things happen on both sides. I personally think the political issues are best dealt with by the politicians and administrators."

    "But that doesn't mean we should stick our heads in the sand. If the government feel there is cases to answer to a great enough extent that the England team shouldn't be touring somewhere then that is a call they need to make. Until that is the case, it would be wrong for us to focus on anything other than the cricket."

    "You must be careful that if you are investigating anything, you investigate it very thoroughly because otherwise there's nothing worse than a little bit of knowledge.
    When asked by the BBC if Strauss or any other members of them team had wanted to find out more on Sri Lanka’s human rights violations, he responded,
    I think it’s something that you keep an eye out for when you see it in the news... But ultimately there are people that are paid to look into these things, and they’re mainly in the government. They need to do their job and we need to do ours. ”
    See our earlier posts:

    ‘Should England’s cricket team tour Sri Lanka?’ (10 March 2012)
  • Australian Greens push for SL High Commissioner to be recalled
    Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon has called upon the Australian Government to send back Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Australia Admiral TSG Samarasinghe, until an independent international investigation into war crimes on the island has commenced.
  • HRW baffled by Sri Lanka's 'strident opposition'

    A spokeperson for the international human rights organisation, Human Rights Watch, expressed confusion and disbelief at the Sri Lankan government's indignant opposition to the resolution tabled at the 19th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

  • Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to India summoned to apologise

    Sri Lanka's High Commissioner, Kariyawasam, to India apologised on Friday after suggesting that any Tamil Nadu MPs who spoke of accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity had been lobbied by the LTTE and should be investigated by Indian authorities.

  • Militarisation and colonisation is to negate call for Tamil self-governance - ICG

    In reports published Friday, the International Crisis Group detailed and condemned the "deepening militarisation" and "Sinhalisation" in the Tamil area of the Northen Province, that the report concludes are part of a strategy to ""change the facts of the ground", as has already happened in the east, and make it impossible to claim the north as a Tamil-majority area deserving of self-governance."

  • TNA condemns 'broken promises', urges UNHRC action

    In a statement released Wednesday, the TNA condemned the Sri Lankan government's catalogue of broken promises of political settlement and human rights, urging the member states of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to act.

    See here for full statement.

    Extracts reproduced in full below:

    "The Sri Lankan government has persistently claimed that, if provided time and space, it will evolve homegrown processes that will address the need for a political solution, improvement in human rights and accountability. This claim must be evaluated against the chronic unwillingness of the government to honour its own commitments to the people of Sri Lanka and the international community. Some of these commitments have been repeated for many years, with no progress made on the ground."

    "Moreover, the trajectory of the government’s conduct indicates that, if given time and space, that time and space will be utilized to pursue the agenda that the government has brazenly undertaken despite assurances to the contrary. That agenda entails the silencing of the democratic voice of the Tamil people, the entrenching of power at the centre and the transformation of the linguistic, cultural and religious composition of the North and East so as to negate the need for a political solution."

  • A ‘diplomatic dance’ during the slaughter
    The former UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordinator has stated that during the final weeks of the war in Sri Lanka, the international community was waiting for the inevitable defeat of the LTTE and hoped it “happened as quickly as possible”.
  • US warns of renewed conflict risk if accountability not addressed
    The US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia has stated that without accountability in Sri Lanka, new violence could arise on the island.

    Speaking in Washington, Robert Blake stated that both reconciliation and accountability were in Sri Lanka’s best interests so that,
  • Indian Parliament erupts in uproar over Sri Lanka
    Both houses of the Indian Parliament had to be adjourned earlier on Tuesday after parliamentarians were in uproar over the Indian government’s failure to hold Sri Lanka accountable for allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

    Members of the AIADMK and its rival DMK, along with members of the BJP and Left parties came together in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha demanding to know the Indian government’s stand on the proposed resolution on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council.

    The MPs staged a vociferous protest, carrying newspaper reports of atrocities in Sri Lanka, and demanded that Indian Prime Minister Mamohan Singh, who was present in Parliament, clarify India’s position on the proposed resolution.


    V Maitreyan of the AIADMK said,
    "The entire world knows about the war crimes against Sri Lankan Tamils. The Tamil Nadu chief minister has raised this issue with the prime minister. We want an answer from the prime minister... will they support the UN resolution."
    The furore prompted Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to respond,
    "Traditional position of India has always been, not only in respect of this case, that we normally do not support any country-specific resolution. But what view on this issue will be taken will be determined as and when the time will be finalized in respect of the meeting of the Human Rights Commission."
    The uproar comes just days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrote to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Manmohan Singh stating that he wanted to avoid “deepening confrontation and mistrust” between India and Sri Lanka, yet wanted to achieve a “forward looking” outcome on accountability.

    See the full text of his letter below.
  • Amnesty releases report of ongoing abuses, calls for international investigation

    In a report, 'Locked away: Sri Lanka's security detainees', released Tuesday, Amnesty International (AI) highlighted the ongoing arbitrary, illegal and often incommunicado detention of Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka.

    Sam Zarifi, AI’s Asia-Pacific Director said,

    A lack of accountability for alleged war crimes gives the green light to Sri Lankan authorities to act with impunity. Meanwhile the message coming from the Sri Lankan government is that those who dare criticise it risk harassment, or even disappearance.”

    If Sri Lanka is serious about ending impunity and committed to reconciling communities torn apart by conflict, the rule of law needs to be a large part of that equation.  While governments have the right to address national security concerns, human rights abuses are never justified.

    “The war crimes alleged in Sri Lanka in the final stages of the war are of such magnitude that if unchallenged risk fundamentally undermining international justice mechanisms - the UN must support an independent international investigation into these alleged crimes.”

    In a statement, AI said,

    "Reports of illegal detentions persist. Since October 2011, 32 people have been ‘abducted’ or subjected to abduction-style arrests."

  • Reporters Sans Frontieres catalogues media suppression over past year

    In a statement released Monday, Reporters Sans Frontieres, detailed the "violence, threats and propaganda aimed at journalists and media defenders seen as government critics" since 2011.

    Extracts reproduced below:

  • Tamil diaspora organisations urge UNHRC to call for an international investigation

    In a joint statement and resolution, 12 Tamil diaspora organisations, called for an independent, international investigation as the only mechanism to ensure accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as a lasting political solution that reflected the nationhood of Eelam Tamils.

  • Threats to US, whilst appealing for concessions
    A Sri Lankan Minister has warned the United States that Sri Lanka would join international allies and align itself against the US, if they were to continue to push Sri Lanka “to extremes”.

    Referring to a resolution put forward by the US at the UN Human Rights Council, Minister of Power and Energy Patali Champika Ranawaka said,
  • Reconciliation is not happening in Sri Lanka, and the problem isn't a question of time'

    Writing in the online site, OpenDemocracy, Sivakami Rajamanoharan from the Tamil Youth Organisation UK argues that the failure of reconciliation in Sri Lanka is as a result of "Sri Lanka’s refusal to accept the Tamil identity as a rightful and equal part of the island" and that the Tamil nation's desire fo

  • SL Minister urges boycott of Google

    Addressing a public meeting in Colombo, Sri Lankan government Minister Wimal Weerawansa has called for a boycott of all American products, including the use of Google.

Subscribe to Tamil Affairs