Category: Politics

Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) – Four top Sri Lankan activists have quit a human rights panel in protest over the government’s failure to stop extra-judicial killings, abductions and illegal arrests, one of them said Monday.Nimalka Fernando said she and three other members of the advisory committee set up by the Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe […]

NEW DELHI, Oct 13, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse on Saturday said Colombo remained open to a “negotiated and sustainable” solution to the island’s escalating ethnic conflict.Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the eruption of the decades-old Tamil separatist insurgency which has grown deadlier since the collapse of a […]

Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) – At least 11 Tamil Tiger rebels and a government soldier were killed in clashes across Sri Lanka’s embattled northern region, the defence ministry said Friday.Six members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the soldier died in the Wanni region while four more guerrillas were killed further north […]

Oct 11, 2007 (LBO) –Members of a Sri Lankan political party, Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), whose support was considered important to keep the ruling coalition in power, rejoined the cabinet Thursday. CWC leader Arumugam Thondaman was sworn back in to his previous portfolio as Minister of Youth Empowerment and Socioeconomic Development by President Mahinda Rajapakse […]

Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka plans to hike overall defence spending by 20 percent to a record 1.48 billion dollars amid a rise in fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels, according to a bill tabled in parliament on Wednesday.More than 5,500 people have been killed since December 2005, after a 2002 Norwegian brokered truce […]

COLOMBO, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government is planning to introduce a blanket ban on its nationals’ involvement in officially authorised arms dealing, a state-run newspaper said Wednesday.The new restrictions appear to be part of an effort by Colombo to centralise its own burgeoning weapons purchases, which in the past have been conducted […]

Oct 09, 2007 (LBO) – The recent recall of India’s top spy in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo has prompted calls for greater oversight and transparency in Indian intelligence agencies, a media report said. Absence of such oversight, and an apparent unconcern that responsibility may be fixed for failures, had led to instances like the […]

Oct 09, 2007 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan media watchdog body Tuesday said it was “shocked and dismayed” by government attempts to prevent critical reporting of the war and the military. The Free Media Movement (FMM) said in a statement it condemned a remark by a government official heading the military’s information outfit calling the […]

Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) – The head of a prominent Sri Lankan human rights group on Monday accused the island’s government of seeking to “stage-manage” a visit by a top United Nations official.Minority Tamil legislator Mano Ganeshan said Colombo was tightly controlling the five-day visit of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, […]

COLOMBO, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military has forced three people making a documentary about the decades-long Tamil separatist conflict to leave the embattled northern Jaffna peninsula, a media rights group said Monday.The team from Quick Silver Media was forced to leave last week despite having prior permission from defence authorities in the […]

Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s navy attacked a suspected Tamil Tiger ship in international waters, virtually destroying the sea transport capability of the guerrillas, military officials said Sunday.More than 5,400 people have been killed in a new wave of fighting since December 2005 when a Norwegian-brokered truce began to unravel. Naval vessels engaged […]

Oct 6, 2007 (AFP) – Three men were shot dead in execution-style killings in Sri Lanka, police said Saturday, amid heightened international attention on the island’s deteriorating human rights record.Two blindfolded men whose hands had been tied behind their backs were found shot through the head in the northwestern Chilaw area while another body was […]