Sri Lanka must investigate reported attack on journalist

(CPJ, July 29, 2011)-- Authorities in Sri Lanka should immediately investigate a reported brutal assault on Gnanasundaram Kuhanathan, news editor of the Tamil-language daily Uthayan, said the Committee to Protect Journalists.

"We are extremely concerned for Gnanasundaram Kuhanathan and hope for his speedy recovery," said Robert Mahoney, CPJ deputy director. "For too long Sri Lankan authorities have been indifferent about the targeted attacks, killings and disappearances endured by journalists. That must end."

Kuhanathan, who was assaulted Friday near his home in northern Sri Lanka by a group wielding iron bars, is being treated for serious head injuries, according to reports on exile-run websites. Uthayan offices and staff have been attacked repeatedly while reporting in predominantly Tamil northern Sri Lanka, according to CPJ research. In the past decade, nine murders of journalists in the country have gone unsolved.

http://cpj.org/2011/07/sri-lanka-must-investigate-reported-attack-on-jour.php

Sri Lanka 'war crimes' soldiers ordered to 'finish the job'

(Channel 4 News )

Exclusive: two Sri Lankans who witnessed the violent final showdown of the country's 26-year civil war claim a top military commander and Sri Lanka's defence secretary ordered war crimes.

One of these eyewitnesses, an army officer, accuses Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa - the president's brother - of ordering Brigadier Shavendra Silva to execute Tamil rebel leaders, whose safe surrender had been guaranteed by the president.

The other new witness, who was also operating with Brigadier Shavendra Silva's 58 Division on the front line during the final assault, claims the Brigadier was ordered by the defence secretary "to finish the job by whatever means necessary."

http://www.channel4.com/news/sri-lanka-war-crimes-soldiers-ordered-to-finish-the-job

The international community's anger against Sri Lanka may soon be shown in the sports arena

[ Weekend Leader- P C Vinoj Kumar ]

It seems that Sri Lanka’s international isolation may happen sooner rather than later. Recent developments create this impression.

The Australian Cricket Team is under great pressure to call off its upcoming tour to Sri Lanka in August.

Though it appears that the Australian Cricket Board wants to go ahead with the tour, a last minute turn around cannot be ruled out given the mounting support for the ‘Boycott Sri Lanka’ campaign from the Australian media.

Campaigners have so far been demanding that Australia boycott the tour due to “moral reasons” - which is but a call to express outrage against the genocidal war that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa waged to crush Tamil insurgency in the country in which an estimated 40000 Tamils lost their lives in 2008-2009.

Tamil National Alliance wins civic elections in North

[ TamilNet ]

Despite widespread SLA harassments in Ki'linochchi administrative district and violations by UPFA-EPDP of election practices in Jaffna, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has won the civic elections in North by more than two third majority in all of the urban councils and most of the Piratheasa-Chapai (PS). Of 16 Piratheasa Chapais, the TNA has won 14. The UPFA captured two islands off Jaffna, Neduntheevu (Delft) and Oorkaavat-thu'rai (Kayts). These islands were completely sealed off for campaign by the occupying SL Navy. The SL Governor for the Eastern Province who was formerly a Navy commander in the islands was brought to Delft for Rajapaksa's election campaign. In Ki'linochchi, where Rajapaksa regime let loose its military even on the election day, the TNA has managed to secure at least 50% of the polled votes. In Mullaiththeevu, the TNA secured 7 seats polling 72% of the votes.

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=34216

Black July: Remembering the 1983 Riots in Sri Lanka

(Posted: 7/23/11)This month marks the 28th anniversary of what became known as Black July. The riots of July 1983 in Sri Lanka would forever alter the course of ethnic tensions in the country, and would lead to the movement of Tamils out of Sri Lanka and into countries like Canada in increasingly dramatic numbers. The riots also marked a decisive shift in the course of ethnic politics in the country as non-violent approaches gave way to Tamil militancy.

...............Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayewardene tried to keep the funeral for the dead soldiers from turning into a political demonstration. However, plans would not go smoothly. The arrival of the bodies from Jaffna to Colombo on July 24 was delayed by several hours, and the funeral had to be cancelled. In the meantime, a large group of people had gathered at the cemetery. As hours passed, the crowd grew more agitated. Around 10 p.m., violence erupted.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/amarnath-amarasingam/black-july-riots-sri-lanka-1983_b_897591.html

(Amarnath Amarasingam is completing his doctoral dissertation on Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism in Canada at Wilfrid Laurier University.)

Reconciliation in Sri Lanka: Harder than Ever

Asia Report N°20918 Jul 2011(ICG)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Two years since the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Sri Lanka is further from reconciliation than ever. Triumphalist in its successful “war on terror”, the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has refused to acknowledge, let alone address, the Tamil minority’s legitimate grievances against the state. The regime destroyed the Tigers by rejecting the more conciliatory approach of prior governments and adopting the insurgents’ brutality and intolerance of dissent. Now, contrary to the image it projects, the government has increasingly cut minorities and opponents out of decisions on their economic and political futures rather than work toward reconciliation. As power and wealth is concentrated in the Rajapaksa family, the risks of renewed conflict are growing again. Partners, especially India, Japan, the U.S., UK, European Union (EU) and UN, should send a strong message against increasing authoritarianism, condition aid on transparency and restored civilian administration in north and east and support accountability, including an international inquiry into alleged atrocities by both sides in the war’s final stages.

http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/asia/south-asia/sri-lanka/209-reconciliation-in-sri-lanka-harder-than-ever.aspx

Boycott Srilanka Campaign at Chennai

A group of young people assembled at Express avenue on Sunday morning with banners and placards marking a visible campaign to boycott Srilankan products in Chennai

After the release of UN Report on genocide in Srilanka Many youth groups in Tamil Nadu have spontaneously come up and are organising campaigns against the Srilankan Government. Apart from the known political parties such as MDMK, Naam Thamizhar, PMK, VCK etc various human rights organisations have stepped in to register their protest in public.

Many organisation have expressed anger on the calculated silence of the Indian Government about the genocide in Srilanka. However they stage protest only against the Srilankan Government. These youngsters organize peaceful demonstrations for the specific purpose of bringing attention on the Srilankan genocide of Tamils.

http://truthdive.com/2011/07/12/boycot-srilanka-campaign-at-chennai.html

SRI LANKA: Returnees struggle in post-war zone

THUNUKKAI, 5 July 2011 (IRIN) - More than two years after Sri Lanka's decades-long civil war officially ended, returnees to remote villages face tough times and uncertain futures, despite governmental and international efforts at reconstruction. "Everything that we had earned in 50 years, we lost in months," Supiah Arumugam, 52, and a father of two, told IRIN. Arumugam returned to his home village of Thunukkai, deep in Mullaitivu District in the island's north and once under the control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in March 2010. He and his family had fled the violence two years previously. Seven months after the government declared victory over the LTTE in May 2009, the Ministry of Economic Development launched the Northern Recovery Project in December 2009 to accelerate development in the conflict-affected Vanni. Of some 120,000 resettled families in the Vanni, the ministry estimates about 29,000 have directly benefited from projects, while 56,000 families have benefited indirectly.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=93148