S.Lanka takes more time to study war crime charges
December 28 2009 – AFP
COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president has given legal experts four more months to study a US State Department report cataloging alleged war crimes on the island, the presidency said in a statement Monday.
President Mahinda Rajapakse extended the December 31 deadline of the panel he appointed in November to formulate a response to the US report, which accused Sri Lankan forces of war crimes while battling Tamil separatists.
“The president has… extended by four months the period given to the committee to study and report on the US State Department Report,” the president’s office said in a statement.
A recent query by the United Nations over remarks by the country’s former army chief Sarath Fonseka that some surrendering rebels were killed in cold blood was also being referred to the panel for study, the statement said.
Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry has already dismissed the US report as “unsubstantiated and devoid of corroborative evidence.”
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Sri Lankans want to know where tsunami aid has gone
December 25 2009 – The National
Five years after the tsunami swept over the shores of Sri Lanka destroying everything in its path, victims are continuing to rebuild their lives. But their efforts have been plagued by nagging questions over widespread corruption in programmes expected to provide thousands of houses worth billions of rupees.
More than 35,000 people in Sri Lanka were killed and more than a half million displaced when an earthquake off the Indonesian coast on December 26, 2004 triggered a series of tsunamis along coastlines in the Indian Ocean. Nearly 100,000 houses in Sri Lanka were destroyed by the deadly waves.
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Letter on U.N. queries withdrawn: Colombo
December 24 2009 – Hindu
The Sri Lankan government on Thursday announced that the letter sent by Secretary of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights Rajiva Wijesinghe in response to questions raised by U.N. Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Summary or Arbitrary Executions Phillip Alston, on charges made by the former Army Chief Sarath Fonseka against Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa about the sequence of events in the last phase of Eelam War IV (May 16 to 19), should be treated as withdrawn.
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Sri Lankan Military Intelligence Operatives planning a secret operation to execute Tamil Prisoners of War – HR Activist
December 24 2009 – War Without Witness
A Human Rights activist from Sri Lankan capital Colombo, on conditions of anonymity told WarWithoutWitness that, Sri Lankan Military Intelligence Operatives are planning a secret undercover operation to execute most of the 10,000 odd Tamil Prisoners of War (PoW) before the forthcoming Presidential election to be held on Jan. 26, 2010. WarWithoutWitness couldn’t independently verify the authenticity or credibility of this alert. Given the track record of human rights violations by Sri Lankan defense forces & the number of peoples life at risk, extracts of the alert is reproduced below ‘AS IS’.
Alert from a Human Rights Activist in Colombo, Sri Lanka;
“..one of my friend connected to sri Lankan military, who is concerned about human beings life told that a group of military intelligence personal with the orders from top boss are planning to stage play a secret attack on one of the major camp where LTTE Prisoners are detained without ICRC, UN or outside access. They are planning to use some of the LTTE leaders currently in detention to launch an attack on the prison itself (like a rescue mission from remaining LTTE) and execute LTTE prisoners during the counter attack by military personnel providing security to the prison. It is going to happen before presidential election. If this is done this will be a big killing ..”
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Where is the crew of the Seized LTTE ship? How were the transfer documents executed? or is this a ship discarded for scrap?
Dec 23, 2009 – LeN
Puttalam District UNP M.P. Range Bandara issuing a communiqu� said, the Govt. �s claim that a LTTE ship �Princess Cresinta� has been seized and brought to SL is a fabrication by the Govt. to get political mileage at the Forthcoming Presidential elections.
The communiqu� also says it is questionable whether this vessel belongs to the LTTE or to another Co. He alleged that this ship has been bought by cash payment from Djakarata, Indonesia by the intervention of a Sri Lanka Naval Officer. He challenged the Govt. to show evidence that the vessel is of the LTTE. The LTTE had a fleet of vessels, 20 large ships and a thousand small vessels according to media reports. Of them ,the Army destroyed one large ship. What is important now is the answer to the question as to who is presently enjoying the income from these remaining ships.
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