Tight security provided to grave yard at Karaichchie [ Friday, 18 October 2013, 09:14.31 AM GMT +05:30 ] Tight police protection provided to martyrs yard at the Karaichchie, Killinochchie, sources said. Karachchie divisional secretary decided to clean up the grave yard on Friday. Police ordered divisional secretary workers not to clean the site and legal action would be taken against workers violates the order.

Gota Opens New Dagoba In Kilinochchi

October 18, 2013 

In another symbolic gesture of Buddhist hegemony over the Tamil dominated parts of the island, Secretary to the Ministry Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Army Commander Dayaratne yesterday inaugurated a sparkling new Buddhist temple in the former rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi in the Wanni region and enshrined the Buddha’s sacred relics in its pinnacle.

The pagoda at the Mankulam Sri Sugatha Viharaya was unveiled last morning and preceded by an all night pirith chanting, the Defence Ministry said.

“Security Force Headquarters-Kilinochchi (SFHQ-KLN),fully supported the construction of this new pagoda at the request of the temple incumbent, Ven Hingurakande Sumana Thera since it is place of Buddhist worship with a long history, but remained totally dilapidated for more than thirty years after terrorism for separation commenced in the North,” the Ministry said on its website.

The Defence Ministry said a special illumination pooja had been held the same evening in the premises were to bring the two-day ceremonies to an end. Security Forces HQ Kilinochchi troops and Engineer Service Regiment troops lent their expertise for the construction, the Ministry said.

Sri Lanka: Annual tax concessions to global gaming giant, James Packer, will be more than the annual health and education budgets

Sri Lanka: Annual tax concessions to global gaming giant, James Packer, will be more than the annual health and education budgets

Dr. Harsha de Silva

Packer’s package bigger than health budget  -

Thursday, October 17, 2013
The annual tax concessions running into more than Rs 120 billion that the government will be giving to global gaming giant, James Packer, for the proposed 35-40-storeyed casino complex, will be more than the annual health and education budgets, an opposition legislator charged.

UNP National List MP and its Economic Spokesperson, Dr. Harsha de Silva told Ceylon Today, the health budget for 2013 was a mere Rs 95 billion and the annual education budget stood at Rs 121 billion. All casinos in the country are operating illegally as they are not operating under proper licences, costing the government millions in the process, but that opportunity cost was infinitesimally small compared to the government’s impending losses through the Packer operations, Dr. De Silva, alleged.

He said, there is a liability of Rs 100 million per year according to the latest laws, which have been enacted from 1 January 2012, since introducing the old Gaming and Levy Act of 1988, but there have been no payment of taxes as they have been operating illegally through political patronage.

Despite the Rs 100 million payments, what the government was losing was considerably high, the UNP MP charged.

 “This is an absurd state of affairs where the government will be losing what should have been legitimate revenue but, will not be the beneficiary of the taxes which will run into around Rs 120 billion,” Dr. de Silva told Ceylon Today.“The policy of this government is, of the superrich, for the superrich and by the superrich,” he said adding that the proposed complex, which is to be put up by the premier blue chip corporate leader John Keells Holdings PLC Group at the Justice Akbar Mawatha (former Bridge Street) complex – which also houses the current Ceylon Cold Stores building and factory – has decided to pay all taxes. However, JKH Group Chairman, Susantha Ratnayake, and Deputy Group Chairman, Ajit Gunewardene, were not available for comment.

Investment Promotion Minister, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, when contacted, refused to comment, claiming that he was to answer all these allegations in Parliament on 24 and 25 October.
 By Ravi Ladduwahetty

Matale bones to be flown to China for testing

By Chrishanthi Christopher- Friday, 18 Oct 2013

The samples of the skeletal fragments found at the Matale mass grave last November are to be flown to China for a carbon dating test, as ordered by the Courts, after an 11-month delay.

It is learnt former Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) of Matale, Dr. Ajith Jayasena, will hand over the sealed container containing the bones to the officers of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at his present office in Kurunegala, next Monday (21). Dr. Jayasena, currently the JMO of Kurunegala, said the samples will be handed over to the CID officers in a sealed container, which will be taken to Matale and will be taken up as evidence when the Court meets on 4 November. “Following this, the CID is planning to send the samples to a lab in China for testing,” he said.

Dr. Jayasena said, his office has suggested that a scientist should be in charge of the specimens throughout the journey, but this offer remains the decision of the CID. However, he added, that it is not necessary that the specimens be conveyed by a doctor, as it is a judicial matter. He maintained that it is important to ‘maintain the chain of custody’ wherein it is ensured that the seals are intact when the specimens are presented in Courts and overseas. “If the seal is broken, then the samples become invalid,” he said.

He also said, although tests have been done on the bones locally, sending them for carbon testing is a requirement, following ‘the usual procedure.’

“Professor of Department of Archaeology, Raj Somadeva, has done an accurate test on the bones and given a precise range of time and we are positive that China’s results will coincide with his result,” Dr. Jayasena said.
Last November, a mass grave was discovered while excavating the backyard of the Matale Base Hospital where 154 skulls and a number of bone fragments were found.

Two bodies discovered in Wellawaya

By Kasun Ganewaththa-Friday, 18 Oct 2013

The body of 2 persons have been discovered from a forest close to the 6th mile post area along the Ella- Wellawaya main road at around 9 this morning, the Police Media Unit told Ceylon Today Online.

The bodies have been identified to be that of a 36 year old woman and a 40 year old man.

Investigations reveal that the woman is a resident of the Kadawatha area and the man a resident of the Hali-ella area in Badulla.

The cause of death and the means of death have not been identified as yet, while a stock of injections were found at the location where the bodies were discovered.

Police suspect that an affair between the deceased may have been the cause of death, as the husband of the woman had lodged a complaint earlier stating that the woman had gone missing.

The magisterial inquiry is being conducted into the death. (Ceylon Today Online)

Prime Minister's Sri Lanka trip defended

Thousands are still missing after a long and bitter civil war that ended in 2009. Photo: ITV News

• UK
• Sri Lanka
• -Foreign Office-Thu 17 Oct 2013

MPs have criticised the Sri Lankan government's record on human rights and the British government for agreeing to take part in an important commonweath meeting there in an month's time.

Foreign Office minister Baroness Warsi said the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary William Hague will attend because "it is the right thing to do for the Commonwealth".

Yet reports of torture continue - especially against members of Sri Lanka's Tamil minority. ITV News has obtained two accounts of such torture.

Watch this report from our International Editor Bill Neely, explaining the history behind the latest tales of horror:

The Commons Foreign Affairs Committee has accused the Government of being too timid and inconsistent in its policy towards Sri Lanka over human rights abuses.

Stephen Harper, the Canadian prime minister, has said he will stay away from the meeting.

Labour spokesman Lord Triesman said it was fundamental to the role of the Commonwealth that human rights violations were addressed.

Accusing ministers of a "muted response" to the criticism, he said the UK delegation could not be "more heavyweight" and the decision to attend had been taken "too early.

"From a Commonwealth point of view I believe that is simply unacceptable."

Sri Lanka: a country ruled as a family business by four brothers

The four Rajapaksa brothers rule Sri Lanka, with President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the top

By David Blair, Colombo- 17 Oct 2013      

                 

Left: Sri Lanka's defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. Right: President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Photo: GETTY IMAGES/REUTERS

Sri Lanka is a country ruled by four brothers who have turned their country’s government into a family business. At the apex sits President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who won office in 2005 and was re-elected in 2010 after victory in the civil war.

Almost as powerful is his younger brother, Gotabhaya, who serves as Secretary of Defence. He was a key architect of the campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that climaxed with the assault on Mullaitivu beach, claiming 40,000 lives in 2009.

Since then, the reconstruction of the north has been handled by the president’s youngest brother, Basil, who is minister of economic development. His face appears alongside the president’s on the billboards that hail every new road and school.

^{Left: Speaker of Parliament Chamal Rajapaksa. Right: Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa. (GETTY IMAGES)}

In theory, the “Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka” has a constitutional separation of powers between parliament and the executive. In reality, the eldest Rajapaksa brother, 70-year-old Chamal, serves as Speaker of Parliament.

Meanwhile, a son of the president, Namal Rajapaksa, 27, is an MP from the ruling party. If you include sundry cousins and relatives by marriage, then members of the Rajapaksa clan can be found in every important ministry and province. Yet the most effusive praise is reserved for the president. While other brothers appear on official posters, only Mahinda Rajapaksa, the supreme brother, does so alongside the emphatic slogan: “Live Forever!”

MPs blast 'timid' government over Sri Lanka summit

JONATHAN MILLERForeign Affairs Correspondent

17 OCTOBER 2013

Britain's decision to set aside worries about Sri Lanka's human rights record and back its selection as host of a Commonwealth leaders' meeting showed a lack of principle, MPs say.

MPs Blast 'Timid' Government Over Sri Lanka Summit by nelvely

Extremism in Hard Times

by Tisaranee Gunasekara

“….a society based on nothing but selfishness and greed is not a society at all, but a state of war of the strong against the weak”

Charles Simic (Bleak House – New York Review of Books - 16.10.2013)

( October 17, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sri Lanka is becoming a hungrier place. According to the 2013 Global Hunger Index, Sri Lanka’s hunger-score is 15.6. This marks a worrying increase from the 2012 score of 14.4; it is also the highest hunger-score since 20071.

Extremism in Hard Times by nelvely

Colombo Telegraph Blocked, How To Reach Us Now: Sri Lanka Telecom And Mobitel Joins The DPI Club!

August 28, 2013 |

Starting the Friday, 23rd of August 2013 a large number of connections to http://www.colombotelegraph.com were failing. Readers of the website started to report that the site was not available inside of Sri Lanka from some Internet providers.

Colombo Telegraph is strictly a public interest website relating to Sri Lankan matters and is run completely voluntarily by a group of exiled journalists. The site gives space to a wide range of political views and censored/ underreported stories. Colombo Telegraph has the honour of being first and only Sri Lankan site to be approved for inclusion in ‘Guardian Select‘. It was checked and approved for Guardian Select membership by Guardian editorial. Guardian Select bring together the very best independent publishers from across the web.

History of Colombo Telegraph blocking

First -December 26, 2011 - We are blocked but we will not be stopped

Second - May 8, 2012 -Colombo Telegraph Blocked Again

Third - March 29, 2013  - Sri Lanka Blocks Colombo Telegraph and Selected Tweets: Colombo Telegraph Unblocked

Other attempts 

October 26, 2012 - Colombo Telegraph Was Hacked

August 9, 2012 ColomboTelegraph Password Cracking Attempt Blocked

Freedom House Report: Freedom On The Net 2012, Sri Lanka Is A Country At Risk

As the server has been blocked in the past, it was reasonable to believe that blocking was taking place again. In order to verify the cause of the problem we checked 500 different connections inside of Sri Lanka to see from where such blocking was taking place.

Who is blocking the site?

From our analysis we can see that connections from AS45356 and AS9329 are currently blocked. The providers are MOBITEL-LK and STINT-AS-AP

Other providers as AS18001/DIALOG showed signs of blocking the 24th of August but is currently open. The provider AS8966/ETISALAT has never show signs of filtering.         Read More

Mano Ganesan writes to president on Tamil political prisoners [ Thursday, 17 October 2013, 06:08.55 AM GMT +05:30 ] Leader of the Democratic People Front Mano Ganesan writes to president on Tamil political prisoners and detainees of this country. The letter says, There are near one thousand men and women prisoners held in various remand prisons and detention centers for involving themselves in crimes connected to abetting and/ or taking part in armed activities against the state. Their periods of captivity vary from five to fifteen years. There are priests and sick amidst them. There women who have given birth to children inside the prison. We expected issues of these prisoners would come to an end immediately after the end of war. But it did not happen. Number of prisoners died due to violence occurred within the prisons and some due to bad health. Today we are witnessing a new opening after the election and formation of the NPC. We noted cheerful reflections in the north and south of our motherland. I earnestly request your Excellency to consider making war for these prisoners also to share this sense of happiness. Your Excellency, you have stated that PSC would be the forum for the talks on the national question generally known as the “political solution”. I understand the stance of your Excellency. And I trust we will soon arrive at point of time for talks between GoSL and TNA. Meantime while leaving the political discussions for the political solution to the times with that note, I request Your Excellency to consider inviting the Chief Minister of NPC for talks on the humanitarian issues faced by the Tamil people. I anticipate and request Your Excellency to consider providing priority to the issue of these long held prisoners of political nature, the subject matter of this letter in the talks on ”humanitarian issues”. I have in separate letter today addressed to the Chief Minister of NPC, requested him to consider conducting discussions with Your Excellency on the humanitarian issues particularly here on this long held detainees of political detainees of political nature. This issue has found prioritized references in recommendations of the Commissioners of LLRC. I request Your Excellency to consider either (01) General Amnesty or (02) Judicial Bail to these long held prisoner. I earnestly anticipate a positive response from your Excellency. And I assure my fullest co-operation to Your Excellency’s administration in finding a just and acceptable solution to this humanitarian issue, Mano Ganesan said.

The New Indo-US Military Axis: Could Sri Lanka Be Decapitated?

By Dayan Jayatilleka -October 17, 2013 |

Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka

The head of the island of Sri Lanka can be separated from the body of the island by overwhelming external force. Does such a force or combination of forces exist? Who, where and what are they? Does Sri Lanka have a credible capacity for deterrence or resistance?

Paranoia apart, there are no internal threats to the strategic and security interests of Sri Lanka, and even if there were, they could easily be prevailed over. There could however be external ones, which are almost impossible to prevail over by domestic military force. The role of the State is to prevent by political, diplomatic, intellectual and ideological means of persuasion, i.e. by the projection of soft power, just such a worst case scenario.

One of the many and painful paradoxes Sri Lanka is living through is a greater parochialism of mentalities at a time of greater external focus on – some may say intrusion in—Sri Lanka. Simply put, Sri Lanka seems to be less aware of global trends at a time the world is more aware of Lankan trends and tendencies. We seem to scrutinise the world less just as we come under the world’s scrutiny as never before. This contradiction is most ironic when it pertains to the immediate neighbourhood, which is more deeply involved with Sri Lanka than it has been for a quarter century.

Things weren’t always so. It is not a form of ancestor worship that makes me recall the well-informed editorials and analytical features on the Indo-Soviet treaty and Nixon’s visit to China, in the Daily News under my father Mervyn de Silva’s editorship. The close focus was through the prism of the enlightened national interest of Sri Lanka, and examined the implications for our national interest.

Today there seems to be zero awareness of the new level of development of the Indo-US relationship and the projections of the strategic arc of that relationship as contained in the detailed joint communiqué and an even more crucial second document, the US-India Joint Declaration of Defence Cooperation, issued after PresidentBarack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent meeting.

Key portions of the Indo-US joint communiqué of end September follow:

“The Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh and the President of the United States of America Barack Obama…reflected proudly on the transformation of United States-India relations during the last decade, affirming that the partnership between the two democratic nations is stronger today than at any point in their 67-year history.                                                                 Read More

Commonwealth: Don’t Award Sri Lanka Chairmanship

London Meeting a Chance to Put Values into Practice

OCTOBER 16, 2013

It’s bad enough that the Commonwealth has allowed a government accused of massive rights abuses and war crimes to host its summit. But to effectively put the Commonwealth in the hands of an unrepentant government that doesn’t meet the Commonwealth’s official values on democracy or human rights would be the height of hypocrisy.

Brad Adams, Asia director

(London) – Commonwealth foreign ministers should not award Sri Lanka the two-year chairmanship of the Commonwealth after it hosts the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November 2013. The Committee of the Whole, made up of Commonwealth foreign ministers, will meet on October 17-18 in London to finalize the agenda for the meetings in Colombo on November 15-17.

“It’s bad enough that the Commonwealth has allowed a government accused of massive rights abuses and war crimes to host its summit,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “But to effectively put the Commonwealth in the hands of an unrepentant government that doesn’t meet the Commonwealth’s official values on democracy or human rights would be the height of hypocrisy.”

Rewarding Sri Lanka with the chairmanship casts serious doubts on the Commonwealth’s commitment to supporting human rights and democratic reform enshrined in the Commonwealth Harare Declaration of 1991, Human Rights Watch said.

The Commonwealth and its participants risk major embarrassment by holding the meeting in Colombo, particularly given the September 25 statement by the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, to the UN Human Rights Council. In her statement, she highlighted a range of human rights problems in Sri Lanka, including the government’s failure “to independently or credibly investigate the allegations” of war crimes during the country’s armed conflict.

Pillay’s report to the Human Rights Council underscored the need for an independent, international investigation into abuses in the final months of Sri Lanka’s 26-year-long conflict, which ended in 2009. A panel of experts appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon found that as many as 40,000 civilians were killed as a result of violations of international law by both sides. Commonwealth countries should actively support an investigation, and should press Sri Lanka to cooperate fully, Human Rights Watch said.

Canada announced this month that its head of government, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, will not attend the Commonwealth meeting in November because of Sri Lanka’s rights record.

The Commonwealth is empowered to investigate serious or persistent violations of the Harare Declaration and to recommend measures for action. It has the authority to suspend a member country of the Commonwealth for serious infringements.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma has stated that the Commonwealth is active in promoting its values in Sri Lanka, such as respect for human rights and free speech. But he has repeatedly ignored the issue and even appeared to shield Sri Lanka from criticism, Human Rights Watch said.

Ahead of an April Commonwealth meeting, Sharma commissioned two independent legal reports on the impeachment of Sri Lankan Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranaike. Despite calls by the Canadian government and others to make those reports available to the group, Sharma has not released the reports, even to members. One of the reports, leaked on September 8, states that the impeachment of the chief justice was unconstitutional and a “direct violation” of the rule of law and contravened Commonwealth Values and Principles.

“The Commonwealth can be an agent for improved human rights protections and justice in Sri Lanka, or it can risk becoming a propaganda vehicle for an abusive government,” Adams said. “The meeting of the Committee of the Whole is a chance for the Commonwealth to show that its stated principles actually mean something.”

Commonwealth must stop Sri Lanka stifling human rights efforts

OCTOBER 17, 2013

Diplomats from Commonwealth countries meeting in London today must push Sri Lanka to end its continuing crackdown on human rights defenders, Amnesty International said.

The Commonwealth Committee of the Whole is meeting 17-18 October to prepare for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo in November.

“Commonwealth countries must agree new measures to address the continuing human rights crisis in Sri Lanka and especially to monitor and condemn any civil society repression around CHOGM,” said Polly Truscott, Amnesty International’s Deputy Asia-Pacific Programme Director.

“Sri Lanka has a disturbing record of repressing civil society activism. Its officials have intimidated, threatened and even attacked human rights defenders around previous international events. We are extremely worried about the safety of such activists around the summit in Colombo in November.”

In August, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay after a visit to Sri Lanka noted the country’s worrying “authoritarian turn”. She pointed out that surveillance and harassment of human rights defenders, journalists, and many ordinary citizens appeared to be getting worse. Security forces intimidated some of those she met or intended to meet, and interrogated human rights defenders.

Father V. Yogeswaran - a Jesuit priest who runs a local in NGO in the town of Trincomalee that documents human rights violations - told the media he received a late night visit from plain clothed police officers in August, who reportedly grilled him for four hours about his meeting with Pillay.

After CHOGM, Sri Lanka is expected to be handed the chairmanship of the Commonwealth for the next two years.

“Given the persistence of human rights violations in Sri Lanka, it would be ludicrous to reward the country with the Commonwealth’s chair. It’s crucial that CHOGM does not lead to Sri Lanka being handed any Commonwealth role with responsibility for the protection and promotion of human rights,” said Truscott.

DP to boycott CHOGM

THURSDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2013 

The Democratic Party (DP) Leader Sarath Fonseka said today that his party would boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in November stating the intention of holding the summit was not to benefit the people but to grab commissions from taxes paid by the public. (Dasun Rajapaksha)

India PM Urged to Boycott Sri Lanka Meeting

Philippe Lopez/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Manmohan Singh at the ASEAN India Summit in Bandar Seri Begawan, Oct. 10.

• By 
• NIHARIKA MANDHANA-
 
• CONNECT
October 17, 2013

When over 50 world leaders arrive in Sri Lanka mid-November for the Commonwealth summit, one prominent premier may be absent.

India PM Urged to Boycott Sri Lanka Meeting by nelvely

An unidentified body of woman recovered in Jaffna

[ Thursday, 17 October 2013, 02:49.34 PM GMT +05:30 ]

An unidentified body of woman recovered from Natchchimar kovil in Jaffna today.

Normally SriLankan army will be present at this place where the body was found. Body has been sent for the postmortem examination at Jaffna Teaching hospital and Jaffna police conduct further investigations this regard.

Commonwealth foreign ministers asked not to give Sri Lanka the chairmanship

Thursday, 17 October 2013 

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Commonwealth foreign ministers not to give Sri Lanka the chairmanship of the Commonwealth for the next two years.

Sri Lanka is to take over the chairmanship of the Commonwealth after the country hosts the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) next month.

HRW has made the appeal in a statement to the Committee of the Whole, made up of Commonwealth foreign ministers that will meet on October 17-18 in London to finalize the agenda for the meetings in Colombo.

The New York-based organization has said rewarding Sri Lanka with the chairmanship casts serious doubts on the Commonwealth’s commitment to supporting human rights and democratic reform enshrined in the Commonwealth Harare Declaration of 1991.

“It’s bad enough that the Commonwealth has allowed a government accused of massive rights abuses and war crimes to host its summit. But to effectively put the Commonwealth in the hands of an unrepentant government that doesn't meet the Commonwealth's official values on democracy or human rights would be the height of hypocrisy,” Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch said.

Pointing out that the Commonwealth is empowered to suspend a member country of the Commonwealth for serious infringements, the rights group has accused the Commonwealth Secretary - General Kamalesh Sharma of repeatedly ignoring Sri Lanka’s actions and apparently shielding the country from criticism.

According to Brad Adams, the Commonwealth can be an agent for improved human rights protections and justice in Sri Lanka or it can risk becoming a propaganda vehicle for an abusive government. “The meeting of the Committee of the Whole is a chance for the Commonwealth to show that its stated principles actually mean something,” he has noted.

British Delegation Will Use CHOGM To Deliver Clear Message To Lanka On Human Rights: UK Foreign Office

October 17, 2013

Responding to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee’s report into the departments human rights work in 2012, the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office said the British Delegation to CHOGM in Colombo will deliver a clear message to Sri Lanka that it needs to make concrete progress on human rights.

William Hague

Issuing a media release in response to the report released by British MPs, a Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson said the Foreign and Commonwealth Office shares the FAC’s wish to see substantial and sustainable improvements in human rights in Sri Lanka. “However, we do not agree with the FAC’s assessment of the FCO as ‘timid and inconsistent’ on this issue. The FCO has consistently pursued progress in Sri Lanka on human rights through high-level bilateral lobbying, support for local and international non-governmental organisations on the ground and internationally through the EU and Human Rights Council,” the Spokesman said.

The FCO Spokesman said the decision to hold CHOGM in Sri Lanka in 2013 was taken at the 2009 Port of Spain CHOGM, where all Commonwealth Heads agreed a package that included Australia’s bid to host in 2011 and Mauritius in 2015. When the issue of hosts for 2013 and 2015 was raised in the 2011 CHOGM in Perth there was no consensus amongst member states to revisit the decision made in Port of Spain for Sri Lanka to host CHOGM in 2013. “Since the decision was made the FCO has continuously urged Sri Lanka to make progress,” the FCO said.

“We see CHOGM as an opportunity to highlight the need for effective commitment to the shared values and human rights for which the Commonwealth stands. The CHOGM meeting will be a spotlight on Sri Lanka and highlight either progress or its absence. The British delegation to CHOGM will see the situation on the ground in Sri Lanka and deliver a clear message that Sri Lanka needs to make concrete progress on human rights,” the Spokesman said.