ITAK urges internationally supervised negotiations with GoSL

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 May 2011, 09:20 GMT]
Two veteran Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) politicians, C.V.K Sivagnanam and Mavai Senthirajah, on Sunday urged international supervision of a process that guarantees both a proper negotiation process and the implementation of results in the talks between the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL). The two officials of ITAK, a key party of the TNA, in their address urged that both the governments of India and Tamil Nadu to play a sincere and constructive role to bring about an international supervision that should include China, USA and other world players. In the meantime, the Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) condemned the agents of the Sri Lankan state for forcing Tamils from all the districts in the North and East to take part in May Day demonstrations in Colombo, organized by Sinhala extremist elements against the UN Expert panel report.

In the TNA meeting held at the joint secretariat of the ITAK and TNA, located on Martin Road in Jaffna, Mr. C.V.K Sivaganam was specific in demanding that a process of international supervision should supersede earlier models such as mere facilitation by the Norwegian government, which was indirectly monitored by the Co-Chairs Tokyo Donor Conference: the USA, the EU, Japan and Norway.

The demand was reiterated also by Mavai Senathirajah.

The TNA politicians further said that the international community should note that the government of Sri Lanka has a history nullifying the both the process and the results of any previous negotiations with the Tamil side led by various leaders, S.J.V. Chelvanayagam , A. Amirthalingam and V. Pirapaharan.

Athough the statement issued by the ITAK welcomed the talks being held between the Rajapaksa government and the TNA, the statement also highlighted the above demands, while a key TNA parliamentarian authorized on the part of the TNA for the ongoing ‘talks’ with Rajapaksa government characterized the ongoing talks as ‘pre-talks' when contacted by TamilNet on Monday.

The 13-point statement issued by the ITAK and the TNA in Jaffna on Sunday was also specific in demanding the merger of Northern and Eastern provinces as a basic unit and the right to self-determination of the people of the unified North East. Both the demands were uncompromisable on the part of the Tamils, the statement said.

The statement also demanded full resettlement of Muslims displaced in the Tamil homeland in addition to the demands of demilitarization of so-called High Security Zones, release of prisoners, mishandling of natural resources in Tamil homeland, the removal of restrictions against crucial sectors of Eezham Tamil economy affecting the fishing, agricultural and rural industries.

• ITAK (TNA) statement on May Day 2011

• TNPF statement on May Day 2011 
• ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Sinhala extremist federation wants Rajapaksa to terminate talks with TNA

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 May 2011, 05:42 GMT]

The Federation of National Organizations, a coalition formed by ten Sinhala extremist groups in the south, has requested the Mahinda Rajapaksa government to terminate its talks with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in a statement issued on May Day, coinciding with the protest show of Mahinda Rajapaksa against the UN Expert Panel report. Meanwhile, Tamils from several parts of the island were forcefully taken to Colombo by Sri Lankan military, paramilitary and other agents to showcase as people from all ethnicities were united in the protest against the UN. However, a dead silence prevailed in the SL occupied country of Eezham Tamils throughout the whole day on May Day.

The statement issued by the Sinhala extremist federation wanted the Rajapaksa government to be careful in selecting and allowing persons to react to the UN report. It said "persons who have supported wholly anti-national measures such as the 13th Amendment, - PTOMS, and Federalism in any way should be wholly excluded from this process even if one or more of them hold ministerial rank."
Full Story>>>

Sri Lanka needs truth, not a national forgetting

2 May 2011 

Dilan Thampapillai

Like most children of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora I have almost no experience of the Sinhalese as human beings. The breadth of my experience has been confined to a friend here, an acquaintance there, but no widespread human contact with a range of people in Sinhalese society. I suspect that many Sinhalese people, particularly here in Australia, are in a similar situation regarding the Tamils.
The situation in Sri Lanka itself seems much the same from some accounts.
I raise the point about human contact because it is so vital to empathy and understanding. It is the absence of empathy that has given both sides a fairly vitriolic view of each other. The lack of real contact as equal human beings allows unhelpful stereotypes to prevail. An entire generation of Tamils brought up on the news reports that they have seen from Sri Lanka and the commentaries that they receive from the Tamil community might likely perceive the Sinhalese as violent and criminal. Similarly, the Sinhalese fed a diet of stories from government media about the Tamil Tigers might view the Tamils as terrorists and troublemakers. Racism grows in the absence of understanding.

Full Story>>>

Govt. stalls TNA request for power-sharing

,Sunday, 01 May 2011 22:25      2011

Tamil group also demands detainees’ list, as media awaits joint statement

By Chris Kamalendran

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) met a team of government delegates on Friday to reiterate its request that the Concurrent List in the 13th Amendment to the Constitution be dropped. The five-member TNA delegation said the Concurrent List would reduce powers enjoyed by the Provincial Councils under the 13th Amendment. The 13th Amendment carries three lists reflecting power-sharing between the Central Government and the Provincial Councils: the Central List, the Provincial List, and the Concurrent (or common) List. The Concurrent List covers such areas as health, land, road development, and police powers. MP Suresh Premachandran said the Concurrent List gave the Central Government authority to control Provincial Councils, and that it went against a devolution system. The government delegation rejected the TNA proposal, but agreed to consider removing certain items from the Concurrent List, Mr. Premachandran told the Sunday Times. Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, who took part in the talks, declined to comment on the talks or the TNA demand. “We have agreed to issue a joint statement on the talks, and no comments will be made about the progress of the talks,” he told the Sunday Times. Up to last evening, no joint statement had been issued to the media. The TNA delegation also asked to be taken to Vavuniya to see detainees being held in camps for displaced persons and rehabilitation centres. The delegates were told that a list of detainees would be made available to the media so parents and relatives could visit the detainees before the next round of talks. On Friday night, separate talks were held between the government and the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP). Minister Douglas Devananda has proposed that the 13th Amendment be fully implemented and that the government ensured the Tamil language would be used in administrative matters. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday, April 30, 2011 Nationalistic fury is good for the government, terrible for Sri Lanka Banyan Truth and consequences Apr 28th 2011 | from the print edition   IN RECENT years the default mode for Sri Lankan diplomats has been a posture of affronted national dignity beneath a mask of outraged, sanctimonious innocence. This week, after the publication of a report by a panel of experts for the United Nations on the final stages of Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war, some were recalled to Colombo for “consultations”. Maybe they are brushing up their indignant-repudiation skills. The war culminated in May 2009 with the army’s crushing of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Its climax was marked by ruthlessness and callous disregard for human life. The panel concluded that “there is a reasonable basis to believe that large-scale violations of international humanitarian and human-rights law were committed by both sides”. Since hardly any of the Tigers’ leaders outlived the war, it is the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s president, that is in the dock.                   Full Story>>>

Assassination of Lasantha goes to the account of the General SF: Witnesses ready

(Lanka-e-News -03.May.2011, 1.30PM) The govt has laid out a plan to blame former army
commander Gen. Sarath Fonseka of master minding the assassination of Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickramatunge. For this purpose they have decided to use eight soldiers serving at the moment in Kilinochchi, Wakarai, Mulaitivu and Trincomalee and they are already staying in respective camps with many privileges and their families are also to get massive economic benefits.
An army officer that came to Colombo from the north on a transfer has been given this contract and the responsibility to maintain its secrecy.

According to this plan of the govt, initially two or three soldiers will be arrested in this regard and after giving massive media coverage for these arrests, the rest will also be arrested. The govt has already had discussions in this regard with the relevant army officer and he has also been entrusted the responsibility of detaining these personnel under special security. The whole purpose of it is to convince the judiciary that it was the former General who ordered to the assassination of Lasantha Wickramatunge, using the evidence of these arrested officials for this purpose.    Full Story>>>
-----------------------------------------------------------------War Long Over, Media Still Muzzled

War Long Over, Media Still Muzzled A colleague lights candles at the grave of assassinated editor Lasantha Wickrematunge. Credit:Amantha Perera/IPS Buy this picture COLOMBO, May 2, 2011 (IPS) - It has been two years since the end of Sri Lanka’s decades long war, and life in general has begun to slowly edge back towards normalcy here. Not so for the country’s besieged media community, according to observers and journalists alike - reporting still feels hemmed in and muzzled, they say. "Don’t forget that this is a nation that is wounded at its heart, the media reflects that psyche. The healing has not even begun," Sunil Jayasekara, the convenor of the Free Media Movement (FMM), the country’s foremost media rights group told IPS. Jayasekara observed that as the war reached its climax in late 2008, journalists found it hard to report objectively. Full Story>>>

Boyle: Word "Genocide" missing in UN Panel's war crimes report

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 April 2011, 12:09 GMT]
Pointing out the instances where the criminal allegations on Sri Lanka made in the UN's war crimes report support the charge of genocide on Sri Lanka, Professor Francis Boyle, expert in International Law and Professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, told TamilNet, "[f]or obvious political reasons, no one wants to use the word “genocide." And that is because it then raises the question why did no one stop the genocide as required by article I of the Genocide Convention. The same phenomenon happened in Bosnia. No one would use the word “genocide” until afterwards, and it was too late to do anyone any good—they were all dead."

• Report of UN Secretary-General's Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka

Boyle points to the accusation of "persecution" against Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), in para 251, pg. 69: "The credible allegations supporting a finding of the crime against humanity of persecution insofar as the other acts listed here appear to have been committed on racial or political grounds against the Tamil population of the Vanni... "
Professor Francis A. Boyle, University of Illinois

This would support a genocide charge. And yet they (the members of UN panel) fail to get into genocide, Boyle says.

"Concerning their estimate that about 40,000 Tamils were exterminated by the GOSL in Vanni, that is about 5 times the 7000+ Bosnians exterminated at Srebrenica in 1995," and Prof Boyle provided the following analysis:

In its final Judgment on the merits in the Bosnia case that was issued in 2007, the World Court definitively agreed with me once and for all time that in order to constitute genocide, a state must only intend to destroy a “substantial part” of the group “as such”: 198. In terms of that question of law, the Court refers to three matters relevant to the determination of “part” of the “group” for the purposes of Article II. In the first place, the intent must be to destroy at least a substantial part of the particular group. That is demanded by the very nature of the crime of genocide: since the object and purpose of the Convention as a whole is to prevent the intentional destruction of groups, the part targeted must be significant enough to have an impact on the group as a whole. That requirement of substantiality is supported by consistent rulings of the ICTY and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and by the Commentary of the ILC to its Articles in the draft Code of Crimes against the Peace and Security of mankind (e.g. Krstić, IT-98-33-A, Appeals Chamber Judgment, 19 April 2004, paras. 8-11 and the cases of Kayishema, Byilishema, and Semanza there referred to; and Yearbook of the International Law Commission, 1996, Vol. II, Part Two, p. 45, para. 8 of the Commentary to Article 17).[1] Furthermore, in paragraphs 293 and 294 of its 26 February 2007 Bosnian Judgment, the World Court found that you did not need six million exterminated people in order to constitute genocide. Rather, even the seven thousand murdered Bosnian Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica were enough to constitute genocide. These victims constituted about one-fifth of the Srebrenica community. In this regard, I still serve as Attorney of Record for the Mothers of Srebrenica and Podrinja who constitute one of the primary groups of women survivors of that genocidal massacre still living in Bosnia today. I have personally toured the Killing Fields of Srebrenica with my Bosnian clients. I know genocide when I see it!

"The Report says nothing about genocide or the Genocide Convention. But I have already set forth the appropriate test from the ICJ’s judgment in the Bosnian case and have discussed this at great length in my book The Tamil Genocide by Sri Lanka. So I am not going to repeat any of that analysis here," Prof Boyle said.
Commenting on the "para 229, p. 63 …the State inexplicably excluded the ICRC, with its highly skilled family tracing services…," Professor Boyle explained, "the reason the ICRC was excluded and expelled was for the GOSL to better engage in enforced disappearances. Once registered with the ICRC, it becomes much harder to disappear someone."
For setting up these No Fire Zones , luring civilians in there, and then pouring artillery fire in there were clearly acts of treachery and thus war crimes, Prof Boyle said, "all those generals (detailed in pp 16-17) should be listed as presumptive war criminals."

Sri Lanka: In The Eye Of The Storm

By Ana Pararajasingham

When Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war ended last year it was noteworthy in several ways — including a rare if not unique example of a government defeating a long running insurgency and the related issue of China openly taking sides in a distant internal conflict. In fact it was China’s policy — which emerged in full light in 2008 — to back the government in its 25 year struggle with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that enabled victory two years later.
After a US decision to stop selling arms to Sri Lanka  in 2007, Beijing quickly stepped into the breach, not only supplying arms and equipment but also invaluable diplomatic support. But this assistance, not surprisingly, has come at a price.
Colombo’s decision to boycott the Nobel Prize ceremony in Oslo is as political as the decision by Norway to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo, the Chinese dissident in the first place.  It was inevitable that Sri Lanka should be drawn into this contest given the crucial role played by China in helping Colombo annihilate the Tamil rebels.   Full Story>>> 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A government’s arrogance and a country’s plight

By Kishali Pinto Jayawardene

It appears to have gone unnoticed that the annexures to the report of the Advisory Panel to the United Nations Secretary General (UNSG) show that the engagement of the Sri Lanka Government with the Panel had gone far beyond the surreptitious visit of toplevel government officials to New York. As must be recalled, this visit was first disclosed in this newspaper and denied until it was conceded much later by the Minister of External Affairs. Possibly this concession may have been prompted by the realization that this fact would have anyway come to light through the publication of the Panel report which could not have been prevented by threat, inducement or promise. Unbelievable arrogance of government officials But quite apart from this secretive visit, the annexures to the Panel report disclose lengthy submissions annexed under the covering letter of the Minister of External Affairs setting out the Government position. This is the same Panel which the Minister now condemns as being ‘legally, morally and substantially flawed’. If (hypothetically) the Panel had absolved the Government of all wrong doing, would the Minister have welcomed the report as being legally, morally and substantially correct? The answer to this hypothetical question is all too obvious. So the truth is that the Government assumed that the UNSG, (quite possibly the most indecisive and faltering head of the United Nations that we have had in history), even if he had been bludgeoned into appointing the Panel, would not go so far as to publicly release the Panel report. It also assumed in an unbelievably arrogant manner, that the Panel itself would uncritically accept the Government’s ‘reconciliation’ and ‘restorative’ process.

 Full Story>>>

Diplomats, NGO talk on report

Saturday, 30 April 2011 02:30 
Diplomats, representatives of diplomatic missions and Non-Governmental Organization representatives in Colombo met at the United States Ambassador’s residence to discuss the United Nations Secretary General’s Panel Report.
The meeting was reported to have been held at the invitation of US Ambassador Patricia A. Butenis on Thursday but the US Embassy refused to deny or confirm the meeting.
“As a matter of policy we don’t comment on the Ambassador’s meetings or what is discussed at these meetings,” a US Embassy Official told Daily Mirror.
National Peace Council Executive Director Jehan Perera confirmed that such a meeting had taken place on the invitation of Ms. Butenis.
“We discussed the Panel Report and how to make use of it as a constructive instrument for reconciliation instead of one of division and polarization,” he said.
Dr. Perera those who attended included Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu (Centre for Policy Alternatives), Sherine Xavier (Home for Human Rights), J.C. Weliamuna (Transparency International), Sudarshana Gunawardena (Rights Now) and Sunila Abeysekera
The diplomats were from India, Britain, the European Union, the Netherlands, France, Canada, Australia, UN Officials, Japan, Norway, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland and Italy.  (Dianne Silva) 
---------------------------------------------------------------
28-April-2011
    Sri Lanka: Last Phase of Civil War at Mullivaikal: What happened really?
Guest Column- By Sivanendran
(There have been enquiries from friends as to why South Asia Analysis Group is focussing on the Sri Lankan War and the UN Report.  The answer is simple.  We need to know the truth and why the massacre of civilians in the last days of the war was allowed to happen. This is not to absolve the LTTE who were equally ruthless and unmindful of civilian casualties.  But we want to know why the world was a mute witness to this event?  What was the role of UN-the Security Council and -above all India? These are legitimate questions.)   Director
The events at Mullivaikal mark the climax of the civil war in Sri Lanka, the most vicious of the battles where the lives of poor civilians were totally ignored.
That the innocent civilians  got massacred in large numbers is not in doubt, but the orthodox story omits entirely the context in which this occurred.
What is most important to keep in mind is that Mullivaikal today has sadly become largely a political tool, an excuse for ethno-nationalists on all sides to let loose their most radical sentiments and score points with their supporters. In the 2009 massacre in reports, the background and responsibilities for the disaster in Mullivaikal were absent. Preferred was the simple explanation: a black and white event in which the Tamils the terrorists were solely to blame.
"Truth and reason are eternal," Thomas Jefferson wrote to Rev. Samuel Knox in 1810. "They have prevailed.  And they will eternally prevail . . ."   Full Story>>>

Sri Lanka plans criminal show of ‘reconciliation’ in Colombo, Jaffna on May 1

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2011, 20:51 GMT]
In a cruel show of ‘reconciliation,’ Sri Lanka’s occupying military in full swing has gone to the houses of released LTTE cadres, family members of the captives and ‘resettled’ Eezham Tamils living in open prisons in north and east and intimidated them to participate in Mahinda Rajapaksa’s demonstration show in Colombo on 1 May, to oppose any international justice coming to the crimes committed against them. A fleet of buses are organized to herd the people from Vanni and Jaffna to Colombo, after warning them of dire consequences if they don’t come. Meanwhile, a group of thugs has been brought from the south for violent demonstrations in the locality of UN offices in Jaffna city on May 1.
In the first stage, a group of Tamil youth and their family members will be taken from Ki’linochchi to Colombo by the SLA in a fleet of 20 buses on Saturday.   The released Tamil youth are severely intimidated that they will be arrested again if they don’t come                Full story >>.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sri Lanka war-crime alleged over killing of TECH Director

Mr. Suhunan, lighting the traditional lamp at the opening ceremony of Tamil Eelam Weather Monitoring Centre in November 2005 in Ki'linochchi

Mr. Suhunan meeting the mayor of Lørenskog in Norway in 2005 [Photo: TECH Norway]

 

[Sat, 30 Apr 2011, 00:08 GMT]

Emerging evidence on Sri Lanka military targeting civilian leadership of Eezham Tamil development organizations at the end of Vanni war further reinforces the credible allegation that Sri Lanka's war crimes and crimes against humanity had genocidal intentions. C. Sivalingam Suhunan, alias Thilak, the executive director of TECH (The Economic Consultancy House), the flagship development NGO of the de-facto state of Tamil Eelam and a registered NGO in Sri Lanka, was one of the victims, according to a Senior official of TECH, who has identified Thilak's body in a recently leaked photograph taken by Sri Lankan soldiers. Mr. Suhunan had phoned his family last on 18 May, 2009 at 6:15 a.m. local time, informing that he was among a group of persons in civil clothes, going into Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled territory in Mullaiththeevu. Full story >>

Sivaram Dharmeratnam: A Journalist’s life

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2005, 21:11 GMT]
Mark Whitaker, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of South Carolina, Aiken, U.S.A, is completing an intellectual biography of Dharmeratnam Sivaram’s life and work in a book entitled “Learning Politics from Sivaram.” Prof. Whitaker summarizes Sivaram’s life and work in this feature.

Sivaram Dharmeratnam, the well-known and controversial political analyst and a senior editor for Tamilnet.com, was born on August 11, 1959 in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka to Puvirajkirtha Dharmeratnam and Mahesvariammal. His was a prominent family with significant land holdings near Akkaraipattu, though his immediate family later lost much of their inherited wealth. Nicknamed “Kunchie” as a child, Sivaram was educated at St. Michael’s College in Batticaloa, and later at Pembroke and Aquinas Colleges in Colombo. He was accepted into the University of Peradeniya in 1982 but soon dropped out due to tensions associated with the first phases of Sri Lanka’s civil war         Related Story >>.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------

*JDSCelebrating Sivaram

--------------------------------------------------------------

Govt. 'covered up' Lasantha murder

The government did everything to cover up the murder of Lasantha Wickramatunge says the widow of the slain editor of Sunday Leader.

"I am satisfied that the government did everything possible to cover up his murder and prevent even a rudimentary police inquiry from proceeding," Sonali Samarasinghe Wickrematunge told BBC Sandeshaya 

Full Story>>>.  

*Journalists For Democracy in Sri Lanka

Lasantha

 Full Story>>>



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. Sivaram's body was recovered in the high security zone behind the Sri Lankan parliament.

Journalist Sivaram murdered

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2005, 02:37 GMT]
The body of abducted journalist Mr Dharmeratnam Sivaram was found with severe head injuries in Himbulala, a Sinhala suburb between Jayawardhenapura hospital and the Parliament building in Colombo Friday morning. The location is about 500 meters behind the parliamentary complex and lies inside a high security zone. Mr Sivaram, a senior editorial board member of TamilNet, was abducted Thursday evening around 10.30 PM by unidentified persons in front of the Bambalapitya Police Station in Colombo.                  Full Story   

Mr. Sivaram's body is being taken to hospital by the police

 

UN report: Lanka officials 'can be arrested'

  29 April, 2011

 UN report: Lanka officials 'can be arrested'

	Mr Rajapakse, PC, says the panel is illegal but the report carries strong authority

Senior Sri Lanka officials may be arrested and tried abroad as a result of the UN expert panel report on Sri Lanka, a legal expert said.

Wijedasa Rajapakshe, an opposition MP, said it is possible for interested parties abroad to seek a warrant to arrest visiting dignitaries as a result of the UN report.

Amnesty International said that Sri Lankan leaders can be charged while they are travelling abroad after the release of the report.

A number of senior Sri Lankan officials and ministers including Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa are citizens of the United States.

Government shelling

“Yes there is such a danger (of an arrest) but ultimately the action will be decided by diplomatic processes of those countires,” Mr Rajapakse, who was briefly a minister of the Rajapaksa administration, told BBC Sinhala service, Sandeshaya.

Yes there is such a danger (of an arrest) but ultimately the action will be decided by diplomatic processes of those countires Wijedasa Rajapakse, President’s Counsel

But he argues the appointment of the panel itself is illegal.

“Although it is illegal, it caries an authority as it was released by the UN Secretary General," said Mr Rajapakse, a President’s Counsel.

He says the UN secretary general has admitted that he has no authority to take any further action against Sri Lanka after he sent a detailed letter to Ban Ki-Moon.

“There can be no investigation into Sri Lanka without Sri Lanka's written consent as Sri Lanka is not party to the Rome Statute,” the United National Party MP said.

	Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is a citizen of the United States

Tens of thousands of civilians died in the final phase of Sri Lanka's civil war - most of them killed in shelling by government forces, a UN panel says.

The panel also says Tamil Tiger rebels used civilians as human shields.

It wants an independent international investigation into "credible" reports of atrocities committed on both sides.

The secretary-general, said Mr Rajapakse, needs the approval of the Security Council if he needs to take any action against Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka's government has rejected the findings as 'flawed' and 'biased'. 

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  ‘Solheim transforms from peace facilitator to facilitator of war crimes indictment escape’

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2011, 06:50 GMT]
Norway’s former peace facilitator to the island of Sri Lanka, Mr. Erik Solheim, speaking to Norwegian state owned media NRK (Dagsnytt 18) on Wednesday, argued against any immediate international investigation on the war crimes in the island and said that it is only correct and fair to expect the Sri Lankan authorities to domestically investigate the UN panel material. According to him, this is what the ‘broader international community’ including nearly all the Western countries want. Solheim defended Ban Ki Moon, as his situation is difficult, accused the Tigers for not listening to his surrender call since five months before the end of the war, and suggested a new principle for international law that since Tiger leaders are now eliminated, domestic handling should be given a chance than ‘one-sided’ international indictment of Sri Lankan state.

Erik Solheim speaking to NRK on Wednesday

Responding, the diaspora Tamil circles said that they were not surprised at such opinion and even practical course of action, as long as Ban Ki Moon and Vijay Nambiar of the UN, Robert Blake of the US State Department, Shiv Shankar Menon of the Indian establishment and Erik Solheim of Norway who were a party to all what had happened continue to deal with the outcome.

The diaspora Tamil circles also pointed out to a British Foreign Office statement Wednesday that had said nothing on international investigation but had vaguely called for independent and credible investigation without specifying who should conduct it.    Full Story...

Sri Lankan authorities ban Lanka eNews

New York, April 28, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned today Belarus's information ministry attempts to close down the opposition newspaper Narodnaya Volya and the independent newspaper Nasha Niva, and called on the ministry to stop its harassment of both publications

Full Story>>>

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Second Chance to Confront War Crimes in Sri Lanka

The Atlantic

The world failed to stop the government's killing of thousands of civilians, but a new UN report could finally bring a reckoning 

This week's report offers a second chance for the UN to uphold its own vaunted standards of accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

*Sri Lanka website LankaeNews is suspended 

South Asia

A magistrate's court in Sri Lanka has suspended the operation of the pro-opposition LankaeNews website.

The court ordered the closure because a contempt case was still pending against journalist Shantha Wijesooriya, who has been remanded in custody until 12 May.
The case relates to an article about a magistrate, which was regarded as slanderous.
The court ordered Sri Lanka's telecoms regulator to suspend the website until court proceedings are over.
The website published three apologies before Mr Wijesooriya was arrested on Monday.                        Full Story>>>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Sri Lanka, Ban Has Not Asked UN GA to Act, Web Shutdown Ignored   Full Story>>>   
---------------------------------------------------------

The Report of the UN Panel of Experts Supports the Case for Genocide in Sri Lanka

Genocide started decades ago: Review, International Commission of Jurists, December 1983: ‘’The impact of the communal violence on the Tamils was shattering. ...
Anonymous | 29Apr11 | More

Security and justice units of the US government to question the Defence Secretary

2011-04-28

The US Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice are to question Defence Secretary Nandasena Gotabhaya Rajapaksa who is currently visiting the US, diplomatic sources told Lanka News Web. Sources said he would be questioned on the allegations leveled against him by the panel of experts appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on war crimes supposed to have been committed in the country. Nandasena Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who is a US citizen, has visited the US this time on his American passport. Sources also said that human rights organizations in the US are planning on instituting legal action against US citizen Gotabhaya Rajapaksa for allegedly committing war crimes in Sri Lanka. Soon after our website published the story that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was visiting the US, he got a story planted in the website of the Derana network owned by one of his friends, Dilith Jayaweera that the Defence Secretary was visiting Uzbekistan. However, it is learnt that the Defence Secretary has traveled to the US to visit his relatives in the country. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s son’s wedding is to take place in Colombo in June. It is learnt that the Defence Secretary has already made the necessary arrangements to hold the wedding on a grand scale with the patronage of the armed forces.

UN urges further investigation of war crimes;

Apr-27-2011 02:29

Tamil Genocide in Sri Lanka Emerges Into Public View

Tim King Salem-News.com

UN urges further investigation of war crimes; Warning- Genocidal death photos beyond graphic.

Sri Lankan government forces drag corpses of Tamil Tigers.

(SALEM, Ore.) - Our report on Sri Lanka's genocide of the Tamil people and war crimes against Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE), came at a time when the wagons of the Sri Lankan government are tilting over on their sides. The response to that story has been almost overwhelming as evidenced by the associated comments. (see: World Ignores Genocide of Sri Lanka's Tamil Population)

The response tells us what we feared; that these events of wanton slaughter were on the verge of sliding out of sight forever. When the story was published, it soared to the top of the lineup on Google under Sri Lanka Genocide where it remains at the time of this writing.

It is time for other news agencies to increase the tempo with regard to genocidal events and bring them into world view. There is no other way. The images are horrific but they are real and moving and must be seen.

The brand new United Nations report is leading to serious issues for Sri Lanka, as detailed in the UN release in the sidebar below.

                                                                       Full Story>>>

Foreign Office welcomes UN Panel of Experts report on Sri Lanka

27 April 2011

The Foreign Office welcomed the UN Panel of Experts report on the alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law during the military conflict in Sri Lanka.

 

The UK has consistently called for an independent and credible investigation to address these allegations which is why we fully supported the decision of the Secretary-General to establish the Panel of Experts.
Full Story>>>

----------------------------------------------------------

Sri Lanka calls UN report on war crimes allegations 'unacceptable'

By the CNN Wire Staff

April 26, 2011 10:22 a.m. EDTUnited Nations (CNN) --

United Nations (CNN) -- The Sri Lanka an government cried foul Tuesday after a U.N. panel said it has found credible allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by both sides during the final stages of the country's civil war.

A government spokesman called the panel's report "unacceptable," while Sri Lanka's External Affairs Ministry said the report is "fundamentally flawed" and based on "patently biased material."
The Tamil National Alliance, the main Tamil opposition party in parliament, once dubbed as a "proxy" to Tamil Tiger rebels during the conflict, said it concurs with the findings.
In the U.N. report released Monday, the three-member panel recommends the government of Sri Lanka immediately conduct an investigation into the alleged violations of international law and take other measures to "advance accountability."    Full Story>>>

 

Posted by Thavam