A protest was held in Jaffna town today, calling for the immediate release of Tamil political prisoners, some of whom have languished in prisons for months and years without charge. Tamil politicians and family members of those detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act took part in the protest organised by members of the Northern Provincial Council. TNA MP Dharmalingam Siddharthan, NPC agriculture minister P Aiyngaranesan and NPC councillors Gajatheepan and Sugirthan also took part in the protest.
The Sri Lankan government has received a copy of the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) report examining mass killings of Tamil civilians during the end of the island’s armed conflict, reports The Hindu . Quoting Sri Lankan foreign ministry officials, it reported that the government received a copy of the report on Friday night. It further added Sri Lanka has five days to make its response in writing. Sri Lanka's foreign minister, Mangala Samaraweera, will address the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on the opening day of the 30th session on Monday. Mr Mangala Samaraweera and the Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne have departed for Geneva said Harsha de Silva, the Deputy Foreign Minister. The report was initially scheduled to be released in March, but was postponed until September. At the time of the delay, which the Sri Lankan government celebrated as a diplomatic success , UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein spoke directly to the victims and gave his “personal, absolute and unshakable commitment that the report will be published by September."
Tamils in Mullaitivu held a demonstration on Saturday, calling for the immediate release of Tamil political prisoners.
The Sri Lankan government is to implement a Rs 60 billion development programme in the president home town of Polonnaruwa, reported the official news site. The project, entitled 'Let's Awaken Polonnaruwa', is a five year programme including projects targetting education, health, irrigation and infrastructure. The proposal was submitted by the president, Maithripala Sirisena himself and was approved by the Cabinet. See more here .
The Ceylon Teachers Union has expressed its support for the signature campaign taking place across the North-East, calling for an international inquiry into war crimes and genocide committed against the Tamil people. In a statement, the union said that “for Tamils, only international justice can be true justice.” “For the perpetrators themselves to investigate their crimes, or for the international community to investigate jointly with the perpetrators, is something that goes beyond the bounds of human justice.” The Union called on all members of educational and academic communities to...
British minister Hugo Swire said that the United Kingdom has actively supported the improvement of human rights and accountability in Sri Lanka through multilateral organisations such as the United Nations, speaking in parliament last week. Responding to a question from Gareth Thomas, a member of parliament for Harrow West on whether the treatment of Tamil detainees in Sri Lanka since the election of President Maithripala Sirisena had been discussed, Mr Swire said : “We frequently engage with the government of Sri Lanka on human rights issues including on the treatment of detainees”.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena pledged that he would not allow anyone to divide Sri Lanka, as he praised the military for securing the “unity of the country” at a ceremony in Colombo. According to the President’s Media Division Mr Sirisena said “he would not allow anybody to divide the country which was united by the valiant war heroes shedding their blood”. “If our war heroes wouldn’t have given their utmost commitment, knowledge, intelligence and experience for the country, we wouldn’t have secured the unity of the country,” he added. He added the “the current government never under-estimate that utmost commitment done by the valiant war heroes for the motherland”.
The Coalition for the International Criminal Court has called on Sri Lanka to join the international court and “signal to its citizens and the international community that it is ready to break away from impunity and its violent past”. In a campaign launched on Thursday, the CICC called Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to accede to the ICC Rome Statute Amielle Del Rosario, Coalition Asia-Pacific regional coordinator, said that the leaders now had “a remarkable opportunity to demonstrate a ability and willingness to usher in an era of true reconciliation based on justice and dignity for all its citizens”. “To restore the confidence of its citizens and to show the rest of the world that it is on the path to greater stability and development, it must sign the Rome Statute as a measure of good faith,” she added. Niran Anketell, head of the legal and justice unit for the South Asian Centre for Legal Studies, also said: “Sri Lanka’s record of domestic accountability throughout its post-independence history has been characterized by a lack of political will, lack of capacity, political interference and chronic failure. This is why international participation in any in-country accountability mechanisms is crucial”.
Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa slammed his predecessor Chandrika Kumaratunga for running “one of the most repressive governments in living memory”. In response to remarks Ms Kumaratunga made in an interview to The Hindu, Mr Rapajaksa released a statement criticising the former president. “Once again, it is incongruous for Mrs Kumaratunga to be talking of a police state because she ran one of the most repressive governments in living memory,” he said. “Members of her presidential security division were convicted by the courts for harassing and terrorising artistes Rookantha Gunatilleke and Chandralekha Perera in the presence of their own children. The doings of underworld figures like Beddagane Sanjiva who were prominent members of her security unit have been extensively reported on by the press. Mrs Kumaratunga’s transgressions in this regard are too numerous to recount here.” Mr Rajapaksa went on to add, “When I took over from Mrs Kumaratunga in 2005, there was a separate state in this country in all but name. Terrorists were ruling about a third of the country. For more than a decade, the country had seen very little development.... I saw to it that terrorism was eliminated and that the country was developed”.
The leader of the National Freedom Front said the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Sri Lanka and India will have an adverse impact on local jobs and the economy, the Daily FT reported on Friday. “We were informed that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had decided to visit India on 14 September to discuss CEPA. If the agreement takes place Sri Lanka will be opened for foreign service providers such as supermarkets chains. According to the agreement if an investor can invest more than $ 1 million they will get the opportunity to settle in Sri Lanka,” said the leader of the NFF, Wimal Weerawansa. The former minister, who came second in Colombo during last month’s parliamentary elections, said he feared that Indians would exploit this opportunity to move into Sri Lanka. “If CEPA is implemented our people will lose their jobs as well as future opportunities. Professionals such as doctors, lawyers and journalists will be pushed out of their fields if Indians migrate to Sri Lanka for these jobs,” he said.