Speaking at the official handing over of the trilingual phrase book to the Police Department yesterday (09), Minister Nanayakkara said his ministry had taken steps to enable people to acquire proficiency in the country’s official languages and imparting knowledge thereof should be considered a national priority.sted to Tamil speaking areas, Minister Nanayakkara said.

Safeguarding the language rights of all communities is a prerequisite for rebuilding the nation ushering in unity after the conclusion of

The People’s Movement for Democracy affiliated to the JVP yesterday staged a protest in front of the Welikada Prison urging the government to release Former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka and other political prisoners.

The People’s Movement for Democracy, formed to free General Sarath Fonseka yesterday marked one year since the Former Army Commander was taken into custody by staging a Sathyagarah in front of the Welikada Prison.

Prominent lawyer Gomin Dayasri says the government should be ashamed that it hasn’t constituted independent commissions in spite of having introduced the 18th Amendment to the Constitution on Sept. 7 last year.

In a brief interview with The Island, Dayasri, one of the professionals, who threw their weight behind the Amendment, said that people had a right to know why the commissions had not been appointed since the enactment of the 18th Amendment.

Dayasri said that he had strongly supported the 18th Amendment before

The need to convert Sri Lanka into a trilingual country to promote better reconciliation was stressed by Coordinator to the Presidential Task Force on English and IT, Sunimal Fernando when he testifying before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.

Citing the findings of a survey titled ‘Socio-linguistic Survey of Sri Lanka’ conducted for the Public Survey and Research Unit of the Presidential Secretariat by an Independent Research Institute in August 2010, he said within the next 10 years Sri Lanka needs to be

Whether we have press freedom in this country is an ongoing debate, not simply between journalists and the government but also among journalists themselves.  

Media freedom, after all is a relative concept. Also, any assessment of the quality of media freedom is a subjective exercise, depending on the personal experiences and opinions of the researchers and the sample group. Though, generally the sample group ought to be a cross section of the target group, our experience is that  much of the media related activism in this co

Police probing the torching of the Lankaenews office at Malabe are investigating a foreign call said to have been received by a man who reportedly undertook a contract attack, which the editor and the journalist of the website office are dismissive of.
Police at the scene in Malabe Pix by Gemunu Wellage

Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Daya Samaraweera told the Sunday Times that one of the suspects already in custody claims that the chief suspect had received a telephone call from overseas, for a contract to attack the o

The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) wants the Inter-Agency Committee (IAC) to push for immediate action to disarm all armed groups operating in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, particularly in the Jaffna peninsula.

The LLRC’s requested in its interim recommendations announced on Sept. 13, 2010 that the government recover all unauthorised weapons in the hands of armed elements. The IAC headed by Attorney General Mohan Peiris is responsible for the speedy implementation of the LLRC’s recommendations.

The UNP-led ‘candlelight protest’ demanding the release of Former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, came under attack in Punchi Borella yesterday by a gang armed with cudgels and brickbats  injuring at least who was covering the event.

The attackers smashed a few vehicles belonging to UNP MPs who joined the protest. The attack took place ten minutes after the protesters ........

etired Senior Superintendent of Police Tassie Seneviratne says the lives of over been saved at the outset of the Eelam War II in June 1990, had the then President Ranasinghe Premadasa allowed the Air Force to launch attacks on the LTTE and deployed the army reinforcements in support of the police personnel in the Kalmunai police division.

Instead President Premadasa ordered the military not to back the beleaguered policemen in an attempt to work out a fresh ceasefire with

The Minister for External Affairs Prof. G. L. Peiris held a series of briefings at the Ministry of External Affairs on 1st and 2nd February for the Colombo-based Heads of Diplomatic Missions relating to the progress made by the Inter-Agency Committee (IAC) in implementing the interim recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).

The Attorney General Mohan Pieris, in his capacity as the Chairperson of the IAC participated in the discussions.