யாழ் திரைகடலோடி

ALMOST FOUR years ago, the Sri Lankan government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa won a decisive victory in a 26-year-long civil war with rebels from the island’s minority Tamil community. The cost was horrific: A United Nations investigation subsequently found that up to 40,000 civilians may have died in the government's final offensive. But the triumph made Mr. Rajapaksa a hero among the majority Sinhalese community and gave him an opportunity to modernize his country while healing its ethnic rift. Unfortunately, the president and his family — two brothers hold cabinet positions — have pursued just the opposite course. Having acquired a two-thirds parliamentary majorit…

Remis une collation, puis exécutés: le fils de 12 ans d'une Tigres tamouls Photographies garçon spectacle a eu lieu avant qu'il ait été tué à bout portant. Andrew Buncombe Lundi 18 Février 2013 Attention: Certains peuvent trouver la seconde image dans la galerie d'accompagnement pénible De nouvelles photos sont apparues, qui soulèvent de nouvelles questions sur la conduite des forces armées du Sri Lanka au cours des dernières étapes de l'opération contre les rebelles tamouls et ont conduit à revendique le fils de 12 ans de leader des militants ont pu être exécutés sommairement. Une série de photographies prises quelques heures d'intervalle, et sur…

Sri Lanka was for decades an example of how sectarian conflict can wreck an otherwise fortunate country. It has had three years to show how devolving power to an ethnic minority can bring about lasting peace. Now it looks as if the opportunity will be lost. Sri Lanka paid an enormous price to bring 26 years of civil war to an end. An estimated 40,000 people died in the last months of fighting in 2009, bringing the conflict’s final toll to more than 100,000. This includes a sitting president, Ranasinghe Premadasa, and a former Indian prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, who were killed in suicide bombings by the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Yet there was h…

President Mahinda Rajapaksa told Lal Wickrematunge three times that his brother Lasantha, the founding editor of The Sunday Leader newspaper who was assassinated in January 2009 was killed by Former Army Chief Sarath Fonseka, exiled Sri Lankan Journalist Uvindu Kurukulasuriya told UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay in London yesterday. Pillay who delivered a lecture at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) on Friday on the Freedom of Expression and Hate Speech: What International Human Rights Law Says was informed of this publicly by Kurukulasuriya following her speech. Kurukulasuriya said that Lal Wickrematunge had informed him that …

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay tells Channel 4 News that she is "deeply disturbed" by the shooting of a Sri Lankan journalist and calls on the Sri Lankan government to protect him. In an exclusive interview with Channel 4 News, Navi Pillay urged the Sri Lankan government to "provide immediate protection" for Faraz Shaukatally, who is currently in intensive care after being shot by three unidentified gunmen on Friday night. Ms Pillay said: "It's an act of attempted assassination so he needs to be protected immediately." Mr Shauketaly, 52, who holds joint British and Sri Lankan citizenship, is a reporter for the Sri Lankan newspaper The Sunda…

When the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam met their demise in 2009 at the hands of the Sri Lankan army, no right minded person mourned their fall. Before the war, the Tigers ruled the Tamils of the north and east of the island with an iron fist and brutally murdered countless civilians. During their campaign for independence they took terrorism to new levels of barbarity; it was the LTTE, after all, which pioneered suicide bombing. The government of Mahinda Rajapaksa defeated a truly reprehensible terrorist organizations with great severity. While the exact number is disputed, the UN Panel of Experts concluded that thousands of civilians died during the end of the war…

The Tamil Tigers. http://youtu.be/e3167Wc4kW0

The Buddhist Crusade Driving Sri Lankan Muslims Into Radicalism ( February 13, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The nationalist chauvinist sections of the Sinhala polity suffer from the worst form of inferiority complex. They have to be constantly a party to the oppression of another race, society or religion to feel euphorically superior. The leaders who can afford this to them can continue to be in power notwithstanding any other shortcoming however grave. The Muslims, the majority of whom speak the Tamil language do not seek their collective identity in language or culture but in their religion----Islam. The early Muslim immigrants were mostly traders who mar…

Commenting that “[t]he promotion of Sanath Jayasuriya is a dark day in Sri Lanka’s cricket history,” following the appointment of Jayasuriya, a Government MP and close ally of Rajapaksa, to head the 5-member selection panel of the Sri Lanka cricket team, Australia’s most respected cricket author and journalist Gideon Haigh, said in his website that Colombo's "growing authoritarianism and hubris" will likely "buttress the case for a boycott of Sri Lankan cricket," the group Boycott Sri Lanka Campaign, headed by another well-known Australian journalist Trevor Grant, said in a press release. Full text of the press release from Boycott Sri Lanka Cricket Campaign issued…

What’s Behind Resignation Of Pope? | by John Newland and Claudio Lavanga, NBC News When the next Papal Conclave meets to replace the retiring Pope Benedict XVI, the United States will have an unprecedented voice in the process. Franco Origlia / Getty Images, file Wisconsin native James Harvey, right, was amongh six new cardinals installed during a ceremony on Nov. 24. Eleven cardinal electors, almost 10 percent of the Conclave, will be Americans -- the largest share the country has ever had, even though it has historically had a large Catholic population. The retiring pope gets credit for the greater influence of the U.S. Last year, he …

Sri Lanka has failed to honour promises to investigate serious rights abuses and allegations that thousands of civilians were killed in the final stages of its ethnic war, a UN report says. The report by human rights experts, which was submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Monday, found that investigations by local authorities were inconclusive and were not independent or impartial. "The steps taken to investigate allegations of serious violations of human rights have been inconclusive, and lack the independence and impartiality required to inspire confidence," according to the report seen by AFP on Wednesday. The document, compiled by …

Nuclear weapons of mass destruction – an end of everything The nuclear club consists of nine nations out of which 5 (USA, Russia, UK, France and China) are internationally recognized nuclear weapons states conferred by nuclear non proliferation treaty. India, Pakistan and Israel have declined to sign the treaty and have tested their nuclear weapons. North Korea withdrew from the treat in 2003. The global nuclear disarmament campaigns are gaining momentum with many NGOs actively involved in creating a global awareness. Nuclear disarmament is not just a wish, it is a legal commitment agreed upon and signed by the five official nuclear states under the nuclear non- Prol…

The theme of this essay is the need for a multisided and flexible long-term approach that is free from narrow isms and prejudices in countering the threat to the rule of law, decency and democracy posed by the Rajapaksa Regime (RR). The essay distances itself from three categories of people, all good anti-RR folk, but I think tactically, strategically of psychologically a bit on the wrong track; the talk-&-write only verbal champions of democracy, the ultra-left radicals who proclaim that veedi satang (mass uprisings on the street) should be the exclusive focus, and thirdly the dispirited and pessimistic. I recognise allies and potential allies among all these fo…

The growing influence of the small clique led by members of Rajapaksha family threatens Sri Lanka's long-term institutional stability - EIU It is doubtful that much progress will be made on political solution. Isolated terrorist attacks could occur across the island Rajapaksa will be strongly placed to win a third term Relations between the UPFA and Western governments will remain tense Sri Lanka: Outlook for 2013-17 by Economist Intelligence Unit Political stability The president, Mahinda Rajapaksa of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), is idolised as the man who in May 2009 defeated the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, Tamil Tigers). He was re-electe…

The Commonwealth Secretary-General opened talks with Sri Lanka on Sunday by pushing for judicial independence on the island, as Canada renewed calls to boycott the bloc's summit in Colombo later this year. Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma is holding talks with Sri Lankan leaders in Colombo on the rule of law and the separation of powers after the island defied international appeals and sacked its chief justice in January, the bloc said. Commonwealth Secretary-General, Kamalesh Sharma, opened talks with Sri Lanka on Sunday by pushing for judicial independence on the island. (Credit: ABC) Mr Sharma's four-day visit to Sri Lanka came as Ottawa urged others in the 54-m…

How Sri Lanka's inmates smuggle phones into prison By Iqbal Athas, for CNN A mobile phone and a hands free kit are seen in an X-ray of a Sri Lankan prisoner. Colombo, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- When 58-year-old G. Siripala, a Sri Lankan prisoner serving a 10-year sentence for theft, was escorted by armed prison officials to Colombo's National Hospital with severe back pain, doctors rushed him for an X-ray. Doctors thought he might have orthopaedic complications, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. "But the X-ray showed a cell phone and two hands-free kits." Medical staff prepared to carry out a surgical procedure on the prisoner, the source said. "However, th…

TN people’s concern on Sri Lankan Tamils legitimate: Tewari Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said the Central Government was in no way “insensitive” to Lankan Tamil issues and the protest was in “sync” with the people’s concern in Tamil Nadu. “We understand the sensitivities which are involved with regard to the issue of Sri Lankan Tamils, especially in Tamil Nadu. We are absolutely in sync with some of the concerns which have been articulated...”, Mr. Tewari told reporters on Friday. Mr. Tewari was responding to questions on the protests by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, a key UPA ally, against Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s…

A political grouping pushing for devolution of power to the provinces yesterday estimated the number of LTTE cadres killed during eelam war IV at 15,000. Dr. Wickremabahu Karunaratne, of the Nava Samasamaja Party (NSSP), claimed that they were among 150,000 persons that perished in the war (July 2006 to May 2009). Karunaratne was responding to a query by The Island, at a media briefing called by former Deputy Mayor of the CMC, Azath Sally at No 122, Barnes Place, Colombo 7. Sally was acting on behalf of recently formed Muslim-Tamil National Alliance. Karunaratne lambasted President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government for subjecting Tamil speaking people to military op…

Sri Lanka dismisses Canada’s threat Souce:Xinhua Publish By Thomas Whittle COLOMBO, Feb. 6 — The Sri Lankan government on Wednesday dismissed a threat from Canada regarding the island’s human rights record. Sri Lanka’s External Affairs Ministry said that the government was well aware of the importance of securing the rights of its own people and was acting accordingly. “Sri Lanka’s human rights record is much better than other countries. The government knows its responsibility towards its own people and has been working on maintaining a good human rights record,” Foreign Secretary Karunathilaka Amunugama told Xinhua. Canada on Sunday warned the Sri Lankan govern…

Sri Lanka may face a tight situation at the April meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) in London with the likelihood of the country being included in the Agenda for the meeting, informed sources said yesterday. As a preemptive measure External Affairs Minister G.L Peries met Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma on Tuesday in London with the intention of warding off such an inclusion. However, he received no confirmation from Mr. Sharma that Sri Lanka will not be included in the agenda. The situation has worsened for Sri Lanka because of heightened pressure from Canada, which is part of the present cycle of the CMAG and the threat …

It’s just not cricket that Sri Lanka keeps playing - PROFESSOR DAMIEN KINGSBURY The call for a boycott of Sri Lanka’s cricket team following the actions of the Sri Lankan military against the country’s Tamil population is growing. But it’s not just a cricket issue The government of Sri Lanka has been embarrassed over its human rights record by a call for a boycott campaign being run by respected Australian sports writer Trevor Grant. Grant has been using the Sri Lanka cricket team’s current tour of Australia to highlight what the UN believes were war crimes committed in Sri Lanka in 2009 and a subsequent campaign of human rights abuse against the country’s Tamil…

It is that time of the year. As the heat builds up in an otherwise wintry Geneva, capital cities of the world are abuzz with preparations for the forthcoming UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions to be held in February-March 2013. While UNHRC sessions in general are important for Sri Lanka, the upcoming sessions in February-March 2013 are uniquely important for Sri Lanka for four reasons: first, it is the first time that Sri Lanka will come before the UNHRC after the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) review meeting; second, it is the first time that Sri Lanka sits at the UNHRC after the first ever UN Resolution has been adopted and passed on Sri Lanka; third, ther…

Stating that she shared the concerns of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi regarding Sri Lankan Tamils issue, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi has told him that she "shall take up the matter" with the external affairs minister. "I share your concern regarding the disturbing developments in Sri Lanka vis-a-vis the Tamils. I shall take up the matter with the Minister of External Affairs (Salman Khurshid)," she said in her January 30, 2013 letter to Karunanidhi. The Congress president's response to a January 19, 2013 letter by Karunanidhi was posted on DMK leader's page in micro-blogging site Twitter. In identical letters to Gandhi …

Says it will be ‘equal rights to all communities’ The solution that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has in mind for the Tamil quest for a greater say in their own fate — which he said soon after the war in 2009 that he will reveal at an appropriate time — involves “equal rights to all communities”. Ruling out granting minority Tamils of the North any political autonomy as a solution to the three-decades-long ethnic conflict, he said when people lived together in unity there should be no racial or religious differentiation. “It is not practical for this country to have different administrations based on ethnicity. The solution is to live together in this cou…

= Women activists decry public apathy to curb increase in incidents = More police posts to be set up in tourist areas Last week’s alleged rape of a 47-year old woman in Wijerama and an attempted rape of a 25-year old German tourist in Chilaw, have once again raised the question, how safe are women in our country—both local and foreign.�According to statistics, five rapes are reported daily while the unreported cases could make the figure higher. Among the women’s’ group workers and activists who spoke to the Sunday Times, Lak Vanitha Front president Shanthini Kongahage voicing concern said many women relied on three-wheeler drivers to ask for road directions. …