Posts Categorized: Military

US Navy at Galle Dialogue 2016

US Policy and Objectives in Building Strategic partnership with Navies in the Indo-Asia-Pacific by US Admiral Harry B. Harris, Galle, November 28, 2016 USN, Commander US Pacific Command adm-harris-galle-dialogue-2016 All speeches at http://galledialogue.lk/index.php?id=53 Thanks, Admiral Wijegunaratne for that kind introduction. In addition to being an expert in asymmetric naval warfare and special boat operations, the… Read more »

USS Somerset Supports Exchange with Sri Lanka Marines

By 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Pacific Command, Hawaii, November 28, 2016 TRINCOMALEE, Sri Lanka – U.S. Marines and Sailors of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit embarked aboard amphibious transport dock USS Somerset (LPD 25) recently arrived in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, for a theater security cooperation (TSC) exchange with the Sri Lankan Navy’s marine forces, Nov. 23-25…. Read more »

Five Takeaways from the UN Torture Review

by Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace & Justice, London, November 18, 2016 Five takeaways from the UN Committee Against Torture review of Sri Lanka This week saw the conclusion of the UN Committee Against Torture’s review of Sri Lanka, a regular process of expert-based scrutiny designed to monitor implementation of the Convention Against Torture. The… Read more »

Counter Terror Smarter

By Michael German, US News & World Report, October 26, 2016 The counterterrorism debate is again playing out like so many times before. As soon as police identified a Muslim-American, Ahmad Khan Rahami, as a person of interest in a bombing attack in New York City, policymakers automatically inferred links to international terrorist groups and… Read more »

Erasing the Past: Memorialization

by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka, November 2, 2016 Erasing the Past: New Report Documents Repression of Memorialization in North-East Sri Lanka PEARL’s latest report examines government obstruction of memorialization among Tamils in the North-East (Washington, DC; November 1, 2016) PEARL’s new report, “Erasing the Past: Repression of Memorialization in North-East Sri Lanka,” documents… Read more »

Wickramasinghe Deploys ‘Shadow War’ Intelligence Squads in Jaffna

by TamilNet, October 26, 2016 Ranil Wickramasinghe, the prime minister of genocidal Sri Lanka has deployed more than one hundred high-level intelligence operatives in Jaffna district to step up and coordinate a shadow war on Eezham Tamils as in the mid 1990s under the rule of Chandrika Kumaratunga when the SL military seized the entire… Read more »

Why Just Counting the Dead in Syria Won’t Bring Them Justice

A full tally of the war’s horrific violence requires estimates, models, and sophisticated pattern analysis to understand who’s responsible and why. by Patrick Ball, ‘Foreign Policy,’ Washington, DC, October 19, 2016 Nearly 18,000 people died in Syrian government prisons between March 2011 and December 2015. My colleagues and I at the Human Rights Data Analysis Group(HRDAG)… Read more »

TAG Briefing Note – Fresh Evidence of Cluster Munitions

by Tamils Against Genocide, London, October 17, 2016 The  new draft of the counter terrorism policy in Sri Lanka further demonstrates the government’s willingness to disregard the civil liberties of its people. This, unfortunately, casts further doubt on the new administration’s ability to formulate a credible strategy for transitional justice. Any strategy will also have… Read more »

Land Grabbing & Accountability

by South Asia Centre for Legal Studies, Colombo, September 27, 2016 Despite land grabbing being a common feature of many armed conflicts and an integral part of discriminatory policies against minority groups, it is insufficiently addressed in post-conflict or transitional justice accountability processes. While truth-commissions, in particular the Truth Commission in El Salvador, have highlighted… Read more »

Sri Lankan Army KIA, 1981-1999

by Dr. Paul Staniland, PaulStaniland.com, October 10, 2016 Below I posted about a source I’d found with micro-data on SLA combat fatalities. The OCR-ing has proven more of a challenge than I had hoped, but the information on date and place is inputted for all observations, though we still need to add many of soldiers’ names and… Read more »

Building More Viharas In The North-East Will Negate Reconciliation Efforts

by Thangavelu, ‘Colombo Telegraph,’ September 6, 2016 On August 23, 2016 the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) passed a resolution during the 56th sitting unanimously condemning the building of a Buddhist vihara by Sri Lankan troops on land belonging to a Hindu temple in Kilinochchi. The resolution was moved by NPC member Subramaniam Pasupathipillai. “The Kanakambikai… Read more »

Court Refuses to Lift Overseas Travel Ban on ex-Navy Spokesman

by ‘Ceylon News,’ Colombo, September 6, 2016 A Sri Lankan court on Tuesday refused to lift the overseas travel ban on war-time navy media spokesman Captain D.K.P Dassanayake as he remains a wanted person in connection with the abduction of 11 school children in Colombo during the height of the war. A group of Sri… Read more »

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa Charged with Corruption

by BBC, August 31, 2016 One of Sri Lanka’s most controversial politicians has been charged with corruption involving the illegal transfer of state-owned weapons. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is charged with allowing a private firm to establish a floating armoury. It is claimed the move deprived the state of more than $75m (£57m). Mr Rajapaksa, who denies… Read more »

Sri Lanka’s National Policy Document on Rehabilitation

by P.K. Balachandran, ‘The New Indian Express,’ August 22, 2016  COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan Ministry of Rehabilitation has recommended, through its National Policy Document, the enactment of a comprehensive law that addresses all displaced persons and communities in order to be prepared for any eventuality in the future. The comprehensive policy document has recommended recognition… Read more »

America Shouldn’t Rush to Support Sri Lanka’s Military

by Taylor Dibbert, ‘The National Interest,’ August 18, 2016 Colombo needs to shape up before it gets rewarded by Washington. The United States is poised to deepen ties with Sri Lanka’s military. Such an initiative would likely include increased military cooperation between the two countries, training programs and possibly an uptick in military assistance heading… Read more »

Asia Foundation: Sri Lanka Strategic Assessment 2016

by Asia Foundation, San Francisco, March 2016 Asia Foundation Sri Lanka Strategic Assessment 2016 Sri Lanka underwent a major political transition in 2015 with the election of President Maithripala Sirisena and the establishment of a new coalition government between the United Front for Good Governance (UNFGG) and one faction of the United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance… Read more »

From Ilankaiththurai to Lanka Patuna

by ‘Tamil Guardian,’ London,’ August 16, 2016 The newly-built Buddhist temple at Ilankaithurai – re-named Lanka Patuna by the government. A bridge is being constructed to improve access to the site for the increasing number of Sinhala visitors. Tamil Guardian co-editor and PEARL Advocacy Director Mario Arulthas travelled to Trincomalee last month to report on… Read more »

Report Sought On Ex-Tiger Injection Scandal

by ‘The Sunday Leader,’ August 14, 2016 A report has been sought from the Prisons Department on claims that rehabilitated LTTE cadres were injected with a cancerous poison. The issue had been raised in Parliament as well last week with the Tamil National Alliance calling for an investigation. It was alleged that the injection had… Read more »