The Sri Lankan External Affairs Ministry has released a statement expressing concern over the “alleged use of chemical weapons” in Syria. The statement calls for an “impartial and professional investigation” into the allegations and says the Sri Lankan government “abhors the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons”. See full statement below: “Sri Lanka is deeply concerned about the media reports on the alleged use of chemical weapons near Damascus in Syria, which have resulted in a large number of civilian casualties. “It is imperative to ensure an impartial and professional...

Outlining its political stance in the run up to the Northern Provincial Council election later this month, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), stated that "power sharing arrangements must be established in a unit of a merged Northern and Eastern Provinces based on a Federal structure, in a manner also acceptable to the Tamil Speaking Muslim people." See here for full text of what the Sri Lankan press is calling the party's manifesto. Extract reproduced below: OUR STAND ON A POLITICAL SOLUTION The principles and specific constitutional provisions that the TNA considers to be paramount to the resolution of the national question relates mainly to the sharing of the powers of governance through a shared sovereignty amongst the Peoples who inhabit this island. The following salient features of power sharing are fundamental to achieving genuine reconciliation, lasting peace and development for all the Peoples of Sri Lanka: • The Tamils are a distinct People and from time immemorial have inhabited this island together with the Sinhalese People and others • The contiguous preponderantly Tamil Speaking Northern and Eastern provinces is the historical habitation of the Tamil Speaking Peoples • The Tamil People are entitled to the right to self-determination • Power sharing arrangements must be established in a unit of a merged Northern and Eastern Provinces based on a Federal structure, in a manner also acceptable to the Tamil Speaking Muslim people • Devolution of power on the basis of shared sovereignty shall necessarily be over land, law and order, socio-economic development including health and education, resources and fiscal powers.

Writing in the UK's The Guardian, Callum Macraw, the director of the documentaries 'No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka', said that the UN "was given its first real test by the last few months of the war in Sri Lanka; it failed, shamefully and catastrophically." See here for full opinion piece, extract reproduced below: "Two years ago the Commonwealth of Nations pledged a renewed commitment to its core principles of "democracy, the rule of law and human rights". If Sri Lanka hosts the next meeting of Chogm, normal practice decrees that its president will assume the chairmanship of...

BBC Tamil’s Vavuniya-based reporter Ponniah Manikavasagam was summoned for interrogation by the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) on Monday regarding telephone calls he had with Tamil prisoners. Manikavasagam was allegedly kept in the dark about the reasons behind his summoning until his arrival and was also not permitted to have a lawyer present during his interview. The TID questioned Manikavasagam about phone calls between the reporter and two detainees at the Magazine prison in Colombo. Manikavasagam told the investigators that as a journalist it is not unusual for him to receive...