Tuesday, August 16, 2011, Colombo: A Sri Lankan minister on Tuesday criticised the External Affairs Minister SM Krishna's suggestion for investigation into alleged human rights abuses in the island during the final battle with the LTTE.
"The Indian foreign minister has said that human rights abuses in Sri Lanka need investigation. I would like to tell him that investigation must start with the time of Indian troops in Sri Lanka," Wimal Weerawansa, the leader of the National Freedom Front and the Minister of Engineering services in the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa said.
"Abuses happened during the very start of the conflict under President Jayawardene. All heads of state after him fought the war. But only President Mahinda Rajapaksa was able to finish it."
"I must tell everyone that the least number of rights abuses took place during the last stages of the war," Weerawansa, a key ally of Rajapaksa said.
PTI
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SRI LANKA: High demand for teachers in former conflict zone
16 Aug 2011 11:47
VAVUNIYA, 16 August 2011 (IRIN) - As thousands of students begin uninterrupted schooling after a lapse of years, education officials in Sri Lanka's former northern conflict zone are facing a shortage of teachers.
John Edward Solemn, assistant education director of Vavuniya South, an educational division, said the lack of teachers, especially in rural schools and in the subjects of English, mathematics and science, was a major concern for the region. [ http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=92749 ]
In 26 years of fighting, schools were destroyed and children's access to education was disrupted. Now, more than two years after the government declared victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) [ http://www.cfr.org/terrorist-organizations/liberation-tigers-tamil-eelam-aka-tamil-tigers-sri-lanka-separatists/p9242 ], many structures�have been�repaired, students are primed, but heads of classrooms are scarceFull Story>>>
