V Sudarshan 

First Published : 19 Dec 2008 04:31:00 AM

ISTLast Updated : 19 Dec 2008 04:09:49 PM IST 

President Mahinda Rajapaksa met The New Indian Express at the President’s House at the old Colombo Fort over breakfast on Thursday. The interaction was briefly interrupted when the President went for the swearing-in of Mohan Peiris as attorney- general, but continued in his ground floor office.

As the Security Forces progress in their efforts to regain control of the Northern Province, an increasing number of civilians are seeking refuge with the Government. The figure is rather lower than was hoped for, because people who want to move out from the conflict areas must defy the LTTE, but their restrictions are expected to be harder to enforce as time goes on. Representatives from the Peace Secretariat and the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights visited the welfare centres set up to receive these civilians on December 8th and 9th in order to assess the situation and identify opportunities to accelerate the process of their getting back to normal life.

Brussels, 18 December 2008  

On the occasion of International Migrants Day, Radio 1812 invites you to listen to a special interview (in English) with Mr. Prasad Kariyawasam from Sri Lanka. He is a member of the UN Committee on Migrant Workers and its former Chair. In the interview, Mr. Kariyawasam argues for the ratification of the Migrant Workers Convention and the need to use a rights-based approach when developing and implementing migration policies.

The interview  is  available on  the  Radio 1812  site and can be listened to  and downloaded by clicking here: Courtesy: Radio 1812

Mr. Prasad Kariyawasam is presently the Additional Secretary in charge of Multilateral Affairs, South Asia and SAARC Divisions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka and the former Ambassador and the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva and New York.  

 Presidents Counsel Mohan Peiris was sworn in as the Attorney General by President Mahinda Rajapakse at Temple Trees today (18^th) morning, states presidential media unit. Mr. Mohan Peiris, who replaces Mr. C.R. de Silva who retired, is the 25^th Attorney General of the country.

Mr. Peiris has been a lawyer since 1975 and joined the Attorney General’s Office in 1981 as a state advocate. He has served there as a senior advocate from 1993 to 1995.

Bruce Fein has, it seems, used his contacts on TamilNet to challenge me for a debate  over what he terms his model genocide indictment. A couple of days ago, this indictment had been announced on TamilNet in an interview with Mr. Fein, which prompted a response from me that drew attention to Mr. Fein’s moral confusion.

Asoka Bandarage, Associate professor specializing in comparative politics and South Asia

In her latest book, “The Separatist Conflict in Sri Lanka: Terrorism, Ethnicity, Political Economy” (Routledge 2009), Georgetown University government professor Asoka Bandarage provides a detailed and historical analysis of the evolution of Sri Lanka’s civil conflict over efforts to establish separate states in its northern and eastern provinces.

(December 17, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian): The latest LTTE cadre to narrate openly about the terrible ordeal she had been through in the terror outfit was the 26 year old Nadarasha Rajeshwari, alias Sekkuil who was conscripted to the LTTE when she was barely 16 years of age.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Sri Lankan forces captured critical Tamil Tiger fortifications protecting the rebels' de facto capital amid days of heavy clashes in the north, the government said Thursday. 

Amongst the saddest stories connected with the welfare centres for internally displaced persons set up in Mannar are those of the University students who wish to resume their studies. A couple of these were sent on to Jaffna, but eight – and since then some more – have been held back. This seemed strange but, when the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights looked into the matter, checking on names with the Vice-Chancellor in Jaffna, it was found that there was good reason for caution.

by Kath Noble 

Hands up anybody who is ready to allow a repeat of the Holocaust.  Six million Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis, and the world said never again. The United Nations was established and its member states signed onto a treaty committing them to prevent and punish such crimes for the sake of humanity. Nobody disagrees with the idea.

COLOMBO, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's military on Wednesday said it was assaulting the edge of Kilinochchi, which the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) claim as capital of the nation they want to create for Sri Lankan Tamils.

Gareth Evans was in Geneva last week at the Geneva Center for Security Policy (GCSP) to launch his latest book entitled, 'Responsibility to Protect: Ending Mass Atrocity Crimes Once and for All.' The previous year he had been in Sri Lanka, at the invitation of a former alumnus of the GCSP, where he suggested that Sri Lanka should be considered as a potential case in which R2P could be invoked.

Mr. Evans opened his speech with an appeal that, whatever else was "messed up" in international relations, large scale humanitarian atrocities should not be allowed to occur. He believed the framework of R2P could assist the international community to develop a collective accountability for a reflexive response when alerted to violent situations that could become humanitarian catastrophes.

Defence Advisors/Attaches of 7 nations visited battlefronts in Wanni on Monday (Dec 15). In a one-day visit organized by the Ministry of Defence, Sri Lanka, Defence Attaches the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Maldives visited Security Forces Headquarters Wanni, Army 57 Division and 59 Division Headquarters.

WANNI: Devotion that couples with the sanctity of a sacred place, no matter whether it belongs to Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims or Christians, remains the same since civilized men never dared to cause harm to any religious object. But for Tiger terrorists on the run in WANNI, even a religious place does not make any difference.

By C. Bryson Hull

COLOMBO, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan troops assaulted the outskirts of the separatist Tamil Tigers' self-proclaimed capital on Wednesday, the military said, a day after both sides said they killed more than 100 in a series of confrontations.

TamilNet announced, just before midnight on Sunday December 14^th, that its latest angel of light, Bruce Fein, ‘Counsel for a US Tamil Group’ as he is described, had prepared a 400+ page model indictment against Sri Lankan officials for genocide against Tamils.

In the course of his interview with TamilNet Mr Fein claimed that the New York-based Genocide Prevention Project has included Sri Lanka as one of the eight "red alert" countries where genocide and other mass atrocities are underway or risk breaking out. Also, the Obama administration was handed a policy report on genocide with specific recommendations from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. This is likely to bring Sri Lanka's genocide into U.S. focus.’

18 civilians belonging to 6 families, have fled from LTTE after been held captive for months and have sought protection with security forces at Omanthai, Monday (Dec 15) at around 3.30p.m.  

The group included 11 men, 3 women, 3 boys and a girl who were reportedly from Oddusudan, Keridamadu and Mannakandal localities in Mullattivu district. According to Army sources, the civilians have made the escape from LTTE for 6 days until they reached the Omanthai Entry/ Exit point in Vavuniya.

Forced Recruitment, Restrictions on Movement Put Lives at Risk

December 15, 2008  (New York)

Sri Lanka's separatist Tamil Tigers are subjecting ethnic Tamils in their northern stronghold, the Vanni, to forced recruitment, abusive forced labor, and restrictions on movement that place their lives at risk, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 17-page report, "Trapped and Mistreated: LTTE Abuses against Civilians in the Vanni," details how the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which have been fighting for an independent Tamil state for 25 years, are brutally abusing the Tamil population in areas under their control.

The Yal Devi train service which earlier went only up to Medawachchiya will continue to Vavuniya beginning today (16), Operating Supervisor, Sri Lanka Railways, Vijaya Samarasinghe told www.news.lk

Havana, Dec 15 (Prensa Latina): Cuba and Sri Lanka inaugurated the first Session of the Intergovernmental Joint Commission for Economic and Scientific-Technique Collaboration, scheduled to session for two days to strengthen bilateral relations.