David Cameron has to act on his threat to Sri Lanka – The Times

Welcoming British Premier David Cameron’s ultimatum to Sri Lanka over its forces’ wartime abuses, The Times newspaper Monday urged him to make good on his threat and to ignore charges of neo-colonialism in doing so. Hailing Mr. Cameron’s ‘unequivocal’ warning to Sri Lanka’s government that if it does not conduct an independent inquiry into the last months of the civil war, he would push for one to be held under the auspices of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the paper said in its editorial: “[Mr. Cameron] should not stop there. His threat to challenge Sri Lanka at the UN should be acted upon.

Gotabhaya accuses Cameron of pandering to LTTE rump

The Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has accused the British Prime Minister David Cameron of being influenced by the “LTTE rump”. Gotabhaya said that Cameorn was playing politics in Sri Lanka in order to ‘soothe’ UK-based organisations, such as the Global Tamil Forum, the British Tamils Forum and Tamils against Genocide. The president’s brother further said that Cameron’s threat of moves for an international investigation at the UN Human Rights Council will not be successful as other influential countries, such as Russia, China and Cuba will not support it. He also accused Britain of...

Rajapaksa should accept international investigation - Gulf News

The Gulf News, a Dubai-based newspaper, has called on Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to accept an international investigation, in an editorial published on Monday. The paper said the government's campaign against the LTTE was 'marred by excesses', and that Rajapasa should admit that crimes were committed and establish responsibility for them. See full editorial below. In 2009, the Sri Lankan government won the decades-long struggle against the separatist Tamil Tigers, who had fought a particularly brutal war against the government with regular use of random acts of terror. The Sri Lankan army’s final campaign was marred by excesses, as the soldiers were desperate not to allow the terrorists to escape, even as they used tens of thousands of villagers as human shields to avoid the army’s assault.

Labour Party pledges support if Cameron government acts on accountability for Sri Lanka war crimes

Labour leader Ed Miliband said in the House of Commons today that Britain cannot let the human rights situation in Sri Lanka rest, and that his party would support any government moves to take action towards a war crimes inquiry. "The Prime Minister of Canada and the Prime Minister of India decided not to attend this summit. In explaining his decision, Prime Minister Harper said this: 'In the past two years, we've seen a considerable worsening of the situation.

Cameron reiterates commitment to push for international war crimes inquiry in March

The British Premier, David Cameron, briefing the House of Commons on his trip to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), reiterating his calls for a credible, independent and international inquiry into Sri Lanka's war crimes should Colombo fail to undertake its own by March. Following Cameron's summary of his CHOGM trip, the House of Commons embarked on an extensive discussion regarding the issues Tamils faced in Sri Lanka.

'Singh would have run the show' - Basil

Looking back on the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting, Sri Lanka’s Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa lamented the absence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, reported the Hindu . Speaking on the final day of the summit, Basil Rajapaksa, brother to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said, “Unfortunately, the Indian Prime Minister was not here; that is my only concern.” “He is the closest friend we have. Had he come here, he would have run the show.” “We Asians, we like Indians. He should have been here.”

'Trouble in paradise' - Jon Snow's experience of CHOGM in Sri Lanka

Channel 4 News reporter, Jon Snow described his experience of the Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka and its build up as ‘trouble in paradise’. See extracts form the blog post below. “This turned out to be the worst attended Commonwealth leaders’ summit on record. 25 of the 53 presidents or prime ministers stayed away.” “Hence the entire summit proved a strange event indeed.”

Economist predicts growth in Rajapaksa's 'popularity among the majority'

The Economist in a blog post today, summarised findings from the hosting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka. See extracts below. “International coverage focused heavily focused on disappearances of people during and after the civil war, media suppression and persistent allegations that war crimes were committed in 2009 as Tamil Tiger rebels were crushed. ”

SL government forced Tamil doctors to mislead international media

Speaking in a new documentary on the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka, a former doctor in the North-East, outlined his experience of being captured and imprisoned at the end of the ethnic conflict in 2009. Dr Thurairajah Varadharajah, a former Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) for Mullaitheevu, who is currently in exile in the United states, outlined his experiences. After being imprisoned the doctors were forced to lie, in favour of the Rajapaksa regime, to foreign media and non-governmental organisations that were critical of the Sri Lankan government. Describing his experiences,...

Displaced Trincomalee Tamils protest demanding justice for genocide

Photographs TamilNet Displaced Tamils braved military intimidation to protest demanding justice for genocide in Trincomalee over the weekend, as word leaders gathered for the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting in Colombo. The protest took place at Kiliveddi camp, with protestors carrying placards demanding justice for genocide, the day after Sri Lankan military intelligence went door-to-door intimidating displaced families not to take part in the protest.

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