Monthly Archives: April 2012

All Mosques, Kovils, Churches to be paid and evicted from Buddhist Sacred City – ADC

In a new twist to the Dambulla mosque saga the Secretary of Religious Affairs Ministry in a meeting with officials of the Dambulla Divisional Secretariat held in Dambulla April 24, 2012 discussed an accelerated programme to pay compensation to mosques, kovils and other religious entities to leave the Dambulla Sacred city with immediate effect.
H.S.K.J Bandara […]

By Nirmala Kannangara | Published on April 25, 2012 at 9:17 pm

Rajapakse govt looks on as religious intolerance soars

Concerned Citizens’ Statement Against Religious Intolerance
It is with great concern that we the undersigned protest against the growing trend of increasing religious intolerance in Sri Lanka with regard to minority religions. We specifically condemn the recent violent attack on the
Mosque in Dambulla by a group of anti social actors. The Hindu community has also been […]

By Staff Correspondent | Published on April 25, 2012 at 8:44 pm

‘No provision for any other faith only Buddhism so move the mosque,’ says Thero

Muslim heavy weights in Mahinda Rajapakse’s government – Urban Affairs (Senior) Minister AHM Fowzie and Governor Western Province Alavi Moulana came out strongly against the government’s plan to relocate the Muslim mosque at Kandalama in Dambulla yesterday.
They told the Lanka Standard that under no circumstance will they agree to a proposed plan to relocate the […]

By Nirmala Kannangara | Published on April 25, 2012 at 8:24 pm

Israel ‘Ready to Act’ on Iran – Defense Forces Chief

The Israeli Defense Forces [IDF] are prepared and ready to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, Chief of Staff Benny Gantz told the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper in an interview published Sunday.
“In principle, we are ready to act,” the army chief said just ahead of Israel’s Independence Day, reports Ynet.com.
Gantz emphasized that 2012 was going to be “a […]

By | Published on April 23, 2012 at 10:59 pm

Facing up to the next challenge in Geneva

Periodic review
In the aftermath of the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva in March of this year where a special resolution on Sri Lanka was passed, Sri Lanka now faces the Universal Periodic Review that commences in October of this year. This is a mechanism that was established by the UN Human Rights Council […]

By Dr. Jehan Perera | Published on April 23, 2012 at 1:01 pm

Obama to target foreign nationals’ use of new technologies in human rights abuses

Executive Order
President Obama will issue an executive order Monday that will allow U.S. officials for the first time to impose sanctions against foreign nationals found to have used new technologies, from cellphone tracking to Internet
monitoring, to help carry out grave human rights abuses.
Social media and cellphone technology have been widely credited with helping democracy advocates […]

By Washington Post | Published on April 23, 2012 at 12:39 pm

Sri Lanka rejects call to withdraw troops from north

Mahinda Rajapakse Sri Lanka’s president has rejected a call by Indian legislators to withdraw soldiers from the island’s former war zone in the north where minority Tamils are concentrated, his spokesman said yesterday.
President Mahinda Rajapakse told a delegation of visiting Indian lawmakers that troops could not be pulled out despite the end of the decades-long […]

By AFP | Published on April 23, 2012 at 12:23 pm

Monks threaten to demolish mosque in Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan Government has ordered a mosque relocated after Buddhist monks said the 50-year-old structure had been built illegally in an area sacred to Buddhists and threatened to demolish it.
The monks in the island nation’s central town of Dambulla protested against the mosque on Friday, stopping the Islamic prayers, and threatened violence if it […]

By | Published on April 23, 2012 at 12:14 pm

India calls for genuine political reconciliation in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO: A visiting delegation of Indian legislators said on Saturday April 21, 2012 that they had urged Sri Lanka to go for genuine political reconciliation, Xinhua news agency reported.
Speaking to reporters at the conclusion of a six-day trip to Sri Lanka, Indian opposition leader Sushma Suwaraj who led the delegation said that they were satisfied […]

By | Published on April 23, 2012 at 12:04 pm

Of political appointments and disservice to the nation

Let none presume to wear an undeserved dignity,
Of that estates, degrees and offices were not derived corruptly
And that clear honour were purchased by the merit of the wearer
William Shakespeare –The Merchant of Venice disservice
The recent defeat of Sri Lanka at the vote taken to pass the US sponsored resolution on the protection of human rights […]

By Lakshman Indranath Keerthisinghe | Published on April 23, 2012 at 11:42 am