Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Chairpersonship of the Commonwealth again drew critical attention this week in the wake of his government’s categorical refusal to cooperate with the UN investigation into its mass atrocities and rights abuses On Thursday the matter was raised in Britain’s parliament when Foreign Secretary William Hague was asked by his opposition counterpart Douglas Alexander whether, in the light of the UN probe, he had asked President Rajapaksa to resign as Chairperson. Mr Hague replied any decision on the Chair-in-Office role is for all Commonwealth Heads of Government to take by consensus.
Reacting to revelations that a trip by British MPs to Sri Lanka was cancelled at the eleventh hour on Thursday, the British Tamil Forum (BTF) urged UK politicians to be wary of being co-opted by the Sri Lankan government into whitewashing its rights abuses. “ It is important that the UK politicians realise the serious nature of the crimes that Sri Lanka is trying to cover up by using them in its propaganda ,” BTF representative S.A.N Rajkumar told Tamil Guardian. “I am not surprised that the trip has been called off – the MPs have had a narrow escape as their visit would have been a propaganda coup for the government ” at a time of intense international attention on Sri Lanka’s rights abuses , he said.
Sri Lankan police have arrested 65 Tamils over the past month on accusations of attempting to revive the LTTE, a spokesman told reporters in Colombo on Thursday. See reports by AFP and Daily Mirror . Speaking in Sinhala, Police spokesperson Ajith Rohana said that five of those arrested have been released, and the remaining 60 detainees, including 10 women, are being held at the notorious Boosa detention camp in the south and another in Vavuniya in the north.
The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), in its annual human rights round up report and individual country of concern reports published today, expressed serious concern regarding the human rights situation in Sri Lanka. Expanding on the reason behind the FCO involvement in securing a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution calling for an international investigation into war crimes, the report said, "The UK sees accountability for alleged war crimes, respect for human rights, and a political settlement as essential elements of post-conflict reconciliation."
A Tamil asylum seeker in Sydney set himself on fire and is in a critical condition, after the Australian government decided to deport him back to Sri Lanka, reported The Sydney Morning Herald . The man, Janarthan, who suffered 98% burns to his body, is unlikely to survive, said Trevor Grant from the Tamil Refugee Council. A suicide note left by Janarthan said he would rather die in Australia than in Sri Lanka, Grant added.
Despite Sri Lanka’s achievement of Millennium Development Goal one, the halving of extreme poverty, poverty remains in the Northeast of Sri Lanka, which has a large Tamil population, Britain's parliament heard on Wednesday . Responding to a question by Labour MP Sarah Champion, who asked about the Department for International Development’s assessment on the levels of poverty amongst Tamils in Sri Lanka, Minister of State for the department, Alan Duncan, said: “Sri Lanka has met millennium development goal No. 1 which calls for the halving of extreme poverty, and is on track to meet most other...
Sri Lanka sold $500m of bonds on Tuesday with a yield of just over 5 percent – its lowest ever – after raising $1bn in January in a separate bond issuance with a 6 percent yield. The low yields (or the variable interest Sri Lanka pays annually for borrowing the $1.5bn) suggests investors are not concerned about the country defaulting in paying back the debt. Heavy demand for the bonds this week (orders totaled $4bn) also meant Sri Lanka could offer a lower return to attract investors.
The 13 year old daughter of the arrested disappearances campaigner, Balendran Jeyakumari, gained permission to see her mother in Boosa prison, reports Uthayan . On March 31st Vipoosika's legal counsel requested permission for her to be able to visit her mother for the first time since they were both detained on March 13th, and to visit her home to pick up some belongings. Vipoosika, who is currently being kept within a state children's home as state officials claim her mother was unable to provide a suitable relative to care for her daughter, was taken to her house by a juvenile probation...
Congratulating President Rajapaksa on Sri Lanka winning the T20 World Cup, a visiting Pakistani official, stressed the country's 'continous and unflinching support to Sri Lanka at all forums', reported Daily Mirror . President Rajapaksa reciprocated by thanking General Rashad Mahmood, Pakistan's Chairman Joint Chief of Staff Committee (CJCSC), for Pakistan's support at the UN Human Rights Council last month, whilst he visited Temple Trees on Monday. According to the paper General Mahmood also called on the Minister of External Affairs, G.L. Peiris, and his counterpart, General Jagath...
The Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa thanked the Government of Vietnam for its support during the UN Human Rights Council last month, reports Uthayan . Welcoming Vietnam's Minister for Public Security Prof. Gen Tran Dai Quang to Temple Trees on Monday, President Rajapaksa detailed how he had supported the 'struggle of Vietnamese people against foreign domination', reported Colombo Page .