Sri Lanka and India on Monday agreed to commence talks on proposed Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA), the Business Standard reported. "The leaders reviewed progress of the proposed ETCA between India and Sri Lanka and agreed to start negotiations on an expedited track for an early conclusion of the agreement, preferably before the end of the year," Sri Lanka's commerce and industry ministry said in a statement. A delegation from India is expected to visit Sri Lanka shortly. See more here .
Hundreds of Sinhalese families have been settled into Mullaitivu with the assistance of the Sri Lankan military said a member of the Northern Provincial Council. T Raviharan, an NPC member, said that hundreds of Sinhalese families have settled in the Nayaru region and have been actively assisted by Sri Lankan troops. He noted that in 2011, 72 Sinhalese families were granted temporary passes to the region, which allowed them to fish in Nayaru waters with the help of the military, despite protests from local Tamil fishermen. Today that number has swelled to more than 290 families. At the...
A midterm report by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al-Hussein has confirmed Sri Lanka has not moved fast enough on issues of justice and accountability said the US Tamil Political Action Council, as it outlined a range of measures that must be immediately addressed. "High Commissioner Zeid's constructive oral report confirms USTPAC's observations that the government has not moved fast enough on confidence building measures or transitional justice," said USTPAC President Karunyan Arulanantham. "Sri Lanka's security forces must return all land to its rightful owners, demilitarize from the Tamil-dominated North and East and undergo serious reform if Sri Lanka is to achieve reconciliation. USTPAC also reiterates High Commissioner Zeid's conclusion that the government must execute a comprehensive plan for transitional justice and launch a concerted public information campaign to explain its efforts to all communities." "Despite Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Samaraweera's statements in Geneva, USTPAC has concerns about the government's determination to fully implement Resolution 30/1,” he added.
The leader of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) Mavai Senathirajah warned of continuous Tamil protests if the Sri Lankan government continued to ignore implementation of a United Nations resolution. Speaking at Nallur temple in Jaffna, the Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian said promises made by both the Sri Lankan president and prime minister were yet to be kept. “If the UN resolutions are ignored by the Sri Lankan government even after the report submitted by the High Commissioner of the UNHRC, then we will be in a position to decide on staging continuous protests,” he added. See...
Sri Lanka’s Security Force Headquarters Jaffna (SFHG-J) celebrated its 20th birth anniversary in the North-East. A Buddhist Bodhi Pooja blessing was made on the Security Force Flag with all soldiers serving in Jaffna present. Photograph:Defence.lk The Security forces went on to visit other places of worship to seek blessing for the Security Forces flag. Flower wreaths were also placed at a war memorial erected to remember Sri Lanka’s soldiers who died in the conflict against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The defence ministry website reports that in 1996 the “SFHQ-J was founded as a Task force against illegal migration,” and "played a major role during humanitarian operations to eradicate terrorists from the Jaffna Penninsula.” At the end of 1995 the Sri Lankan army made brutal advances on the Jaffna peninsula which saw the mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians to seek safety in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam controlled areas of Vanni. 30 Oct 1995: Jaffna exodus as Tamils flee for Vanni ahead of SL military advance The fight for Jaffna
The Sri Lankan government is "frittering away energy and time on political controversies, India's The Hindu newspaper warned in its editorial on Saturday, urging the government to stay on track and ensure implementation of the resolution adopted last year at the UN Human Rights Council. See here for full editorial. Extracts reproduced below: "The UNHRC has tried to nudge Sri Lanka towards rebuilding civilian lives through resettlement, reducing the military presence in the north and east, and delivering accountability for past crimes through a credible judicial process with international participation. However, the update presented by High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein in Geneva does not present an encouraging picture. He expressed concern about the “heavy military presence” in Tamil areas, noting that the process of the military returning land to its civilian owners has been tardy. There is a lack of urgency in coming up with tangible measures to build confidence among minorities and victims of human rights violations. In turn, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera has informed the ongoing session in Geneva that the government has instructed the military to release by 2018 all civilian land it holds. He has promised that the proposed judicial mechanism will inspire confidence among the stakeholders, but has drawn attention to the “divergent views” in the country on it, perhaps a hint of further delay."
Land ownership certificates were on Thursday given to over 190 families who had been housed in the Sidhambarapuram village camp in Vavuniya for over 25 years, Colombo Page reported. The certificates were presented to the families by Sri Lanka's minister of prison reforms, rehabilitation, resettlement and Hindu affairs, D M Swaminathan. Addressing the event, Mr Swaminathan claimed, "we are committed to ensure the well-being of the Tamil Community and all projects implemented in the North are to benefit the people living in these areas. The Tamil community should understand that the present...
Updated 0430GMT Sri Lankan intelligence operatives have reportedly tortured a Tamil man from Mannar, after abducting him from a church on Wednesday morning, reports Ceylon News. Photograph: Ceylon News Santhiyogu Anton Dani was abducted from Uyilankulam church in Mannar, where he had sought sanctuary after frequent harassment from Sri Lankan intelligence officers for the past two months. Mr Dani fled to the church after hearing Sri Lankan intelligence operatives were looking for him. He went missing on Wednesday morning and was subsequently found at Nochchikulam later that evening, at an area some 2 kilometres from the church. He was found blindfolded with his body bearing the marks of severe torture. The victim’s wife Mathuvanthy Anton, said he had been burnt with heated metal sticks and severely beaten. During several hours of torture, he was also hung by his neck and is currently unable to speak properly, she said. Ms Anton has reported the incident to local police in Mannar. Photograph: @Mari_deSilva Mr Anton told his wife that abductors had walked into his room in the church, tied his hands and bundled him into a vehicle before taking him away and torturing him. He added that he had seen another person being badly tortured by his abductors. Santhiyagu had been previously arrested in 2001 on suspicion of aiding the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Tamil Eelam. After undergoing torture in government custody, Mr Anton was later released by Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court without any charges. He has reportedly been frequently tortured by Sri Lankan security forces since at least 1998.
Sri Lanka has no language parity, with a ‘Sinhala Only’ language policy ruling across the Tamil North-East, said the government’s Minister of National Dialogue Mano Ganesan. “Still the Tamil speaking communities are governed by the Sinhala only language policy mechanism,” said the minister, who has threatened to quit from his post. “As the sole authoritative for official language policy implementation, I am answerable to the questions raised by the people’s representatives of the Tamil speaking community,” he said noting that “language parity is the prelude to the national coexistence”. See...
A United States State Department report on human trafficking said that official complicity in human trafficking in Sri Lanka remained “a serious problem”, as it placed Sri Lanka on the Tier 2 Watch List for the fourth consecutive year in its annual report on trafficking. “The Government of Sri Lanka does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking,” said the report, noting that “it is making significant efforts to do so.” The State Department report said that Sri Lanka was granted a waiver that would have allowed it to downgrade a tier as the government had “devoted sufficient resources to a written plan that, if implemented, would constitute significant efforts to meet the minimum standards”. Yet implementation of that plan was missing, according to the report. “Despite these measures, the government did not demonstrate overall increasing anti-trafficking efforts compared to the previous reporting period,” it stated.