The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) spokesperson, in an interview with Ceylon Today , said that the organisation had always stood for a political settlement for the Tamil national question and stressed that self-determination is a fundamental right for all communities. Calling on Tamils to vote for the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in the upcoming parliamentary elections, Suren Surendiran, said, “TNA has stood for various elections in the North and East under several manifesto commitments and overwhelmingly on those elections without any exceptions.” Responding to questions on whether GTF had...
The NGO, Together Against Genocide (TAG, formerly Tamils Against Genocide) has welcomed the prosecution of Sri Lankan Army Staff Sergeant Sunil Rathnayake for the Mirusuvil Massacre, but has said that much more must be done to end impunity. Rathnayake has been sentenced to death over the massacre of eight Tamil civilians, including two children, who were arrested by Sri Lankan security forces and subsequently murdered and buried in a mass grave in December 2000. The drawn out timeline of the trials and the fact that only one out of fourteen soldiers originally implicated has been convicted reveals a failure of the Sri Lankan Judicial Authority, TAG said in a statement on Sunday. The organisation has demanded that Sri Lanka ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court; allow the ICC to investigate all instances of war crimes and violations of international law; and co-operate with the UN investigation human rights violations. TAG also urged the international community to refer the incidences to the ICC; and to urge the Sri Lankan government to promote international justice and protect witnesses to atrocities. “The Sri Lankan judicial authorities are clearly unwilling to proceed with criminal trials against the Sri Lankan Army,” the organisation highlighted, calling for efforts to trace command responsibility to higher levels of the army.
A suspect in the murder case of TNA MP Nadarajah Raviraj was released on bail earlier today. Colombo Additional Magistrate Nirosha Fernando granted bail to Captain Samantha Munasinghe on a cash bail of Rs25,000 and a Rs500,000 surety bail. Mr Munasinghe earlier this month filed a fundamental rights petition, alleging illegal detention by the CID. Mr Raviraj was assassinated in Colombo in November 2006, at a time when the capital was heavily fortified by Sri Lanka's military. The government was accused of being behind the attacks by the TNA, diaspora organisations and the UNP. The US led international criticism of the government and urged it to conduct an investigation.
The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) will contest the forthcoming general election as the Bodu Jana Peramuna (BJP), with BBS General Secretary Galagodaaththe Gnanasara the leader of the party. Mr Gnanasara told the Daily Mirror its election symbol would be a cobra. “We have requested the Elections Commissioner to reserve the Cobra symbol for our newly formed party and looking forward to his approval,” he said. BBS CEO Dilantha Withanage said civilians would contest the elections for the party, with Buddhists monks providing advice. Sri Lankan monks to launch party to protect Buddhist culture from ‘...
Journalists were forced out from a public consultative meeting about resettlement at the Jaffna District Secretariat on Monday. Despite being invited to a public consultation with Sri Lankan minister for resettlement, D. M. Swaminathan, journalists were told to leave the meeting before discussion began, reportedly at the behest of the Government Agent. Photograph @mayurappriyan
The TNA's Batticaloa MP P Ariyanenthiran said in parliament on Friday that the new government will not be able to convince the Tamil diaspora of its intentions unless it takes meaningful steps to address Tamil issues. He said the government should release Tamil political prisoners and find the disappeared before developing its contacts with the diaspora. "In January this year only the president has changed, apart from that nothing has changed," the MP said. "Every government in the past as given false promises to the Tamils in the country. They have not solved the political problems or the...
The Sri Lankan minister for resettlement, D. M. Swaminathan, has been criticised for failing to meet directly with displaced residents of Valikamam North, during a visit to the High Security Zone on Monday. The minister visited the area with a research team including former members of parliament, to discern the needs of resettlers and to tour areas marked for release from the High Security Zone. Angered by the team's failure to meet with them in order to hear their concerns and needs directly, displaced residents of Valikamam North accused the minister of conducting the visit purely for...
The Sri Lankan air force declared a general amnesty for all deserters, reports the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence . However, the amnesty will only last for a few hours, with deserters who report to the air force headquarters in Colombo on 1 July between 0900 and 1500, allowed to legally discharge from service. The amnesty will apply to all those who deserted the air force from 1 June 2009, just after the end of the armed conflict on the island, until 31 December 2014.
The United States Embassy in Sri Lanka said that Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has promised to address human rights issues on the island and looks forward to working with him to “support this cause”. In a statement by embassy spokesperson Joshua Shen, in the wake of a US State Department report highlighting “major human rights problems” on the island, Mr Shen said the Sri Lankan president has “promised to address human rights issues, establish good governance and the rule of law”. “We are looking forward to working with President Sirisena and this government to support this cause,” he said, adding “the United States continues to engage regularly with the Sri Lankan government and civil society representatives to address long standing issues related to reconciliation, democratic governance, justice and accountability”.
A Sri Lankan government commission into disappearances began holding more hearings in Trincomalee on Saturday. The much criticised Sri Lankan Presidential Commission to Investigate Missing Persons will be hearing oral statements from those it has invited to attend the new sitting, in three days of sittings at the District Secretariat in the city. The commission, which has been marred by claims of military intimidation of witnesses, has been criticised by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), who labelled it “deceptive”. Highlighting Sri Lanka's historic failure of domestic inquiries, the Bishop of Mannar refused to testify before it and protests were held outside other hearings in the North-East.