Yearly Archives: 2011

Commonwealth leaders must stop Sri Lanka hosting key summit in 2013

The Commonwealth risks becoming ‘irrelevant’ if its leaders allow Sri Lanka to become its next host, Amnesty International said today ahead of the organization’s biennial summit.
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) begins in Perth, Australia today, with Sri Lanka due to chair the next summit in 2013 despite an appalling human rights record.
“It’s absurd […]

By Amnesty International | Published on October 28, 2011 at 8:36 pm

Open letter to the Elected Representatives of the UNP…

Introduction
We all entered politics at various points of our lives not because we wanted to serve our kith and kin but the people. All of us have been elected at the levels which we chose as our strong domain, be it Parliament, Provincial Council, Municipality, Urban Council or Pradesheeya Sabha. Our areas of influence and […]

By Association of Former UNP Parliamentarians | Published on October 28, 2011 at 7:52 pm

NEWSBITES: Rajapakse snubbed by New Zealand as he tries to include World Cup in official trip

Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse was snubbed by New Zealand, when he tried to include the Rugby World Cup Finals in Auckland as part of
an official trip. Sources in New Zealand told Lanka Standard Prime Minister John Key had refused to meet President Mahinda Rajapakse. Failing to secure any meetings with the World cup host […]

By Sonali Samarasinghe Wickrematunge | Published on October 26, 2011 at 10:32 pm

Australian AG reacts politically says former diplomat and Rajapakse gets to hide behind immunity

MELBOURNE, Oct. 25 (UPI) — Australian Attorney General Robert McClelland has ruled out a war crimes case against Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, saying he has diplomatic immunity.
Sri Lankan-born Australian Jegan Waran filed charges against Rajapakse, who is in Perth for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting,
the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported Tuesday. Waran, who now […]

By Staff Correspondent | Published on October 26, 2011 at 8:13 pm

Press freedom groups roundly condemn blocking of Lanka-e-News

Wednesday, 26 October 2011, 11:31 am: The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its Sri Lankan affiliates in condemning the continued blocking of the news portal Lanka-e-News by internet service providers in Sri Lanka since October 18.
According to information received from IFJ affiliate the Free Media Movement (FMM), two major internet service
providers in Sri Lanka, the […]

By Staff Correspondent | Published on October 26, 2011 at 12:11 pm

BREAKING NEWS: Mahinda Rajapakse gets hit by war crimes suit in Australia as well

OCTOBER 24, 2011:Just days after Sri Lanka’s chief diplomatic envoy to Australia former Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe was named in an extensive war crimes dossier now being deliberated upon by the
Australian Federal Police, its President Mahinda Rajapakse has been slammed with another war crimes suit – this time in Victoria, Australia.
Already grappling with war crimes cases […]

By Sonali Samarasinghe Wickrematunge | Published on October 25, 2011 at 8:05 am

Progressive Politics and the right kind of left

Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra’s grieving daughter (and possible political successor) was probably not even born when several of us in the SLMP’s leading ranks rapidly disembarked at his house in Kolonnawa, an hour after he had survived the assassination attempt by the JVP. His aged father, a trade-unionist of the Old Left, had surprised the hit-man […]

By Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka | Published on October 23, 2011 at 8:51 pm

Sri Lanka one of the most corrupt nations in the world

‘If we believe a thing to be bad, and if we have a right to prevent it, it is our duty to try to prevent it and to damn the consequences’– Alfred, Lord Milner (1854-1929)
This column dedicated to the notion of making Sri Lanka the Wonder of Asia turns its spotlight today on another malpractice: ‘Bribery […]

By Lakshman Indranath Keerthisinghe | Published on October 23, 2011 at 10:22 am

Triumphant tone by Western media on Gaddafi’s violent death is offensive

The war in Libya has something in common with the last phase of Sri Lanka’s own war, and can provide perspective on how Sri Lankan society must deal with its fallout. Like it happened in Sri Lanka with the LTTE, the remnants of the former Libyan army were encircled in the city of Sirte where, […]

By Dr. Jehan Perera | Published on October 23, 2011 at 7:09 am

Tyrants and Their Families: Gaddafis and Rajapaksas

“Muammar is leader of the revolution until the end of time…. When they (the protestors) are caught they will beg for mercy, but we will not be merciful.” — Muammar Gaddafi (Address to the Nation – 22.2.2011)

January 18, 2011, Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa, eldest son of President Rajapaksa (‘The Universally-Renowned Lord of the Three-Sinhala Lands’), met […]

By Tisaranee Gunasekara | Published on October 22, 2011 at 7:43 am