09/28/2011
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The Globe and Mail
With 300,000 Tamils living in Canada, the demand that Colombo reconcile with its minority is based on a mixture of principle and politics
07/24/2011
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BBC
Sri Lanka's biggest Tamil party wins local elections in the former war zone in the north and east, in a rare electoral setback for the government.
07/18/2011
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International Crisis Group
Reconciliation will slip further out of reach if the government maintains its policies. As part of broader efforts to counter false narratives put forth by it and by Tiger apologists alike and to restore the badly damaged rule of law, Sri Lanka’s partners should take immediate steps. Aid money should not be delivered without firm knowledge of how it will be spent, which requires extensive monitoring. Assertions that the government is moving towards reconciliation must be tested against realities on the ground, which means insisting on access. The Rajapaksas’ authoritarianism must be challenged directly and publicly, with strong messages against retrograde constitutional changes and centralisation of power. An international inquiry into alleged atrocities by both the government and LTTE is needed; UN member states should actively work to establish one, unless the government shows by the end of 2011 that it is willing and able to ensure accountability on its own. Sri Lanka eventually should also have an independent, inclusive truth commission to examine injustices suffered by all communities. It requires a fair accounting of its violent history to avoid repeating it.
06/27/2011
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Groundviews
Indeed, the Government’s inadequate response to the problem of accountability for war atrocities does not bode well for the future of Sri Lanka. It lays the ground for suspicion, fueling calls for international action, which are then used by those in power to justify their repression of domestic critics—actions that only indicate growing authoritarianism and raise further questions. Evasions of accountability thus serve to undermine local efforts at post-war rebuilding and reconciliation, and in fact leave the back door open for those who would make an example of the state’s failures. These efforts toward truth and justice—and not the whitewash of an international propaganda battle–are the real challenges for a democratic Sri Lanka, as it strives for everyday and political reconciliation, and the prosperity of its citizens in the years to come.
After watching the Channel 4 film, many of us asked: What will the Government do now? If these scattered, frenzied “responses” are the answer, don’t the people of Sri Lanka—and in particular, the war-battered people in this film – deserve better?
06/26/2011
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The Sunday Leader
Growing international concern at what exactly went on during the closing stages of the war against the LTTE, was brought sharply into focus by Britain’s Channel 4 TV network. Since 2009 Channel 4 has covered the war situation in Sri Lanka’s north and matters came to a head with the broadcasting of the film, “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields” on June 14th.
Channel 4, GoSL, LTTE, media, war crimes
06/25/2011
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Ceylon Daily News
The fabricated Channel 4 video will harm the peace and unity of Sri Lanka and the region. This is a regional issue, said External Affairs Deputy Minister Neomal Perera during an interview with the Daily News.
He pointed out that relations of Tamils who came from India to work in estates still live in India. Therefore, the video creates hatred not only in Sri Lanka but also among countries in the region.
“It polarizes communities and harms regional peace and harmony,” he said.
06/24/2011
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The Island
NOTEBOOK OF A NOBODY<br /> by Shanie
A group of people who shared the vision and thinking of Thiranagama and the UTHR formed the Rajani Thiranagama Memorial Committee to remember the twentieth anniversary of Thiranagama’s assassination. The Committee continues to function and has taken the initiative in publishing, in collaboration with Vijitha Yapa Publications, the diaries of Ben Bavinck, a Dutch church worker, who was both a teacher of Thiranagama and a close friend of the founders and leaders of the UTHR. The diaries are published under the title ‘Of Tamils and Tigers - a journey through Sri Lanka’s war years’. The book was launched in London recently and the quotation at the head of this column is from the Introduction to the Diaries written by the Rajani Thiranagama Memorial Committee. Whereas the UTHR bulletins were based on investigative reporting by the authors, Bavinck’s dairies are personal reflections by the author during the period covered which is from 1988-1994. (A second volume covering the years 1994-2004 is under preparation.) The bulletins and the diaries therefore complement each other in providing the only accurate and independent recording of the events of that period in our country’s troubled past.
06/23/2011
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International Crisis Group
India has long been the country with the greatest influence over Sri Lanka but its policies to encourage the government there towards a sustainable peace are not working. Despite India’s active engagement and unprecedented financial assistance, the Sri Lankan government has failed to make progress on pressing post-war challenges. Government actions and the growing political power of the military are instead generating new grievances that increase the risk of an eventual return to violence. To support a sustainable and equitable post-war settlement in Sri Lanka and limit the chances of another authoritarian and military-dominated government on its borders, India needs to work more closely with the United States, the European Union and Japan, encouraging them to send the message that Sri Lanka’s current direction is not acceptable. It should press for the demilitarisation of the north, a return to civil administration there and in the east and the end of emergency rule throughout the country.
06/20/2011
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New York Times
The Sri Lankan government must respond to a damning U.N. report about its conduct in the civil war.
06/15/2011
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The Sunday Leader
The Government has said it would check on the documentary on alleged war crimes committed in Sri Lanka during the war aired by Britain’s Channel 4 on Tuesday night.<br />Government Spokesperson, Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella has told the media that the government would have its own forensic experts and foreign experts to look and inquire into the footage.