The Chairman of the state-owned Milco company has declared that losses of Rs. 200 million have occurred so far, and the situation is being compounded by factory workers striking. Sunil Wickremasinghe, who is accused of bribery and corruption by the striking workers, asked them to return to work at a news conference, reported ColomboPage . He went on to add that the company had suffered losses due to them purchasing milk from farmers for Rs. 50 per litre, double the previous price. Last year, the government vowed to support rural dairy farmers, by purchasing any unsold milk, following protests...
Earlier today, Sri Lanka deported the Indian journalist, Tamil Prabhakaran, who was arrested on Christmas day for allegedly taking photographs of the High Security Zone and military installations on a tourist visa. Speaking to the Agence France-Presse (AFP), a police spokesperson Ajith Rohana said , “We deported him this evening without pressing charges. But, we deleted all the pictures he had taken in the north.” Elaborating on the reason for the deportation, Rohana said that the reporter was trying to produce a documentary and write articles that tarnished the image of Sri Lanka. Calls for...
In an interview with Al Jazeera, the Commander of the Security Forces in Jaffna Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe laughed off reports of abductions, torture and rape committed by the Sri Lankan armed forces, dismissing them as ‘lies’. Speaking on the documentary ‘Scars of Sri Lanka’, which aired on Thursday, Hathurusinghe dismissed claims of abductions, stating, “I flatly deny... None we do not. We don’t have anyone and we don’t abduct. Because there is no reason, why should we abduct? We have no terrorism.” See interview from 14:00 When questioned about individual reports of abductions by reporter Evan Williams, Hathurusinghe laughed before responding, “You know... I really can smile. There is nothing else I can do. Because this is politics. This is the problem…” Further questioning on rapes and abductions from a Human Rights Watch report released earlier this year (see here ), lead to more smiles from the Commander, who went on to add, “I suppose my smile tells the story. They are all fabricated, no base at all, all stories. Because they just want to stay in UK. They want to continue in other countries. These are all lies. These are all lies.” Last month an Australian Senator and New Zealand MP visitng the North-East had seen text messages sent Hathutusinghe himself to 'comfort women' he personally abuses .
Tamil Nadu political parties and media associations have appealed to the Indian government to secure the release of a Tamil Nadu journalist that was arrested in Kilinochchi on Wednesday. MDMK leader Vaiko, rallying along with PMK and VCK wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying: "Prabhakaran was a journalist and had every right to visit any country on a tourist visa and the freedom to meet people," The Chennai Press Club and Chennai Union of Journalists wrote to the external affairs ministry explaining that Prabhakaran had written a series of articles about the treatment of Tamils in Sri...
In an interview this week to Prensa Latina, the Foreign Minister G. L. Peiris criticised the increasing international scrutiny Sri Lanka faced. Peiris reportedly said, "the threatening and the international pressure are not the path for us to go forward. The international community should give us a vote of trust, because the Sri Lankan government has the greatest will to do things right and is dedicating great resources to reconciliation and reconstruction. We have the institutions to solve our problems," "It is a mistake to apply selective and subjective standards to Sri Lanka. The UNHRC must consider the facts, by their own merits,"
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called for the immediate release of Indian journalist Tamil Prabhakaran, who was detained by Sri Lankan security forces on Wednesday. "Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa continually insists that his administration has nothing to hide, yet time and time again, we see authorities harass and intimidate journalists in an effort to prevent them from doing their work," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. "Sri Lanka should release Tamil Prabhakaran immediately." Calls for Indian intervention in journalist arrest (27 Dec 2013) Indian journalist...
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said today that the current war census being carried out by the Sri Lankan government to consolidate the number of dead and disappeared over the 20 year civil war was improper. Speaking at an after event at an annual conference in Vavuniya, the TNA parliamentarian M A Sumanthiran, said , “We feel that the census is not being properly conducted.” According the parliamentarian, grassroots representatives of the TNA in the former war zones also held similar views that the census was not being carried out properly.
An Indian journalist, Tamil Prabhakaran, was arrested by the Sri Lankan police in Kilinochchi on Wednesday. The BBC's Sinhala Service reported that the journalist, who had arrived on a tourist visa, had been arrested for taking photographs of military installations. He had also reportedly met with members of the Tamil National Alliance. The Indian High Commission in Colombo is aware of the arrest. The journalist was inside St Anthony's Chuch, in Ponnaaveli, in the Vanni region, when 50 Sri Lankan army soldiers surrounded the church and detained the journalist, confiscating his camera. The TNA...
The Bishop of Mannar has called for an international investigation into the mass grave unearthed in Mannar, reported BBC Tamil . Dismissing any inquiry by the Sri Lankan government, Bishop Rayappu Joseph, said that other graves had been unearthed across Jaffna, and he did not believe the investigations undertaken were authentic. Last week construction workers attempting to installing a pipeline in Thirukketheeswaram, found the remains of two human skeletons . Further excavation revealed four human skulls earlier this week. Photograph Tamilwin According to BBC Tamil ten human skeletons have...
Photographs Tamilwin Tamils gathered across the North-East in remembrance of their loved ones that perished during the 2004 Tsunami.