Yearly Archives: 2011

Lasantha’s murder suspect dies in custody – Editor’s wife Sonali calls for inquiry

Is there more to the sudden death of 40 year old Pitchai Jesudasan, the main suspect in the Lasantha Wickrematunge murder case?
Lasantha’s wife calls for inquiry
Lasantha’s wife Sonali Samarasinghe Wickrematunge told this correspondent there appeared at first glance to be some kind of cover up in keeping with the rest of the botched investigation that […]

By Nirmala Kannangara | Published on October 22, 2011 at 6:22 am

Why the United States Should Continue to Engage the UN Human Rights Council

A little more than a year after the United States took its seat for the first time as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, debates
persist over whether it should have continued the Bush administration’s policy of disengaging from the UN’s primary human rights body. This debate largely revolves around the issue of […]

By Staff Correspondent | Published on October 20, 2011 at 9:41 am

US Congressmen meet Gotabaya Rajapakse in Colombo

A United States delegation including 03 Congressmen accompanied by Sri Lankan Ambassador to U.S and Mexico Jaliya Wickramasuriya met
Secretary Defence Mr. Gotabaya Rajapksa this evening (Oct 18).
The delegation led by Congressman Hon. Albert Benjamin Chandler, III, is currently on a three day visit to the island under the Sri Lanka- U.S Parliamentary Exchange Programme.
The delegates […]

By Staff Correspondent | Published on October 20, 2011 at 2:04 am

BREAKING NEWS: Rajapakse will not answer, summons published on pro LTTE websites says media chief

“Neither President Rajapakse nor I on his behalf will answer questions on war crimes, Director of the Presidential Media Unit told Lanka Standard today. The defiance from the Presidential Secretariat came
when Lanka Standard asked the President’s spokesperson how the President reacts to the new order by the US District Court on alternative service of summons.
Slammed […]

By Nirmala Kannangara | Published on October 18, 2011 at 11:27 am

Australian police study Sri Lanka ‘war crimes’ dossier

OCTOBER 18, 2011: War-torn island’s former navy chief is named by witnesses in documents filed in Perth
Police in Australia are examining a so-called “war crimes” dossier of information that claims to confirm Sri Lankan forces bombed and shelled civilians during the country’s civil war.
And activists have called on the Australian authorities to make use of […]

By Andrew Buncombe | Published on October 18, 2011 at 10:47 am

REPORT on HRC SESSIONS: “I am telling the Truth, and nothing but the Truth”

REPORT FROM UNHRC IN GENEVA SEPTEMBER 2011 SESSIONS: As far as the UN Human Rights Council-HRC and Sri Lanka are concerned, the 18th session is historic. The President of this session is the Ambassador of Uruguay, Ms Laura Dupuy Lasserre.
Same speech each time
Since the HRC was established in 2006, the Minister of Plantations of Sri […]

By S.V. Kirubaharan | Published on October 18, 2011 at 7:46 am

Reading the results of the Municipal Elections

Is this a functioning democracy or what? The governing coalition’s sweep of the local authorities election, the UNP’s successful resistance in a tough campaign in Colombo, as well as the TNA’s impressive performance at repeated elections in the North, make nonsense of the dark pronouncements
and forebodings of dictatorship. Homogenization leads to conformism, which crystallises into […]

By Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka | Published on October 18, 2011 at 2:53 am

Freedom isn’t free: Jaffna residents still being monitored

Police are circulating the attached form in Jaffna with instructions to fill and hand over to the Grama Sevaka by tomorrow October 18,2011. The image of the form attached is the one that was delivered at a home in Nallur. This was usually done under the under Emergency Regulations. However the government disingenuously allowed the […]

By Centre for Policy Alternatives | Published on October 18, 2011 at 12:17 am

Sri Lanka is not a free country says Freedom House

OCTOBER 17, 2011: Status: Not Free Legal Environment: 23 Political Environment: 30 Economic Environment: 18 Total Score: 71
Despite the end of the government’s long-running war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebel group in May 2009, media freedom remained restricted in Sri Lanka, with journalists subject to myriad forms of legal harassment and physical intimidation. Although the constitution
provides for freedom of expression, it […]

By | Published on October 18, 2011 at 12:04 am

Lawlessness and gun culture prevails in Sri Lanka: Now the murders of father, mother and two children in Udawalawe

While the whole nation was shocked by the multiple killings at Mulleriyawa, another set of gruesome murders have been reported from Puhulyaya, Panahakaduwa, in Udawalawe. A father M K Lalith (37), mother R Indrani Gnanalatha (32), son M K Dilan Chathuranga (12), daughter M K Nadeeka Sevuwandi (8) were killed due to a shooting which, […]

By | Published on October 17, 2011 at 10:17 pm