Mahinda Chinthana-Towards a new Sri Lanka —Victory for Sri Lanka the policy statement issued before the Presidential election of 2005 stated thus:
‘With the consensus of all, I expect to present a Constitution that will propose the abolition of the Executive Presidency and to provide solutions to other issues confronting the country. In the interim I propose to present a constitutional amendment through which the Executive President will be made answerable to the Parliament by virtue of holding such office.’

European early modern empires in South Asia are sometimes described as water-borne parasites: they command the sea, but only take up small stretches of territory and factories along the coasts. In such a picture, the British win out against their European rivals at sea, and then start forming alliances with South Asian states; they work closely with land-based Indian financiers and merchants and protect the rights of landowners. It is from this ground of mutual interest that British conquest takes shape. By picking up the context o

The unhealthy conditions prevailing at the refineries are causing various diseases such as cancer, respiratory and cardiac illnesses among workers, the employees of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) said.


Sri Lanka Independent Workers’ Union (SLIWU) branch of the CPC said today every consideration for the wellbeing of their employees is expected of Minister of Petroleum Industries, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa.

He pointed out, when the bus fare was increased in February 2012, Minister of Private Transport Services, C.B. Ratnayake, said the next bus fare hike will take place in February 2013, but now he refuses to do so.


Speaking about the NTC statement, which said the cost of bus maintenance has not increased by a considerable margin, he challenged NTC Chairman, Roshan Gunawardane and the Minister of Private Transport Services to come to an open debate on the calculation of bus fare.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leaders are following in the footsteps of the LTTE in spreading falsehoods about the country. They travel from India to Geneva to concoct stories against the country, Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Minister Douglas Devananda said.

The minister said LTTE leaders were also in the habit of traveling in many countries and cities including Oslo and propagating falsehoods.

“They preferred to tarnish the country’s image through fabricated accounts tha

The Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’ on advice and technical assistance for the Government of Sri Lanka on promoting reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka’, has just been released.

The conclusions and recommendations of the report are below:

VII. Conclusion and recommendations

61. Achieving reconciliation following decades of violence and mistrust is challenging in any context, but is only possible through a genuine, consultative and inclus

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has demanded an independent and credible international investigation into alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Sri Lanka, which could also monitor any domestic accountability process.

In a report on Sri Lanka to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council February – March session, a draft of which she has also sent to the government, Pillay notes that while the government has made significant progress in rebuilding infrastructure; a

The opportunity that President Mahinda Rajapaksa may have had last week to visit New Delhi and canvas Indian government support for the forthcoming session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva had to be abandoned due to protests that erupted from Tamil Nadu state in South India. The President’s brief trip triggered protests in Tamil Nadu as well as in New Delhi and Tirupati over allegations that he was denying Tamils in his country equal rights. The President’s declared purpose in visiting India was to go on a relig

Sri Lankans held in Colombo after being arrested while trying to sail to Australia illegally to seek asylum. One of the asylum seekers deported from Britain said she was tortured and raped by Sri Lankan security services. Photograph: Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters

Fifteen Sri Lankan nationals have claimed they were tortured and subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment after they were forcibly removed to the country by the UK Border Agency, the Home Office has said.

The world is beginning to realize that human rights are being violated in Sri Lanka, DMK chief M. Karunanidhi said Wednesday.
Canada has announced plans to boycott the upcoming Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka on grounds of human rights violations by Colombo, Karunanidhi said in a statement.

He said the New York-based Human Rights Watch had also demanded that Sri Lanka should not be allowed to host the summit due to its poor rights record.

All this showed that the world had started to realise the "atrocitie