• No starting point to resolution

    Aug 06
    Writing in The Hindu, Kumaravadivel Guruparan, a lecturer in law at the University of Jaffna and civil society activist, argues that "Sinhala nationalists and Tamil political parties are engaged in a wholly nonsensical and misleading debate over the 13th Amendment", whilst "the Tamil people have been reduced to mere spectators".
  • India expresses serious concern over detained fishermen

    The Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India Prasad Kariyawasam, to receive a formal demarche made against the large number of fishermen held in Sri Lankan custody, reported the Hindu.

  • UNP calls for international investigation into Weliweriya protest attack

    Sri Lanka's main opposition, the United National Party,  has called for an "independent international inquiry" into the killings of unarmed protestors by the army in Weliwariya last week.

  • Sri Lanka-US joint air force exercise in Jaffna

    The Sri Lankan Air Force and the United States Pacific Air Force are currently holding joint exercise codenamed “Exercise Pacific Angel” in the Jaffna peninsula.

    The program is aimed at enhancing disaster responses, according to ColomboPage.

  • Army must not investigate itself - Amnesty Int

    Amnesty International criticised the decision to allow the army to police the demonstrations at Weliweriya and has said hat the army should  not be allowed to investigate itself.

  • Karunanidhi calls for CHOGM boycott

    The DMK leader M Karunanidhi has called for the Indian government to boycott the forthcoming Commonwealth heads of government Meeting in Colombo.

  • Court orders investigation into disappearances
    A Colombo magistrate has reportedly ordered the investigation of over 2500 disappearances in the Northeast.
  • Unequal in death
    The shooting of unarmed protesters by a state’s military, as took place in Weliweriya this week, is horrific. The profound perversity of a state turning its military apparatus on the people it purports to protect is universally felt. The Tiananmen Square massacre, Bloody Sunday and even Egypt today, are cases in point. The insurmountable inequity of force and the ensuing bloodshed of the unarmed protesters form a chilling reminder of a state’s simmering potential to abuse its monopoly on violence. The outrage and shock that has reverberated through Sri Lanka’s south following the Weliweriya incident is thus well placed. Yet as with the killings of other dissenting individuals, this tragedy highlights the intractable fallacy of an equal or inclusive ‘Sri Lankan identity’. In Sri Lanka, even death is no equaliser. The killing of a dissenter is defined by ethno-political identity, both that of the individual and their demands.
  • Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport to become repair centre

    The failed Mattale Rajapakse International Airport will become a Maintenance and Repair Centre, reported The Sunday Leader.

  • RSF condemns military attacks on journalists at Weliweriya
    Reporters Without Borders has condemned the Sri Lankan military's attack against journalists covering the incident at Weliweriya. In a statement published on Monday, the press freedom group, said:

    “We are very disturbed by the repeated use of violence against journalists in Sri Lanka,”

    “At best, the police take no action when journalists report that they have been the targets of violence. At worst, the army itself, equipped with lethal weapons, organizes and executes these attacks, as it did in Weliweriya.”

    “These unacceptable incidents show that, although the civil war is now over in Sri Lanka, violence by the armed forces is still far from being brought to an end and that freedom of information is still in great danger.”
  • 20 Tamil Nadu fishermen arrested by SL Navy
    The Sri Lankan Navy arrested 20 fishermen off the coast of Thalai Mannar on Saturday, reports The Hindu.

    The Sri Lankan Navy spokesperson, Commander Kosala Warnakulasooriya accused the fishermen of trespassing into Sri Lankan waters.

    Sixty-five Tamil Nadu fishermen were arrested last week by the Sri Lankan Navy.

    Related articles from this year:

    SL Navy arrests 21 Indian fishermen (07 Jul 2013)

    Navy denies arresting Indian fishermen (15 Apr 2013)
  • SL teachers join lawyers in Weriweliya condemnation
    The Teacher-Principal Trade Unions Joint Committee condemned the Weriweliya incident, and said that the government should take responsibility for it.

    The committee's swift public condemnation, in line with legal bodies, criticised the military's attack on 'unarmed civilians who were protesting for a basic human need'.
  • Northern Provincial Council candidate found dead
    An independent candidate who was contesting the Northern Provincial Council election was found dead on Friday afternoon reports the SundayTimes.lk.

    The body of V. Ramachandran was found inside a temple in Chunnaaham and was taken to Jaffna Teaching Hospital for a post mortem.

  • Protest organised to show discontent over government killing its people

    A mass movement in Sri Lanka, the People’s Movement for Democracy (PMD), has organised a demonstration to show discontent over the killings of civilians at Weliweriya.

  • British Tamils Forum urge TNA to be explicit on NPC limitations
    In a statement released on Sunday, Days after the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) registered its nominations for the Northern Provincial Council election, the British Tamils Forum (BTF) has called on the TNA to be "explicit about the dangers posed by the forthcoming Northern Provincial Council election", highlighting that the "TNA participation in the Council poses significant risks" and there was "a real danger of unwittingly playing stooge in the Sri Lankan state's campaign to regain legitimacy on the world stage".

    See here for full statement. Extract reproduced below:
    "The TNA's decision to contest the Northern Provincial Council election cannot even be described as a low-risk, speculative venture – harmlessly undertaken on the off-chance that it succeeds. Rather, TNA participation in the Council poses significant risks. Complicity in propping up a Provincial Council system that provides token benefits – perhaps a bicycle here and a rice sack there – while perpetuating the Sri Lankan state's structural genocide of Tamils, could strike a devastating blow to the decades-long struggle by the Tamil people for their rights and freedom. There is a real danger of unwittingly playing stooge in the Sri Lankan state's campaign to regain legitimacy on the world stage: if Tamil participation in the Provincial Council is used to provide a distraction that undermines global campaigns for an international independent inquiry into the crimes committed by the Sri Lankan state and recognition of the Tamil people’s right to self-determination.
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