Some walls should never be built; some should never be breached.

Many of Sri Lanka’s most devastating ills emanated from our habit of building unnecessary walls, and demolishing necessary ones.

Our school-system, marred by de facto segregation, is structurally incapable of creating Sri Lankans. Most schools are ethnically/religiously uniform; as jealous preserves of a single community they reinforce our primordial identities. Consequently, many children spend their formative years without any association with their ethnically/religiously different compatriots. Most of them would carry [...]

In April 2008 when the Security Forces were inching their way up the western coast and advancing towards the Madhu Church — a sanctuary for the Tiger “boys” — Bishop Joseph Ryappah, the prominent LTTE agent in the Catholic Church, did the unthinkable: he hijacked the statue of Holy Mary at Madhu and took it to Theavanpiddi, 70 miles away from Madhu into Tiger territory. He committed this anti-Christian act because the power devolved on the bishopric of Mannar, allowed [...]

The government is to brief the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) about the progress made with regard to the human rights concerns and the reconciliation process in Sri Lanka at the UNHRC sessions in Geneva. The sessions are to commence on February 27 and are to continue till March 23. Plantation Industries Minister and the President’s Special Envoy for Human Rights, Mahinda Samarasinghe, who would represent the country at the sessions, said that [...]

To celebrate the hijacking of the local media by a bunch of NGO operators with dubious motives, and to call that celebration a key media event in the country should be suicidal to the fortunes of local media, but yet this is exactly what is happening. Last week some of the country’s media organizations declared a Black January, stating that naming the protests in this way alerted the country to the fact that most attacks on media persons have been [...]

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) says there is clear evidence of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) member Iniya Bharathi being involved in human rights violations.

In its 70 page response to the report of the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), the TNA had said that many witnesses in fact identify Iniya Bharathi as responsible for human rights abuses.

The Sunday Leader in December 2011, carried an exposé on Iniya Bharathi.  The article highlighted the fact that he is a man who [...]

The body of a fifteen year old girl was found in Alavai North, Point Pedro, last Wednesday night (January 25), the police said.

The girl’s body was found near the Old Christian Church, and showed signs of a neck injury, said Police Spokesperson SP Ajith Rohana. The victim was identified as Iridiyanadar Dilakshina. “According to reports she had left home at 7.00 p.m. and was going to her aunt’s house, which is about 150 metres from her home,” said SP [...]

A high level delegation from the US State Department visited Kilinochchi last week and had talks with the army, the army media unit said.

The army said that the delegation had talks with the Commander of the Security Forces Headquarters in Kilinochchi, Major General A. W. J. C. de Silva, with a view to receiving an update on various development and security roles of the troops.

The US delegation included Dr. Alyssa Ayres, US Deputy Assistant Secretary, South and Central Asian [...]

“I was on my motorcycle going through this area behind a couple on a motorcycle. The woman was pregnant and they were out probably to do some shopping. The couple was coming fast. They signalled to me and I moved aside to let them overtake. I suddenly saw the couple fall down for no discernible reason and the man writhing in agony. He had been hit by a bullet from the army’s side. I stopped and the pregnant woman pleaded [...]

In a classified memo written by US’s Sri Lanka Ambassador Robert Blake in October 2006 to Washington, ten months after the extra-judicial execution of five students at a Trincomalee beach, Basil Rajapakse, advisor to Sri Lanka’s President and brother Rajapakse, had told Ambassador Blake that Special Task Force (STF) was responsible for the killings, according a Wikileaks document. Father of Ragihar, one of the student killed, is one of the three plaintiffs who have filed a civil case against Sri [...]

In the backdrop of a deadlock in talks between the government and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the TNA said yesterday that they would welcome an international mediation at this time to facilitate future negotiations.

At a recent meeting with Dr. Alyssa Ayres, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian affairs, TNA MP Selvam Adaikkalanathan and P. Sritharan called for a facilitator role by the US in this respect.

Asked for a comment, TNA Media Spokesman MP [...]

The government has opened up doors for rehabilitated LTTE combatants to join the police service if they have fulfilled necessary educational qualifications along with other requirements, officials said yesterday.

During the last phase of war, around 11,000 combatants surrendered to the military. The government has already rehabilitated 10,000 of them to be reintegrated into society.

Commissioner General of Rehabilitation Maj. Gen. Chandana Rajaguru told the Daily Mirror that the chance is open for them to join the police service if [...]

New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), California-based Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA), and Washington-based SPEAK, three premier Rights organizations which routinely use litigation to resolve constitutional issues and to indict violators of rights in a press release issued Thursday condemned the proposed appointment of Shavendra Silva – an ex-General of the Sri Lanka Army who is being charged for war-crimes in US Court – to the Special Advisory Group to advise UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on [...]

“Tamil Imprints in New Zealand” by 87-year-old Eezham Tamil author A.T. Arumugam, now living in New Zealand, re-documents and discusses in detail a bronze bell inscribed in Tamil in c. 14-15 century writing that was in the possession of the native Maori people of New Zealand. Originally written in 2007 in Tamil, the book has been translated into English and will be released shortly in Wellington. The publication is sure to give a sense of pride and belongingness, and would [...]

One of Sri Lanka’s most controversial diplomats, an ex-army commander, has got a senior post advising the UN secretary general, the government says.

Major General Shavendra Silva, Sri Lanka’s deputy ambassador to the UN, is the subject of a lawsuit in the US accusing him of war crimes.

Maj Gen Silva denies the charges. He is one of many military men given top diplomatic posts by Sri Lanka.

He will now be part of a group advising Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

A Sri [...]