Gagging the media
The full extent of the outrage committed in Weliweriya unfolds slowly but surely, in spite of crude attempts to gag the
media. Grisly details continue to emerge from the countless testimonies of the bereaved, the assault victims, their relatives and the rest of the community. It’s unlikely that dozens of village people would […]

 
Our correspondent  in Weliweriya and Rathupaswala
“When the army started firing, most of us ran to St Anthony’s Church, Weliweriya. The army then followed us to the church and started firing live ammunition that injured many. Then they threatened the people to kneel down on the church grounds and started assaulting with bicycle chains, clubs and […]

Responding to the brutal attack by the armed forces on Thursday (1st August) at Weliweriya, killing and injuring unarmed civilians demanding uncontaminated water, the Lawyers Collective strongly condemns the Government’s continuous ferocity against peaceful protesters. The Government has displayed total disrespect to the constitutional guarantees on civil liberties of its own citizens. Evidence clearly establishes […]

Assault rifles and flak jackets vs stones and slippers
Who deployed troops, clad in flak jackets (body armour) and armed with T-56 assault rifles to confront and disperse
a crowd of protestors blocking a highway? Who was the ultimate decision-maker? The protestors were not armed, certainly not with lethal weapons. Therefore, no real harm could have come […]

While I wish that Dayasiri Jayasekara had broken away from the UNP to form a new party rather than join the government, he has, I
must admit, made a smart move, as has his new leader Mahinda Rajapaksa. The smart move was not to cross the floor and accept a cabinet portfolio but to move out […]

Letter to Independent Television Network (ITN)
 
Mr. Rosmand Senaratne,
Chairman,
Independent Television Network (ITN),
Wickramasinghepura,
Battaramulla.
 
16 July 2013
 
Dear Mr. Senaratne,
 
I am writing with reference to the Sinhala language 7 pm news broadcast of the Independent Television Network (ITN) on Sunday 14th July 2013.
 
An item on this news bulletin stated that the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and I, organised a […]

• Informatics International Lanka demands US$ 76 M as compensation for losses suffered
• Alleges the formation of seven companies in violation of the shareholders’ agreement
Hot on the heels of allegations of tax evasions to the tune of Rs 9 billion through the repeated projection of losses, an arbitration case has been filed by Informatics International […]

“In sooth this was a very base madness and a most horrible frenzy.”
Anatole France (Monsieur Bergeret in Paris)
‘Nationalist Collective’ is the latest Rajapaksa-concoction, a toxic brew of fanatics and opportunists, ladled together in an effort to
convince Delhi that Sri Lanka is being inundated by a spontaneous anti-devolution wave. Addressing its inaugural rally, Rev. Galagoda-Atte Gnanasara […]

THE INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT AGAINST ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AND RACISM (IMADR) Japan has condemned
roundly the harassment of a Sri Lankan Human Rights Defender Dr. Nimalka Fernando by Sri Lankan Embassy staff in Tokyo. Fernando was heckled and interrupted during a seminar lecture delivered by her . Embassy staff also followed her and tried to intimidate and threaten […]

“Collective”- Bauddha Jathika Balavegaya (BJB) reborn!
“I know that my unity with all people cannot be destroyed by national boundaries and government orders.” — Leo Tolstoy
Ghosts from fifty five-years ago
The ghosts of the past, not from very distant one but from an era of exactly fifty five years ago, are invading our confused and troubled […]