The story of MAS Fabrics and its efforts to present Sri Lanka as the preferred apparel sourcing destination to the world

 When Timothy Speldewinde, CEO - Stretchline Holdings, says that his company manufactures 1.5 million metres of elastic a day, he is not stretching the truth. "That means we make enough elastic each year to wrap around the world 10 times over - and that's without stretching it," he says. This is just another feat at MAS Fabrics and one more chapter in the MAS Holdings success story.

by Dayan Jayatilleka

In 1987, the Sri Lankan armed forces had the initiative, and if the operation was taken to a finish, the Tigers may have been defeated. Instead, by the second half of the year the Sri Lankan army was in barracks and the Tigers were off the hook. Both Sri Lanka and India paid for that turn of events, leaving only Prabhakaran the beneficiary. That tragic turn of events was made possible by a cluster of factors, ranging from a Sri Lankan foreign policy which departed from our traditional Non-aligned stance and sought to ignore India and ally with the West, to the power of the Tamil Nadu factor upon decision-making in Delhi.

All I had to do was ask him if he liked Benny Goodman or Fats Waller or Louis Armstrong. At the time, I knew nothing of his chosen musical confections, for that would have made the writing rather more about the Mervyn I knew, than the one I had to get to know through distance learning.

by Dayan Jayatilleka

If Douglas Devananda did not exist, the democratic system would have had to invent him. Any resolution or even sustainable management of North-South relations in Sri Lanka, any successful attempt at nation-building and conflict transformation, devolution and autonomy, requires the fulfilment of the following four conditions: that the Sri Lankan state have a moderate Tamil partner; that the Sinhalese – especially the Sinhala leadership-- have a Tamil leader they can trust; that the Tamils have a moderate leader who can negotiate with the State as well as the Sinhala community; and that this moderate Tamil leader is capable of survival and standing up to Tiger terrorism.

Statement on behalf of the Sri Lanka delegation by Mr. O.L. Ameer Ajwad, Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva under agenda item 3: Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the right to education during the 8^th Session of the Human Rights Council, June 4^th 2008

Sri Lanka notes with sadness the emotional and misleading statements of Pax Romana and Interfaith International during the interactive dialogue. The former is well aware that the situation at Kalimoddai is not at all how he represents it. It is certainly not the Garden of Eden, which had a far more dangerous snake as the good father knows, but it is infinitely preferable to the LTTE controlled areas whence the refugees now housed there have fled. They have fled, as the Norwegian Refugee Council so graphically puts it, from forced and underage recruitment, from a situation where, as a recent UN report has it, marriages are being cancelled so that more youngsters can be forced to fight.

Sri Lankan Response to the Report of Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions 

The Eighth Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council is currently being held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. During the Interactive dialogue held today on the reports of the UN Special Rapporteurs, Sri Lanka responded to the report of Mr. Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions. Given below is the statement made on this occasion by Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, Secretary-General of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace process.

Sri Lankan Response to the Report of Mr. Walter Kälin,Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons.

The Eighth Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council is currently being held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. During the Interactive dialogue held today on the reports of the UN Special Rapporteurs, Sri Lanka responded to the report Walter Kälin, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons. Given below is the statement made on this occasion by Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, Secretary-General of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace process.

Let me begin by extending our sympathies to the people of China and Myanmar who have suffered rom the recent natural disasters. Despite its own difficulties Sri Lanka tried to provide some assistance, not just because we have been beneficiaries of such in times of difficulty, but also because as the High Commissioner said, this is the duty of governments.

The Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Sri Lanka was unanimously adopted on Monday (19) at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. The presentation of Sri Lanka’s national report and the interactive dialogue with UN member states took place last Tuesday (13 May). Sri Lanka’s national report was presented to the Working Group by Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, who led the delegation to the UPR. In presenting the report Minister Samarasinghe outlined Sri Lanka’s willingness to constructively engage with global human rights mechanisms such as the UPR of the UN Human Rights Council and pledged to work with other nations to further strengthen and develop the Council.

Sri Lanka’s human rights situation came under review on 13th May 2008 within the framework of the second session of the Universal Periodic Review of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which is now being held in Geneva and which report on Sri Lanka will be adopted this evening at Palais des Nations.

The Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) adopted the report on  Sri Lanka this afternoon after a week of patient negotiations. The report was introduced by Cameroon on behalf of the troika who commended Sri Lanka for its commitment and skill.