Election pamphlets destroyed during attack on Ananthy Sasitharan's house. Photograph CMEV The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), in a statement released today , highlighted concerns about the worrying involvement of military personnel and lethargic police response, during yesterday’s attacks on the residence of TNA candidate, Ananthi Sasitharan. Photograph CMEV Full statement reproduced below.
The United Nations Office of the high Commissioner for Human Rights, outlined that at least three ministers of the Sri Lankan government were engaged in a misinformation campaign against the High Commissioner. The spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, Rupert Colville, issued a press statement today that recalled Pillay’s earlier remarks of “extraordinary array of distortion and abuse£ by minsters, deplored the on-going campaign. The OHCHR sent a formal complaint to the Sri Lankan government, regarding distorted comments attributed to the...
An anti-TNA election poster that has been plastered across Jaffna in the run up to the Northern Provincial Council election says: " Think twice... Are you ready for a war again? Is your vote for the Tamil National Alliance? "
From campaigning against enforced disappearances to standing as Tamil National Alliance’s (TNA) candidate for the Jaffna district, to searching for the whereabouts of disappeared husband, the LTTE political leader Elilan , Ananthy Sasitharan, has become a rising Tamil voice in the North-East. Tamil Guardian caught up with the activist-turned-politician on the phone, as she made her way home from a day of campaigning. The interview was interrupted briefly when Ananthy – who has already escaped an attack on her vehicle in recent weeks – suspected that her vehicle was being followed. TAMIL GUARDIAN: How would you describe the present state of the Tamil homeland in the North-East? ANANTHY SASITHARAN: " Our homeland is completely occupied by the military , so much so that the military presence seems larger than the actual Tamil population. At any event, the army is there. People are scared by the army presence, they live in a state of fear, too afraid to talk or do anything . All our native lands are in their hands, they have seized everything.
The Indian government outlined today that it was yet to decide on its level of participation at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHoGM). The Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman, Syed Akbaruddin, said , “Our view has been that we will take a call on this in due course. And this has also been reflected elsewhere including by the organisers. We will take a call well in time and we will also inform you on this.” The last few months, have seen Tamil students and political parties in Tamil Nadu have been urge the Indian governance to boycott the meeting in Sri Lanka.
The associate editor of the Sunday Leader, fled Sri Lanka, reports the Free Media Movement on Thursday. Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema has fled to an undisclosed country, after herself and family were held at knife-point by four masked men during a night time raid at her house on 24th August. The men allegedly spent several hours looking through documents, before stealing some goods. However, the police and arm have deemed the incident as a burglary. The former editor of the paper was assassinated in broad daylight in 2009.
Exercising its right of reply at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Sri Lanka refuted comments made by Germany, the US and Ireland on Tuesday . The Sri Lankan speaker said, " My delegation finds it disconcerting to keep noting the said allegations , particularly when the Council has been continuously sensitized to the action taken on the very same issues." See here for full statement by Sri Lanka. Extract reproduced below: " My delegation is equally dismayed by the lack of objectivity displayed by Germany with reference to Sri Lanka in their statement which has chosen to ignore the concrete steps taken by the Government to achieve comprehensive reconciliation within the context of the LLRC, including to investigate atrocities alleged to have been committed at the end of the terrorist conflict in 2009"
A Hindu priest was hacked to death on Wednesday evening inside a temple in Aanbankulam in Kilinochchi, reports the DailyMirror.lk. According to the paper, the Kilinochchi police said no one had been arrested in connection to the incident.
See here for report by 'Watchdog' on the site Groundviews, regarding the increasing state facilitated Sinhala colonisation of the North-East. Extract reproduced below: "As detailed in this report, private and state land continues to be occupied by the military and increasingly by Sinhala and Muslim settlers from other parts of Sri Lanka. A covert, systematic and State-sponsored attempt to alter the demographic composition of the North and Eastern Provinces has overridden the day-to-day socio-economic and political aspirations of the local population. The significance of attempts at...
The home of Ananthy Sasitharan was surrounded and attacked by soldiers and armed members of the EPDP in the earlier hours of Friday morning, reports Tamilwin. Ananthy is reported to have told the website that on learning about the attack taking place, supporters and friends had arrived at her home at which point the attackers fled the scene. She was persuaded to leave her home and seek safety elsewhere. Around forty soldiers and EPDP militants again arrived afterwards, attacking those present at Ananthy’s home, with at least eight supporters and friends severely injured. Ananthy had recently...