Seven media associations in South have jointly opposed the proposed 18th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution, describing the move as violating the freedom of expression on the part of the people. The proposals have not been discussed among the masses and it is a dangerous trend to make such amendments in the form of an Emergency Bill, said the joint statement issued by the movements. When the country requires a new Constitution to address the challenges faced by it, [...]

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has alleged that "some groups who said they did not have money to fight the war, and signed ceasefire agreements with the LTTE, had money to give the LTTE,” the Sri Lankan state-run paper Dinamina quoted Mr. Rajapaksa as saying in its front page lead story on Thursday.

"Today with the war over, no one can point a finger and say Sri Lanka does not have the money to develop itself," Mr. Rajapaksa, who is planning [...]

The 18th Amendment, proposed by the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, if passed by the SL Parliament, will lead to destructive erosion of already fragile democratic culture said Rt. Revd Duleep de Chickera, the Anglican Bishop of Colombo in a statement issued Thursday.

Full text of the statement follows:

A Plea to Withdraw the Eighteenth Amendment

A Statement by the Rt Revd Duleep de Chickera, Bishop of Colombo

Many sections of the population are deeply alarmed at the possible repercussions the proposed 18th [...]

Fishermen in the Sri Lankan port of Trincomalee hoped the end of the island’s civil war would bring prosperity, but dynamite and corruption now threaten their livelihoods.

Trincomalee, on the northeast coast, has one of the world’s finest natural harbours and was fiercely fought over during the war until government troops finally defeated the rebel Tamil Tigers in May last year.

"The problem we have now is that although we have the freedom to go out and work, the fish are being [...]

India will expedite construction projects, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao assures President

President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Wednesday said Indian investor interest in Sri Lanka was rapidly growing and several leading Indian entrepreneurs in industry and other sectors had expressed interest in setting up business on the island.

Mr. Rajapaksa made the comment when Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao called on him here for an exchange of views on bilateral relations in general, and on the process of re-settlement of three lakh Tamil civilians [...]

Muslim and Sinhala traders from Southern Sri Lanka are actively plundering the properties abandoned when the people of Vanni were forced to leave them during war, with the assistance of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers occupying Vanni. The traders make huge profits transporting them in vehicles to Vavuniyaa, Anurdapura and Puththa’lam for sale. The plundered goods include iron objects, spare parts dismantled from abandoned vehicles, house fittings and other valuable things. SLA soldiers are given a percentage of the profits [...]

Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao Wednesday visited Trincomalee and held talks with the Chief Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan and the Governor of Eastern Province at their respective offices. But her scheduled visit to Champoor in Moothoor East Wednesday was cancelled at the last minute. According to her program she was to meet uprooted people of Champoor now lodged elsewhere. The reason for the cancellation was not disclosed, Trincomalee sources said.

Later in the afternoon she visited [...]

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Wednesday sent its decision on the proposed constitutional amendments to the Speaker of the House, Chamal Rajapaksa, brother of Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The decision would be announced in the parliament on September 7. The five-member Bench of the Supreme Court chaired by Justice Shiranee Bandaranaike went through the draft bill that removes the restriction of the two term executive presidency system and the introduction of a parliamentary Advisory Council replacing the Constitutional Council appointed [...]

“Estimates reveal that there are more than 89,000 war widows in the North and Eastern provinces and more than 25,000 of these widows are in Batticaloa district in the Eastern province,” Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa district parliamentarian P. Selvarasa said in a meeting of the War Victimized Women Association in Batticaloa. “Women have been victimized by war even more than by natural disasters and Sri Lanka government has failed to do anything constructive to improve their miserable living conditions [...]

The main opposition United National Party (UNP) Wednesday decided to vote against the proposed constitutional reforms in parliament. After the party’s working committee held Wednesday morning its leader Ranil Wickremasinghe told a media briefing that his party has decided to oppose the removal of two year term executive presidency system and the modification of the Constitutional Council system into a five-member parliamentary advisory council.

Parliamentarians of the UNP would vote against the bill in parliament, he added.

[Full Coverage]

The Combined Left Front (CLF) that comprises the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), Sri Lanka Communist Party of Sri Lanka (CPSL)) and New Left Front (NLF) is to meet this week to take a final decision on the proposed constitutional amendments. “Final decision would be taken after meeting Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse to apprise him of their position and get his opinion on this issue,” veteran left leader Vasudeva Nanayakara who is currently a national list parliamentarian from the [...]

Sri Lanka’s Defense Ministry with immediate effect banned publishing news of all transfers and appointments of the military officers of the three armed forces, Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF). Media institutions have been asked to report on such transfers and appointments only with the approval of the Media Centre for National Security. Publishing such stories could lead to direct or indirect threat to national security and military officers concerned, according to [...]

Many Eezham Tamils wonder at some recent political developments but they waste their energy in concentrating on individuals. The individuals, whether KP, section of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam, others who come out one by one with statements and ‘development’ agenda in support of the KP-line of politics, and the members of the ‘task’ group that executed the sequence are unimportant. Why they are mobilised so and what makes them to take that line of polity are more important.

TamilNet [...]

Issue of recent attacks on Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy discussed

India on Tuesday said it was closely monitoring China’s intention as it was showing “more than the normal interest” in the Indian Ocean affairs.

“The Government of India has come to realise that China has been showing more than the normal interest in the Indian Ocean affairs. So we are closely monitoring the Chinese intentions,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said in the Lok Sabha.

Responding to queries during [...]

1215 uprooted civilians from Vanni brought from the camps three months ago in the name of resettlement are held without any help in Visuvamadu area in Mullaiththeevu district, Suresh Premachandran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP, who visited them Monday told media. Mullaiththeevu district Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities do not allow them to settle in their own lands in the district and the people abandoned by government authorities and humanitarian organizations are subjected to untold hardships. The families say that [...]