The Northern Provincial Council of Sri Lanka had adopted a resolution last week to not allow any mining or quarrying of limestone in the province by companies or individuals.


Agriculture and Environment Minister Ponnuthurai Ayngaranesan told the media that the resolution was adopted last week and discussions on the matter are being carried out with the central government.

A meeting will be held tomorrow in Kilinochchi between Environment and Renewable Energy Minister Susil Premajayantha and District Secretary of Kilinochchi Rupawathi Ketheeswaran to discuss exploration work in Pooneryn.

The NPC has objected to permission given by the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) to a private cement company to carry out limestone quarrying in over 4,000 acres of land in Kilinochchi.

However, the GSMB has said that an exploration license had been issued to a cement manufacturing company to conduct exploration work to check the availability of limestone resources and a license has not been issued to quarry limestone.

Upon finding a Youtube video depicting a group female recruits being harassed by some female as well as male instructors, the Commander of the Army had ordered an investigation on March 04, the army announced today.


Issuing a statement military spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said that the investigation which is being carried out by the Sri Lanka Army Corps of Military Police has so far revealed that the video in question is an authentic one.

The incident depicted in the video had taken place in October 2012 at a camp in Anuradhapura where some female recruits were being trained.

According to a preliminary report the instructors have punished the recruits for an act in violation of military discipline. However, the method adopted is not in accordance with standard procedures prescribed for such corrective punitive actions. It has been found that the individuals who carried out this excessive action had over stepped their mandate and acted in their own volition.

“Being disciplined organizations the Armies all over the world have standing procedures when it comes to disciplining the soldiers especially during formative period of initial training. Such actions are designed as corrective measures and have to be authorized by appropriate authorities. In this instance no such authorization had been obtained. Further, the punitive methods employed by the instructors were not in line with prescribed procedures,” he said.

The statement also said that considering these observations the Commander of the Army has ordered the authorities to follow up this case with strict disciplinary actions against all those who have violated military code of conduct. He has further reiterated that there would be zero tolerance for conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline throughout the Army.

The Sri Lankan Government today claimed there was a “division” among members of the UNHRC over a US-backed resolution and termed it a victory for the country.


Sri Lankan President’s Human Rights Envoy and Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, who returned to Colombo after addressing regional groups of the UN Human Rights Council, said the 47-member rights body stands divided over the resolution coming up later this month.

“We can clearly see a division among members. This itself I view as a triumph for us. This was because we could convince some of them with our progress achieved since the war ended,” he said.

Samarasinghe said most of the member nations are clamped by the US pressure to vote in favour of the resolution.

“We can not see an environment where they could make an independent decision at the UNHRC. Most countries are under political pressures”.

Sri Lanka made its opposition clear, he said, as the US resolution would create a bad precedent.

“It will be another country tomorrow after Sri Lanka”, Samarasinghe said.

“If this was allowed making it possible for the UN Human Rights Commissioner to set up an international inquiry, it will be carried out without any kind of fairness”, he was quoted as saying by PTI.

Sri Lanka is facing its third UN Human Rights Council resolution in three years, censuring the country on its lack of progress on human rights accountability and reconciliation with its Tamil minority after the civil war ended with the defeat of the LTTE in May, 2009.

The Presidential Commission investigating the alleged disappearances of persons in conflict affected areas concluded its first public sitting in the East yesterday (March 22).


The Commission appointed to investigate cases of alleged disappearances of persons in the Northern and Eastern Provinces during the period 1990 - 2009 received submissions from 129 people from Chenkallady, Vakarai and Batticaloa in the Eastern Province.

The Commission has also received 1,289 new complaints during the hearings that took place from March 20 to March 22, 2014. These new complaints were registered by Tamil-speaking staff assigned by the Commission.

The Commission's Secretary Mr. H.W. Gunadasa said the complainants will be given a date to come before the Commission.

The Commission appointed by the President on 14 August 2013, so far has received approximately 16,000 complaints from all parts of the country. It has analyzed 5,799 complaints and entered into a computerized database. Those cases will be scheduled for public hearings.

The Commission will also launch a website in the near future enabling the public to access information on the Commission's work.

According to the Commission, of the submissions received so far from hearings in Jaffna and Kilinochchi, several cases have been handed over to the Attorney General's Department for legal action. If the need arises, the Commission said it will appoint its own independent investigation team to inquire into specific cases, the Secretary said.

The Commission held its first public sittings in the Kilinochchi District in the Northern Province from January 18-21, 2014, where it heard complaints from 440 people. Another 984 people made submissions from Feb. 14-17, 2014, when the Commission conducted its sittings in the Jaffna District.

The three-member Commission is chaired by attorney Maxwell Parakrama Paranagama and comprises former Director General of Census and Statistics Priyanthi Suranjana Vidyaratne and former member of the Monetary Board of Sri Lanka Manohari Ramanathan. Both Paranagama and Ramanathan were members of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.

The Commission has been given the authority to conduct inquiries and investigations necessary, and submit a report to the President.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa recently extended the mandate issued to the Commission by another six months to August 12, 2014.

India’s MDMK has promised in its manifesto released Saturday that it would lift the ban on Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), if it takes part in government formation after the Lok Sabha polls.


The party, led by Vaiko, also said it would work for holding of a referendum on creation of Eelam in Sri Lanka for Lankan Tamils. According to MDMK, the referendum should be held in places where Lankan Tamils live.

The party has assured appointment of Tamils as ambassadors in nations having a sizeable Tamil population.

The MDMK also promised to work to force India to take severe action against Sri Lanka if it continues to attack Indian fishermen and also retrieve Katchatheevu -- an islet in Palk Strait -- from Sri Lanka.

In order to strengthen the country’s unity, the Indian Constitution should be revisited and the country be renamed as United States of India, and the party said it would strive for that.

Sri Lanka Police today announced a reward of 1 million rupees for anyone who is able to provide accurate information regarding the wanted criminal and LTTE suspect, Kajeeban Ponniah Selvanayagam alias Gopi also known as Kasiyan and his assistant.


The Police Spokesman's Office today released a photograph of the suspect along with a description. According to the police description, the 31-year-old suspect is about 6 feet tall and has a scar above his lip on the left side.

The suspect shot and injured a police sub inspector on March 13th when a police team went to the residence he was hiding in Dharmapuram, Kilinochchi to apprehend him.

The suspect, who had escaped from Vavuniya Welfare Centre immediately after the end of conflict, had fled the area and remains at large since then.

The police urged the public to forward any information regarding the suspect by phone to 0112 451 636 or fax to 0112 321 838.

The reward of Rs 1 million will be given to anyone who provides accurate information regarding the criminal and that their identity will be protected, the police assured.

The United States expressed concern on Friday about the Sri Lankan government’s arrest of two human rights activists this week and about an overall “deteriorating human rights situation” in the island nation.


Ruki Fernando, a human rights adviser, and Praveen Mahesan, a pastor and director of a rights group, were arrested, Sri Lanka’s military said on Monday, under an anti-terrorism law that was used to crush Tamil Tiger rebels during the final phase of a quarter-century long war.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said it was “encouraging” that the two have since been released but added that they continue to face harassment by Sri Lankan security forces.

Their arrest came amid international pressure on Sri Lanka to address allegations that tens of thousands of civilians were killed by the army in the final weeks of the war in 2009. Many more people are still missing.

“It is disturbing that the government of Sri Lanka has taken punitive measures against its own brave citizens who have devoted their careers and lives to investigating alleged human rights abuses by both sides during Sri Lanka’s long and brutal civil conflict,” Psaki said in a statement.

“These detentions and the continued harassment of those who support the quest for reconciliation and accountability send a chilling effect across Sri Lanka’s vibrant civil society, and undermine Sri Lanka’s proud democratic traditions,” Psaki added.

Residents living in the former northern war zone where the two men were arrested said the pair had been gathering information on the circumstances surrounding the earlier arrest of an ethnic Tamil woman who had protested about the fate of her missing rebel son.

Psaki said the United States is “concerned by intensifying pressure on Sri Lankan civil society and human rights activists” and “especially concerned” by the detention of Fernando and Mahesan.

She also cited reports that additional rights groups were being targeted for investigation by security forces.

The United States has called for a resolution at the U.N. Human Rights Council to investigate “past abuses and to examine more recent attacks on journalists, human rights defenders and religious minorities.”

Psaki said, “We are undertaking this action due to our support for the Sri Lankan people and strong concerns about the deteriorating human rights situation in Sri Lanka.”