Posts Categorized: Government

Why Truth Is a Radical Proposition

The Office on Missing Persons in Sri Lanka by Chulani Kodikara, International Journal of Transitional Justice, olume 17, Issue 1, March 2023, Pages 157–172 Kodikara OMP in Sri Lanka 2023 ABSTRACT In 2016, the Sri Lanka Parliament passed the Office on Missing Persons Act (OMP) ‘to search for and trace missing persons.’ At the time,… Read more »

TRC – a Sophisticated Get Out of Jail Free Card?

by Yasmin Sooka & Frances Harrison, Tamil Guardian, London, January 8, 2024 A rally in Jaffna in 2021, where Tamils demanded Sri Lanka be referred to the International Criminal Court. Sri Lanka has published a bill to establish a Commission for Truth, Unity and Reconciliation. Though the bill superficially appears to tick several boxes for… Read more »

‘A Showpiece Gesture’: Strategic Legitimation and Commissions of Inquiry in Sri Lanka

by Moira Lynch, Asian Journal of Peacebuilding, Seoul, Korea, Vol.11, No.2, 2023 pp.1-25 Abstract The Sri Lankan government implemented commissions of inquiry between 1977 and 2010. Though several commissions of inquiry produced comprehensive accounts of the violence in Sri Lanka’s civil war, and offered thorough recommendations, they rarely resulted in policy reforms or accountability. What… Read more »

Wigneswaran Points Out the Root Cause of Sri Lanka’s Ethnic Conflict

Many Sinhalese consider Wigneswaran a racist and tend to ignore his views. But no matter how problematic it is, he points to the viewpoint prevailing in the Tamil society in general about the history of Sri Lanka. by P. Harshani Dias, Sri Lanka Guardian, Colombo,  May 20, 2023 Colonial Architecture, Jaffna, Northern Province, Sri Lanka,… Read more »

President in the North, Governor in the East

by A. Nillanthan, January 13, 2024 [Translated from the original Tamil by Google Translate with improvements by the Sangam editor.] At the same time as the President visited the North to celebrate the New Year, his Governor in the East staged a huge cultural festival. The President met various people in the North: entrepreneurs, university… Read more »

In Defense of Sri Lanka’s Defense Budget

Reducing allocation for defense will require retrenching soldiers. Cutting loose angry youth with weapons skills is not what the crisis-ridden island needs now. [Sri Lanka has actually not done any de-commissioning since the end of the war 15 years ago, using exactly this excuse.  Most of these impoverished soldiers have been deployed in the former… Read more »

2024 Budget

Prime focus on SOE reform and corruption [discusses budget going to the military – Ed/] by Daily FT, Colombo, November 14, 2023 President Ranil Wickremesinghe, as Finance Minister, yesterday presented the Budget for 2024, a year which will start the election cycle. The welfare allocation for 2024 is close to Rs.  200 billion compared to… Read more »

ICJ: Parliamentary Privilege Used to Undermine Independence of the Judiciary

Sri Lanka by International Commission of Jurists, Geneva, August 30, 2023 The ICJ today expressed concern about attacks on the independence of the judiciary in Sri Lanka under cover of parliamentary privilege. On 22 August 2023, Sarath Weeresekera, a former Minister and a Member of Parliament belonging to the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, the country’s ruling political… Read more »

Sri Lanka’s Flawed Plans for a ‘Truth Commission’

We, nine international human rights organizations, have grave reservations about the Sri Lankan government’s proposed National Unity and Reconciliation Commission. Our concerns echo many of those already raised by victims of conflict-related abuses and their families. by Amnesty International, London, September 4, 2023 Index Number: ASA 37/7165/2023 Statement signed by • Amnesty International • Asian… Read more »

Mass Graves & Failed Exhumations in Sri Lanka

by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, Families of the Disappeared, Centre for Human Rights & Development and International Truth & Justice Project, June 13, 2023 ITJP Mass Graves and Failed Exhumations June 2023 This joint report examines Sri Lanka’s record of dealing with mass graves from multiple periods of conflict. All over the island,… Read more »

Mass Graves & Failed Exhumations in Sri Lanka

by Center for Human Rights and Development (CHRD), Families of the Disappeared (FoD), Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), Colombo, International Truth & Justice Project – Sri Lanka (ITJP), South Africa, June 13, 2023 This joint report examines Sri Lanka’s record of dealing with mass graves from multiple periods of conflict. All over the… Read more »

Defence Sector Claims Nearly Half of State Salaries

by PublicFinance.lk, June 2, 2023 According to the 2023 Budget Estimates, 15% of total recurrent expenditure of the government will be spent on salaries for government employees for the year 2023. As of 2023, the defence sector  is estimated to claim nearly half (48%) of state salaries.  Here is a breakdown of the estimated sector-wise… Read more »

Prez gives N-E Land Release Orders to Forest Dept.

Prez-Tamil MPs talks Forest Dept. to release N-E lands taken beyond limits demarcated in 1985 maps, Archaeology Dept. to rectify land acquisition errors  by Buddhika Samaraweera, The Morning.lk, Colombo, May 24, 2023 President and National Policies Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has issued an order to release the lands in the Northern and Eastern Provinces that have… Read more »

Sri Lanka’s New Anti-terrorism Law is Old Wine in New Bottle

If torture is to be eradicated in Sri Lanka the institutions of the magistrate and police need to be reformed. by J.S. Tissaiyanagam, The Diplomat, Washington, DC, May 5, 2023 Sri Lanka’s government is desperate to quash dissent. It faces opposition on multiple fronts – people protesting onerous austerity measures to combat an economic crisis,… Read more »

The Smell of Terror

by Tissaranee Gunasekera, Groundviews, Colombo, April 23, 2023 “On land a tiger, in the water a crocodile.” A Bengali proverb In Sri Lanka terror means Tamil or Muslim. When the J.R. Jayewardene government responded to the ethnic problem not with the promised political reforms but with repression and the PTA was born, the concept of… Read more »

Army Bigwigs Have Made Shameful Attempts to Bury the Truth

by Vellupillai Thangavelu, Colombo Telegraph, March 1, 2023 The quote “Wheels of justice grind slow but grind fine” is credited to Sun Tzu, the author of The Art of War, an influential work of military strategy, But in Sri Lanka this quote should be taken with a pinch of salt. Cases filed in courts gets… Read more »

Why Is South Asia’s Finest Natural Harbor Still Undeveloped?

by P.K. Balachandran, Eurasia Review, Oregon, USA, February 27, 2023 While the Trincomalee port’s intrinsic value is well-known, its exploitation has been stymied by a variety of factors   The natural endowments and the strategic value of Trincomalee port have been well-known for long time. Yet, to date, very little concrete has been done to… Read more »