Category: Politics

TOKYO, May 20, 2010 (AFP) – Scores of foreigners in a Japanese immigration detention centre have been on hunger strike for more than a week, demanding to be released and protesting the mysterious death of an African deportee. Some 70 detainees — many of them Sri Lankans and Pakistanis — have refused food since May […]

May 20, 2010 (AFP) – The detained Sri Lankan general who led soldiers to victory over Tamil Tiger rebels one year ago accused the government Thursday of failing to convert his success into a new era of peace. Sarath Fonseka, a key architect of the strategy that finally defeated the Tigers after decades of bloody […]

May 17, 2010 (AFP) – The Sri Lankan government killed thousands of its civilians by shelling “no-fire zones” in the last months of the country’s decades-long civil war that ended a year ago, an independent group said Monday. The Brussels-based International Crisis Group urged the United Nations and Sri Lanka’s aid donors to press for […]

May 12, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s ex-army chief and defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka was for the first time hauled before a civilian court Wednesday and accused of inciting violence. Fonseka, who is in military custody and faces separate court martial charges of dabbling in politics while in uniform and corrupt procurements, was brought […]

May 7, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s prime minister on Friday urged Western nations to crack down on Tamils using their soil to revive the Tamil Tiger separatist movement that was crushed last year. Premier D. M. Jayaratne said some of the 1.5 million ethnic Tamils living abroad were planning to form a movement to […]

May 6, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s ex-army chief Thursday vowed to “expose” any war crimes committed during the end of the country’s civil war last year and said he would go “out of his way” to assist with a probe. General Sarath Fonseka, who fell out with President Mahinda Rajapakse and quit after successfully […]

May 5, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka plans to set up a reconciliation commission to foster ethnic unity as the island emerges from nearly four decades of bloody conflict, a state-run newspaper said Wednesday. Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne said the government hoped the panel would ensure that majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils did not […]

May 5, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s parliament on Wednesday scaled down tough state of emergency laws that were first introduced 27 years ago to deal with separatist Tamil rebels. Government troops finally defeated the Tamil Tiger guerrillas a year ago after a massive military offensive swiped out the rebels’ territory and killed their leaders. […]

May 4, 2010 (AFP) – Media rights groups Tuesday welcomed Sri Lanka’s decision to pardon a Tamil editor sentenced to 20 years in prison, but urged the government to ensure he was allowed to return to work freely. Paris-based RSF — Reporters Without Borders — said J. S. Tissainayagam, who wrote about the plight of […]

May 4, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka stopped national cricket captain Kumar Sangakkara and another player from calling on the Dalai Lama out of fear that a meeting would anger China, an official said Tuesday. Sangakkara and former skipper Mahela Jayawardene were advised not to join their Indian Premier League teammates who paid a courtesy […]

PARIS, May 3, 2010 (AFP) – Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders named Monday the world’s 40 worst “predators of the press” including politicians, religious leaders and militias to mark World Press Freedom Day. “They are powerful, dangerous, violent and above the law,” the Paris-based watchdog RSF said. “These predators of press freedom have the power […]

May 03, 2010 (LBO) – The US embassy in Colombo says the World Press Freedom Day which falls on May 03 is a reminder to citizens and government that a free media is an essential part of democracy. “In democracies, the people are sovereign, and representatives and elected officials derive their power from them,” the […]