Following conflicting reports regarding the postponement of the 15th Asian Junior Athletics Championship due to be held in Colombo, the Sri Lankan Sports Minister has announced that a committee to find “traitors” would be formed. It has been reported that the Asian Athletics Association (AAA) secretary Maurice Nicolas told Sri Lanka, that their elections for the Sri Lanka Athletics Association (SLAA) were not held fairly and were not recognised by the association, resulting in postponement of the games. However, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Sports has said the event would go ahead as scheduled...
Members of the Tamil National Alliance and its constituent parties are to go on hunger strike in Vavuniya on Wednesday, to show solidarity with the over 300 reported Tamil detainees protesting across the island. According to Ceylon Today , TNA Spokesperson and the Jaffna District Parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran stated that various parties, including the TULF, PLOTE, EPRLF, TELO TAK, TNLF and DPF would be on hunger strike on Wednesday, urging the government to release all Tamil political prisoners. The hunger strike, now entering its sixth day, has now grown to include an approximate 300...
The recent murder of Canadian-Tamil Anthonypillai Mahendrarasa, has underscored the “enduring ethnic violence” in Sri Lanka, reported the Globe and Mail on Tuesday, after the slain businessman’s funeral last week near Montreal. Commenting that Mr Mahendrarasa felt that his Canadian citizenship would protect him when travelling in Sri Lanka, they noted how he told friend “They can't do anything to me”, despite their cautions regarding his travel plans. Rathika Sitsabaiesan, a Canadian-Tamil MP from Toronto commented, “Our Canadian brother, who is also Tamil, was murdered there, and this type...
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has criticised pressure on Sri Lanka to allow an international probe into war crimes and human rights abuses, Russian media reported on Wednesday. Speaking at a meeting with Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister GL Peiris, Mr Lavrov stressed that Sri Lanka has already had a home-grown and trustworthy commission to look into war crimes. “We believe, attempts to force international investigation on Sri Lanka without the sovereign state’s permission and bypassing the UN Security Council are absolutely wrong, they also contradict our aspirations in the human...
A group of young Tamil activists burnt copies of the 1972 constitution, at the same spot where the mother of the LTTE’s leader, Parvathi Amma, was cremated, TamilNet reported today. Over 40 youths burnt the copies at Oorani cemetery in Valvettithurai on Tuesday afternoon. According to TamilNet, the youths raised some slogans and distributed leaflets to the public before leaving the scene. A draft of the constitution was burnt by ITAK leader SJV Chelvanayakam and others, 40 years ago in Jaffna. See full report on TamilNet .
The leader of the Tamil National Alliance, R. Sampanthan, has called for a removal of military camps in the Northeast of the island. Speaking to Tamil media, Sampanthan said his party would continue to campaign for a reduction in military presence. "The current ratio of security personnel in the north of the country is one soldier to every eight civilians. This is too much and we have highlighted the need to reduce the military presence to restore normalcy to this region," he said. Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission also recommended that army camps be removed; however...
Speaking to Charles Haviland of the BBC, General Sarath Fonseka, asserted that he was in charge of the military in 2009, and not the political leadership. See BBC report here . Criticising "some people", for " trying to hide their face when it comes to war crimes and other issues ", as "it give the impression to the rest of the world, that these people are guilty of something," General Fonseka said that he would " not be scared ". "I have always said that I'm ready to answer any allegations about war crimes, in relation to the military operations. So that is my position" "The large figures of...
In statement released on Monday, a coalition of Tamil diaspora youth organisations across the world, the Global Taml Youth League ( T-League ), condemned the attack on Paramalingam Tharsananth , the secretary of Jaffna University Student Union (JUSU). Describing it as an " act of intimidation and violence ", T-League said it was " an attempt to instill fear in students and silence their voices for justice ", adding that the targeting remembrance events was " an attempt to extinguish the memory of the victims, and deny the ongoing genocide that is apparent today ". Standing in solidarity with Tamil youth in the North-East, the global coalition of youth organisations, pledged, "We will never forget the victims of Mu'l'livaaykkaal, and must work tirelessly to bring justice to our brothers and sisters who have suffered , and continue to fall prey to violence at the hands of the Sri-Lankan Government." The Global Tamil Youth League's member organisations include: Canadian Tamil Youth Alliance, Canada ( CTYA ); Tamil Youth Network, Germany; Giovani Tamil , Italy; Tamil Youth Organisation, Norway ( TYO-Norge ); Tamil Youth Organisation, Switzerland ( TYO-Swiss ) and Tamil Youth Organisation, UK ( TYO-UK ); Voice of Tamils , Australia; Tamil Youth Organisation New Zealand (TYO-NZ), Tamil Youth Organisation Sweden (TYO-Sweden) and Tamil Youth Organization USA (TYO-USA). See also: UK Tamil university societies condemn Jaffna student attack (19 May 2012)
The Sri Lankan government has declared that the assets of those linked to “terrorist” activity will be frozen and seized, both inside and outside of the country, as part of new regulations put in place by the External Affairs Ministry. A “Competent Authority” will be created to oversee the seizures, appointed by the Foreign Minister G L Peiris and Defence Minister Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The body, once commissioned, will have the authority to freeze and seize all funds, assets and resources of any group deemed to be linked to “terrorists”. Furthermore, the Sunday Times reported that, if any...
The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke to Sri Lanka’s GL Peiris on issues of accountability, free media, human rights and demilitarising the North, according the spokesperson Victoria Nuland, a move that was rejected just hours later by the President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Asked if prosecuting war crimes and responsibility for the estimated 40,000 civilian deaths in the final phase of the armed conflict was discussed, Ms. Nuland replied , “This is precisely what we mean when we talk about accountability in all of it” . She further stated that there were meetings with Robert Blake,...