Category: Politics

JAFFNA, September 21, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils began voting Saturday to elect what they hope will give them a shot at self-rule after decades of ethnic bloodshed that claimed over 100,000 lives.Tamils in the country’s battle-scarred northern province are voting for the first time to elect a semi-autonomous council, in an election […]

UDAPPUWA, September 20, 2013 (AFP) – As Australia’s new government launches tough measures to halt asylum seekers arriving on boats, some dirt-poor fishermen and their families half a world away in Sri Lanka seem undeterred. Although Armugasamy did not fullfil his dream of resettling in Australia, he still hopes the journey was worth it. The […]

JAFFNA, September 18, 2013 (AFP) – Foreign observers held talks with officials and candidates in Sri Lanka’s former war zone Wednesday to ensure the region’s first elections to choose a semi-autonomous council pass off peacefully, officials said. Some 906 candidates are contesting the 36 seats in the Northern council which is going to the polls […]

COLOMBO, September 12, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Thursday released 736 convicts after they were given a presidential pardon to mark the country’s prisoner day, officials said. Convicts serving time for minor offences were granted the amnesty and walked free from 22 jails across the country, prisons department spokesman Gamini Kulatunga said. “The president […]

GENEVA, September 9, 2013 (AFP) – The UN rights chief Monday raised fresh concerns for the safety of Sri Lankan journalists and activists she said had been harassed by the authorities for meeting with her. Navi Pillay told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva she was worried about those she met during her week-long […]

COLOMBO, September 6, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s main Muslim political leader, who is also the justice minister, criticised his own government Friday for blaming religious tensions in the mainly Buddhist nation on Islamic fundamentalism.Rauf Hakeem said he had been “disturbed” by recent comments from the country’s defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapakse which warned of efforts […]

COLOMBO, September 2, 2013 (AFP) – A Catholic-run human rights group working in northeastern Sri Lanka said Monday it had been harassed by security personnel after meeting UN rights chief Navi Pillay last week.Pillay ended her first trip to the formerly war-ravaged country at the weekend with a stinging press conference in which she accused […]

COLOMBO, September 1, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s state-run media Sunday accused UN human rights chief Navi Pillay of being “prejudiced”, a day after she warned that the island was becoming “increasingly authoritarian”.Pillay ended a fact-finding mission to the country to probe allegations of war crimes Saturday by saying Sri Lanka was a place where […]

August 30, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s President Friday suggested UN human rights chief Navi Pillay had pre-judged his Indian Ocean island, according to a statement from his office, as the nation faces allegations of war crimes.President Mahinda Rajapakse, in face-to-face talks with Pillay, told her that Sri Lankans believe that the UN is biased, […]

COLOMBO, August 31, 2013 (AFP) – UN human rights chief Navi Pillay on Saturday accused Sri Lanka of becoming “increasingly authoritarian”, with activists facing growing military harassment four years after the end of a civil war.Rajapakse’s government has since been dogged by claims of indiscriminate killing of ethnic minority Tamils. Pillay charged that military officials […]