Canada: Conservative Party Statement on Sri Lankan Peace Process
[ TamilCanadian ] [ 04:42 GMT, Jan. 20, 2006 ]
The Conservative Party of Canada's priority is to increase Canada's diplomatic participation in the Norway peace process in Sri Lanka, backed by increased Canadian assistance spending to further build the conditions for a negotiated peace in Sri Lanka. Canada has a long history as a peace broker and the Conservative Party believes Canada has a responsibility to further the goals of peace in Sri Lanka. A Conservative government would increase Canada's humanitarian and development assistance spending in Sri Lanka and would ensure that it is equitably distributed to people in need through non-governmental organizations.
War fears, tension wreck lives in Sri Lanka's east
[ Reuters ] [ 11:20 GMT, Jan. 20, 2006 ]
Unnerved by fears that civil war may resume, perhaps within weeks, tension between communities is spiralling in Sri Lanka's northeast and growing numbers are fleeing their homes, aid workers and residents say. The area, the only truly multi-ethnic part of the island republic, saw horrendous blood-letting in a two-decade civil war which was halted by a 2002 ceasefire. Now, all-too familiar intercommunal tensions have started to resurface.Days later, after the almost exclusively Sinhalese military professed ignorance over the attacks on Tamil villagers, all 30 Tamil and Muslim families fled to a nearby church, leaving their village -- set up 16 years ago as an ethnic co-operation pilot project -- to the Sinhalese.
European cease-fire monitors resume limited operation in Sri Lanka's port of Trincomalee
[ AP ] [ 12:42 GMT, Jan. 20, 2006 ]
European cease-fire monitors said Friday they were partly resuming operations in Sri Lanka's port of Trincomalee three days after suspending work there citing security concern, the group's spokeswoman said. "The situation there has calmed down somewhat, so we are partly resuming our work there," Helen Olafsdottir, spokeswoman for Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, told The Associated Press. But in the main Tamil city of Jaffna, 140 kilometers (87 miles) north of Trincomalee, an army patrol found a Claymore mine Friday, the Media Unit of the Defense Ministry said.
Sri Lankan court acquits ex-deputy defense minister, two sons of murder, conspiracy
[ AP ] [ 12:46 GMT, Jan. 20, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka's High Court on Friday acquitted a former deputy defense minister and his two sons of charges in the slayings of 10 rival political activists in 2001, but sentenced five of their bodyguards to death for the crimes. The two-judge bench cleared Gen. Anurudda Ratwatte and his sons, Lohan and Shanuka, of charges of murder and conspiracy for lack of evidence. However, the court convicted five soldiers charged with protecting Ratwatte of the murders and sentenced them Friday to death by hanging. Although Sri Lanka's criminal code allows for the death penalty, the sentence has not been carried out in nearly three decades.
Tamil rebels confirming top reclusive leader to meet with Norwegian peace envoy
[ AP ] [ 12:57 GMT, Jan. 20, 2006 ]
Top Tamil Tiger rebel leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran will meet with a senior Norwegian peace envoy next week, a rebel official said Friday, a day after Sri Lanka's president won support to restart peace talks aimed at avoiding a return to civil war. "Our national leader will meet with Mr. (Erik) Solheim when he comes here," S. Pulidevan, a top peace negotiator of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, told The Associated Press. Solheim, who brokered the 2002 cease-fire between the rebels and the government, is scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka on Jan. 23 for a visit that may decide which course this small tropical island of 19 million people will take.
Sri Lanka parties back urgent talks with Tamil rebels
[ AFP ] [ 12:57 GMT, Jan. 20, 2006 ]
Sri Lankan political parties showed rare unity to call for urgent talks with Tamil Tiger rebels to end the latest wave of violence that has killed at least 140 people. Representatives of 15 parties, including the ruling coalition and the main opposition, agreed during a meeting on Thursday evening to support immediate negotiations with the Tigers, officials present at the meeting said. Reacting to positive signs the two sides were moving towards talks, the Colombo Stock Exchange showed signs of a rally while Scandinavian truce monitors resumed work they had suspended Tuesday in a troubled region.
Interests, not values
[ Tamil Guardian ] [ 13:07 GMT, Jan. 20, 2006 ]
A chorus of international voices have in the past few days decried the heightened violence gripping Sri Lanka's Northeast. Calls for restraint and new talks on stabilising the fraying February 2002 ceasefire have come from key states and the international monitors overseeing the truce, amongst others. Nevertheless, the violence is continuing. There have been numerous attacks on Sri Lankan security forces and the Liberation Tigers. Military reprisals against civilians, tacitly encouraged by the government in Colombo, have also escalated. Dozens of people have disappeared after being taken into military custody. An estimated four thousand families have fled Jaffna for the LTTE-held Vanni.
Ethnic and Religious Fundamentalism in Malaysia
[ TamilCanadian ] [ 13:11 GMT, Jan. 20, 2006 ]
Malaysia might not be the best example of ethnically and religiously integrated society anymore. Over the years, the country has become more ethnically pro-Malay and Islamic. In fact, Malay ethnicity and Islam reinforce each other in denying fundamental rights to non-Malays/non-Muslims. Electoral competition between the United Malay National Organization (UMNO) and Parti Islam se Malaysia (PAS) has been the main reason why Islamization of the society has proceeded very rapidly encroaching the rights and privileges of non-Muslims. An important implication of this Islamization is that Islamic laws and regulations have been strengthened and promoted. So much so, the civil courts that once had important role in defending the constitutional rights of Malaysians have generally shied away from making judicial pronouncements on matters relating to the Muslim laws.
India nuclear deal faces problems
[ BBC ] [ 17:02 GMT, Jan. 20, 2006 ]
A top American official says a landmark nuclear deal between India and the US still faces difficulties but is hopeful it will eventually go through. US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns made the remarks after two days of talks in the Indian capital, Delhi. Under the deal India would gain access to US civilian nuclear technology. Critics of the accord, which has to be ratified by the US Congress, fear it could harm non-proliferation efforts. "The situation is unique, India's position is unique and there is complexity and difficulty to these talks which is inherent in the subject," Mr Burns told journalists in Delhi.
Canadian elections get an Asian flavour
[ BBC ] [ 17:09 GMT, Jan. 20, 2006 ]
Pollster Michael Adams of Environics Research in Toronto says Canada has taken in so many immigrants in the past two decades that the face of politics is changing beyond recognition to previous generations. "Forty per cent of this country is foreign born," he points out, "and because we accepted only skilled immigrants, we get people who are capable, intelligent, already accomplished. "And it's no surprise that they run for office to try to make things better for their community and others."
As refugees start to flee Sri Lanka, UN refugee agency warns of new violence
[ UN News Centre ] [ 18:56 GMT, Jan. 20, 2006 ]
The United Nations Refugee agency (UNHCR) said today that its staff in Sri Lanka reports a 'trickle' of refugees fleeing to India in fishing boats, raising concerns about the deterioration of the security situation in Sri Lanka. 'Although small, this is the first arrival of refugees to Rameswaram reported since January 2003, and points to a worrisome deterioration of the security situation in the north and east of Sri Lanka, William Spindler, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said, referring to a town on the Indian coast.
Canada's students highlight human rights violations in Sri Lanka
[ TamilCanadian ] [ 19:24 GMT, Jan. 20, 2006 ]
The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) in collaboration with the Tamil Youth Organization of Canada (TYO) on Thursday organized a seminar at the Hart House at the University of Toronto in Toronto to bring attention to the recent spate of human rights violations by the Sri Lankan forces in the North and East of Sri Lanka. 'The Canadian Federation of Students will continue to stand with the Canadian Tamil community to address this issue. We will continue to stand with the Canadian Tamil students, arm in arm, to address this issue, Jesse Greener, the Ontario chairperson of the CFS, an umbrella organization representating over a half million students across Canada, asserted as he vowed to speak out against anything that prevents students anywhere in the world from attending post secondary education or from achieving the education they need and deserve.
US Under Secretary of State Mr. Nicholas Burns on Sri Lanka
[ FMI ] [ 20:53 GMT, Jan. 20, 2006 ]
It is important that we talk about the situation in Sri Lanka. We are concerned about the situation there, concerned about the level of violence, concerned about the breakdown in the ceasefire. In my trip to Colombo a couple of days I will certainly be meeting with the Sri Lankan Government, meeting with the Norwegian colleagues as well and try to make sure that we are standing on the side of the preservation of the ceasefire and of peace, and of peaceful resolution of disputes there. So, I am very pleased by the visit here. I think we have a great friend in India, we Americans. We are very grateful for the role that India is playing in the world today.
