Days after the final crushing of the LTTE on May 18,2009, the Sri Lankan government announced the holding of local government elections for the Jaffna Municipal Council and Vavuniya Urban Council in the country's North. The elections will be held on Augu...
The prospect of a breakdown in the peace process looms ahead as the LTTE continues to stick to its refusal to recommence the peace talks. In its most recent meeting with the Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen the LTTE leadership has reiterated its ...
The intensification of the government’s war effort from 2007 onwards led to the deterioration in relations with sections of the international community, especially the countries of the European Union, which actively but unsuccessfully sought a negoti...
Many in Sri Lanka's neigbouring countries and elsewhere have looked upon the Sri Lankan government from a distance with a considerable degree of admiration as one that possesses a leadership with a vision and also knowing how to get there. Those who hav...
In May this year when the Sri Lankan government was faced with the serious threat of being subjected to investigation by the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations it made several promises to the international community that helped to sway the vote ...
The end of the war has not brought Tamil alienation to an end. This is not surprising because the Tamil people had grievances about their place in Sri Lanka even before the war began. In fact the ground for the war was laid by the failure of successiv...
Sri Lanka is a plural society in which there are diverse communities of people. They see themselves as Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Burghers, Malays, Buddhists, Christians, and Hindus, low country and Kandyan, and of various class and caste groups. Soci...
The fruits of the government’s decisive military victory over the LTTE in regard to improving the lives of the people are already becoming evident. The government’s sweeping announcement that all restrictions on fishing in the northern seas have bee...
Shortly after its military victory over the LTTE in the north, the government decided to call for local government elections in the two largest northern cities of Jaffna and Vavuniya. Most of the opposition political parties have protested this urgenc...
The phase of public celebration reached its climax with the victory commemoration event and military parade of last Wednesday at Galle Face Green. In a manner that accorded with the past traditions of rulership of the island, President Mahinda Rajapaksa...
The human rights heartland of Geneva was the scene of the Sri Lankan government’s latest victory. The government staved off a determined effort by Western countries to launch a formal investigation into violations of human rights and possible war cri...
A country that is at the centre of international attention has more opportunity to draw upon the wisdom and riches of the world to solve its problems, than a country that is forgotten and left to its own devices. For the past two weeks, Sri Lanka has ...
The war that raged between the Sri Lankan government and LTTE for the past three years has virtually come to an end. The LTTE’s international spokesperson has admitted that the battle has reached its bitter end and that the LTTE is prepared to silence i...
The final phase of the protracted Sri Lankan war is nearing its inevitable end as several Sri Lankan army brigades surround the last few square kilometers within which the most of the remaining LTTE leadership and cadre appear to be boxed in. The questi...
The best efforts of the international community to bring the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka to an end through its diplomatic interventions seem to have come to naught. The joint visit of the British Foreign Minister David Miliband and his French count...
The continuing humanitarian crisis in the north is a blot on the conscience of Sri Lankans. The government designated “safety zone” in the north was meant to be a sanctuary for people who fled the war. But the LTTE moved into it with their heavy w...
The Tamil people in Sri Lanka are today disempowered and silenced as never before. A war is being fought, but it is not for their hearts and minds. More than 60,000 of them are presently in government welfare camps in the north having broken free of t...
For the second time in as many months, Sri Lanka was discussed in the highest international forum, the Security Council of the United Nations. As on the last occasion, Sri Lanka was discussed without being on the formal agenda of the meeting. If the...
On March 20th, Dr. Farzana Haniffa and Dr. Sumathi Sivamohan, in coordination with NPC, conducted a workshop in Colombo on gender issues in Islam. The primary lecture focused on the major challenges that Muslim women face in Sri Lanka, including lack of a...
The Canadian High Commission in Sri Lanka and the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, and jointly hosting a National Conference on Islam and Pluralism, at BMICH, on 29th of March, 2009, as culmination of the program series of Pluralism workshops held...
