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(Text of Editorial Appearing in “The Island”of March 10th 2014 under the heading “Rape of sovereignty”) The Geneva circus is on with the worst violators of human rights in the world masquerading as champions of democracy. Perhaps, there is no bigger farce than this summit. The UNHRC is dominated by the West and, therefore, it [...]

By Zahrah Imtiaz Imagine a scenario where no one in the country would be allowed to slaughter a cow. With religious fervour firing the imagination of many to call for such a ban, this could very likely be the scenario in the near future. The issue here however is not religious and more to do [...]

After missing most of Sri Lanka’s series against Bangladesh with an ankle injury, Lahiru Thirimanne returned to the side ahead of the Asia Cup. After he scored a century in the final to help his team achieve a five-wicket win, Sri Lanka’s captain Angelo Mathews said Thirimanne had batted with a “bit of a niggle” [...]

By Roshan Abeysinghe The Asia Cup which was conducted with much expectation has finally ended. The giants of Asian cricket did flex their muscles and the outcome sadly for teams such as Bangladesh has been predictable. Having the opportunity of playing at home in front of the large crowds Bangladesh has faltered not just against [...]

By Dilrukshi Handunnetti Under the guise of demanding accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka, the United States is exerting pressure on Sri Lanka to secure concessions, possibly of a military nature, Tamara Kunanayakam, Sri Lanka’s former Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva, said. Kunanayakam told Ceylon Today the US needed a strategic [...]

(Text of communique released by the media office of the Tamil National Alliance.The TNA statement is signed by TNA Leader Rajavarothayam Sampanthan M.P. and Northern Province chief minister CV Wigneswaran) The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has given careful consideration to the draft resolution on Sri Lanka proposed at the 25th sessions of the Human Rights [...]

The resolution on Sri Lanka tabled at the 25th sessions of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva by US-led six member nations last Monday, in a way, gave the government a sense of relief for it was not the worst it expected. The draft report on Sri Lanka released by the UN [...]

by Anusha Ondaatjie Colombo: Sri Lanka’s deepening economic ties with China offer it a cushion from any measures aimed at pressuring the South Asian country into cooperating with investigations into alleged crimes during its civil war. The US introduced a resolution this week calling on the United Nations to investigate Sri Lanka’s past abuses and [...]

by Taylor Dibbert Recent events in the Ukraine are just another reminder that Barack Obama’s naive and unrealistic view of world affairs is completely divorced from reality and wholly incompatible with any semblance of American global leadership. So, let’s pause for a moment to process this. There are plenty of angles to consider, and we [...]

The 135th ‘Battle of the Blues’ between Royal and S. Thomas’ to be played next week will see a new big match logo and a new gold coin being introduced. In its long history this is the first time that a special logo has been created for the Royal-Thomian encounter. The gold coin will be [...]

By Dharisha Bastians The United Kingdom and France, two new members of the UN Human Rights Council this year, have lent their voices to the call for an international inquiry into allegations of war crimes during the war in Sri Lanka and an end to impunity in the island.

The Kilinochchi-Pallai re-constructed railway track and signal system built by IRCON International Ltd under the concessional Indian Line of Credit was inaugurated on Tuesday. The ceremony was attended by Transport Minister Kumara Welgama, Traditional Industries and Small Enterprises Development Minister Douglas Devananda, Indian High Commissioner Y. K. Sinha, Consul General of India in Jaffna, Shri [...]

by Saman Indrajith Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem told Parliament yesterday that the Sri Lanka Law College (SLLC) would face unprecedented difficulties and problems if it increased the intake of students on the basis of cut-off marks recommended by the Council of Legal Education. Responding to questions raised by UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and JVP Leader [...]

By Shamindra Ferdinando Attorney-at-law, Major (retd.) Ajith Prasanna, who appears for a group of police commandos and an ordinary policeman arrested for their alleged involvement in the killing of five Tamil students in Trincomalee on January 2, 2006, yesterday told The Island that those who had been pushing the government on the issue weren’t facilitating [...]

By V Suryanarayan With the impending meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, international attention is once again focused on happenings in Sri Lanka. As the International Crisis Group, in its briefing note, has pointed out, “Failure is most obvious with respect to accountability of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the [...]

By Ananth Palakidnar The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has expressed dismay over the draft resolution prepared by the US on Sri Lanka, to be presented at the UNHRC sessions in Geneva. The TNA has pointed out that the US draft resolution was disappointing and contains nothing constructive towards addressing the genuine grievances towards the Tamils [...]

By Niranjala Ariyawansha Leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Anura Kumara Dissanayake, said the JVP accepts that the National Anthem should be sung in the Sinhala and Tamil languages as a policy. The JVP as a Party recongnizes that all languages should be given equal recongnition, he added. Speaking to Ceylon Today, Dissanayake said: [...]

By Menaka Indrakumar United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) candidate at the upcoming Western Provincial Council Election, Hirunika Premachandra, is at present the cynosure of all eyes in the political firmament. Being the talk of the nation, Hirunika shared her views in several areas with regard to her personal and political life. Despite the untimely death [...]

An Interview with Shihara Maduwage In a recent interview, Former Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka who heads the Democratic Party spoke to Daily Mirror about the present political situation in the country, his party’s plan to win the upcoming Provincial Council elections and expressed his views about the UNHRC session taking place in Geneva. He [...]

By Shamindra Ferdinando The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) intends to request India not to dilute the proposed US-led resolution against Sri Lanka over accountability issues as well as post-war developments which it considered inimical to the interests of Tamils. The TNA decided to make representations to India at a meeting held at the parliamentary complex [...]

by N Sathiya Moorthy After two rounds of anti-Sri Lanka Indian vote at the UNHRC, both nations have begun starting almost from the scratch. Or, so it seems. At the meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, on the sidelines of BIMSTEC Summit in Myanmar, the two countries have [...]

by Dharisha Bastians Three days after the 25th Session of the Human Rights Council opened in Geneva, some might say President Mahinda Rajapaksa whose Government is being accused of major crimes during the war, has already achieved a massive victory. After months of dire warnings, threats and much finger wagging, the first draft of the [...]

BY DR DAYAN JAYATILLEKA At the High Level Segment of the UNHRC Geneva, Prof GL Peiris did something I haven’t seen him do in a quarter century. He read out from a text, looking up only once or twice. It was on a perfect continuum with Mahinda Samarasinghe’s clumsy, bellicose speeches at the same venue [...]

By Dharisha Bastians The Government yesterday slammed UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay for her report on Sri Lanka’s human rights record in its entirety and said it was “fundamentally flawed”. External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris who addressed the UN Human Rights Council High Level Segment in Geneva yesterday, said Pillay had exceeded [...]

(Full Text of Address delivered on behalf of Sri Lanka by External Affairs minister Prof.GL Peiris at High level segment of the UN Human Rights Council 25th session in Geneva on March 5th 2014) Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to deliver this statement on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka. May I [...]

In a statement released today in the Mail and Guardian (South Africa) Archbishop Desmond Tutu and 38 Human Rights activists and organisations from around the world demanded that the UN Human Rights Council set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sri Lanka. Signatories came from South [...]

By Gibson Bateman On March 3, the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) began its 25th session in Geneva. Since two US-led resolutions have been passed on Sri Lanka in as many years at the HRC – and the possibility of a third resolution being passed highly likely – the human rights and governance record [...]

One day after a draft resolution sponsored by the US Government at the UN Human Rights Council noted with “alarm” rising attacks on places of religious worship in Sri Lanka, a court has ordered the closure of a mosque in Dehiwala after Police filed a public nuisance case against the premises. The Gangodawila Magistrate yesterday [...]

by Praveen Swami Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Sri Lanka’s President, Mahinda Rajapakse on the sidelines of a regional summit on Tuesday, hours after a five-nation coalition moved a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council, condemning the island nation’s human record during its war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. External Affairs [...]

A US-sponsored resolution tabled at the UN Human Rights Council has called for an international probe into Sri Lanka’s alleged rights abuses during the war with Tamil Tiger rebels. In a draft resolution on Monday, the US endorsed UNHRC chief Navi Pillay’s recommendation for an external probe into the alleged war crimes. The US, Britain, [...]

Brushing aside opposition from DMK and other parties in Tamil Nadu, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa but did not give him any assurance on which way India will vote on a UNHRC resolution for an independent international probe into rights abuses during the war with LTTE. The draft resolution, [...]

by Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe-PC& M.P. “War crimes and crimes against humanity” is a current topic which is being discussed today as never before in history. One might wonder whether there was a war without crimes. War means nothing else than a heap of crimes. The world renowned historian who was the Head of the History Faculty [...]

By Shirley Candappa It really is time the leadership of this country stopped deluding itself as well as the people as to what awaits us in March this year when we will once again face the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva. The sessions in Geneva are not something new. It is a UN process [...]

By Dharisha Bastians A first draft of the third and toughest US-sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council calls for an investigation into alleged abuses by both parties to the conflict to be led by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Navi Pillay. The draft resolution, which [...]

Sri Lanka came in for flak early into the 25th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, with the United Kingdom and Canada strongly pushing for international action over the country’s failure to address alleged abuses during the war. “The time has come for international action with regard to Sri Lanka,” said UK’s Minister of [...]

By Namini Wijedasa The Government is drafting legislation to grant a ‘certificate of absence’ to relatives of the missing who do not want to accept certificates of death for their loved ones, a senior official said yesterday. The certificate of absence—which has never before been issued in Sri Lanka but is used in several other [...]

by Meera Srinivasan Ketheeswaran’s crops have never failed this way. Walking along his field which sprouts harvest-ready paddy and some rough-edged weeds, he directs his workers who are operating the harvest machines for the season’s paddy yield that, he says, has fallen drastically. “I usually get 450 bags after Mahabogam [the main harvest season of [...]

AP- With seven Oscars including a history-making Best Director award for Alfonso Cuaron, the force of Gravity exerted itself at the 86th annual Academy Awards. The searing slavery drama 12 Years a Slave has won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Directed by British director Steve McQueen, the film is based on a true story [...]

(Text of Editorial Appearing in “The Hindu” of March 4th 2014 Under the heading “Sign of the Times”) So many awards are handed out before the Oscars, with strong favourites emerging on the basis of those wins, that the Academy Awards ceremony has today become largely predictable. The same people who garner those earlier awards [...]

By MICHAEL CIEPLY and BROOKS BARNES LOS ANGELES — In a triumph long deferred, “12 Years a Slave” won the best picture Oscar at the 86th Academy Awards on Sunday night, the first time Hollywood conferred its top honor to the work of a black director. “I’d like to thank this amazing story,” said Steve [...]

By Latheef Farook It appears that Sri Lanka’s beleaguered and besieged Muslim community badly needs a Ananthi Sasitharan and not the spineless politicians, wheeler-dealers, businessmen ,media men and others who turned sell outs. This is the inevitable conclusion sensible Muslims are forced to arrive following last Tuesday’s ( 25 February 2014) informal gathering some of [...]

By Niranjala Ariyawansha President Mahinda Rajapaksa had failed to address the concerns expressed by five ministers and a parliamentarian over the upcoming UNHRC sessions in Geneva, the Minister of National Languages and Social Integration, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, said.Leader of the Democratic Left Front (DLF), Nanayakkara, told Ceylon Today that, Scientific Affairs Minister, Prof.Tissa Vitarana, Human Resources [...]

By P K Balachandran – COLOMBO Eighty per cent of the complaints of forced disappearance made to the Sri Lankan Presidential Commission of Disappearances, blame the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), according to a well-placed source in the Presidential Secretariat. Quoting members of the commission, the official told Express that majority of the complaints [...]

“If you cannot stay in the Government, you can get out,” President Mahinda Rajapaksa warned Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader Rauff Hakeem at Friday’s re-scheduled meeting of ministers. He accused Minister Hakeem of “betraying the country” in what seemed a simmering battle for months now with the SLMC, one of the UPFA’s partners. Rajapaksa [...]

Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader and Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem insists there is no rift between him and President Mahinda Rajapaksa despite differences of opinion on some issues. Speaking at an event in Panadura today Hakeem said that having differences of opinion and arguing over that in the cabinet with the President is not [...]

By Chandani Kirinde The future of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) as a constituent member of the ruling UPFA Government would depend on the attitude of the other members of the Government and how they choose to address the grievances faced by the Muslim population of the country, SLMC General Secretary and National List [...]

By Leon Berenger The Government yesterday said it was looking into allegations against the country’s first Honorary Consul in Kerala that the man was having a criminal record but added that there were no immediate plans to reconsider the appointment, a senior External Affairs official said. Mr. Joeman Joseph with business interests in Sri Lanka [...]

By Shailendree Wickrama Adittya and Sandun Jayawardana With allegations of gross human rights violations committed against Tamil civilians in the North and East by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) starting to re-emerge, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has chosen to either stay silent or become evasive on whether the allegations need to be investigated. [...]

By Vishnuguptha “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ~ Søren Kierkegaard They looked everywhere but they did not see. Some were afraid to look so they did not see either and in the worst case, many others [...]

Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, MP, and Member of the Board of Governors of Trinity College, Kandy, has filed plaint in the District Court of Colombo claiming Rs 5 million as damages from Bishop Shantha Francis, Bishop of Kurunegala and Chairman of the Board of Governors, for loss of reputation for his allegedly illegal removal from the Board of Governors.  Wijesinha claims that the Constitution of [...]

By Camelia Nathaniel While the TNA and the Diaspora are on a mission to initiate an international investigation against Sri Lanka on war crimes allegations, the people who actually suffered immense hardships and atrocities for the past 30 years are engaged in a battle to rebuild their shattered lives. The Northern Provincial Council recently passed [...]

Vijitha Yapa was elected Chairman of the Afro Asian Book Council last week at the AGM of the organization held in New Delhi during the World Book Fair 2014. He is the first Sri Lankan to hold this position. Yapa is currently the President of the Sri Lanka Book Publishers’ Association and Vice President of [...]

By a Special Correspondent What cannot be concealed despite all the bravado is Sri Lanka’s concern over the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions this month, slated to critique the island’s human rights record and inclined to propose the setting up of an international mechanism to probe the island’s rights abuses committed during the [...]

By Udaya Gammanpila Jayalalithaa, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu commenced her election campaign by pasting a very interesting poster. Jayalalithaa has pointed a finger at President Rajapaksa and he was paying homage to her having knelt before her. In fact, this picture is a result of smart editing of two separate photographs. Jayalalithaa was [...]

By DHARISHA BASTIANS President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday rejected calls for an international investigation into accusations of massacres and human rights violations during the final phase of Sri Lanka’s civil war, which ended in 2009. “If there is evidence, let them show us,” Mr. Rajapaksa said. “We will look into it.”

By Meera Srinivasan Expressing Sri Lanka’s discomfort with the United States-sponsored resolution to come up in Geneva in a month, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday said: “We are uncomfortable with the whole resolution…there should not be a resolution at all.” He was addressing members of the Foreign Correspondents’ Association, a couple of days [...]

by Zacki Jabbar The UNP yesterday expressed concern that the abduction syndrome had gripped Colombo once again with Sunil from Wanathamulla being the latest victim, but no suspects had been arrested even two weeks later. UNP National List MP Eran Wickremeratne told The Island that Colombo DIG Anura Senanayake who had assured the Wanathmulla residents [...]

Chamitha Kuruppu Interviews Colombo Mayor A.J.M.Muzammil Mayor of Colombo A.J.M. Muzammil, who locked horns with United National Party following his wife’s nominations being denied, said he will not get actively involved in helping the party win at the upcoming Provincial Council elections. “I was not wanted. If I was not wanted, why should I go [...]

After staying release of three convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, the Supreme Court today restrained the Tamil Nadu government from letting out four more convicts in the case. A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam directed the state government to maintain status quo and said it will hear on March 6 the [...]

by A. Gnanathasan An appreciation of the late Justice Sundaram Sriskandarajah President of the Court of Appeal Sri Lanka. I pen these words with deep sadness to honour and appreciate the memory of the late justice Sundaram Sriskandarjah President of the Court of Appeal, who passed away recently having led a life of grace and [...]

by Upul Joseph Fernando Mahinda is scheduled to leave for London on 10 March to attend Commonwealth Day celebrations. Purpose of his participation in the proceedings will be twofold; representing the country as President of Sri Lanka and also as the Chairperson of the Commonwealth group of nations. The Royal Commonwealth Society website has reported [...]

by Gamini Jayasinghe Mahasivarathri is purely a religious ceremony of day time fast and vigil throughout the night. Hindus world over observe special religious rites on the fourteenth night of Phalguna (February /March ) which is the longest night in the year according to the Hindu calendar. These observances are started in the morning on [...]

by Vishnuguptha “Sooner or later those who win are those who think they can.” ~Richard Bach The emergence of a politician to the position of a ‘party leader’ is no mean event. As in almost all human enterprises, politics too is infested with jealousies, envy, cut-throatisms, fierce competition, intra-party rivalries, caste and class differences and [...]

By Dharisha Bastians The Oxford educated Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, recently lapsed momentarily into literary metaphor in attempting to explain some of the current complexities that govern the bilateral relationship between New Delhi and Colombo. “What can I say, but to borrow from Eric Segal’s Love Story: Love means never having to say [...]

by Shamindra Ferdinando Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa yesterday said that the government wouldn’t demobilize the Army or reduce military presence in the Northern Province under any circumstances, though a section of the international community was pushing the government on the diplomatic front ahead of the 25th session of the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council [...]

The Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) has rejected the call by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navnanethem Pillay’s for establishing ‘an international inquiry mechanism to further investigate the alleged violations of International Human Rights Law (IHRL) and International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and monitor any domestic accountability process in Sri Lanka”, saying “it gives scant [...]

(Text of Press Release Issued by the Media office of the Tamil National Alliance) The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) welcomes the Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on promoting reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka to the 25th session of the Human Rights Council.The High Commissioner’s report contains a comprehensive and [...]

Popular music composer Illayaraj’s younger son and a famous composer himself Yuvan Shankar Raja Monday confirmed that he has converted to Islam, adding that he is proud of the decision which got his family’s support. Though the rumour was going around for quite some time, Yuvan, confirmed this in a tweet. “Yes, I follow Islam [...]

By K. Ratnayake The Obama administration has declared that it will present a third consecutive resolution on Sri Lanka to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) meeting in March, calling for a probe into human rights violations. The focus will be on abuses during the final months of the Sri Lankan government’s war against the [...]

The North Indian media holds some strong prejudices about Tamil society. It has no real insight into the Tamil psyche, but always exults in its ignorance, unwilling to learn, but quick to pass its flawed judgments on every issue concerning the Tamils. Be it the political, social or cultural preference of Tamils, the majority sentiment [...]

By Wasantha Rupasinghe A photo story was published earlier this month on the Sri Lankan army web site depicting a training exercise in which troops and police suppressed a student demonstration. The exercise was held at the Security Forces Head Quarters in Vanni, in the war ravaged north, and led by Major General Boniface Perera [...]

Human Rights Council Twenty-fifth session Agenda item 2 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Promoting reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights* Summary        In the [...]

By S.L.Gunasekara What is it that drives a politician? The answer is as simple as it is tragic. It is the love, and an unquenchable thirst, for power. What should be the reason for any politician or other person seeking power? That answer too is simple. It is to benefit the Country. To put the [...]

By Dr. Nirmala Chandrahasan Today there is much talk of the South African example in conflict resolution and advice is being sought from that country. Hence it is not inappropriate to draw analogies between what is happening in Wanathamulle, Colombo and the similar situation which arose in Sophia town, Johannesburg during the Apartheid era in [...]

By Jeff Waters Human rights and asylum seeker advocates are condemning a decision to employ a former Sri Lankan military officer as the acting operations manager of the Manus Island detention centre. The ABC has confirmed that Dinesh Perera has been running the offshore processing centre (OPC) for the G4S security company.

by B.Kolappan As part of their effort to mobilise public opinion in favour of the US resolution against Sri Lanka and for urging India to move a resolution seeking an independent inquiry into the war crimes in the last moments of civil war, Youths and Students Federation screened Callum Macrae’s film, No Fire Zone: The [...]

By B.Kolappan The University of Madras has removed from its curriculum two short stories written by Pudumaipithan, considered as the father of the modern Tamil short story. Thunbakkeni, prescribed for undergraduate courses, had been removed two months ago, and on Saturday, the Academic Council approved the removal of another story, Ponnagaram. Thunbakkeni was removed on [...]

Well known Tamil writer and Jnanpith awardee D. Jayakanthan has been admitted to a private hospital in Chennai, where his condition was said to be serious, sources said. The 80-year old writer has not been keeping well since the last few months, they said. Known for his work ‘Sila Nerangalil Sila Manidhargal’ among others, Mr. [...]

by Anita Joshua The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has refused a censor certificate to the controversial film No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, a documentary on the last phase of the war between Sri Lankan forces and the LTTE in early 2009. The documentary that has been in public domain [...]

Sri Lanka can’t win in any international arena through a foreign policy strategy that is dictated by the Defence Ministry, a situation that would never have occured when the late Lakshman Kadirgamar was foreign minister, a former Sri Lanka diplomat and political scientist said. “Lakshman Kadirgamar would never have allowed such a situation to happen,” [...]

An Interview With Chamitha Kuruppu “Gotabaya Rajapaksa is my hero. He made the biggest contribution towards winning the war and without him we would not have realised that dream,” said Udaya Gammanpila, UPFA candidate for the Western Province. Gammanpila, who came under heavy criticism for inviting the Defence Secretary as the Chief Guest at his [...]

By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan Controversial Channel4 film director, Callum Macrae, yesterday told Ceylon Today that the ban imposed on his film, preventing it from screening in India, is an act of overt political censorship.The updated version of the original documentary No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, which has some recent events, including [...]

A hunt is on for three students attending a school in Puttalam for allegedly writing a letter that said a bomb threat on President Mahinda Rajapaksa had been planned, a senior police official said. He said the letter stated that the bomb would be detonated inside the school premises today where the President was due [...]

By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan A Sri Lankan Government delegation, which was visiting South Africa from 20 to 22 February, to study the South African reconciliation process had not received a formal invitation from their South African counterparts, sources said. However, when Ceylon Today contacted South Africa’s Deputy Minister for International Relations and Cooperation, Ebrahim Ismail [...]

By Sujeeva Nivunhella in London  Pro-LTTE Tamils in the UK are pushing for a travel ban and the freezing of assets of Sri Lankan government politicians. If they succeed, Sri Lankan parliamentarians may not be able to travel to the UK and perhaps, even to Europe. This development has emerged in the backdrop of President [...]

by Vishnuguptha “History is filled with tragic examples of wars that result from diplomatic impasse. Whether in our local communities or in international relations, the skillful use of our communicative capacities to negotiate and resolve differences is the first evidence of human wisdom.” ~Daisaku Ikeda Never has an international organization or the United Nations, International [...]

By Niranjala Ariyawansha Sons of two leading government ministers were directly involved in the clearance of two containers, in the past two weeks, that possibly contained narcotics, weapons and ethanol, a leading Buddhist monk charged yesterday. Ven. Dr. Omalpe Sobhitha Thera, Leader of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), told Ceylon Today that the government has [...]

By Ajith Alahakoon Director General of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission Anusha Pelpita yesterday said that he could shut down Facebook in Sri Lanka if the government took a policy decision to that effect.

by Chitra Weerarathne The Supreme Court in a judgment delivered yesterday (21) said that the Court of Appeal possessed no jurisdiction in terms of Article 140 of the constitution to review a report of a Select Committee of Parliament constituted in terms of Article 107(3) of the Constitution read with order 87A (2) of the [...]

By Shamindra Ferdinando The government has alleged that the US was making an attempt to justify allegations propagated by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that Sinhala families were being settled in the Northern Province in a bid to change the demographic pattern in the region. Authoritative sources told The Island that US diplomat Michael A. [...]

by N Sathiya Moorthy Reports that ‘friends of Sri Lanka’ at the UNHRC could move a ‘friendly resolution’ to contest and compete with the harsher one promised by the US, the UK and the rest of the West could complicate matters for India. Considering that India was among the prime-movers of a similar resolution less [...]

Stating that any move to release former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s killers would be “illegal”, senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Thursday said that President’s rule should be imposed in Tamil Nadu if Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa did not “desist” from proceeding with the decision. “I demand that the Centre issue a direction under Article [...]

(Text of Editorial Appearing under the heading “The Politics of Remission” in “The Hindu”of February 21st 2014. Commutation of a death sentence to life imprisonment could be seen as an act of compassion, but a straight leap from capital punishment to wholesale release as has been proposed by the Tamil Nadu government in the case [...]

by Meera Srinivasan The Northern Provincial Council (NPC) has asked the governments of Sri Lanka and India to take steps to introduce direct flights from Palali and Trincomalee to India for the benefit of Tamils living in the north and east of the island nation. However, a day after news of the resolution, passed at [...]

Restraining the Tamil Nadu government from releasing seven prisoners who were convicted for assasinating former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the apex court on Thursday directed the state to maintain status quo on the issue. There have been procedural lapses by the TN govt in its decision to release seven convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, [...]

BY K. T. Sangameswaran& S. Vijaykumar Where will the four Sri Lankans – Murugan, Santhan, Jayakumar and Robert Payas – life convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, go in the event of their release? This question is being discussed in legal circles in the wake of the State government’s announcement that the Cabinet had [...]

By S. Vijay Kumar, P. V. V. Murthi& R. Arivanantham It was an emotional get-together of family members with Perarivalan and Murugan, whose death penalty was commuted to life imprisonment by the Supreme Court in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, at the Vellore Central Jail on Tuesday.

AAP leader Kumar Vishwas on Thursday slammed Rahul Gandhi for his remark that his father Rajiv Gandhi was being denied justice, saying it was a “drama” to divert people’s attention from core issues like corruption. “Congress is in power since the past ten years at the centre and Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are running [...]

by Omar Rashid “If the killers of the former Prime Minister of this country are being released, what kind of justice should the common man expect,” asked Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday after the Jayalalithaa government decided to release the seven persons convicted of killing Rajiv Gandhi. Expressing grief over the development, which took [...]

Supreme Court has agreed to hear Centre’s plea against Tamil Nadu govt’s decision to release all the seven convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Centre has pleaded that the convicts should not be released during pendency of its review petition on commutation of death sentence. The apex court has agreed to give an urgent hearing [...]