The following is the full text of the speech by Mahinda Samarasinghe, Sri Lanka’s special Human Rights envoy, at the 19th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Not checked against delivery. I am honoured and privileged to be able to once again share with this august body, Sri Lanka’s experience in promoting and protecting the human rights of ...
The following is a piece I wrote for Ceylon Today trying to capture the moments and emotions on the day the verdict was delivered on the controversial White Flag case. The original was carried on CT, on November 19, 2011. It is reproduced below. Nalin Ladduwahetty, defence lawyer for former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, held on tightly to Anoma Fonseka’s ...
The following is a story filed for Ceylon Today, wrapping up today’s events at the United Nations Human Rights Commission. It’s written for tomorrow’s paper, hence the use “yesterday”. Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Geneva, Tamara Kunanayakam, yesterday lashed out at the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, saying that Sri Lanka “unreservedly dissents” with the observations made ...
Inch-sized holed on the walls of the Northern town of Kilinochchi remind the passers-by of the violence that erupted on the very ground that they now travel through. A lot has changed since Sri Lanka’s three-decade long brutal war came to a bloody end, with government forces completely annihilating the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elaam (LTTE). Kilinochchi saw some ...
Ceylon Today spoke to Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, the leader of the Tamil National Alliance. The 79-year old father of three is a parliamentarian representing the Trincomalee district. He started his political life in 1977 as the candidate for the Tamil United Liberation Front, and was elected to office. His seat was forfeited in 1983, after he refused to swear an oath ...
The following is an article a colleague of mine, Rasika Jayakody, wrote for Ceylon Today. I’m reproducing it here for access convenience. Rasika is our senior political affairs correspondent, but is unfortunately not on twitter. Premakumar Gunarathnam alias Kumar Mahaththaya is widely known as the elusive leader of the rebel group which is now baptized as the ‘Jana Aragala’ movement. ...
The following is a piece on the newly-opened Southern Expressway, and some of the issues that were brought up. Originally published on Ceylon Today on November 30, 2011. Less than a week into its operation the southern expressway has managed to throng up questions about its functionality and safety, which were brought to the public domain by experts, think tanks ...
Sri Lanka’s opposition parties have now, in the face of unprecedented fuel price hikes, pledged to continue protesting and agitating till the government reduced fuel prices. Several of the protest marches have been greeted with tear gas and water cannons, and in Chilaw one person died as a result of shooting when police reportedly opened fire onto the protesters. The ...
It is a matter of great satisfaction to us that 15 countries voted with Sri Lanka, despite the intensity of pressure, in a variety of forms, exerted on them all. We convey to them our warm thanks and deep appreciation. We also thank sincerely the eight countries which, by abstaining, declined to support the Resolution. With 15 countries voting with ...
Full text of address by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the 66th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Sep 23, 2011. I should have posted this a week or so back, but just got around to doing it. The video is available on YouTube, for anyone who is interested. Mr. President of the Sixty Sixth Session of ...
I’ve finally managed get myself an iPad. Yes, I’m going to play Angry Birds on it, and yes I want to read stuff on iBooks. Yes, I’ll be playing around with flipboard. But that’s not the main reason that I bough (iBought?) the iPad. I want to try and produce content on the road, including pictures, text and video, and ...
I’m typing this on my mobile whilst on my way to the Northern peninsula. Local government elections are scheduled for the weekend, ironically on ,July 23: the 28 anniversary of black July. I wanted to cover these elections since I came back to the country. For me, it’s like participatory democracy being re-born. I’ll be blogging, both on this and ...
The Colombo Municipal Council has been running under a Special Commissioner for the past few years, and whilst the city has seen many improvements over the period, it has not been without its critics. Critics say that the lack of elected representatives in the Council has led to a top-down process of development which is sometimes authoritarian. I spoke to ...
The following is a transcript distributed by the British High Commission in Colombo, of this year’s Lakshman Kadirgamar memorial lecture delivered by British Secretary of Defence, Dr. Liam Fox. The piece is an excellent read, and the subtleties that are there should be noted, when reading. CHECKED AGAINST DELIVERY BEGINS It was 16 years ago that I first met Lakshman ...
A fortnight ago, at an event organised by the Ministry of Defence, Governor of the Central Bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal said that he got free bananas from a shopkeeper in Jaffna. Speaking about the economic prosperity in Jaffna that the Central Bank has facilitated, Cabraal said: “I remember when I went to the market and I bought some plantains. The ...
I’m happy to tell you there is very little in this world that I believe in. Listening to the comedians who comment on political, social, and cultural issues, I notice most of their material reflects an underlying belief that somehow things were better once and that with just a little effort we could set them right again. They’re looking for ...
I woke up today to find a news alert from Reuters in my inbox, saying that Steve Jobs was dead. I’ve never been a fan of Apple, save for the iPad that I fell in love with the first time I held one in my hands. For me, however, the genius of Jobs was how he created needs that we ...
According to the Secretary to the Ministry of Higher Education, and I’m merely paraphrasing here. If you don’t show up for the first training, you have to come for the second batch. If you don’t show up for the second batch of training, we’ll put up a third batch. If you don’t come for the third batch, we won’t sell ...
Sri Lanka’s human rights record has, over the past few years, come under heavy scrutiny. This scrutiny is then followed by heavy, strongly worded criticism – from international human rights watchdog bodies, liberal governments around the world, and the island’s own set of human rights activists and rights defenders. Whilst most of the scrutiny has been focused on the final ...
The Asian Human Rights Commission released a report on Friday, which documents in detail 323 cases of police brutality in Sri Lanka. A statement released, says: The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has compiled a report of 1500 cases of police torture in Sri Lanka between 1998 and 2011. This particular report summarizes 323 of the most serious cases of ...