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| Sri Lanka’s guilt trip |
| 2013-01-17 |
Saudi Arabia has incurred much international opprobrium for the gruesome execution of Rizana. Sri Lankans’ resentment has spilled over on to the streets in the form of mass protests.
However, the blame for Rizana’s agonising end after years of incarceration for the death of an infant in her care when she was just 17 years old can’t be pinned on Saudi Arabia alone. Sri Lanka won’t be able to absolve itself of the responsibility for her tragic fate. The time has come for Sri Lankans to turn
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| Jaffna University students not released for Thai Pongal |
| 2013-01-16 |
Thai Pongal is a Hindu ritual where devotees worship the Sun God and offer their thanks for their harvests. It is also a time when families unite.
However, the Jaffna University students detained by the Terrorism Investigations Department (TID) at the Welikanda army camp have not yet been released. Despite statements made by Higher Education Minster S.B. Dissanayake to the BBC that the students would be released before Thai Pongal, they have not yet been released.
President of the Jaffn
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| The AHRC writes to the UN and Sri Lankan President |
| 2013-01-16 |
President of Sri Lanka requesting to cause an inquiry into the verdict and the execution of Rizana Nafeek who was executed in Saudi Arabia on January 9.) The AHRC requests all concerned persons to write to the UN High Commissioner and the President of Sri Lanka in support of this request.
The text of the letter:
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing this letter both to your goodself and to His Excellency, The President of Sri Lanka, to strongly urge an inquiry into t
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| Govt. didn't do enough to save Rizana |
| 2013-01-16 |
Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare Minister, Dilan Perera and Foreign Employment Bureau Chairman, Amal Senadhilankara should resign from their posts within 24 hours, if they have any self respect or remorse over the death of Rizana Nafeek, UNP Parliamentarian, Ranjan Ramanayake demanded yesterday.
Speaking to Ceylon Today, he said the Saudi Government had stated that Rizana was not a minor and that she was 23 years of age at the time the incident occurred. "The Sri Lankan Government ha
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| UK recognises and welcomes progress made in Sri Lanka - Alistair Burt |
| 2013-01-16 |
The United Kingdom recognizes and welcomes progress made in Sri Lanka as the absence of conflict has brought greater security and opened up economic development, Foreign Office Minister for the Middle East and North Africa Alistair Burt has said recently.
Speaking at the UK parliamentary debate on "Sri Lanka and the UN responsibility to protect" last week Burt said, UK officials have visited all nine provinces of Sri Lanka in the past seen much to welcome.
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| Saudi help for Rizana’s family |
| 2013-01-16 |
Yahya bin Abdul Aziz Ar- Rahith, the legal Advisor of the Princess Adila Bint Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has offered Rs. one million from his personal funds to the family of Rizana Nafeek, the Sri Lankan housemaid who was executed in Saudi Arabia last Wednesday.
The Saudi official, who is currently in Sri Lanka handed over the cheque to Deputy Minister M.L.A.M.Hisbullah at Kattankudi on Saturday.
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| Harper rebukes Sri Lanka over jurist’s dismissal as talk of summit boycott heats up MIKE BLANCHFIELD |
| 2013-01-16 |
Canada appeared to be one step closer to boycotting this year’s Commonwealth leaders’ summit Monday as Prime Minister Stephen Harper bluntly called on the Sri Lankan government to reinstate the country’s fired chief justice.
Mr. Harper has threatened to ignore the 54-country summit that Sri Lanka hosts later this year because he has serious concerns about Colombo’s commitment to human rights and democracy since the country’s long civil war ended in 2009.
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| Protest today demanding re-scrutiny of law entrance exam answer scripts |
| 2013-01-16 |
The Law Entrance Students Union (LESU) together with the Bodu Bala Sena Organisation will stage a protest, opposite the Law College in Hulftsdorp today, demanding re-scrutiny of the entrance examination 2012 answer scripts.
Organising Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena, Vitharandeniye Nanda thera told The Island that earlier, Law College Principal Dr. W. D. Rodrigo had sent a letter to the Examinations Commissioner General W. M. N. J. Pushpakumara asking him to re–scrutinise the results when Buddhist monks pro
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| Teachers threaten legal action over unfair transfers |
| 2013-01-16 |
Teachers are threatening to go to Court challenging the transfers recently made by the ministry. They allege that it was in violation of the Teachers’ Transfer Policy.
General Secretary of the JVP-led Ceylon Teachers’ Service Union (CTSU) Mahinda Jayasinghe told The Island that although the education ministry announced that they transferred teachers, who worked over 20 years in one school, some teachers who had worked only for 2 – 3 years in one school had also been transferred.
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| Stop Harassing Bishop Rayappu Joseph |
| 2013-01-16 |
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We, Christians and concerned people, are disturbed by past and continuing actions by the Sri Lankan government against the Catholic Bishop of Mannar, Most Rev Dr Rayappu Joseph. Bishop Joseph has consistently expressed concern at the plight of the all people of the North and East of Sri Lanka. His concerns have been taken President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), the UN Human Rights Council (by Skype, because travel was too dangerous), to visiting US Ambassadors who came to Sri Lanka prior to the U
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