Cameron inspects bullet holes in Uthayan printing press during his visit in 2013

British Prime Minister David Cameron has spoken of his experience in visiting the violence-hit Uthayan office in Jaffna in 2013, during a debate on press freedom in parliament earlier this month.

Responding to a question by Conservative MP John Whittingdale, who asked the prime minister to reaffirm the British government's commitment to protect the safety of journalists, in relation to the attacks on Charlie Hebdo, Mr Cameron said the visit to the Uthayan office brought home what journalists in other countries had to face.

"This most struck me when I visited Jaffna, in northern Sri Lanka, and went to see a newspaper office that had been shot up, bombed and burned. That brings home what journalists in other countries have for years faced in bringing the truth and putting it in front of the people, which is a vital part of a free democratic system," the prime minister said.

British MPs, highlighting the need for the new government of Sri Lanka to take concrete steps to reconcile with Tamils, called for increased pressure on Sri Lanka to cooperate with the UN inquiry into mass atrocities, whikst debating the issue of ‘Tamils in Sri Lanka’ at the House of Commons on Wednesday morning.

Noting concerns about the new Sri Lankan government’s demeanour towards the Tamil community, and later highlighting that “only a political solution that recognises the rights of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, including that to self-determination, can address the root cause of the conflict”, the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPGT), MP Lee Scott, said,

“I am concerned, however, that the new Government of Sri Lanka have stated that they will not change the policy towards the Tamil community in Sri Lanka or demilitarise the areas in which Tamil people live.”

Mr Scott added that further pressure on Sri Lanka, through action such as “vetoing future loans from the international Monetary Fund (IMF)” may be an avenue to encourage change for Tamils in Sri Lanka. 

Expressing concern at the make-up of the new Sirisena government, Mr Scott added, “The new president was a member of the same party as his predecessor.”

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena pledged to implement new plans that will strengthen “national security”, in an address to the Ministry of Defence on Thursday.

Mr Sirisena, who also holds the title of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, said “every effort would be initiated in strengthening the National Security within the Democratic framework as per the Constitution.”

He further added that it was the “expectation of the government to implement a programme to strengthen national security locally and internationally,” reports ColomboPage.

Remembering the 83 Tamils shot dead by Sri Lanka's elite police officers in Kokkadichcholai on January 27 1987, residents of Batticaloa held a memorial event on Wednesday.

The Special Task Force (STF) officers raided a prawn factory in the village in the East, shooting dead the workers, which including seven boys aged between 12 to 14.

Relatives of those who were massacred lay candles and flowers in their memory.


"Martyrs may die, sacrifice never dies," read a memorial banner by the event organisers, the Ilangai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK).

The Sri Lankan military threatened displaced residents from Valikamam North ahead the Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office minister, Hugo Swire's visit to Jaffna later that day, the Jaffna based newspaper, Uthayan reported.

Locals told the newspaper that military personnel, dressed in civilian clothes went to the Sabapathipillai Welfare Centre on Wednesday morning and warned Tamils there not to speak about their plight with Mr Swire.

Sri Lanka’s former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa would only be safe from war crimes prosecution by the United States under one condition, writes Ryan Goodman – if the Sri Lankan government were to prosecute him for war crimes themselves.

Mr Goodman, Professor of Law and Co-Chair of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University School of Law, cited Sri Lanka’s “long-standing extradition agreement” with the United States which obligates Sri Lanka to extradite “persons sought by the authorities of the [United States] for trial or punishment for an extraditable offence.”

“Sri Lanka has already formally agreed to give the United States access to criminal suspects in such cases,” says Goodman.