Mar 9 (ST) It went viral after a UN-based web outlet last Monday reported on the initial draft of a resolution the United States will move on Sri Lanka at the on-going UNHRC sessions in Geneva. Local and foreign media reproduced the four-page full text, posted as a cross reference to a report in ICP. Some mistook the draft to be the final one and claimed it has already been handed over to the Council Secretariat. It is not so. more..

Mar 9 (NS) The TNA yesterday scoffed at claims made by authorities that the alleged mass grave site in Mannar may have been a cemetery. TNA MP Suresh Premachandran said they would request an international investigation by reputed parties on the skeletal remains found at the alleged mass grave site, and claimed this was the only way justice could be served. He asked, “Why is the government coming up with various stories?” adding that no one needs to ‘imagine things.’ more..

Mar 9 (NS) The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) has reiterated that it would not quit the Government until and unless the President asks them to do so. Sources at the SLMC said that the party had supported the Govt at several crucial stages and therefore it would not leave the Govt voluntarily. The SLMC Leader and Justice Minister, Rauff Hakeem came under fire after the party had provided information to UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay’s report on Sri Lanka. more..

Mar 9 (ST) A private company with foreign connections has been given a licence to operate an online lottery including thousands of e-Games terminals from next month – a move that could draw young people, including schoolchildren into gaming. The licence has been given to Oceanic Games which will operate in collaboration with eGame Solutions, a Hong Kong-based company which markets itself as a global lottery provider. more..

Mar 9 (TOI) Some of their sisters fell to bullets; some others took to arms. Five years after the war ended in Sri Lanka, these women refugees from the island nation are now learning self-defence with the help of an NGO. Fear and insecurity have been a part of Sharmila's life. Sharmila* was only 10 when she encountered men dressed in military clothes carrying guns on her way to school. "Sometimes, they would come to school and ask us to join the LTTE. more..

Mar 9 (NS) The national Drug Policy (NDP) which was going round and round at the Ministry of Health, Legal Draftsman’s Department and the Supreme Court has now stopped at the Cabinet of Ministers. When the case filed by the People’s Movement for the Rights of Patients (PMRP) on the speedy implementation of the NDP was taken up for hearing at Supreme Court on Friday, the AG’s Department revealed that the Draft Bill had been finalized and sent back from the Legal Draftsman. more..

Mar 9 (Island) Amidst a conflict with the College of Oncologists on the procurement of an Indian drug to treat cancer patients, a comprehensive board of experts comprising oncologists and pharmacologists is expected to be appointed for evaluation and recommendation on govt tenders, a high-ranking health official said. This unprecedented move comes in the wake of last week’s cancellation of a multi-million rupee tender more..

Mar 9 (ST) Almost three years after the govt abruptly cancelled a contract awarded to a Chinese company without calling for tenders for the Colombo Port City project, the same company, China Communication Construction Company (CCCC) has been offered the deal contract – this time drawing criticism from the UNP. CCCC is incorporated as a holding company under the China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC) group. Deal was exposed exclusively by ST in a 26th June 2011 more..

Mar 9 (ST) Animal Production and Health Department has airlifted about 30,000 vials of Foot-and-Mouth immunisation vaccine from France as the disease spread to seven districts, including Gamapaha. “We decided to treat it as an emergency situation and airlift the vaccines to be used mainly on pigs,” Dr. Kumar de Silva, the department’s Director General, said. The vaccine would be used mainly to immunise pigs in the affected districts from tomorrow as they spread the disease. more..

Mar 9 (ST) The UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants is planning a week-long visit to Sri Lanka on 19-26 May 2014 to assess the situation pertaining to migrant workers, according to UNHRC. In his first visit to Sri Lanka, François Crépeau, a Canadian-based right academic, will focus on a number of issues. They include recruitment practices of labour migrants while looking at a number of relevant topics, more..

Mar 9 (CI) After missing most of Sri Lanka's series against Bangladesh with an ankle injury, Lahiru Thirimanne returned to the side ahead of the Asia Cup. After he scored a century in the final to help the team achieve a five-wicket win, Sri Lanka's captain Angelo Mathews said Thirimanne had batted with a "bit of a niggle" in their last two games. "He [Thirimanne] has been amazing for us," Mathews said. "He got injured, unfortunately, in the last series but he came back for us. more..

Mar 9 (ST) The misuse of import licences issued by the Controller General of Imports and Exports is being probed after it was revealed that vehicles imported under this scheme were sold fraudulently depriving the country of revenue, Customs detectives said. The concession has been given to religious places to receive vehicles as gifts, but investigations have revealed this concession has been abused with such vehicles being sold and licences issued to non-religious places. more..

Mar 9 (CT) Under the guise of demanding accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka, the United States is exerting pressure on Sri Lanka to secure concessions, possibly of a military nature, Tamara Kunanayakam, Sri Lanka's former Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva, said. She said the US needed a strategic foothold in Asia and would use the UNHRC resolution to promote an international more..

Mar 9 (SL) Election monitors have accused Govt Ministers of violating election laws by opening more than one political office at several locations in the Southern Province. People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) said that there was also an incident where farming equipment was to be handed over to some people in the South by Govt officials. Election monitors had lodged a complaint over the incident and the attempt was eventually stopped as it violates election laws. more..

Mar 9 (SO) Sri Lankan women set many valuable examples to women in most societies, said First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa in a message to mark International Women’s Day yesterday. Here is the full text of the message. “I am pleased to send this message for freedom and peace to all women of the world on the occasion of International Women’s Day. Sri Lankan women set many valuable examples to women in most societies. Enriched by great historical and cultural heritage, ethics and more..

Mar 9 (SL) The Health Ministry is to sign MoU with Malaysia, Bangladesh and Thailand to purchase pharmaceuticals to reduce dependency on India, a Spokesman said. “The Health Ministry is unable to take any action against the Indian drug manufacturing companies as such an action could be detrimental to us. When we call tenders for drug suppliers, only a handful of Indian drug manufacturers send their quotations. more..

Mar 9 (SL) Special teams from the Elections Department will be deployed to take into custody government vehicles that are being used illegally for propaganda work ahead of the Western and Southern Provincial Council Elections, Election Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya said. He said the move follows several complaints received regarding the unlawful use of government vehicles for election propaganda in Kalutara, Galle, Matara and Hambanthota districts. more..

Mar 9 (NS) The politics look shrewd because politicians believe that without shrewdness survival in politics is impossible. If we are to go by what was witnessed during last week’s parliament sittings, one does not need to toil to find the shrewdest of them all among 225 members in the House for Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe had lifted the cup. The issue that laid bare his shrewdness was Colombo Port City Development Project (CPCDP). As the readers of this column know more..

Mar 9 (BBC) Vijayakumar Thevarani, 42, has been working in fishing since the age of 16. She is a widow with four children, two of whom still live at home, and lives in Karainagar, an island joined by a causeway to Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka. I have always done fishing work. The men go out to sea and if there is work available I do everything from tapping fish - that is, removing them from the nets - to repairing nets. This is the work I have more..

Mar 9 (CI) Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq has attributed his team's Asia Cup final defeat to his bowlers' inability to put pressure on Sri Lanka's batsmen. Chasing 261, Sri Lanka, led by a century from Lahiru Thirimanne, cruised to a five-wicket win to take their fifth Asia Cup title. Only Saeed Ajmal posed a threat to Sri Lanka, as Pakistan looked to defend a hard-earned total. Ajmal took 3 for 26 in 10 overs, but apart from him and to an extent, Mohammad Hafeez, the rest of the attack more..

Mar 9 (CI) Sri Lanka's five-wicket win against Pakistan gave them their fifth Asia Cup title, equaling India's five title wins. The last time Sri Lanka won the title was in 2008. Sri Lanka have now won 34 matches in the Asia Cup - the highest by a team in the tournament. Sri Lanka have won nine ODIs on the trot, starting with their win against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi last year. This is just one short of their longest streak of wins which lasted for ten ODIs between Feb 2004 and July 2004. more..

Mar 9 (CI) When he looks back on his match-winning 101 in the Asia Cup final, the highlights reel in Lahiru Thirimanne's head is unlikely to include the single that took him to 39. The shot Thirimanne played, moreover, was that banal middle-overs staple: the push, with the spin, for a single. That particular single, though, was significant. It nudged Thirimanne's batting average from 29.9761904762 to 30. An ODI average of 30 more..

Mar 9 (SL) Tamil Civil Society Forum, a network of Tamil civil society activists including Bishop of Mannar (retired) Rayappu Joseph, has stated that the draft resolution presented by the US to the 25th session of UNHRC does not call for an international investigation. The draft of the US sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka, which is now circulating among the member nations of the UNHRC, was at the centre of discussion among political circles of the country in the past few days. more..

Mar 9 (Island) For months Geneva was the main topic of conversation in this country. But last week, the bottom seemed to fall out of the whole issue. One reason was that when the first draft of the resolution against Sri Lanka was tabled, it did not have the institution of a commission of inquiry against Sri Lanka or any such thing. All it did was to request the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to ‘assess progress towards accountability and reconciliation’ more..

Mar 9 (CT) Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, a National List MP of the ruling Party, who along with a group of govt parliamentarians wrote to President Mahinda Rajapaksa warning about possible economic sanctions, said in an interview with Ceylon Today, extremists within the govt ranks are 'determined to destroy country's credibility.'He also said the External Affairs Ministry has been forced into the 'mute submission of more..

Mar 9 (ST) The Central Bank (CB) has employed nine audit firms to carry out due diligence and valuations of the 58 finance companies, CB officials said. “Once this is done, any firm who wishes to purchase a company/companies can sign a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with CB to obtain a due diligence document of a company which interests them,” one official told the Business Times. He said this exercise is expected to be concluded within this month. more..

Mar 9 (NS) UNHRC. That’s United Nations Human Rights Commission. Key term, ‘Human Rights’. UN system has all kinds of organizations mandated to deal with fairly well defined spheres of concern. ‘Human Rights’ does seem all-encompassing and that’s both good and bad. Good because it provides comprehensive cover. Bad because it makes for selectivity. Current moves in UNHRC against SL, by a well-known incompetent to boot, shows up the negative rather than affirm the positive. more..

Mar 9 (SL) EPDP leader and Minister Douglas Devananda accused the TNA led NPC of failing the people badly. He also added that, while rejecting UN Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay’s allegations against him and the EPDP, he has also written to Pillay in protest of baseless allegations made against him and his party. He accused Pillay and the US of targeting him in retaliation for having opposed the LTTE. more..

Mar 9 (ST) My Dear Mahinda maama, I thought I should be writing to you because these days, everybody is talking about Geneva and blaming it on you while you are busy talking to Indian PM, entertaining Afghan Presidents and trying to win PC elections for your party! I know you tried to chat up Manmohan in Myanmar but he was non-committal about supporting you because he needs to do what Jayalalithaa wants him to do, if he wants to have any chance at the next elections. more..

Mar 9 (ST) President Rajapaksa thinks an adverse Resolution at the UNHRC in Geneva is only a “black mark” against Sri Lanka, but he knows he must put on a brave face and downplay the otherwise bleak scenario. In Geneva, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister maintained what has long been the Rajapaksa Govt’s official stance. He “categorically rejected” the report submitted by the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Sri Lanka – on which the US sponsored more..

Mar 9 (SO) "Problems may arise in the country, taking them to the international arena won't find the solution. The answer can be found only through discussions between ourselves". Deputy Minister Faizer Mustapha said. Q: What is your opinion about the Geneva resolution on Sri Lanka? A: The Geneva resolution is to be tabled against Sri Lanka with a sinister purpose. I was in Europe. British PM David Cameron who visited SL more..

Mar 9 (Island) President J.R. Jayewardene, whatever his faults, was not without wisdom. At a time when non-alignment was a buzzword, he remarked that there were only two non-aligned nations in the world and they were the United States and the Soviet Union. Once the Soviet Union disintegrated, only the US which was the sole remaining superpower, remains unaligned to any other country. It is aligned solely to its own interests as the world knows very well. more..

Mar 9 (NS) Are there wars without witnesses? Technically, no. Some witnesses die with the knowledge. Some, i.e. those who for whatever reason escape ‘liberation’ from bomb and bullet, napalm and whatnot, live on. Some tell their stories, so do not. Some told-stories are dismissed and some are heard, half-believed or believed but swept over by the overwhelming nature of narratives privileged by victor. This is the 21st Century, although people like US Secretary of State more..

Mar 9 (SO) Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said he is confident that the Govt delegation which represented the UNHRC sessions in Geneva is a strong team which can present our case before the UNHRC successfully. But the problem is with the "judges who are judging us". They may give a political judgement rather than a rational judgement based on the issues and facts. He said more than the Opposition, it is the Govt that more..

Mar 9 (SL) While many of Sri Lanka’s political leaders, intellectuals, lawyers and academics have exhausted themselves in lambasting the so-called international community led by America to have Sri Lanka probed and condemned at the ongoing sessions of the UNHCR, there has been little or no discussion at all on what Sri Lanka’s strategy should be in the event of the trumped up resolution being adopted. Resolution, in the main, calls for an international body to probe alleged more..

Mar 9 (SO) The UNHRC seems to be hell-bent on concentrating on Sri Lanka at each and every session. While acting as a toothless tiger against serious and grave human rights violations in several parts of the world, especially those committed by the US-led NATO forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, the UNHRC is like a ferocious lion when it comes to the wild allegations against Sri Lanka on human rights violations. As anticipated, the US has presented its third successive resolution against Sri Lanka. more..