Category: Politics

December 13, 2007 (LBO) – A United Nations human right representative concerned with refugees is to arrive in Sri Lanka today on a week long visit at the invitation of the government, the UN has announced. Walter Kalin, representative of the UN Secretary General on the human rights of internally displaced people, will hold talks […]

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13, 2007 (AFP) – Five leaders of Malaysian Indian activist group Hindraf were arrested Thursday under controversial security laws that allow for detention without trial, a spokesman said.Hindraf enraged the government last month by mounting a mass rally alleging discrimination against minority ethnic Indians in Malaysia, which is dominated by Muslim Malays. […]

Dec 12, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels were locked in heavy combat across their de facto borders in the north of the island where at least 36 combatants were killed, the defence ministry said Wednesday.Intense clashes along the Mannar and vavuniya districts left 20 guerrillas and three soldiers killed on […]

Dec 10, 2007 (AFP) – Britain’s top envoy to Sri Lanka Monday asked the government to improve its human rights record and politically end the island’s drawn out Tamil separatist conflict or risk international sanctions. British High Commissioner (ambassador) Dominick Chilcott said the UK had a direct interest in ending the conflict in its former […]

Dec 11, 2007 (LBO) – Britain’s envoy in Sri Lanka has mocked the practice of a parliamentary committee to probe corruption dominated by government ministers, saying many lawmakers have been given positions to buy their loyalty. “It must be the only oversight committee in the world that consists mainly of ministers,” British High Commissioner Dominick […]

COLOMBO December 11, 2007 (LBO) — Five Maldivian opposition parties Tuesday urged President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom to put in place an interim government ahead of the archipelago’s first multi-party polls next year, officials said. “We are urging the international community to support us, to support our cause for democratic reforms,” former Maldivian foreign minister Ahmed […]

Dec 9, 2007 (AFP) – Minority Tamils in Sri Lanka’s capital are running a gauntlet of arrest and intimidation as fighting escalates between government troops and Tiger rebels, community members and rights groups say. Harassed at security checkpoints and arbitrarily arrested from their homes and workplaces, Colombo’s Tamil’s are being subjected to what human rights […]

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8, 2007 (AFP) – Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has reportedly warned that ethnic Indian activists accused of having links with Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers could be held under internal security laws. Ethnic rights group Hindraf, which organised mass anti-discrimination protests in November that were broken up with tear gas and […]

COLOMBO, Dec 6, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka Thursday warned of more Tamil Tiger attacks against civilians a day after the guerrillas were accused of being responsible for a roadside bomb blast that killed 16 bus passengers.A Norwegian-brokered 2002 truce began to unravel in December 2005.Media Minister Anura Yapa said Wednesday night’s bombing of a […]

Dec 06, 2007 (LBO) – Visa applicants to the United States will have to give prints of all ten fingers from next week, the US embassy in Colombo said. The embassy said the procedure, which was required by US Departments of State and Homeland Security, would be implemented world-wide from December 10. The US started […]

Dec 5, 2007 (AFP) – At least 15 passengers were killed and 38 wounded Wednesday in a roadside bomb attack on a crowded bus carrying civilians in Sri Lanka’s north-central region, police said. Security forces rushed to the area following the attack carried out by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels under the cover of darkness, a […]

COLOMBO, Dec 4, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan rights groups Tuesday slammed the government arrest of nearly 2,200 minority ethnic Tamils after Tamil Tiger rebels were held responsible for two bomb attacks last week.The Free Media Movement, a press rights group, and the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a private think-tank, said they were considering […]