The Vice President of the International Executive Service Corps stated that the “biggest issue” in providing loans for US enterprises to carry out projects in Sri Lanka, is the much berated expropriation bill.

The bill, which allows the government to acquire enterprises and assets deemed to be underperforming, has been criticised by numerous organisations, including Moody’s credit rating agency and the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa laid the foundation for a Buddhist Stupa dedicated to Sri Lankan Army soldiers in Anuradhapura earlier this week, the first of such religious monuments to be built across the country.

The Stupa in Anuradhapura will be built from 30 million bricks and 40,000 cement bags, with similar Stupas “giving due recognition to the memory of those War Heroes who defended the country from threat of separation”, being built in each of the provinces of the country.

Dismissing Mahinda Rajapaksa's address on Sri Lanka's independence day, TNA MP Sumanthiran, said that the recommendations of the LLRC has not been implemented.

He added that the TNA believes the Sri Lankan government had received a letter from the US urging action.

The "US have warned that if the government did not take action, it will pursue on certain international actions,” said Sumanthiran.

It was just this week Mahinda Rajapaksa asserted that only the Parliamentary Select Committee would decide on devolution, dismissing India's external affairs secretary, SM Krishna's statement that 13+ changes had been promised by Sri Lanka.

On Thursday his words were:

"The PSC, in which all parties in parliament would be represented, was the best forum to discuss and take a decision on the matter.”

“I cannot reveal it. If I say anything on it, people will say, I am biased. Let parliament decide. I’ll accept its recommendations.”

Yet speaking Saturday, at celebrations for what Sri Lankans commemorate as their independence day, Rajapaksa revealed his devolutionary vision and his guiding light:

"Ethnic communities have no separate regions. The entire country belongs to all ethnic communities."

"what is required today is the formulation of policies based on a vision that is commonly applicable to the whole country."

"The words of the Buddha show the path we should take and how we should solve problems.

Akkodhena jine kodham – asadhum sadhuna jine
Jine kadariyam danena – saccena alikavadinam

"Let this thought guide all in making the freedom of our motherland meaningful!"

 

Gavin Barwell, Conservative MP, Croydon Central. Photographs Tamilnet

 

British MPs and peers endorsed the call for an international, independent investigation, at an exhibition organised by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPGT) and the British Tamil Forum (BTF). Photographs Tamilnet.

 

A group of students from the University of Virginia’s School of Law visited Sri Lanka as part of a Human Rights Study Project (HRSP).

Eight students spent their time interviewing many people, including judges, military and government officials, NGO’s and individuals within camps, to study different areas of human rights within Sri Lanka.

Here is a description of the group’s experience by the President of the HRSP, John Akin:

Around 200 tamil refugees who have fled from Sri Lanka have found themselves stranded in the West African country of Togo, where they are now held by the army, reported the BBC.

The refugees, who include at least 19 women and 11 children, are being detained in an open stadium in the capital of Lome, where they are held under tight security.

The United States Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Luke Bronin visited Sri Lanka on Thursday to discuss Sri Lanka’s options, as US sanctions on Iran look set to cut off Sri Lanka’s crude oil imports.

The US Embassy stated that Bronin’s visit was to “discuss how the Iranian sanction legislation will affect Sri Lankan financial institutions and to discuss the legislation and its implementation.”

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has stated that he wants to send a delegation to the United States of America in order to gain support before the UN Human Rights Council meeting in March.

The Daily Mirror reported that as the US has already announced it would back a resolution against Sri Lanka at the upcoming session, Rajapaksa insisted that engagement with the Americans was important.

He reportedly told a cabinet meeting,

At a recent debate in the House of Commons, British MPs urged the British government to ‘speak out loudly’ and raise human rights issues in Sri Lanka with the UN and other organisations.

Labour MP Kerry McCarthy called for a debate in the House of Commons about the controversial LLRC report.