The newly established office of the common opposition's presidential candidate in the predominantly Muslim town of Eravur in Batticaloa district was burnt down by unidentified men in the early hours of Thursday morning. Over twenty armed men arrived at the office at 12:30am local time and began smashing up the posters and banners, before setting the place alight with petrol and running from the scene.
Photographs BattiNews Tamils on the island of Puliyentheevu in Batticaloa gathered today to celebrate Midnight Mass despite heavy rains and flooding causing mass displacement across the East.
A visit by the head of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation has been postponed due to the presidential election on January 8, reported Arab News , citing sources within the Sri Lanka embassy in Saudi Arabia. The Secretary General of the OIC, Iyad Ameen Madani was due to visit in early January , as part of a four member delegation, on an invitation extended by President Rajapaksa. According to the news site, Madani was scheduled to meet with religious organisations in Sri Lanka to "to get first hand knowledge of the current position of the minorities on the island." Earlier this year, the...
Photograph Tamilwin The late Tamil politician Joseph Pararajasingham, who was shot dead on Christmas Eve by armed government paramilitary men in 2005, was remembered today in a memorial service held at the Ilangai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) office in Batticaloa to mark the 9th anniversary of this death.
All contesting parties in the presidential polls “have effectively shut Sri Lanka’s Tamil and Muslim minorities out of the upcoming election” said JS Tissainayagam on Wednesday. Writing in Foreign Policy , award winning journalist, JS Tissainayagam warned that the international community should demand that a dialogue with the Tamils and Muslims be pursued by whoever wins the Sri Lankan presidential elections. Highlighting that both the ruling party and common opposition had rejected international justice mechanisms, Tissainayagam added, “International justice aside, Sirisena and the joint opposition naively believe that Sri Lanka can achieve peace and political stability without satisfying the political aspirations of the Tamils and the Muslims.”
Stating that the Tamil people had "continuously lost their rights under a flawed majoritarian electoral system", t he Global Tamil Forum (GTF) nevertheless urged the Tamil people "to use every vote carefully during the January 8 presidential election", in a statement released on Wednesday. "Tamil people have a long history of voting based on principled considerations. The upcoming Presidential election is no different," the GTF said. Adding that the organisation was "fully aware that in the post-independent Sri Lanka, Tamil people have continuously lost their rights under a flawed majoritarian electoral system," the GTF said that the Tamil people's "desire to have a degree of control in the Tamil majority areas was never granted, despite repeated democratic expressions of their wishes through all available electoral means."
The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, reiterated his call for Sri Lanka to cooperate with the UN inquiry into mass atrocities committed against the Tamil people. "The Secretary-General has always encouraged the Government of Sri Lanka to comprehensively address the post-war agenda and the Secretary-General has also echoed the calls made by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, for the Government to cooperate with the ongoing human rights investigation," the spokesperson for Ban Ki Moon, Stephane Dujarric, was quoted by PTI as saying on Tuesday at a daily press briefing.
Clashes between pro-opposition and pro-government supporters left 30 injured in Sirikotha, by the UNP headquarters on Wednesday. Both sides have blamed each other for instigating the violence. According to the Colombo Page the violence started after government supporters attempted to stone the UNP building. See here , here and here for more.
Sri Lanka has welcomed the announcement made by the US and Cuba, stating the countries' intention to move towards normalising their relationship. In a statement , the Ministry of External Affairs said this "courageous path" chosen by the leaders will enable the countries to overcome differences and called for an end to sanctions on Cuba.
Sri Lanka's main opposition UNP stated that only Maithripala Sirisena can settle the 'crisis' faced by Sri Lanka in Geneva, where the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is currently conducting an investigation into allegations of mass atrocities, reported The Island . UNP MP Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said on Saturday that people should vote for Maithripala as re-election of President Mahinda Rajapaksa would be inimical to Sri Lanka's interests, adding that the country may face international sanctions if the president was re-elected.