An American tea company, Walters Bay International, has threatened to leave Sri Lanka, following the murder of the estate manager in Nooriya Tea Estate in Deraniyagala, last Friday, reports BBC Sinhala. The estate manager, Nihal Perara was hacked to death by 5 people who reportedly objected to Perara's attempts to fight corruption and wastage. The Texas based company has complained to the Plantation Industries Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe that they cannot continue to run the estate under the present climate. Mahinda Samarasinghe also recently doubled up as Sri Lanka's Special Envoy to Geneva...
Photographs Tamil Guardian Canadian Tamils came together on Friday July 5th to mark Karumpuli Naal remembering the lives of the elite LTTE force - the Black Tigers. [ more ]
Commenting on the recent controversy regarding a Sri Lankan diplomat threatening to ban Callum Macrae, the director of the documentary 'No Fire Zone' from attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka, the country's Media Minister, Keheliya Rambukwella, accused Macrae of funding his journalism by the Tamil diaspora. Speaking to Ceylon Today, Rambukwella said: “On the pretext of being a press personnel, Macrae is doing his rounds funded by his well-wishers – the Tamil Diaspora.” “It is too early to predict about Macrae’s visit. We are highly concerned about the...
The Country Guidance Case on Sri Lanka, a process which reassessed the current guidance on Sri Lanka was released this week. The report recognised the on-going militarisation and repression of cultural identity, finding that, “The former Tamil areas in the Northern and Eastern Provinces are in effect occupied territory, with one soldier for every five members of the population. Militarisation is particularly heavy in the Northern Province.” And that, “President Rajapaksa has stated that these areas should not now be described as “Tamil areas”: the government’s intention appears to be to...
Speaking on the recently released Country Guidance ruling on Sri Lanak, Tamils Against Genocide’s (TAG) Advocacy Manager, Hettie Briscoe said , “Broadly we welcome this determination which marks a sea change from previous guidance. In it the Tribunal recognizes that the Sri Lankan state is extremely repressive and that-those who actively speak out against this repressive state, who call for accountability for war crimes and genocide, or who believe the ethnic conflict can be solved by the creation of an independent Tamil state are at risk of persecution including torture. We are however...
The Bodu Bala Sena has called for a complete ban on face coverings in public faces. The group said that the covering of faces is a big threat to the security of Sri Lanka and is now demanding that the government ban the practice, common amongst some Muslims in Sri Lanka. Read more here .
The Sri Lankan navy arrested 21 Indian fishermen on Saturday, off the coast of Mannar, reports ColomboPage. According to the Navy the fishermen were poaching in Sri Lankan waters. They have reportedly been handed over to the Thalaimannar Police force.
Following on from a MEDACT conference on asylum seekers last month, Tamils Against Genocide have analysed British Home Office policy documents and guidance for asylum caseworkers, attempting to explain why asylum claims from Sri Lanka continue to be dismissed. Building on work by Professor Anthony Good, Professor Emeritus in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, TAG assessed Home Office policy, concluding, “The guidance is flawed, the consequences horrible to contemplate." Read the full post on the Free Movement blog here. See extracts below. "Why are asylum seekers so often disbelieved? How is it that clinical evidence of torture is oftentimes rejected on the grounds of ‘credibility’? Why has the UK judged so many Tamil asylum seekers not to be at risk, forcibly returning them to Sri Lanka where they have gone on to be tortured?"
The Sri Lankan government has launched an official website for the National Action Plan of the implementation of Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) recommendations, reported Colombo Page . The website will exhibit examples of Sri Lanka’s alleged progress in implementing the recommendations of the LLRC. Speaking at the launch on Friday, Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga, the authority in charge of implementing the LLRC, stressed the need to make ‘progress’ on the LLRC recommendations visible.
According to reports , the Criminal Investigation's Department (CID) of Sri Lanka, has arrested 12 Special Task Force police officers for the the killing of 5 Tamil students in Trincomalee in Eastern Sri Lanka in 2006. One of the suspects is reported to include an Assistant Superintendent of Police. The Trincomalee Chief Magistrate U.L.M. Azhar has ordered that the suspects be remanded until July 18 at the Anuradhapura Prison.