From AJR,   March & april 2011

Continuing the Struggle    Web exclusive Her husband, editor of a newspaper in Sri Lanka, was fatally attacked. Now in exile in New York City, Sonali Samarasinghe presses forward with their fight for press freedom and justice in their native country. Posted: Friday, May 20 2011 By Gena Chung Gena Chung (genakchung@hotmail.com), a writer based in Washington, D.C., is a graduate student at the Phillip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland  Tsunami aid misappropriation. Abuse of government power. Corporate fraud. These are the types of stories to which award-winning investigative journalist and newspaper editor Sonali Samarasinghe gravitated. When she won the Global Shining Light Award at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in 2008, it cited "her work to reveal misuse of power and corruption in Sri Lanka." But there was one story for which she was completely unprepared.  Continuing the Struggl Full Story>>> ====================== At UN on Sri Lanka, Ban's Inaction on Report Contrasted With Rwanda Mapping By Matthew Russell Lee UNITED NATIONS, May 20 -- When the UN Panel of Experts recommended to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that he establish an investigative mechanism for war crimes in Sri Lanka, Ban responded that he'd only do so upon a vote of one of the UN's three “inter-governmental bodies.”  Full Story>>>

Wimal’s Multi Million Rupee Damp Squi

Wimal Weerawansa’s joy ride to New York turns out to be a multi-million rupee flop and Weerawansa speaks to a Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation cameraman with a measly crowd of 20 protesters behind him Photos by: A special reporter from New York

Leader for the National Freedom Front (NFF) and Housing and Construction Minister Wimal Weerawansa’s costly and extravagant trip to New York cost US$ 19,000 (approx. Rs. 2 million) each for himself and his young son Vibhuthi to travel first class on Emirates Airlines.
Weerawansa traveled to New York to participate in the 2600 Sambuddhathwa Jayanthi
celebrations at the UN headquarters on May 16 where UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had also graced the occasion.                              Read More »    

G.L.Peiris visit a flop: India browbeats Lanka

Sunday, May 22nd 2011

Minister agrees to develop on 13th Amendment with Tamil parties, will include police and land powers New Delhi non-committal on international probe on alleged war crimes; sellout on fishing crisis

By Our Political Editor

The leaders of the country's main political parties were in 'shraddavantha' (pious) mode this week. The 2600 Sambuddhatva Jayanthi - 2600 years since the Enlightenment of the Buddha and the enunciation of the Doctrine of the Middle Path that revolutionized half the known world at the time, would have had a sobering effe ct on them. President Rajapaksa visits the Kelaniya Temple for religious observances commemorating Sambuddhatva Jayanthi on May 16. Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe too participates at the same event. Read more...

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Foreigners Barred From Travelling North Sunday, May 22, 2011 By Janith Aranze in Omanthai It is almost impossible for travellers heading North with foreign passports to get past checkpoints Photo by B.A.Perera As we approached the Omanthai checkpoint I knew that this was the last check we would be put through. The last stage of a mammoth eight hour journey from Colombo which began at 9 pm the previous night. Read More » The early morning sun was relentless;

Jewish Conservative MPs in UK voice against Tamil Genocide

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 May 2011, 19:47 GMT]
“Tamils deserve freedom, they deserve dignity and they deserve their independence, as they want. That is the right of any nation on earth. It is the right for the Tamils too,“ said Conservative MP Robert Halfon from Harlow, who addressed the participants at the London event of Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance Day. Meanwhile, Lee Scott, a Conservative Member of Parliament for Ilford North, and an officer of the Conservative Friends of Israel group, said it was unacceptable for people not to know what had happened to their relatives, children and not to be able to live in peace and harmony with dignity. “I recently met with the SL High Commissioner and asked these questions. And I will continue to ask these questions,” he said and signed an appeal on the stage urging independent international investigations.

Halfon questioned the international attitude: “Why is that the people across the world, in the Middle East, are crying out for freedom, demonstrating, and the world is looking on and is supporting them in some ways, and yet when the Tamils cry out for freedom and Tamils are murdered and detained in hundreds of thousands, why is that the world does nothing,” Halfon said that this attitude has to stop.

“As a Jewish person, all I can do is to support Nations who have suffered from Genocide,” Halfon said adding that the UN report was the first international recognition for Tamils plight because for the first time it had acknowledged the numbers of those who were murdered.

“You have to judge the Sri Lankan government by the company they keep. It is no accident that Sri Lanka is one of the most pro Gadaffi in the world. It is no accident that the Sri Lankan President offered Gadaffi a haven. Well, he is welcomed to it as long as Gadaffi doesn't come to the Tamil part of Sri Lanka,” Halfon said.

Tamil genocide was planned by international powers: British academic

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 May 2011, 15:57 GMT]
The British, the Europeans and the great powers played a dubious role. There was a peace process. But, visas were banned and the political status was denied to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. They were branded as a terrorist organisation by the European Union under the prompting of Britain and United States and they deliberately broke the peace process, which had its horrible termination in the killing fields of Rajapaksa. So, there is co-responsibility. This was not just any genocide; this was a genocide planned, including by the international powers, who knew what was going on, said Dr Andrew Higginbottom, the Principal Lecturer in Politics/Human Rights at Kingston University in London, taking part in the Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance event in London on 18 May.
Recalling that Diaspora Tamils did their part by alerting through their massive protests three years ago, the Kingston academic said that the world powers knowingly did nothing: “They have satellites, they have telecommunications, they created the political conditions for this massacre and genocide and they knew operationally what was exactly going on and they did nothing to stop it.”

He continued: “I honour the cause of Tamil Eelam. I am British. But, we are standing here at Trafalgar Square that celebrates the British Empire. Look at the statue over there. It is of General Henry Havelock. It celebrates the massacre of Indian people in 1857 when, the history books would truly reveal, at least 10 million people were massacred by that man.”
“The proud people of Vanni showed resistance to their very end. We have to continue. The struggle continues. Long Live Tamil Eelam,” Dr. Higginbottom said.
Another speaker, John Rees of Stop the War Coalition said the activists of the coalition were horrified by Sri Lankan government's attack on the Tamil people in 2009.
Horrified too, because the International Community and the major powers failed to intervene, failed to condemn and failed to act when mass murders were being carried out against the Tamil people, John Rees said adding that “But, we were not surprised,” because we had seen what these same governments did in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“We stand with you in demanding now that the very least these governments that proclaim as friends of democracy, freedom and justice, can do is to open an international inquiry so that the whole world can know what the Sri Lankan government did to the Tamil people.”
“Because, if we know that, then we can return, knowing that the right is on our side for the struggle for self-determination and the freedom of Tamils,” John Rees said.
Criminal barrister Hugo Charlton representing Campaign Against Criminalizing Communities in his speech said, what had happened in Vanni is a matter for the UN Security Council to refer to the International Criminal Court for appropriate action.

FullStory>>>

Wimal’s Multi Million Rupee Damp Squib

Wimal Weerawansa’s joy ride to New York turns out to be a multi-million rupee flop and Weerawansa speaks to a Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation cameraman with a measly crowd of 20 protesters behind him Photos by: A special reporter from New York

Leader for the National Freedom Front (NFF) and Housing and Construction Minister Wimal Weerawansa’s costly and extravagant trip to New York cost US$ 19,000 (approx. Rs. 2 million) each for himself and his young son Vibhuthi to travel first class on Emirates Airlines.
Weerawansa traveled to New York to participate in the 2600 Sambuddhathwa Jayanthi
celebrations at the UN headquarters on May 16 where UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had also graced the occasion.                              Read More »    

Massacre commemoration rally in front of UN headquarters

Minister Weerawansa ‘s New York free stage performance and histrionics draw poor response>>>
                

UN protest 2011 May

Prof. Glenn T. Morris (with the flag in hand) at the UN protest rally

Minister Weerawansa ‘s New York free stage performance and histrionics draw poor response

           Lanka-e-News -19.May.2011, 10.30PM) The efforts of Minister Wimal Weerawansa the infamously famous Sri Lankan ‘patriot’ who is now in New York , the SL High Commissioner and the Sri Lankan UN representatives to celebrate the second anniversary of the war victory against the LTTE turned out to be a damp squib.

The permission had been obtained to hold demonstrations to mark the celebrations in front of the UN office on the 18th at 11.30 a m. But , the crowd which arrived for the demonstrations was less than 20 people despite the fact that there are over a lakh of Sri Lankans residing in New York. In the super Statron Island , New York alone there are over 8000 Sri Lankans, yet only about 20 came to participate in the celebrations. Of them five were bodyguards of Kohona and Shavendra De Silva. Another five participants were employees in the SL office of the UN.

During the period of the war , demonstrations were staged by thousands and thousands in New York on behalf of SL. But this steep drop in the numbers for the celebration demonstration is because those demonstrators are thoroughly disappointed and disconcerted over the manner in which the SL Govt. is treating Gen. Fonseka jailing him and inflicting undue harassment , while at the same time trying to celebrate the war victory . The Sri Lankans in New York cannot be duped by the histrionics of clowns like Weerawansa , or by Kohonas and Shavendras who are enjoying every super luxury wasting many thousands of dollars of public funds. Those Sri Lankans there are in bitter resentment . ( Mind you, the Govt. pays US $ 18000/- as monthly rent alone for the house where Kohona lives solitarily.). The body guards of Shavendra who arrived for the demonstrations themselves expressed deep regret over celebrating the War victory anniversary while keeping Fonseka the Army Commander who led the war operations incarcerated.

The cardboard patriot Weerawansa noted for his clownish performances , appearing for the demonstrations at about 12.30 p m , after shouting two slogans loitered around for ten minutes . Then he gave a ‘voice cut’ to Saman Kumara Ramawickrema of the National Rupavahini TV , whose crew was taken from Colombo, before he left the scene. No sooner he left than the few demonstrators who were there too vanished after removing the cutouts and banners. Although permission was obtained to demonstrate until 3.30 p m , not one so called patriot waited that long. Perhaps the New York city police alone were delighted over this failure and paucity of crowd for they were not troubled by the ‘patriotic heroes’ of Colombo who often cause destruction to property and persons when these heroes perform melodramatic and disgraceful acts in the guise of demonstrations when at home when their villainy is fuelled by interested parties..
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*War Without Witness in Sri Lanka

*http://www.warwithoutwitness.com/

Tuyilam Illam: Positivist readings and new debating grounds

20 May, 2011 Michael Roberts

[Author's note: Though I was invited around February 2011 to respond to the discussion in Groundviews on the issue of Tiger ‘cemeteries’ being desecrated, I was so busy that my draft article simply stayed as draft and got lost in the computer debris. I was simply overloaded with cricket and other vital issues during March-April. Having discovered the draft, I present it with apologies.]

Full Story>>>

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Ban Ki Moon’s double standard in dealing with Sri Lanka on war crimes

Posted 20-May-2011     
The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon was reluctant at first to appoint a panel to go into the issue of war crimes committed by Sri Lanka in the last phase of its war against the LTTE. Then when the three member expert panel’s report was ready on March 31, 2011, he did not make it public until April 18. Here, one is made to presume that Vijay Nambiar, the Chief of Staff of Ban was behind the move to see that the report was released after the Assembly elections in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu were completed (on April 13) to save the Congress and DMK from any embarrassment.

The panel was set up by Moon in June 2010 only after the Permanent People’s Tribunal declared Sri Lanka guilty of War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity and Crimes against peace at Dublin in January 2010 and the International Crisis Group released its report in March 2010.

War crime?: Bodies of Tamils killed in an alleged chemical attack by Lankan forces (Photo courtesy: Save Tamils Movement)

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon was reluctant at first to appoint a panel to go into the issue of war crimes committed by Sri Lanka in the last phase of its war against the LTTE. Then when the three member expert panel’s report was ready on March 31, 2011, he did not make it public until April 18. Here, one is made to presume that Vijay Nambiar, the Chief of Staff of Ban was behind the move to see that the report was released after the Assembly elections in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu were completed (on April 13) to save the Congress and DMK from any embarrassment.

The panel was set up by Moon in June 2010 only after the Permanent People’s Tribunal declared Sri Lanka guilty of War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity and Crimes against peace at Dublin in January 2010 and the International Crisis Group released its report in March 2010.

War crime?: Bodies of Tamils killed in an alleged chemical attack by Lankan forces (Photo courtesy: Save Tamils Movement)

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon was reluctant at first to appoint a panel to go into the issue of war crimes committed by Sri Lanka in the last phase of its war against the LTTE. Then when the three member expert panel’s report was ready on March 31, 2011, he did not make it public until April 18. Here, one is made to presume that Vijay Nambiar, the Chief of Staff of Ban was behind the move to see that the report was released after the Assembly elections in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu were completed (on April 13) to save the Congress and DMK from any embarrassment.

The panel was set up by Moon in June 2010 only after the Permanent People’s Tribunal declared Sri Lanka guilty of War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity and Crimes against peace at Dublin in January 2010 and the International Crisis Group released its report in March 2010.

War crime?: Bodies of Tamils killed in an alleged chemical attack by Lankan forces (Photo courtesy: Save Tamils Movement)

 
Vol 2 Issue 20

By Paul Newman
  Bangalore  

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon was reluctant at first to appoint a panel to go into the issue of war crimes committed by Sri Lanka in the last phase of its war against the LTTE. Then when the three member expert panel’s report was ready on March 31, 2011, he did not make it public until April 18. Here, one is made to presume that Vijay Nambiar, the Chief of Staff of Ban was behind the move to see that the report was released after the Assembly elections in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu were completed (on April 13) to save the Congress and DMK from any embarrassment.

War crime?: Bodies of Tamils killed in an alleged chemical attack by Lankan forces (Photo courtesy: Save  Tamils Movement)   FullStory>>>FullStory>>>

Liberal, New Democrat officials commemorate May Genocide Remembrance

Examiner.com   May 19th, 2011Andrew Moran

Toronto Headlines Examiner

Thousands of Canadian Tamils and public officials gathered in front of the Ontario Legislature at Queen's Park in Toronto to commemorate the second annual International War Crimes Day remembrance ceremony.
Two years ago, the 30-year civil war in Sri Lanka came to an end, but the battle within the country between the Singhalese, the Tamils and the international community wages on.

War Crimes Day

Credits: Andrew Moran FullStory>>>

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Sri Lanka students fight military training scheme

South Asia  19 May 2011

  By Charle

Students will perform military drills and undergo fitness training

 

Student unions in Sri Lanka have objected to a new scheme under which university entrants must undergo three weeks of training in military camps.

The unions have petitioned their country's Supreme Court to stop the programme, which begins on Sunday.
Training will include physical drills and conflict management in a bid to increase mental and        physical fitness. 
                                                       Full Story>>>  

UN Won't Confirm Weerawansa of Sri Lanka Here, Calls His Blockade Legitimate

Friday 20 of May 2011
(Lanka-e-News -16.May.2011 11.30PM) Last June UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said it as “unacceptable that the Sri Lankan authorities have failed to prevent the disruption of the normal functioning of the United Nations offices in Colombo as a result of unruly protests organized and led by a cabinet minister of the Government.”

That minister was Wimal Weerawansa. On May 16 it was reported that Weerawansa was inside the UN in New York, speaking at an event with Ban Ki-moon.

And so at the UN’s noon briefing Inner City Press asked Ban’s spokesman Martin Nesirky to confirm or deny that Weerawansa was at the event.
Rather than answer, Nesirky asked his own question to Inner City Press: “What would be your problem with” Weerawansa being there?
Inner City Press explained the seeming incongruity between this and Ban’s condemnation, then again asked for a simple yes or now, was Weerawansa there?
“I have no idea,” Nesirky said, “if you’d gone you’d know there were a lot of people. I suspect the Secretary General moved on.”
A senior adviser to Ban, back in July, called Weerawansa’s tactics “Gandhian.” And despite or subsequent to Ban’s July 8, 2010 condemnation, that seems now to be the view.
Nesirky told Inner City Press, “As we’ve said, peaceful demonstrations are legitimate… If the authorities take action, that’s a different matter.”
Actually, the Sri Lankan authorities in the form of Presidential brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa ordered that Weerawansa not be hindered in any way.
Using the stance of a government’s “authorities” as the test for the UN’s position is ludicrous, as seen in Libya and now Yemen and Syria.
Why such a different stance on Sri Lanka? Elsewhere in the briefing, Nesirky chided Inner City Press, “you try to draw parallels between different topics, it’s not particularly helpful.” Not helpful to whom?
Inner City Press finally just asked Nesirky to check with UN Security to see if Weerawansa was issued the ID pass he’d need to come into the building. Nesirky said, as your dutiful servant I will try to find out. But three hours later and counting, there was no answer. Watch this site.

Courtesy: Inner City Press

Human Rights Council Support for an International Investigation is Necessary to Address Impunity for Violations and Abuses of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law -Amnesty Inter

Friday 20 of May 2011
(Lanka-e-News 19.May.2011, 5.00PM) The armed conflict in Sri Lanka had been over for less than ten days when on 27 May 2009 the UN Human Rights Council adopted a Resolution praising Sri Lankan Government efforts “to ensure the safety and security of all Sri Lankans and to bring permanent peace to the country,” while ignoring credible allegations that war crimes had been committed by both sides. It also ignored calls by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and non-governmental organizations for an international investigation into such allegations. The resolution has done profound damage to efforts to end impunity and secure reconciliation in Sri Lanka and to the credibility of the UN in Sri Lanka.  Full Story>>>
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Tamils become key ministers in Singapore

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 May 2011, 05:28 GMT]
In the new cabinet of Singapore, headed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong that will be sworn in on Saturday, Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam of Jaffna origin becomes Deputy Prime Minister holding Finance, Manpower and Monetary Authority portfolios, Mr. K. Shanmugam takes over Foreign Affairs and Law, Mr Vivian Balakrishnan becomes Minister for Environment and Water Resources and Mr. S. Iswaran holding the rank of a full cabinet minister will function in the Prime Minister’s Office as Second Minister for Home, Trade and Industry. The new cabinet has two Deputy Prime Ministers, Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Mr. Teo Chee Hean. General Elections took place in Singapore on 7 May.                    Full story >>

Kevin Rudd urged by Tamils to reject Sri Lanka envoy following war crimes allegations

May 19, 2011 11:55AM
THE Tamil community has called on Kevin Rudd to reject the credentials of Sri Lanka's new high commissioner and warned the Foreign Minister's silence on UN war crimes allegations will worsen Australia's asylum-seeker problem.
Confirmation Canberra has accepted Vice-Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe's credentials has “shocked” the Tamil community, spokeswoman Dr Sam Pari said.
In 2009, Admiral Samarasinghe held a command role when Red Cross evacuation ships and UN safe havens were shelled by navy warships, Dr Pari told The Australian Online.
Asked to respond to the allegations, Sri Lanka's acting high commissioner yesterday declined to comment.
But the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed the new diplomatic appointment.
In April, a damning report by a UN Panel of Experts claimed Sinhalese government forces carried out widespread shelling of civilian enclaves in the final phase of the 26-year civil war - actions which killed as many as 40,000 non-combatants, mostly Tamil civilians.
But the report also found credible allegations Tamil Tiger rebels used civilians as human shields and that atrocities were committed by both sides.
Dr Pari said Mr Rudd's silence on the report's call for a war crimes probe was worrying.
“Sri Lanka is using diplomatic posts to sanitise their image after the war.
“The influx of asylum-seekers into Australia will only be perpetuated by Mr Rudd's silence on the issue of war crimes in Sri Lanka.
“If his (Rudd) silence reflects Australia's asylum policy, it will only exacerbate the refugee crisis,” she said.
Diplomatic analysts say Canberra's silence on the UN war crimes claims is not surprising given its engagement with Sri Lanka's Rajapakse government in an effort to stem the flow of asylum-seekers to Australia.
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman, Julie Bishop, said claims of war crimes need to be investigated.
“The UN report raises very serious allegations about the conduct of both the Sri Lankan government forces and the Tamil Tigers in 2009.
“The Gillard government should be raising concerns about the events in 2009 and urging all parties to fully cooperate with any investigation.”

Petition on Sri Lanka War Crimes Is Fake Carried Into Empty Building by UN Staffer, Nambiar Stonewalls

19, 2011 8:37 p.m. 

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 18 -- On the second anniversary of the bloody end of the conflict in Sri Lanka, outside the UN in New York chants of “UN, UN, Never again” and “Ban Ki-moon, Act Now” echoed off the white metal building where Secretary General Ban's office now is.

Full Story>>>



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      Two years on 

Asia  Banyan

May 19th 2011, 4:02 by Banyan

MAY 19TH is the second anniversary of the Sri Lankan government’s announcement that its forces had killed Velupillai Prabhakaran, leader of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. It marked the government’s definitive victory in a bloody 26-year civil war—one, moreover, that analysts, including this newspaper, had for years argued could never be won. Yet in the end victory was so complete that peace already seems permanent.     Full Stoey>>>
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A crackdown precedes a new report on the end of the civil war

Sri Lanka and war crimes   -  Keep quiet and carry on

Apr 14th 2011 | COLOMBO | from the print edition

SRI LANKA’S government has got its retaliation On April 12th a panel of experts delivered a report to the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, assessing whether war crimes were committed when the nation’s army bloodily won a long-running civil war against Tamil Tiger rebels early in 2009. The report has not yet been made public, but the government is furious that an independent inquiry took place at all. The report, it says, is “fundamentally flawed” and biased.    Full Story ...

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rediff.com May 19, 2011 17:04 IST 

How Jaya's victory changes Indo-Lanka relations 

After staging a spectacular victory over her bête noire M Karunanidhi-led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam [ Images ] in Tamil Nadu assembly elections, J Jayalalithaa [ Images ], leader of the All India [ Images ] Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, has called upon the Indian government for action against the Sri Lanka [ Images ] President Mahinda Rajapaksa [ Images ] for alleged war crimes and genocide of Tamils. 

                                      Full Story>>>

 

Accountability and justice in Sri Lanka: a new chapter at last?

The recommendations in the Report of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka provide a good starting point for what should be done to free the country from its cycle of violence.                        FullStory...

Press USA, UK and France to talk to China, Russia: Vidar Helgesen

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2011, 05:40 GMT]
“I'm not the best-placed person to suggest how China and Russia could be convinced and how one could pass a resolution at the UN Security Council. One should pose this question to the governments of USA, United Kingdom and France, those who negotiate with China and Russia in New York,” said Vidar Helgesen, the highest-ranking diplomat who headed the Norwegian facilitated peace process, in a video documentary released by the Norwegian Council of Eezham Tamils Wednesday, hinting that if the USA, UK and France are really determined China and Russia could always be negotiated to bring in a political solution to the question of Eezham Tamils. “There was a conflict before the LTTE was established; still there is a conflict even after the LTTE has been vanquished; you will not get a solution without a political solution,” Helgesen further said.

Vidar Helgesen was Deputy Foreign Minister of Norway between 2001 and 2005. He is currently the Secretary General of the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA).

Helgesen was discussing two dilemmas:   Full story >>   
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Sutirtho Patranobis, Hindustan Times
Colombo, May 19, 2011
Thousands of Tamils yet to be resettled
As the government begins celebrating two years of its military victory against the Tamil rebels, tens of thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are yet to be permanently resettled in the war ravaged northern districts.  Latest updates from the United Nations (UN) reveal that more than 117888 IDPs were yet to be resettled.                 FULL Story>>>

Reconciliation without Truth in Sri Lanka?

18 May, 2011 

South Africa had a Truth and Reconciliation commission presided over by Desmond Tutu. Human Rights activists who looked forward to Reconciliation and peace at the end of the civil war in 2009, expected the LLRC (The Lessons learnt and reconciliation commission) to play the same role. But it did not due to various reasons. The main obstacle being that witnesses who came forward to give evidence before the commission were not given protection. There can be no peace or national unity without reconciliation and reconciliation has to be based on Truth and Accountability.                       Continue reading » 
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Implementation of the UN Expert panel report on Sri Lanka – a moral imperative

18-May-2011

Guest Column: By Sivanendran
 

“Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.” – Thomas Jefferson 

Jefferson’s caustic comment unwittingly defined the situation of present day Sri Lanka with a prescience that appears lost on much of the current analysis pertaining to this conflict. The rivalry there between the Sri Lankan government (Sinhala) on one side and the Tamils on the other has thus far defied a solution. The former, with significant military strength still in the field, refuse to agree on a political settlement with the Tamils and continues with the militarization of Tamil society. The latter, with the support of its sympathizers (Jefferson’s “world”) insist that the problem will remain unsolvable until the Sri Lankan government pay dearly for their aggression and self governance is established in occupied Tamil land. This argument has become such a cause celebre that any semblance of rational debate has been precluded.     Full Story>>>