While on this 'trip', President Rajapaksa, following an appeal from mothers of the two Jaffna University students, who were arrested during a protest in December 2012, instructed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to make arrangements for the release of the students. And they were released subsequently. He also made it a point to deliver his usual pontification from the Northern tip of Sri Lanka. The President stressed the government ensured the people's right to live in the country free from fear and intimidation. F

The Ministry of Higher Education is to introduce an Act which would allow students to obtain bank loans to facilitate their studies.

The Minister of Higher Education, S.B. Dissanayake, yesterday told the media that he would present the Act to Parliament within one month, as the Human Capital Development Finance Act.

“Once this Act is set up, students will be able to get loans from banks under certain conditions, without collateral   to guarantee repayment. After students complete their studies

The Bodu Bala Sena will launch a campaign of agitation for the Halal Certification to be withdrawn completely tomorrow, representatives of the organisation said yesterday, adding that if their call goes unanswered, they will go door to door to bring pressure on the certifying body and the Government to ensure the certification process is halted.

Responding to allegations by UNP MP Mangala Samaraweera on Wednsday that the Bodu Bala Sena was being funded by a secret fund of the Defence Ministry, representatives of the organisation vehemently denied the charge, claiming that they did not receive funding or human resources support from any Government institution or Non Governmental Organisation.

“I place a challenge before Mangala Samaraweera and anyone else: Our organisation is open and transparent, anyone can scrutinise our accounts,” Galaboda Aththe Gnanasa

Sunday Leader Journalist Faraz Shaukatally was shot by a group of unidentified men in his house a short while ago.

According to reports, Shaukatally received bullet injuries in his neck and has been rushed to the Kalubowila Hospital.

He is said to be out of critical condition.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says a date for her visit to Sri Lanka has not yet been fixed, Inner City Press reported.

“Let’s see in the March session when they come over if they’ll fix a date,” Pillay exclusively told Inner City Press.

She was referring to the Sri Lanka delegation scheduled to attend the UN Human Rights Council session in March in Geneva.

Unwittingly or not, Kamalesh Sharma is a name that hit the headlines of the Sri Lankan media this week. The visiting Secretary General of the Commonwealth, an Indian national, was caught in the eye of a storm over the venue for the next Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting.

Colombo is scheduled to host the summit in November this year. However some countries, most notably Canada and to some extent Britain, are pushing for a change of venue on the basis that Sri Lanka’s human rights record is not up to scratch

The UN Human Rights Commissioner didn’t mince her words this week when she accused the Sri Lankan government of ‘triumphalism’ in the Tamil north, home of the vanquished Tamil Tiger insurgency. In a report published on Monday, Navi Pillay said civilians in the region known as ‘the Vanni’ have been forbidden from commemorating those killed in the war.

Tamil Tiger cemeteries, containing more than 20,000 graves, have reportedly been bulldozed by Sri Lankan government forces, now occupying the Vanni.

Internal displacement in Sri Lanka did not end with the closure of Menik Farm. There are people still living in displacement, and many IDP returnees have not been able to achieve a durable solution. Public information on IDPs and returnees is scarce, however, making it a hidden crisis.

No comprehensive profiling of IDPs has been undertaken since 2007, and no reliable information on the number of IDPs, their locations, and their access to displacement-related needs and rights has been published. At the end of 2011, local author

During his recent visit to Jaffna, President Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered the release of two university students who had been sent for rehabilitation by the army. This followed a personal appeal by the parents of the students to the President. This is a positive indication of the President’s interest in the reconciliation process. The students had been detained by the security forces following a lamp lighting ceremony on former LTTE Heroes Day on November 27, 2012. Although there were many protests and appeals by the university author