The Life Of A Sri Lankan Tamil Bishop In Danger

March 30, 2012
By Brian Senewiratne -

Dr. Brian Senewiratne

This is an urgent appeal to prevent the possible assassination/ ‘disappearance’ of the outspoken Roman Catholic Bishop of Mannar, his fellow Catholic priests in the North and East, and others, who call themselves ‘Civil Society’, who are the only voices of the Tamil people in this part ofSri Lanka.

I write, not as a concerned Christian, but as a concerned human being, to apprise the international community, including the Pope, of what might happen in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, as it likes to call itself.

Anyone who is even minimally aware of what is going on behind the closed and censored door of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Totalitarian State, will know, that murder is rampant, and accountability non-existent. Murder or ‘disappearance’ is the Government’s answer to anyproblem, and the only method of silencing the dissenting voice.

Bump them off Read More

Already more than a dozen Christian priests, mainly Roman Catholics, have been murdered, abducted or have simply gone missing – “disappeared”. In the Sinhalese South, it is the dreaded ‘white van’ with no number plates that arrives. The victim is bundled in and that is that.

The bombing of the Madhu Church in Mannar.
Other human rights activists threatened
The opposition to Bishop Joseph
The political party of the Buddhist monks (JHU)
Sinhalese clergy and civilians 

Sri Lanka: Stop threats and incitement of violence against human rights defenders who engaged at the UN Human Rights Council

Wednesday, 28 March 2012

Thematics: Human Rights Defenders,Protection of HRDs

Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) received information regarding threats, harassment, intimidation, vilification and incitement to violence against Sri Lankan human rights defenders in connection with their views on accountability issues in Sri Lanka. These threats are part of a hate campaign directed against human rights defenders who have engaged with the 19^th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council (Council) and supported the recent adoption of the Council resolution on “promoting reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka” (A/HRC/19/L.2). The resolution urges the Sri Lankan government to implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and probe alleged abuses of international humanitarian law at the end of the war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE).
Human rights defenders present at the Council in Geneva and repeatedly identified, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Dr. Nimalka Fernando, Ms. Sunila Abeysekera and Mr. Sunanda Deshapriya, are particularly targeted for their support of the resolution. They have been depicted as traitors and accused of supporting the LTTE as well as spreading lies about the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, with the view to undermine the legitimacy of their work.[1] Furthermore, Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella insinuated that the defenders present at the Council “betrayed the motherland for dollars after enjoying free education and health services,” and that “they are worse than the foreign elements”.[2]
The present series of accusations started in January 2012 and have been spread through State-controlled TV and radio stations and appear in pro-government print and online news in Sri Lanka. The continuous daily coverage, which provides names and photographs of the defenders, contains thinly-veiled threats of retaliation which has only compounded the climate of fear under which defenders work in the country and has had a chilling effect as comments to online news items by the general public have clearly incited violence. One comment to an article questioned whether there was anyone willing to set fire to Ms. Sunila Abeysekera’s home.[3] Another article suggests that in a country like Iran these “kinds of bastards would be stoned in public”.[4]
The adoption of the Council’s resolution on 22 March 2012 has further intensified the hate campaign against supporters of the resolution. On 23 March 2012, speaking at a protest against the UN resolution on Sri Lanka, Minister of Public Relations Mervyn Silva named Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Dr. Nimalka Fernando and Mr. Sunanda Deshapriya as traitors. He threatened to “break their limbs” in public if they dare to set foot in the country.[5] The Minister also claimed responsibility for the eventual exile of journalist and free press activist Mr. Poddala Jayantha, who left Sri Lanka in 2009 after being abducted and severely beaten up. He stated that President Mahinda Rajapaksa would not take any action against him as “even if a tsunami flowed from Sigiriya, no tsunami would flow against him from Rajapaksa”.[6]
On 23 March 2012, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Navi Pillay warned that there must be no reprisals against Sri Lankan human rights defenders.[7] She noted with concern the unacceptable level of threats, harassment and intimidation directed at Sri Lankan activists who had travelled to Geneva to engage in the debate, including by members of the Sri Lankan government delegation. During the plenary sessions of Council as well as in parallel events, members of Sri Lanka’s delegation carrying diplomatic UN identity cards were seen photographing at close range Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Ms. Nimalka Fernando, Ms. Sunila Abeysekera and Mr. Sunanda Deshapriya and harassing them verbally.
In a statement released by Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Ms. Nimalka Fernando and Ms. Sunila Abeysekera on 21 March 2012, they expressed that as human rights defenders they will remain committed to their ideals and goals to defeat impunity in Sri Lanka and to build strong system of justice and accountability for human rights violations. Thus, it is the government of Sri Lanka’s duty to ensure protection of these human rights defenders including those engaging with inter-governmental processes, instead of putting their lives in danger.

Suggested action:
Please send letters to the government of Sri Lanka to raise your deep concern regarding the intimidation of Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Dr. Nimalka Fernando, Ms. Sunila Abeysekera,Mr. Sunanda Deshapriya and other Sri Lankan human rights defenders who supported the Council’s resolution on reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, urge the Sri Lankan government and State-controlled media to immediately end their hate campaign and incitement of violence against human rights defenders in accordance with Article 12(2) of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders that the State has to take necessary measures to ensure protection as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred in the Declaration. Remind them that Article 11 of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders states that “everyone has the right […] to the lawful exercise of his or her occupation or profession and that everyone who, as a result of his profession, can affect the human dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms of others should respect those rights and freedoms and comply with relevant national and international standards of occupational and professional conduct or ethics.”
FORUM-ASIA is closely monitoring the situation of human rights defenders who have engaged with the UNHRC, particularly those who supported the UN resolution on Sri Lanka. We encourage fellow human rights defenders to express their concern by sending a copy of your letters to the officials below, to the Sri Lankan Embassy in your country and to FORUM-ASIA.[ Read more ]

Headlines Today reporter gets award

March 29, 2012

Headlines Today correspondent Priyamvatha won the best Investigative report award for capturing the fear and insecurity of Sri Lankan Tamils during the civil war.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

William Hague faces legal action over Sri Lankan diplomat war crimes claim

Sam Jones guardian.co.uk, Friday 30 March 2012

Foreign secretary William Hague has warned of the facing the world if Iran acquires nuclear weapons. Photograph: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/Getty Images

Tamil group to bring judicial review against foreign secretary over refusal to declare military attache persona non grata

An organisation representing the international Tamil diaspora is taking legal action against William Hague over the Foreign Office's failure to confront a senior Sri Lankan diplomat accused of complicity in crimes against humanity during the final stages of the island's civil war.

The Global Tamil Forum has instructed the law firm Birnberg, Peirce and Partners to bring a judicial review against the foreign secretary for his refusal to declare Major General Prasanna Silva – now the military attache to the Sri Lankan High Commission in London – persona non grata.

The forum alleges that Silva, who has lived in the UK since 2010, was involved in systematic attacks on Tamil civilians between January and May 2009 when he was a senior commander in the Sri Lankan army.

In a letter confirming instruction, the law firm writes: "You have informed us that the Global Tamil Forum and other organisations have made representations to the FCO with credible evidence of the offences allegedly committed by Major General Prasanna Silva during the war inSri Lanka. However, hitherto, the FCO has failed to declare Maj Gen Silva and his family personae non grata."

The letter notes that the FCO has it in its power to ask a foreign government to waive an individual's diplomatic immunity so that they can be arrested and questioned by police.

It adds that if there is "sufficient evidence to justify court proceedings" – and if the foreign government still refuses to lift immunity – the Foreign Office can ask for the withdrawal of the individual and their family or declare them "personae non grata". The letter also points out that theMetropolitan police arrests 20-30 diplomats a year.

The Foreign Office said it had not yet received any correspondence relating to legal action by the GTF, but added: "We have been approached by several NGOs regarding allegations that war crimes were committed by Major-General Silva. We take such allegations very seriously and advised the NGOs that if there was credible evidence, they should pass it to the Metropolitan police."

A Scotland Yard spokesman would not comment on suggestions that the force was investigating allegations that Maj Gen Silva had been involved in war crimes, saying only: "We can confirm that we have received information and we are unable to discuss [it] further."

The Sri Lanka High Commission said she was unaware of the GTF's legal action and declined to comment on allegations that Maj Gen Silva was involved in crimes against humanity.

The commission has previously described such allegations as "highly spurious and uncorroborated" and accused British media of seeking "entirely falsely, to implicate members of the Sri Lankan government and senior military figures" in such acts.

The Global Tamil Forum told the Guardian that the diaspora would take legal action against anyone suspected of involvement in war crimes.

"Every alleged war criminal of Sri Lanka must know that the Tamils will not rest until justice is served for the terrible crimes they are alleged to have committed," he said.

"This along with other legal proceedings must send a message to the regime that they are not welcome on the international scene. There remain other alleged war criminals in Australia and in New York where we will start proceedings soon."

Foreign Minister cannot have a personal stance of his own: MaRa Govt. in deep turmoil - Foreign Lawyers say

-at this rate appointment of a war Tribunal is inevitable

(Lanka-e-News-30.March.2012, 11.50PM) A group of Lawyers in Washington stated that the Govt. by vacillating and failing to arrive at a definite stance pertaining to the Geneva resolutions, and making blind and contradictory announcements is creating a serious dent in the image of SL while they are also militating against the country . • Dr. G L Peiris officially announced earlier that no matter the consequence, the Govt. will not act based on the Geneva resolutions . Subsequently the Cabinet spokesman , another Minister of this same moribund Govt. contradicted Dr. Peiris’ stance and declared that it was not the official stance of the Govt. However when Dr. Peiris reiterated his earlier announcement in Parliament today , it created a big confusion , and according to the Washington Lawyers speaking to Lanka e news , this is detrimental to SL. They point out that internationally a personal stance of the foreign Minister is not acceptable , for on some day , the President too can make an announcement and say it is his personal stance which the world will not accept. Now , not only Geneva but even Washington is focused on the happenings in SL . The same lawyers asserted ,Washington is rudely shocked and disillusioned over the following recent incidents in SL: • When Robert O Blake was in Colombo , a suspect brought to court with security was abducted by the white Van criminals while the suspect was still within the court precincts. • The release of the white Van criminals scot free by the Govt. after they were captured in Kolonnawa and handed over to the police . • When the Western province member was abducted and was being transported in the white van, after phone calls were made to the President and defense Secretary , the victim was released by the white van criminals following instructions from the top. The Washington Lawyers asked , why the SL legal sphere does not give advice to the Govt. on this issue ? They stated that earlier they proffered advice to this stupidly arrogant Govt. but , since they did not pay heed at all , they are requesting Lanka e news to reveal this information. Though it is Mahinda Rajapakse who has been the President for the longest period only second to the former President J R Jayawardena , the former had not been adept in his approach to diplomatic dealings. The Washington Lawyers regretted that they have never witnessed this amount of monumental diplomatic bungling in SL before. They added that the bird brained attitude of Rajapakse towards foreign relations is fast plunging the country into total chaos .If the International human rights Council resolutions are unheeded and discarded , the UN security Council can bring a proposal against the Govt. ,and based on that , a War tribunal with judicial powers could be appointed to investigate the war crimes, the Washington Lawyers warned. Such a tribunal is not an international war court, but vested with sweeping powers more than an international court, they noted. Although Ranil Wickremesinghe says, as we have not signed the Rome treaty , a SL citizen cannot be hauled up before the International court, that rule does not apply to a war tribunal appointed by the International Security Council , the Washington lawyers pinpointed . Besides Ranil’s view is untenable because if justice is to be meted out according to what Ranil says, any murderous regime , (MaRa’s not excluded ) in this world can disclaim criminal liability by not signing these treaties and claim’ we are free. You can’t touch us’. The lawyers emphasized that the laws have been enacted and promulgated in this world from a different standpoint.

When Non-Solidarity Means Doom

March 30th, 2012
by Kim Petersen

The twenty-first century calamity that happened in Sri Lanka augurs unpropitiously for the Palestinians in Palestine. In 2009, the Sinhalese majority — backed indirectly by many nations of the world including Canada, the United States, China, India, Iran, Arab states,¹ Israel, and (what author Ron Ridenour and other solidarity activists find most surprising) Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua — militarily defeated the Tamils.

The plight of the Tamils is chronicled in Ron Ridenour’s book, Tamil Nation in Sri Lanka (Chennai: New Century Bookhouse, 2011). The oppression and genocide experienced by the Tamils is not as well-known as the occupation, oppression, and genocide experienced by the Palestinians even though it is of much longer duration.

I had known that many Tamils lived in Canada having escaped persecution back home. However, in 1997, I became more intimately familiar with the civil war in Sri Lanka while working in Maldives. Many of the workers — and some of my colleagues — were from Sri Lanka. I heard complaints that Tamils were discriminated against because of their language and religion. Worse were the tales of bloodthirsty pogroms of Sinhalese against the Tamils, including torture, murder, rapes — all this committed by Buddhists, people supposedly seeking enlightenment.

(Full article …)

Peninsula’s misreading of an island’s crimes

The Pionee

Author: BR Haran

India should not have bowed to the United States’ hectoring at UNHRC and seen through the West’s agenda. Instead of backing empty resolutions New Delhi should address the real concerns of the hapless Tamil minority in Sri Lanka

While delivering his Victory speech in Parliament on May 19, 2009, President Rajapaksa said in Tamil, “The war against the LTTE is not a war against the Tamil people. Our aim was to liberate our Tamil people from the clutches of the LTTE. Protecting the Tamil speaking people of this country is my responsibility. That is my duty. All the people of this country should live in safety without fear and suspicion. All should live with equal rights. That is my aim. Let us all get together and build up this nation.”

In the course of his speech, in the pretext of looking back at 2,500 years of history, he specifically addressed the Tamil Kings (Datiya, Pitiya, Palayamara, Siva and Elara) as “invaders” and said that the Buddhist kings (Dutugemunu, Valagamba, Dhatusena and Vijayabahu) defeated them and brought freedom to the Sinhalese.

Full Story>>>

MaRa regime abysmal bungling unstoppable: Foreign Minister again says Geneva resolutions will not be followed

(Lanka-e-News-30.March.2012, 11.50PM) The foreign Minister Dr. G L Peiris reiterated in Parliament that the Govt. will not under any circumstance concur in the resolutions adopted at the Geneva human rights sessions. He added that the Govt. has decided to have a debate in Parliament on this matter on the 3rd and 4th April. The Minister G L Peiris speaking further said, at that stage the Govt. will reveal its official stand. The Govt.’s own Cabinet spokesman yesterday however rejected the statement made by Dr. Pieris earlier as not the official stance of the Govt. But today Dr. Peiris reiterated that his previous announcement is the Govt.’s official stand. 6 motions were tabled today regarding the financial allocations to be passed on the 1st of next month in Parliament. In addition the Parliament authorized three months leave to Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe from 21st January.

MaRa regime abysmal bungling unstoppable: Foreign Minister again says Geneva resolutions will not be followed

Clouds on the Sri Lankan horizon for China

Mar 31, 2012
By Peter Lee
China's relationship with the regime of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is rock solid. Chinese arms were instrumental in the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in 2009 that brought their insurgency to an end after 27 bloody years. China is the largest provider of foreign aid and investment to the island.

And on March 22, when the United Nations' Human Rights Council (UNHRC) considered a resolution censuring Sri Lanka for shortcomings in its investigation of possible violations of international law during the war, and a deficit of credible post-conflict reconciliation initiatives, Beijing voted "no" - while India voted "yes".

Thanks in significant part to India's vote and example, the resolution - which the Sri Lankan government was extremely
anxious to see fail, and had dispatched a 72-person team to Geneva to lobby against - passed.

Sifting through the wreckage, Sri Lankan media noted that, if abstentions were counted with the "no" votes, the resolution had carried by only one vote - India's. Full Story>>>

Clouds on the Sri Lankan horizon for China

U.N. Sri Lanka Vote Redefines India’s Regional Role

By AMANTHA PERERA | March 30, 2012

In the early months of 2009 when Sri Lanka’s war was reaching its final crescendo, frantic calls were made to Colombo by Sri Lankan diplomats at the United Nations headquarters in New York. According to a top Sri Lankan diplomat, some calls were directly to Mahinda Rajapaksa himself, warning the Sri Lankan president that the U.S., Britain and France were contemplating unilateral action against the government for the conduct of its war against the Tamil Tigers.

The Rajapaksa government, poised to claim a decisive victory in the three-decades-old war, was in no mood for outside meddling – though it did accept a helping hand from an old trusted friend. Indian diplomats told supporters of action against Sri Lanka that New Delhi was against any kind of foreign intervention, a move that eased pressure on Colombo considerably. By mid May 2009, just a few months after those frantic calls, the war was over, and the Tigers vanquished.

Read more: http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2012/03/30/u-n-sri-lanka-vote-redefines-indias-regional-role/#ixzz1qh00vcF2

Sri Lanka: Targeting a daughter of a journalist in exile by the government backed media in Sri Lanka should be condemned

March 29th, 2012

NfR Sri Lanka, a network of Sri Lankan journalists and human rights defenders, vehemently condemns the virulent campaign launched by the Government backed media in Sri Lanka , against a daughter of a journalist in exile, in the wake of Human Rights Council’s resolution on accountability in Sri Lanka . This is a deliberate effort to suppress dissenting views being expressed in the country.

ITN the State controlled TV channel has shown visuals of the daughter of the exiled journalist Poddala Jayantha, 24 times over last few weeks.

Award winning journalist and defender of press freedom, Poddala Jayantha was abducted, tortured and left to die in June 2009, presumably by a state sponsored killer squad, after he returned to the Island from India after staying there temporarily for security reasons. He fled to the United States of America with his family in early 2010 as threats to his life didn’t cease and lives in New York .

Jayantha’s daughter, a 13 year old student was shown walking with her father as a back ground visuals on State controlled television while the journalist was blamed by the commentator for unfounded anti-government activities.

NfR considers the use of visuals of an innocent child as a back ground to dangerous attacks on her father, to be a crime that should be condemned in the strongest terms and its perpetrators should be brought to justice.

NfR condemned this unethical and totally unacceptable behaviour of the Sri Lankan state media and holds the GoSL responsible for this action. GoSL continues to keep a complete control over state media by appointing the members to its board of directors, editor s and even news casters. There is no truth in the statement that State media is free and GoSL is not responsible for these virulent attacks on journalists.

The NfR joins the growing local and international opposition to hostile rhetoric by GoSL against journalists, press freedom defenders and human rights defenders in the wake of the passing of a resolution at the UN HRC demanding the implementation of the recommendations of the LLRC.

NfR calls upon human rights organisations to voice their strong opposition to all these attacks and demands that GoSL should tender an open apology to the daughter of journalist Poddala Jayantha.

Steering Committee, NfR Sri Lanka

Steering committee : Kshama Ranawana ( Canada ) Lionel Bopage ( Australia ), Nadarasa Sarawanan ( Norway ), Nadarajah Kuruparan (UK) Padmi Liyanage ( Germany ), Raveendran Pradeepan ( France ), Rudhramoorthy Cheran ( Canada ), Saman Wagaarachchi ( USA ), Sunanda Deshapriya ( Switzerland )

Written by editor

Cricket amid war crimes unpunished

Jon Snow

Cricket’s vast achievement in Sri Lanka today is to have conjured a blanket of turf, leather, and willow that saves most of us from having to think of Sri Lanka in any other light. But elsewhere on this sumptuous isle there is a bad light that stopped play altogether – play amongst the children women and men who died in the closing weeks of Sri Lanka’s civil war. The beguiling, tiny, round, ground at Galle in the south is as far from the Jaffna Peninsula as you can reach without leaving the country altogether.

The English cricketing authorities plumped to resume ‘business as usual’ in a country which is facing international excoriation in the light of a growing mountain of evidence pointing to horrific war crimes.

Amid the sweat, the heat, and the romance of this colonial ground, cricket has ensured that a whole world of sport is absorbed in a game, whilst the fate of up to 40,000 civilians (UN expert panel estimate) slaughtered on fields on the very same island lie unaddressed and largely unmentioned.

It is just three years since the Sri Lankan military herded 120,000 Tamils into an ever decreasing ‘no fire’ zone. Every time the Tamils moved, they moved their ragged shelters and their makeshift clinics with them. As in all war, the International Red Cross identified the clinics to the ‘other side’ to safeguard them from bombardment. That ‘other side’ was the government side, whose shells rained down on the fragile facilities. As the military shrank the ‘no fire’ zones, so the shelling and bombing intensified.

By the end, the United Nations estimates that up to 40,000 women, children and men lay dead. The Tamil Tigers are not blameless of course – the UN’s expert panel found credible evidence of war crimes on either side, but the vast majority of deaths were caused by government shelling.

Widespread access to simple mobile phones ensured that many Sri Lankans recorded what happened – either as fleeing Tamil refugees, or as triumphant soldiers recording the trophy footage of their own abuse, raping, and killing.

This is the footage that contributed to Channel 4‘s ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields – War Crimes Unpunished‘.

In normalising life as soon as possible, the cricketing authorities have been joined by the leaders of the Commonwealth, who have decided to hold their 2013 meeting in Sri Lanka. The leaders have chosen to ignore the UN Human Rights Committee vote calling upon Sri Lanka to investigate the evidence of war crimes thoroughly and hold those responsible to account. That Commonwealth meeting will be presided over by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

And who is he? The evidence laid out in the ‘Killing Fields’ documentary points to the direct involvement of Mr Rajapaksa and his brother, the defence minister, in the massacre in the closing weeks of Sri Lanka’s civil war. They have yet to be properly investigated – the Sri Lankan authorities categorically reject the evidence and the allegations as ‘malicious’. For the two men at the top of Sri Lanka, ‘normalisation’ cannot come fast enough.

Relief projects for the displaced in the North to end by July

Friday, 30 March 2012

The government has decided to conclude the UNHCR project in the North to provide assistance in the resettling of the displaced persons in the North and helping them commence a livelihood. The project commenced on June 1st, 2007 and is to conclude on June 30th, 2012.

The UNHCR conducted the project together with the Resettlement Ministry and provided financial assistance, resettled the displaced and coordinated work related to providing a better life for the people in the North. The project also collected monthly data to analyze and provided a progress report to the authorities and other organizations involved in providing relief to the people.

The Resettlement Ministry has recorded the number of displaced persons as 270,000 and states that while 97% of the people have been resettled, only 6,040 persons remained to be resettled.

The Ministry also states that while the persons to be resettled have to be provided with assistance, they cannot be resettled until the de-mining is completed in their hometowns.

Lanka accuses US of adopting double standards

Colombo: Citing America's close ally Israel's decision to sever ties with the UN Human Rights Council, Sri Lanka on Thursday accused the US of adopting double standards saying Washington was against any global involvement in the Jewish state but did not follow the same policy for Colombo.

"Israel has taken this step (to cut ties with UNHRC) despite losing the vote (against it) 36 to 1. Only US supported them. How do you explain US position when Israel says they are withdrawing from UNHRC?" Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, a deputy minister and the government's acting spokesman, told reporters.
He was referring to the Council's decision to launch a fact-finding mission into Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Abeywardena asserted that the Sri Lankan government too was totally against foreign interference in the country.

His comments came days after the UNHRC approved in Geneva a US-backed resolution censuring Sri Lanka over its rights record.

"America, which has stated at the Geneva session that an international inference is needed in Sri Lanka, objected against such an involvement in Israel," he noted.

Israeli Premier Benjamin Natanyahu has charged the UNHRC of bias for ordering an investigation into Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank.

Israel has said the UNHRC mission would not be granted permission to enter the country.

Asked if Sri Lanka planned to sever ties with UNHRC, Abeywardena replied in the negative.

"What I want to highlight is the inconsistency in the process."

He, however, said the government was yet to make its official stand known on the resolution.

"The Cabinet has not taken any decision on the resolution yet," he stressed.

Earlier, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister GL Peiris had said the government had taken a decision not to abide by the resolution.

However, Abeywardena said the government would be issuing its official statement very soon.

The US-moved resolution which had sought to commit Sri Lanka for expeditious implementation of the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) was adopted by 24-15 with 8 abstentions last week.

Sri Lanka resisted the move to present the resolution claiming it was a biased action by the West to prop up the pro-LTTE diaspora.

PTI 

Sri Lanka to take some websites to court

March 30, 2012

COLOMBO, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka is to file legal action against some websiteswhich published defamatory articles on the Sri Lankan president and his family, anofficial said Thursday.

Cabinet spokesman Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena told reporters on Thursday that hehad submitted a report to President Mahinda Rajapaksa regarding websites whichcontinuously target the president.

Abeywardena said that while Sri Lankan newspapers and the electronic media can bemonitored and approached for clarifications, it is difficult to do the same on the variouswebsites which publish articles on Sri Lanka from unknown locations both in Sri Lankaand overseas.

He said that these websites which are not registered with the Media Ministry violatemedia ethics and the media culture.

The Sri Lankan government had recently requested news websites operating in SriLanka to register with the government.

However of the 100 applications received only 50 were registered as the rest had failedto meet the stipulated requirements, the government said.

Abeywardena said that appropriate action will be taken against the websites which havean agenda for tarnishing the image of the president and subsequently legal action willalso be considered.

Posted by Thavam  

Iranian ships registered under the Sri Lankan flag

Friday, 30 March 2012  

Details about four commercial vessels that have been registered under the Sri Lankan flag and three other vessels that are to be registered in the same manner on a directive by President Mahinda Rajapksa following a request by the Iranian leader have now surfaced.

These Iranian vessels have been registered under the Sri Lankan flag on a Presidential directive in order to assist Iran overcome the sanctions imposed on the country by the US.

Following are the four vessels that have been registered under the Sri Lankan flag:

1. BV/RODERTINA (former name DIANPHE)

2. BV/RICIDA (former name GLORY)

3. BV/VALENTIA (former name BEGONIA)

4. BV/VERONICA (former name GLOXINIA)

Following are the three Iranian vessels that are currently in the process of being registered:

1. GL/IMELDA (former name TANDIS)

2. GL/GRACIA (former name SALIS)

3. GL/PLARISA (former name PARDIS)