Responding to a piece written by Sri Lanka’s Consul General in Sydney Bandula Jayasekara, former Australian diplomat Bruce Haigh has called on the Commonwealth to “take a stand against rampant abuses”. Extracts of his piece “Diplomats paint one-sided picture of Sri Lanka” have been reproduced below. See the full piece here . “It is interesting that Jayasekara is being put forward as the Sri Lankan representative in Australia to defend the indefensible, an acknowledgement that the Sri Lankan high commissioner, Thisara Samarasinghe, has singularly failed to get his message across.” ”Australians are quite used to weighing the facts, they saw through the propaganda of the South African apartheid regime, the lies over East Timor and weapons of mass destruction and it is only a matter of time before the truth will out on the treatment of Tamils and the political enemies of the corrupt Rajapaksa regime.”
The president of the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF), Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, has received a summons by the Terrorism Investigation Division of Vavuniya and a note written entirely in Sinhalese, instructing him to present himself at the TID office on 29th December at 11am. The TNPF leader is reported to be outside the island at present. Leaflets in Sinhala and English have been circulated around the south of the island highlighting the TNPF secretary, Selvaraja Kajendran, as part of the 'pro LTTE And TNA/TNPF network in Jaffna University', reports TamilNet. See here for photograph of...
Several hundred Australians gathered outside the Melbourne Cricket Ground to protest against Sri Lanka’s cricket tour of Australia, calling on cricketing authorities to boycott the country.
Sri Lanka’s Terrorist Investigation Division arrested 45 former LTTE cadres, it was announced on Wednesday. The arrests occurred as part of search operations in Jaffna reported Sri Lanka’s police. Superintendent Prishantha Jayakodi stated that, “They were arrested as a result of operations carried out over the last month,” The arrests comes as part of an increased clampdown on Jaffna, which has seen students from Jaffna University amongst those detained by Sri Lanka’s Terrorist Investigation Division. Earlier this month there was a further spate of arrests of former cadres, with over 40...
The government of Iran has expressed its willingness to further boost links with Sri Lanka, by looking to expand ties in the judicial fields. Sri Lanka’s Minister of Justice and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Rauf Hakeem went to meet Iranian Justice Minister Seyed Morteza Bakhtiari in Iran earlier this week, with Bakhtiari stating that he hoped to transfer Iran’s legal experience over to Sri Lanka. He was quoted by Fars news agency as saying, "Given the existence of grounds for the promotion of interactions between the two countries of Iran and Sri Lanka, we can have effective interactions...
The Sri Lankan Army has completed the construction of another hotel, this time on the shores of the Nanthikadal Lagoon. The Lagoon’s Edge is a luxury hotel, built entirely of teak and was built in a "place where thousands of war heroes, terrorists and others died" , according to Sinhalese newspaper Mawbima .
Tamil women, who were recruited into the army last month, received their first salary on Sunday at the army's Trincomalee base. The parents of all the women were present, as the women were presented with their first salary and bank pass books. Related articles: No mental trauma or sexual abuse, just madness (23 Dec 2012) Sri Lankan Army coerces Tamil women into joining (13 Dec 2012)
Christmas came to Kilinochchi this year courtesy of the Sri Lankan Army. Photographs of the festive joy are reproduced from off the Ministry of Defence (and Urban Development) website : In addition to an 80 ft Christmas tree, the Tamil women recruited into the Sri Lankan army sang Christmas carols.
The Russian ambassador to Sri Lanka says that countries criticise Sri Lanka’s human rights violations, while ignoring their own record. “Sometimes people point at a speck in the others eye without knowing a whole lot about the board in theirs,” Alexander Karchava said in an interview to the Daily News . Karchava said that while western countries can suggest ideas to improve the human rights situation, they shouldn’t pressure Sri Lanka to implement measures that those countries may seem fit. “Forcing other countries to implement what they presume to be right is an interference in the internal...
Mahinda Rajapaksa on Christmas day... "The teaching of love and understanding that brings the spirit of sharing, which marks the celebration of Christmas, can help in strengthening the bridges of peace, tolerance and reconciliation that are being built in our country." "The birth of Jesus Christ in a stable at Bethlehem shows the world the importance of love extending to all, moving beyond all barriers, extending from the highest to the humblest in society, to all beings who share this earth with us, and to nature that sustains us all." Here's a round-up of articles on Christianity and Sri Lanka from 2012: Monks attack pastor and vandalise church (13 Dec 2012) Church and mosque vandalised and burnt (27 Oct 2012)