Srilanka Timeline 2014

5/3/2016 http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/shrilanka/timeline/2014.htm

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Sri Lanka Timeline Year 2014

January 3 US AmbassadoratLarge for War Crimes Issues, in the Office of Global CriminalJustice at the Department of States Stephen J. Rapp will visit Sri Lanka SriLanka from January 611, 2014, the State Department Spokesperson announced.During his visit Ambassador Rapp will meet with a broad cross section ofGovernment officials and political and civil society leaders on a range of issuesfocusing on Sri Lanka's justice, accountability, and reconciliation processes.

January 6 The US AmbassadoratLarge for War Crimes Issues, in the Office of GlobalCriminal Justice at the Department of States Stephen J. Rapp was arrived inColombo on a sixday visit to hold discussions with Sri Lankan officials onallegations of war crimes.

The Presidential Commission to probe disappearances will commence sittings onJanuary 18. The inaugural sitting of the Commission is scheduled to be held inMullaitivu and Kilinochchi Districts from January 18 to 20.

January 8 US AmbassadoratLarge for War Crimes Issues in the Office of Global CriminalJustice at the Department of States Stephen J. Rapp said that the US will movea third resolution against Sri Lanka at the upcoming UNHRC session in Genevain March calling for an international probe into the war crimes allegations duringthe final phase of the war.

January 9 Army rejected US claim that the Army shelling had killed hundreds of families atSt Antony's Ground in Mullaittivu District as completely 'baseless'. The U.S.Embassy in Colombo on January 9 in its official Twitter account posted a photocaptioned as "St Antony's Ground site of January 2009 killing of hundreds offamilies by army shelling".

India's External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said "Our concern is that theIndoSri Lanka agreement with former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi should berespected. The Sri Lankan Government sought our help, and, in response to that,we were promised that there would be devolution of power from the centre tostates like it is in India."

January 10 Secretary to the External Affairs Ministry Karunatilaka Amunugama said that theGovernment will question the US Embassy in Colombo over the allegations madeby US diplomats in social media that army shelling killed hundreds of families inthe North during the final stage of the war.

January 12 The display of a wreckage of a passenger airplane that was shot down by theLTTE 16 years ago at the public park grounds in Jaffna District drew a largecrowd on January 12. The debris of the illfated aircraft along with somerecovered personal items of the passengers including a National Identity Card ofa passenger, clothes, and shoes, were on display to the public.

US pressed Sri Lanka to probe alleged rights abuses by its Army throughindependent and credible investigations after a top American diplomat recordedeyewitness accounts of serious "abuses" during the final stages of the civil warwith the LTTE.

January 14 TNA says the Government is not properly collecting data on the material andhuman losses incurred in the Northern Province during the period of the war.

EPDP, a group of Tamil party allies of governing party decided to submitproposals on behalf of the Tamil people to the PSC appointed to address thenational problems and propose the necessary constitutional amendments.

The Premier of Ontario Province of Canada, Kathleen Wynne had a friendlymeeting with a former spokesman, Nehru Gunaratnam for a LTTE frontorganization, WTM in Toronto. The Premier and Gunaratnam along with citycouncilor Michelle Berardinetti and Liberal MPP Lorenzo Berardinetti attended theevent at the Kanthasamy Hindu Temple to celebrate Pongal.

January 15 Tharmalingam Jeyanthan (35) of the defeated LTTE and sought by Interpol forterrorism arrested by the French Police in Paris when the man walked into thePolice Station to lodge a complaint. A Red Notice issued by Interpol on


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Tharmalingam says he is wanted by the judicial authorities of Sri Lanka forprosecution and to serve a sentence.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa said the Government is dedicated to implementjustice to everyone in the country and everyone should live with equal rights.

Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem urged the US to reconsider its position on theisland nation and support efforts towards achieving reconciliation in the country.

Reacting to the possibility of being sent to a Governmentrun rehabilitation campmeant for LTTE detainees, a TNA woman councillor of the NPC said she wouldresist the move. Ananthi Saseetharan said she was never a member of the LTTEbut wanted justice for her husband and several others who had disappearedduring the threedecade ethnic conflict.

January 17 The Government requested the French authorities to hand over TharmalingamJeyanthan arrested by the French Police in Paris when he walked into a FrenchPolice Station to lodge a complaint.

President's Special Envoy for Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe inKandy city said the Government will face all the challenges it may encounter atthe upcoming UNHRC session in Geneva in March. The 25th session of theUNHRC is scheduled to begin on March 3.

Murugesu Chandrakumar, a parliamentarian of governing party ally EPD said atan event in Jaffna District that the Government is trying to expedite theresettlement of IDPs in the North in their original homes.

Forensic experts said a mass grave found in Northeastern, the scene of pitchedbattles between Government forces and LTTE in 2009 is said to contain severallayers of bodies.

January 18 Mahinda Samarasinghe, Plantation Minister and the country's Human Rightsenvoy said the country was ready to face another resolution in the UNHRC overalleged war crimes during decade's long civil war against the LTTE.

January 20 A survey conducted by the TID found that over 2,900 children and youthabducted by the LTTE had perished in the war. The LTTE had abducted thechildren and youth from their homes and forcibly recruited to its ranks to fightagainst the Government SFs at frontlines.

Issuing the quarterly update to the 2012 Human Rights and Democracy Reportcovering the OctoberDecember 2013 period, the Foreign & CommonwealthOffice (FCO) in London said that the human rights situation in Sri Lanka did notimprove during the last three months and UK's concerns over the culture ofimpunity in Sri Lanka continue.

January 21 HRW on in its World Report 2014 released in New York said 'Sri Lanka made littleprogress in 2013 in accountability for serious human rights abuses committedduring the country's threedecade long war against LTTE that ended in 2009.'

President of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson during a bilateral discussion at theEmirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi, UAE told Sri Lankan President MahindaRajapaksa that Sri Lanka has made a remarkable transformation since the end ofthe conflict.

Minister of External Affairs Prof. G. L. Peiris said that repeated resolutions in theUNHRC in Geneva are counterproductive because of their polarizing effect andexert excessive pressure on the country.

Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga said that the Government has doneall that was "humanly possible" to implement the NAP for the implementation ofthe LLRC, since its approval by the Cabinet of Ministers in July 2012.

January 22 Skeletal remains of three more people have been unearthed from the unmarkedgrave site found in Mannar District. With the latest discovery, skeletal remains of42 people have been unearthed so far from the site that was under the control ofthe LTTE until the SFs liberated Mannar District in 2008.

National Languages and Social Integration Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara saidthat both the Sinhala and Tamil languages should be given equal status.

Parliamentary UnderSecretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs


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January 23 Parliamentary UnderSecretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth AffairsMP Mark Simmonds said that anticipating a tough time at the UNHRC sessionsin March, 2014 and mounting a diplomatic offensive to against another resolutionsponsored by the US, the UK is working hard to garner support to move the USresolution against Sri Lanka.

January 25 Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said that a lot of military camps thatwere in North during the war have been removed now and only the ones essentialto national security remain at strategic locations. He further explained thatmaintenance of law and order in the North is handled entirely by the Police.

The Army during a brief ceremony returned 23 houses it occupied in Jaffna District inthe Northern Province during the conflict to the rightful owners. The programme wasimplemented under the directions of Major General Udaya Perera, Commander, SFHQ J.

January 27 Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga in Washington, US said that aninternational inquiry into war crimes in Sri Lanka would bring "chaos," and theGovernment's national reconciliation process must be given several more yearsto work.

The Army while claiming that within the last two weeks reduce the militarypresence in Jaffna District by relocating 214 static guard positions occupied bytroops within the peninsula rejected claims that the Army had stepped upmonitoring patrols in Jaffna District.

January 28 Three more dead bodies unearthed from the mass grave at Thirukethishvara inMannar District raising the number of bodies recovered so far to 53.

Ministry of Defense in Colombo dismissed the media reports which alleged theSFs of using unconventional weapons in the war against the LTTE.

January 29 British Minister of State at the FCO Hugo Swire said in the UK Parliament inLondon that Sri Lanka's domestic LLRC appointed to address the reconciliationand accountability issues does not meet international standards.

To avoid hurting Tamil sentiment ahead of elections, the Indian Government inNew Delhi refused to commit Sri Lanka any support against a USsponsored UNresolution accusing its military of committing war crimes in the final assault onthe LTTE in 2009.

January 30 Director General of the Department of Census and Statistics D.C.A.Gunawardena said that the report of the census on human death and propertydamages during the threedecade long conflict would be released next month.

Ally of governing party, the JHU called on the Government to dissolve the NPCover the resolution the NPC adopted recently to seek an international probe onalleged war crimes.

UNP charged that the NPC has overstepped its constitutional mandate bypassing a resolution that called for an international investigation on Sri Lanka asa provincial council has no power over international affairs.

January 31 The 18th anniversary of the deadliest suicide bomb attack by the LTTE on theCentral Bank in Colombo was marked. On January 31, 1996, the LTTE rammed amassive explosiveladen truck through the main gate of the Central Bank buildingkilling 91 people including 41 bank employees.

Nisha Desai Biswal, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and CentralAsian Affairs arrived in Colombo for talks with Sri Lankan leaders ahead of a keyUN vote on the country's human rights record.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing a ceremony held in Kalutara Districtsaid that Sri Lanka is no longer a dominated nation and it will not cave to externalpressure and betray its independence.

Petroleum Industries Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa lashed out at BritishMinister of State at the FCO Hugo Swire for making a statement in the UKParliament that Sri Lanka's domestic mechanism for reconciliation was notaccording to international standards.

Sri Lankan Government refused a visa to US Ambassador at large for women's


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issues, Catherine Russell, forcing her to cancel a highlevel visit scheduled forFebruary 1011. Her visa application was officially submitted on January 27.

February 1 US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Nisha DesaiBiswal said the international community's patience is wearing thin over SriLanka's slow progress in achieving reconciliation and addressing accountabilityfor alleged war crimes.

February 2 Foreign Minister G. L. Peiris said remarks by Nisha Biswal, US AssistantSecretary of State for South and Central Asia, at the end of a twoday visitsuggested that she wanted to believe the worst of the regime in Colombo.

February 3 The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka rejected the statements made byUS Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia, Nisha Desai Biswal, onhuman rights issues in Sri Lanka during her visit to the country.

Finance Minister of India P. Chidambaram said that India assisted housingproject to construct 50,000 houses for Sri Lanka's IDPs has completed 10,250houses in 2013. According to India's Ministry of External Affairs 10,250 houseswere completed by December 31, 2013 and another 27,750 houses will beconstructed under the same scheme.

February 4 President Mahinda Rajapaksa condemned the attempts to bring anotherresolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC session in Geneva next month.

Presidential Commission to investigate alleged abductions or disappearances ofpersons resident in the Northern and Eastern Provinces during the period 19902009 said that around 5,000 Muslims have gone missing in the country during theperiod of the war.

February 5 UN office in Sri Lanka in a statement said that Haoliang Xu, UN AssistantSecretaryGeneral, Chair, United Nations Development Group AsiaPacific andUNDP Assistant Administrator & Director, Regional Bureau for Asia and thePacific will be visiting Sri Lanka from February 912.

February 6 Military spokesman Ruwan Wanigasooriya rejected the latest Australian reportwhich claimed that the Sri Lankan armed forces had systematically destroyedevidence of alleged mass killings during the last stages of the war in the country."Do you think we could have unearthed skeletal remains which are in the villageswhere people are also resettled now and destroy the evidence?" Wanigasooriyatold.

February 7 Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem during a meeting with the South African HighCommissioner Geoff Q.M. Doidge in Colombo said that passing proposals toconduct international investigations against Sri Lanka will have unexpectedresults and damage the sensitive reconciliation process.

February 8 A city court in Chennai (Tamil Nadu) acquitted 13 people accused of involvementwith the banned terror group LTTE. The case relates to the arrest of some SriLankan Tamils in Chennai and seizure of communication devices, includingsatellite phones from them in April 2009.

UN Assistant SecretaryGeneral and UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director,Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, Haoliang Xu arrived in Sri Lanka. Xusaid that he looks forward to understanding the progress made in the first year ofthe UNDAF for 20132017.

External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris told the Parliament that the Government hasimplemented 85 percent of the recommendations in the LLRC report. The Ministeradded that the Government will continue with the implementation work of theLLRC recommendations.

February 9 According to a report in The Divaina, the antiGovernment activities of the NPC inSri Lanka had come under Government scanner and the Government hasdecided to conduct a special investigation into the Council's recent measures.

February 10 President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that international conspiracies against theGovernment and the country are being formed in Geneva to build negative viewsamong the people in the country and urged the public not to allow themselves tobe misled by those conspiracies.

The Foreign Affairs Council of the EU at its meeting held in Brussels, capital of


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Belgium adopted the conclusion to actively support the accountability andreconciliation process in Sri Lanka and address the current human rights situationin the country.

February 11 China lent its support to Sri Lanka and said it opposed "interference" in thecountry's domestic affairs, ahead of next month's (March) meeting of the UNHRCwhere the US is expected to put forward a resolution criticising the island nation'spostwar rights record.

Defense Ministry informed the Lands Minister Janaka Bandara Tennako that themilitary has not been mandated to acquire private lands in the Northern Province.The Lands Ministry received some 7,566 complaints from residents in theNorthern Province on land matters.

February 12 Haoliang Xu, UN Assistant SecretaryGeneral, Chair, United NationsDevelopment Group AsiaPacific and UNDP Assistant Administrator and Directormet with President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Colombo and discussed the progressof those programs and human development priorities of the country as well as thefurther support needs.

China strongly criticized the countries that are pressuring Sri Lanka on the humanrights issue saying that people in Sri Lanka have the wisdom and capacity tomanage their internal affairs.

February 13 Main opposition UNP blamed the Government for the anticipated UN resolutioncalling for an international investigation into the alleged war crimes during the lastphase of the war against the LTTE terrorists.

UNP in a statement demanded the Government to conduct a domesticinvestigation into war crimes allegations arising from the quartercentury civil war.

Media and Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said that the Governmenthas implemented 75 percent of the recommendations in the LLRC and theGovernment's reconciliation programme is constantly moving forward.

Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran stressed the need to give'dual nationality' to members of the Diaspora so that they could return to SriLanka and participates in postwar rebuilding work.

February 14 The Presidential Commission appointed to look into missing persons in the Northand East during the period between 1990 and 2009 began its public hearings inJaffna District. The hearings will continue till February 17, 2014. The Commissionreceived 30004000 cases from the Jaffna District.

UNP MP and former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Lakshman Kiriella saidthe media teams who covered the final phase of war should be held responsiblefor leaked images and video footage with regard to the alleged war crimes.

February 16 The United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay in a report called foran international investigation into war crimes committed in Sri Lanka during thefinal stages of its ethnic conflict. The report also mentions emergence of newevidence on what happened in the final stages of the armed conflict.

Russia and China declared their strong support to Sri Lanka against the USsponsored resolution that will be brought against the country at the upcomingUNHRC session in Geneva next month. Several other countries includingPakistan, Iran, Indonesia and UAE have expressed their support to Sri Lanka.

The DMK passed a resolution in Tamil Nadu (India) urging the Centre to support aUSbacked resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC.

February 17 Ministry of Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms said that the Government hastaken measures to provide redress to persons injured or disabled due to the waras recommended by the LLRC.

February 18 The External Affairs Ministry in a statement said that a delegation headed by theMinister of Irrigation and Water Resources Management, Nimal Siripala de Silvawill tour South Africa on February 20 and 21 to hold discussions with SouthAfrican officials on that country's procedures and experiences of Truth andReconciliation.

Amirthalingam Baheerathan, the son of the former leader of TULF, who was


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assassinated by the LTTE, met President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo andpraised the country's development brought under the President's leadership.

The NPC, at the council's sixth session held in Jaffna District, passed aresolution asking the Governments of Sri Lanka and India to take steps tointroduce direct flights from Jaffna District and Trincomalee District to India forthe benefit of Tamils living in the north and east of the island nation.

February 19 Civil Aviation Minister Pryankara Jayaratne said that the resolution of the NPCasking the Governments of Sri Lanka and India to take steps to introduce directflights from Jaffna District and Trincomalee District to India for the benefit ofTamils living in the north and east of the island nation was "ridiculous".

February 20 The Government sent its response to the report by UN High Commissioner forHuman Rights Navanethem Pillay rejecting her call for an international inquiry intothe allegations of human rights violations and accountability issues during thelatter part of the war.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa extended the mandate issued to the PresidentialCommission to investigate cases of alleged disappearances of persons in theNorthern and Eastern Provinces by six months to August 12, 2014.

British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, John Rankin following an official visit toJaffna District said in Colombo that Britain does not want to see the return of theterrorism unleashed in Sri Lanka by the LTTE again.

February 21 DMK, the Tamil political party in Tamil Nadu (India) urged the Indian PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh to facilitate a separate resolution against Sri Lanka atthe UNHRC seeking an independent and credible probe into alleged war crimes inSri Lanka.

February 22 ALRC called for UN intervention into Sri Lanka's mass at Matale and MannarDistricts saying that the mass graves were dug with bulldozers and suchmethods are not conducive to proper handling of the human remains that arefound in such graves.

The NPC adopted a resolution against the alleged 'Sinhala colonizations' carriedout in the North. NPC Councilor T. Raviharan presented the resolution against the'Sinhala colonization' in the Mullaitivu District and grabbing lands of people in theNorthern Province. The resolution was seconded by Councilor M.K. Sivajilingam.

Army Spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasuriya announced that 150 youngwomen would be recruited to Sri Lanka Army from Tamil dominated NorthernProvince and multiethnic Eastern Province.

February 24 The Government rejected the call by UN High Commissioner for Human RightsNavnanethem Pillay's 'to establish an international inquiry mechanism to furtherinvestigate the alleged violations of human rights and monitor any domesticaccountability process in Sri Lanka'.

The Government under a programme initiated by the Rehabilitation Authority willdistribute 40 million rupees as concessionary funds to the waraffected people inthe Mullaitivu and Jaffna Districts of Northern Province.

Speaking at the debate in the UK Parliament in London, the British Minister ofState at the FCO, Hugo Swire said Britain does not believe that the domesticprocesses set up by the Sri Lankan Government are adequate to address thehumanitarian law violations and accountability issues.

February 25 Eighty skeletal remains were dug out of a mass grave in a former LTTEstronghold in Thirukatheeswaram area of Mannar District, fuelling speculation thatthe bodies are of Tamil civilians who disappeared during the war with the rebels.

Amnesty International said that the international community must act on a robustnew UN report calling for an international investigation into alleged human rightsviolations and war crimes in Sri Lanka.

TNA said the report submitted by the United Nations High Commissioner forHuman Rights, Navanetham Pillai is a comprehensive and accurate depiction ofthe serious human rights issues in the country.

The Department of Census and Statistics began the preprocessing of data of the


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February 26The Department of Census and Statistics began the preprocessing of data of theisland wide census to assess the human and property damages that occurredduring the civil war.

February 27 The US Secretary of State John Kerry releasing the 2013 Annual Country ReportHuman Rights said that the Sri Lankan Government's failure to answer the basicdemands for accountability and reconciliation has led the US to sponsor anotherresolution at the UNHRC in Geneva.

February 28 President Mahinda Rajapaksa denounced Washington's plan to move a UNhuman rights resolution against Sri Lanka, comparing the US move over allegedwar crimes to a professional boxer taking on a schoolboy.

Expressing Sri Lanka's discomfort with the USsponsored resolution to come upin Geneva in a month, President said "We are uncomfortable with the wholeresolution. There is no evidence [of rights abuse or war crimes] at the moment…if there is any, we will look into it."

HRW has backed UN rights chief's recommendation for an international inquiryinto alleged war crimes committed in Sri Lanka during the final phase of battlewith the LTTE, the New Yorkbased HRW said.

Welcoming the report from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on SriLanka, the British Government said that it supports the High Commissioner's callfor an international investigation into Sri Lanka.

March 1 ICRC will conduct a survey in Sri Lanka to assess the needs of families ofindividuals who disappeared during the nearly threedecade war against LTTEterrorists. The survey would begin in April and is scheduled to be completed bythe end of the year, ICRC's spokesperson Sarasi Wijeratne told.

March 2 According to a source in the Presidential Secretariat, 80 per cent of thecomplaints of forced disappearance made to the Presidential Commission ofDisappearances blame the LTTE.

March 3 The Draft Resolution HRC25/1 "Promoting reconciliation, accountability, andhuman rights in Sri Lanka" calling for an international independent and credibleinvestigation into alleged humanitarian and human rights law violations tabled atthe 25th session of the UNHRC in Geneva.

UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon welcomed the UN High Commissioner forHuman Rights, Navi Pillay's report on Sri Lanka at the UNHRC in Geneva andsaid he welcomes the High Commissioner's report on promoting reconciliationand accountability in Sri Lanka.

March 4 Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh met President Mahinda Rajapakse aftera resolution at the UNHRC condemning Sri Lanka's human record during its waragainst the LTTE and to underline the case of demilitarisation in the JaffnaPeninsula.

BTF, a separatist Tamil nationalist diasporas group in UK slammed the'insubstantial' USsponsored draft resolution on Sri Lanka tabled at the UNHRCsession in Geneva on March 3.

March 5 The Census and Statistics Department issued its interim report on the nationwidecensus the Department conducted to assess the human and property damagesoccurred during the Civil War. The interim report contains details of themethodology, training, enumeration and supervision, and the processing of thecensus data.

The Presidential Commission investigating the alleged disappearances ofpersons in conflict affected areas has considered issuing a Certificate ofAbsence instead of a Death Certificate to the persons who went missing duringthe armed conflict.

Rejecting a report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay onthe country's postwar progress as "fundamentally flawed" in its entirety, Ministerof External Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris said judging the country by the initiatives ofOffice of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is a "travesty of justice".

March 6 The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay reiterated her call forthe UNHRC to establish its own international inquiry mechanism into Sri Lanka


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saying the nearly five years after the end of the conflict, the Sri LankanGovernment has failed to satisfy the Council's call for a credible and independentinvestigation into allegations of serious human rights violations.

External Affairs Minister G. L. Peiris told the United Nations High Commissionerfor Human Rights Navi Pillay that the negative attention placed on Sri Lankamakes achieving reconciliation among ethnic communities' even harder.

Kapilan alias Nandhagopan, the 'second in command' of the LTTE's NediyavanGroup, was arrested by Iranian authorities at the transit passenger lounge in theTeheran airport. Thereafter, Nandhagopan was "seized" by Sri Lankan officialsand transported to Colombo.

March 9 President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing a rally held in Gampaha District saidthat Sri Lanka has strength to face any international challenge and will never giveinto imperialists or their followers in reference to the resolution tabled by the USat the UNHRC in Geneva.

Welcoming the draft of the USsponsored resolution that seeks an internationalprobe led by the UNHRC, the TNA said it looked forward to a resolution withstronger scope after revisions ahead of the voting day at the UNHRC in Geneva.

March 10 A new video clip showing Sinhalaspeaking uniformed men celebrating overbodies identified as those of female LTTE fighters released by Channel 4accused the Sri Lankan Armed Forces of having an "underlying culture ofsystematic brutality and sexual violence".

A TNA delegation led by R. Sampanthan met US and British envoys in Colomboand discussed the USled resolution to be submitted at the ongoing UNHRCsessions in Geneva.

March 11 New Zealand Green Party human rights spokesperson Jan Logie asked the NewZealand Government to support the resolution on Sri Lanka tabled by the USalong with four other countries at the UNHRC in Geneva when it comes up forvote on March 26.

March 12 The US, while calling for an international inquiry into human rights violations in SriLanka, called for another side event in Geneva on March 18 to lobby for support.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa said "The war was not against the Tamils. We onlyfought a brutal terrorist outfit that was the LTTE. If our war was against Tamilshow could the Tamils live happily and peacefully among the Sinhalese in thesouth of the country?"

March 13 Minister of Plantation Industries and Special Envoy of the President on HumanRights, Mahinda Samarasinghe in Geneva said that Sri Lanka's decision to fightthe resolution moved by the US, UK and a few other countries was a fight on amatter of principle and that Sri Lanka would not compromise on it.

A Sub Inspector of the Terrorist Investigation Unit was shot at and injured when aPolice team including the officer went to a suspect's residence at Dharmapuramin Kilinochchi District to arrest him for his involvement in subversive activities.The suspect is a former Liberation LTTE intelligence officer.

Police arrested Tamil activist, Balendra Jeyakumari and her 13yearold daughterVidushika from Dharmapuram in the Kilinochchi District for allegedly shelteringthe former LTTE 'intelligence officer'.

March 14 SLFP Parliamentarian, Namal Rajapaksa, addressing an election rally in Colombosaid that despite the military defeat of the LTTE, members of the LTTE Diasporawere still trying to establish an Eelam.

TNA leader R. Sampanthan dismissed the Government's stance blaming it for thestalled direct negotiations to hammer out a political settlement to the island'sethnic conflict.

TNA Parliamentarian Sivashakthi Anandan said that help from the internationalcommunity is needed to address grievances of the people in the North and Eastas the real grievances of the Tamil people have not been addressed.

Northern Provincial Councilor Ananthi Sasitharan addressing the UNHRC in


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Geneva said "The children affected in any war spend a lifetime to recover fromthe impact. But, the Eelam Tamil children face a continued war with genocidalintent. Concrete actions are needed to safeguard our children from becomingpermanent victims to the genocide."

March 15 Ananathy Saseetharan, a woman Northern Provincial Council member raised theissue of the arrest of Balendran Jeyakumari and her daughter Vithushaini inKilinochchi District at the meeting of UNHRC in Geneva.

March 16 Two Human Right activists Ruki Fernando, who works for Rights Now Collectivefor Democracy and a Catholic priest, Father Praveen were arrested by theTerrorist Investigation Unit in Kilinochchi District under the PTA for attempting tocreate ethnic discord among communities and to promote separatism.

March 18 The Government explained to the UNHRC the investigations that led to the arrestand detention of three activists Ms. Balendran Jeyakumari, Fernando andPraveen suspected of supporting subversive activities in violation of the PTA inthe conflictaffected North.

Jaffna Commander Major General Udaya Perera said that the Government andthe Defense Forces would not allow the reemergence of the LTTE as the TamilDiaspora wants.

The two human right activists, Ruki Fernando and Father Prveen detained underthe PTA for questioning to ascertain the whereabouts of a LTTE suspect whoshot a Police officer in Kilinochchi District was released.

March 19 External Affairs Minister G L Peiris claimed that most of the 47 membercountries of the UNHRC are under pressure to back a tough USsponsoredresolution that has called for an international probe into alleged rights abusesduring the country's war with LTTE.

TNA, which controls the Northern Province, said they were not averse to revivingtalks if no preconditions were attached. The Northern Province has unanimouslyagreed to revive the stalled direct talks with President Mahinda Rajapaksa to finda political solution to the problems of the ethnic Tamils.

March 20 A group of proGovernment protesters staged demonstrations outside the UNOffice and the Embassies of the US and Britain in Colombo to protest aresolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC over its alleged rights abuses duringwar with LTTE rebels.

Many shops in Trincomalee city of Trincomalee District were closed in support ofprotest carried out by Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims Organizations against theUS sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka at the UNHRC in Geneva.

March 21 The Government expressing displeasure over the statements made by theNorthern Provincial Councilor Ananthi Sasitharan at the UNHRC requested theMinister of External Affairs to take immediate steps to counter the falseallegations.

A report by the UK Bar Human Rights Committee and International Truth andJustice Project warned that the "highest levels" of Sri Lanka's Government werecomplicit in raping, torturing and abducting ethnic Tamils following the nation'sethnic civil war.

March 22 The Presidential Commission investigating the alleged disappearances ofpersons in conflict affected areas concluded its first public sitting in the EasternProvince. The Commission during the period 19902009 received submissionsfrom 129 people from Chenkallady, Vakarai and Batticaloa in the EasternProvince.

Police announced a reward of LKR 1 million for anyone who is able to provideaccurate information about LTTE suspect, Kajeeban Ponniah Selvanayagamalias Gopi who shot and injured a Police Sub Inspector on March 13 inKilinochchi District.

March 23 President's Human Rights Envoy and Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe claimedthat there was a "division" among members of the UNHRC over a US backedresolution and termed it a victory for the country. He further said most of themember nations are clamped by the US pressure to vote in favor of theresolution.


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British Prime Minister David Cameron said that he had secured the 'full backingof the European Union' for the UK cosponsored resolution on Sri Lanka nextweek at the UNHRC session.

March 24 The revised version of the USsponsored resolution on Sri Lanka was circulatedto member states of the UNHRC in Geneva. The revised version requests theOHCHR to undertake a comprehensive independent investigation into allegedserious violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes by both partiesin Sri Lanka, during the period covered by the LLRC from February, 2002 to May,2009.

A massive demonstration was held at the UNHRC headquarters in Geneva withthe participation of over 5,000 expatriate Sri Lankan communities in Europe.

Chief Minister of Northern Province, C.V. Wigneswaran in a statement issued inMannar District expressed concern over the possibility of increasing the militarypresence in the North due to search operations in the area.

March 25 Piratheepan Nadarajah (37), a Canadian LTTE operative extradited to the US toface charges of supporting the LTTE, has been sentenced to two years in prisonby a Federal Court in Brooklyn, New York.

The final draft of the resolution on Sri Lanka sponsored by the US, the UK andthree other countries was submitted to the 25th session of the UNHRC inGeneva.

Sri Lankan Army heightened security in the Northern Province through a host ofmeasures, including vehicle checks. The precaution was necessary to nab asuspect still at large, after a recent incident of firing on a Policeman inKilinochchi District.

The Government amended the time period for its Presidential Commissionlooking into cases of alleged disappearances in its Northern and EasternProvinces to cover the 26 years from 19832009.

March 26 United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay presenting thereport on Sri Lanka to the 25th session of the UNHRC in Geneva said that noneof the various state mechanisms the Sri Lankan Government established duringthe five years after the end of the war had the independence to be effective orinspire confidence among victims and witnesses of human rights violations.

TNA Parliamentarian P. Selvaraja said that lands in the North and East are beinggrabbed by chauvinist forces. According to Selvaraja, private lands that belong tothe Tamil people in the East, especially in the Batticaloa District are being takenover by the Government with the assistance of chauvinist monks and the SriLanka Army.

Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe, Commander of the SFHQKLN met therehabilitated former combatants of the LTTE in Kilinochchi District and alerted therehabilitated excombatants to external threats that would be directed at them byparties interested in sending them back to violent means.

March 27 US led resolution on Sri Lanka at the UNHRC in Geneva was adopted with amajority of 11 votes. Out of the 47 members of the UNHRC, 23 voted for theresolution and 12 opposed it while another 12 abstained from voting.

Sri Lanka rejected the UN resolution calling for an international investigation intoalleged human rights violations as a conspiracy by interested parties "seeking aregime change".

US welcomed the passage of resolution and said it sends a "clear message" tothe Rajapaksa Government that the international community is committed topromote peace, stability, and prosperity in the country.

TNA opposed India for its decision to abstain from the US sponsored resolutionin UNHRC which was passed on March 27. TNA MP Suresh Premachandran toldthat India had cheated the Sri Lankan Tamils by the stance it had taken withregard to the resolution.

External Affairs Minister, G.L. Peiris blamed "unbelievable" US pressure on


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March 28 External Affairs Minister, G.L. Peiris blamed "unbelievable" US pressure onmember states led to the UN adopting a resolution censuring Colombo on itshuman rights record after a vote at the UNHRC session in Geneva.

Wimal Weerawansa, Minister of Construction, Engineering Services, Housing andCommon Amenities in a news conference in Colombo said that military personnelstationed in the Northern Province will not be withdrawn.

D.B.S. Jeyaraj, a wellknown Canadian Sri Lankan journalist in an article postedon his website revealed a plot to assassinate Sri Lankan President MahindaRajapaksa or his brother Secretary of Defence and Urban DevelopmentGotabhaya Rajapaksa by the LTTE.

March 30 A joint statement put out by several organizations of Sri Lankan Tamils livingoutside the country expressed disappointment over India's abstention at theUNHRC.

March 31 The Government proscribed LTTE and 15 other alleged front organizations TRO,TCC, BTF, WTM, CTC, ATC, GTF, NCCT, TNC, TYO, WTCC, TGTE, TEPA,WTRF and HQ Group.

April 2 UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Kimoon called on the Sri Lankan Government toconstructively engage and cooperate with the OHCHR on the implementation ofthe resolution adopted on March 27 by the UNHRC.

UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Kimoon called on the Sri Lankan Government toconstructively engage and cooperate with the OHCHR on the implementation ofthe resolution adopted on March 27 by the UNHRC.

Army Spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasuriya said that more than 1 millionland mines had been unearthed so far in the demining process and the landswith landmines in the North had been reduced to 82 square kilometers from 2,064square kilometers.

April 3 101 resettled IDP families in Keppapilavu area of the Mullativu District willreceive houses constructed by the Government. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa,Secretary of Defense and Urban Development will hand over houses to thedisplaced families.

April 4 Indian High Commissioner Y. K. Sinha addressing the Foreign Correspondents'Association in Colombo said "Early progress on devolution and politicalsettlement crucial to Sri Lanka to tackle mounting international pressure.

April 5 TNA called on the Government to lift the ban imposed on 16 Tamil Diasporaorganizations. According to TNA Northern Provincial Councilor, M.K.Sivajilingam, the organizations have not in any way aided terrorists or terroristorganizations in Sri Lanka or elsewhere.

April 7 HRW said that the Sri Lankan Government's decision to label 16 overseas Tamilorganizations as financers of terrorism is so broad that it appears aimed atrestricting peaceful activism by the country's Tamil minority.

Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris said that Sri Lanka will not participate in anyinvestigation carried out by the OHCHR. He told "Nobody can come here withoutthe cooperation of the Sri Lankan Government. The country would howevercontinue with its national process and remain engaged with the UN."

April 9 Government handed over 98 acres of paddy lands that were occupied by theSLAF to 29 resettled families for cultivation in Vellamullivaikkal East of MullaitivuDistrict in the presence of the Secretary of the Ministry of Defense and UrbanDevelopment Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

Military Spokesman Ruwan Wanigasuriya said foreign terrorist groups andseveral overseas organizations banned over suspicion that they were LTTEsupporters could go to Courts and get their name cleared.

April 10 Four people including an Army Lance Corporal and three LTTE leaders were killedin a clash between SFs and suspected LTTE terrorist operatives in Nadunkarniarea of Vavuniya District in a search operation for the wanted LTTE suspectPonniah Selvanayagam alias Gopi.

TID of Police interrogated Kapilan alias Nandhagopan, an overseas leader of


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LTTE arrested when he entered the country on March 6. He was in charge ofLTTE's media division and fled from Sri Lanka when the war ended.

Police media Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said that Police arrested 65 personsin the past month (March) under suspicion of attempting to resuscitate the LTTE.Investigations are underway to arrest several local leaders of the LTTE whoclandestinely work to reorganize the terror movement.

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of UK, WilliamHague said that the OHCHR will soon begin the process of establishing aninvestigation on Sri Lanka's alleged violations of human rights and assessing theevidence.

April 11 Army spokesman Ruwan Wanigasooriya said that the three LTTE leaders whowere killed by the Army during the clash in Vavuniya District on April 10 arePonniah Selvanayagam alias Gopi, Sundaralingam Kajeepan alias Thevihan andNavarathnam Navaneethan alias Appan.

Justifying for maintaining troops in the former war zones, President MahindaRajapaksa's special envoy on human rights Mahinda Samarasinghe said "Wewere asked and criticized about the presence of the military in the north at theUNHRC in Geneva. We explained to them the need to keep the military going asit was a decision for a sovereign Government to take in view of the nationalsecurity needs."

Senior Police and Military officials denied that a soldier had also been killed inthe clash between SFs and suspected LTTE terrorist operatives in theNadunkarni area of Vavuniya District on April 10. They said the soldier died infriendly fire during a military exercise on the same evening.

April 13 Police media spokesman SSP Ajith Rohan said that law enforcement authoritieswill seek Interpol's assistance to arrest LTTE leaders operating from foreigncountries to revive the defunct terrorist outfit in the island.

April 14 Canada decided to suspend voluntary funding to the Commonwealth while thechair of the secretariat is occupied by Sri Lanka because of human rightsconcerns.

April 15 H.W Gunadasa, Secretary to the Presidential Commission inquiring into cases ofalleged disappearances in the North and Eastern Provinces said thatCommission will provide counseling to the kin of those disappeared.

April 16 Police Media Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said that Police has launched aninvestigation on the people who had links with former LTTE leadersSelvanayagam Kajeepan alias Gopi, Sundaralingam Kajeepan alias Thevihan andNavarathnam Navaneethan alias Appan.

TRAC named the BBS, an extremist Sinhala Buddhist organization in Sri Lanka,as a terrorist organization. The BBS is understood by the TRAC to be anorganization which uses terrorism as a means to an end.

Cabinet Spokesperson and Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said that theGovernment is open for discussion with the organizations that were recentlyproscribed for allegedly having links with the LTTE.

Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa speaking at the 14th Defence ServicesAsia Exhibition and Conference held in Puthrajaya (Malaysia) said that thoughthere was no more terrorism in Sri Lanka, the LTTE's global network continued tofunction largely unhindered and that some nations seemed to have chosen to turna blind eye to these front organizations.

April 17 Police Media Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said that the Interpol is reported tohave issued 40 'Red Notices' against the LTTE operatives living abroad.

April 18 External Affairs Ministry together with the Defence Ministry decided to brief thediplomatic community in Colombo next week on banning 16 Tamil diasporagroups including LTTE.

Military spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasuriya said reconciliation in SriLanka after a threedecade long war cannot be achieved overnight.

April 20 A LTTE suspect who was undergoing treatment at Vavuniya District Hospital


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under prison custody escaped. Police said the suspect a 28yearold resident atKudirippu in Vavuniya District was arrested on November 4, 2013 over anincident of having bombs in his possession.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that there is no room for any community tosuppress another community on the grounds of religion or ethnicity and assuredthat no injustice will be done to any ethnicity.

External Affairs Ministry Publicity Division Director General A.M. Saddiq said thatthe External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris will request the cooperation of thediplomatic community when he meets the ambassadors and high commissionersin Colombo on April 24 on the recent proscription by the Sri Lankan Governmentof 16 organizations that have links with the LTTE.

April 21 The antiterrorist division of Kilinochchi Police arrested a 63yearold woman, aresident of Uruthipuram in Kilinochchi District for providing land in the North tosuspected LTTE supporters.

April 22 Addressing a press conference in Colombo, the secretary of the BBS,Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero said that BBS had no plans to topple theGovernment led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

April 23 The extremist Sinhala Buddhist organization, BBS surrounded the Ministry ofIndustries to protest the alleged resettlement of Muslims in Wilpattu NationalPark.

April 24 Minister of External Affairs, G. L. Peiris briefed the Ambassadors and HighCommissioners to give the diplomatic community authentic information regardingaction taken by the Government against 16 organizations that have links with theLTTE and individuals involved in terrorist funding and other activity connectedwith plans to revive terrorism.

April 25 A man, suspected to be a close associate of the slain LTTE leader PonniahSelvanayagam Kajeeban alias Gobi, was arrested by the TID in Jaffna District.

April 26 Interpol issued a Red Notice for the arrest of Perinpanayagam Sivaparan aliasNediyavan, who is believed to be the leader of the LTTE organization in Norway.

TNA senior leader R. Sampanthan said that the Government decided to banselect Tamil diaspora organizations and individuals to thwart a free andtransparent international probe into the 2009 Civil War.

April 28 NPC passed several resolutions demanding that the ban of 16 overseas Tamilgroups be withdrawn forthwith.

April 29 The Bureau of Counterterrorism of the US Department of State in its CountryReports on Terrorism 2013 said that although no arrests related to terrorism weremade in 2013, the Sri Lankan Government remained concerned of the LTTE'sinternational network of financial support.

April 30 A Sinhala daily newspaper reported that 18 Intelligence Officers had been sent to18 countries as part of an international operation against the LTTE rumporganizations.

The Ministry of Defence and Urban Development denied that Intelligence Officersbeing sent to other countries to educate officials of those countries as part of aninternational operation against the LTTE rump organizations.

May 1 President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that almost all of the UN agencies praise SriLanka's achievements on all fronts since the war victory.

May 5 The Resettlement Ministry Secretary Janaka Sugathadasa said that theGovernment will revise the list of remaining IDPs in the country by addinganother 400 long term IDP families.

Military Spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said that Army, Navy andthe Police have launched an extensive search in the general area ofIchchilampattai in Trincomalee District after the recovery of a T56 weapon withseveral rounds of ammunition in a bag at Lanka Patuna beach near a Navaldetachment.

Defence sources revealed that one of the former prominent LTTE cadres,identified by the Indian Police as K. Thayapararaja, said to have been tortured


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and killed by the SFs in 2009 as claimed by many local and international NGOs,was among the arrested persons by the Tamil Nadu Police in Dhanushkodi inIndia when they entered India without valid documents.

May 6 The outgoing Consul General of India, Venkadasalam Mahalingam during hisfarewell speech in Jaffna District said that nobody can deny India's instrumentalrole in creating PCs in Sri Lanka, especially the Northern Province which has anelected Chief Minister and other Ministers holding different portfolios.

May 7 President of the UNGA, John W. Ashe acknowledged the progress of the countryin the recent past after the nearly 30 years of civil war ended in 2009.

May 8 Minister of Mass Media and Information Keheliya Rambukwella said that there isno change in Government's stance on achieving a sustainable final solution tothe ethnic problem through the PSC despite TNA's refusal to participate in thePSC.

Military Spokesperson Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said that organizedevents of any form to commemorate LTTE terrorist killed in battle in the NorthernProvince or any other part of the country will not be allowed as it is illegal sinceLTTE is a banned organization.

Army commenced recruiting Tamil youth from the wartorn Northern Province forthe first time at Maritime Divisional Secretariat in Mullaitivu District in which morethan 50 Tamil youths have applied and the interviewers will move to Oddusuddan,Puthumattalan, Mullaitivu and other areas to conduct interviews until June 30,2014.

May 9 The Naval troops attached to the SLNS Gotabhaya of the Eastern NavalCommand recovered the largest stock of LTTE pistol ammunition containing120,000 of 9 x 19 mm KOPP ammunition, 2,750 of SG 12 Bore ammunition and5,600 of 357 Magnum (Blazer) ammunition buried at Vellamullivaikkal area inMullaitivu District in Northern Province.

May 11 Sri Lanka and China have finalized a treaty between the two countries on mutuallegal assistance in criminal matters after two countries have held negotiations onthe treaty from May 6 to 8, 2014 in Beijing.

May 12 NPC said that it is saddened the Government's decision to prohibit any publiccommemoration in the Northern Province with expressing its opposition to theoccasion being used by political parties and separatist groups in the North toglorify the LTTE.

British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Hugo Swiresaid in the UK Parliament that the proscription of diaspora Tamil organizationsthat are suspected of having links to the LTTE by the Sri Lankan Government isnot conducive to a successful reconciliation process in the island nation.

Sri Lankan Government's AntiLTTE operations in Tamil areas in the countrycreate fears of refugee outflow from Sri Lanka to Tamil Nadu, India.

May 13 A source said that the ban on Tamil Diaspora organisations has begun to splitthese organizations and scare away individuals from them. It also added thatthere is a "remarkable drop" in public participation in the activities of thedesignated organizations.

May 14 As Sri Lanka is getting ready to commemorate the defeat of the LTTE, theMinistry of Home Affairs, India extended its ban on the LTTE for five more years.

Norway based IDMC, in a report released on stated that IDPs in Sri Lanka isestimated to be up to 90,000 persons five years after the end of the war in 2009.

May 15 NPC members, identified as M.K. Sivajilingam and Ananthi Sasitharan hadattempted to light camphor at the entrance of the closed building of the Council inJaffna District to commemorate slain militants of the LTTE during the war. Police,however intervened and prevented the attempt to light camphor at the entrance tothe Council.

CTD of the Malaysia Police's Special Branch arrested three men suspected to bemembers of LTTE for allegedly attempting to revive the Sri Lankan separatistgroup at the international level. Malaysian Police also have seized LTTEpropaganda material, media equipment and currencies from 24 countries worth


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MYR 20,176.53 (approximately US$ 6,280) from the arrested LTTE members.

May 16 Hundreds of Sri Lankans marched on the Norwegian embassy in Colombo toprotest against Oslo''s support for remnants of the LTTE living abroad.

May 17 According to the BCGR sources, five years since the defeat of terrorism,Government has successfully rehabilitated and reintegrated most of the LTTEcadres who had surrendered to the SFs or were arrested by the authorities. TheBCGR under the leadership of Major General K.J. Wijetillake has so farrehabilitated and reintegrated 11,947 exLTTE cadres out of a total of 12,303.

May 18 Special Detection Unit led by North Central Province Senior DIG, RaviWijegunawardana arrested an individual suspected to be an Indian intelligenceagent who had impersonated himself as a Sri Lankan using a false name (HamzaJamaldeen) for nineteen years from Koliyabenda Wewa area in AnuradhapuraDistrict, North Central Province.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, while addressing the nation at the fifth anniversaryVictory Day celebrations in the southern town of Matara District, SouthernProvince said that Sri Lanka today is not celebrating the victory of war, but avictory of peace achieved through sacrifice of lives.

The Army Commander Lieutenant General Daya Rathnayaka said that Army isready to face any threat against the country and its national security with theguidance of the CommanderinChief, President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the SFsunder the guidance of the Defense Secretary can defeat the attempts to reviveterrorism. He noted that Sri Lanka rehabilitated and socialized a large number ofex LTTE cadres and it is an example for the whole world.

May 19 A Resolution submitted to the USHR by Rush Holt called on the Sri LankanGovernment and TNA to begin negotiations to reach a longterm political solutionthat would ensure for a peaceful and unified Sri Lanka. It also called on the TNAto acknowledge its past relationships with the LTTE and make a firmcommitment to reconciliation.

May 20 Mohamed Muzammil, the media spokesman of NFF, urged the Government totake stern action against the MPs of the TNA, Selvam Adaikkalanathan, PonSelvarasa, P. Ariyanethran, S. Yoheswaran, Shivasakthi Anandan andDeniswaran for commemorating the deaths of LTTE cadres last week.

The main opposition party UNP in Parliament renewed its call for the prosecutionof LTTE's chief weapon procurer Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP or to hand himover to India for legal action for his alleged involvements in crimes committedthere.

May 21 President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that Sri Lanka remains fully committed toimplement a domestic procedure to look into alleged violations that may havetaken place during the civil war. He rejected any international inquiry into thealleged violations by indicating the contradictions in UNHRC resolution.

Over 2,000 students, teachers and other staff of Jaffna University observedMullivaikkal Remembrance Day at the Kailasapathi Hall in Jaffna District despitethe ban by the Army on the observance of the day which marks the killing ofthousands of Tamil civilians in the Civil war.

May 22 A high ranking Chinese military delegation, headed by Chief of the CAPFLieutenant General Niu Zhizong offered training opportunities for Sri Lankanofficers in China in the fields of antiterrorism, antihigh jacking and disastermanagement. Sri Lankan Army Commander, Lieutenant General Daya Ratnayakein response has also invited Chinese officers to join different training courses,conducted in Army training centers in Sri Lanka.

CM of NPC, Justice C.V. Wigneswaran, has declined the invitation extended bythe President Mahinda Rajapaksa to accompany him to the swearing inceremony of Indian PM elect Narendra Modi.

C.V. Wigneswaran criticized that Sri Lankan Government was ignoring the verdictof the Northerners and acting on its own in militarizing the Province.

Suresh Premachandran, a MP of TNA, said that around 84,000 families in theNorth and East had lost their breadwinners during the war and he also claimed


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that the TNA has continuously requested the Government to provide adequatelivelihood assistance to the war victims in the North and East, but theGovernment is more concerned about building houses for army personnel and isfocused on their welfare.

JHU General Secretary and Minister, Champika Ranawaka demanded Norway toimmediately hand over Oslobased LTTE leader Perinbanayagam Siwaparan aliasNediyavan to Sri Lankan authorities. He accused that Nediyavan who is believedto have financed the terrorist activities of LTTE, lives freely in Oslo despite theInterpol arrest warrant against him.

May 24 TNA leader R. Sampanthan condemned the Government's measure to designateseveral Tamil diaspora organizations and individuals as having links to theterrorist group LTTE. He asked the Government to review its decision toproscribe 16 Tamil organizations and over 400 individuals under the PTA andremove from that list organizations and individuals against whom there is noevidence of engaging in or supporting any 'terrorist acts' under the Act.

May 25 Malaysian Police following the arrest of three LTTE members have launched anoperation to hunt down more members of the group who are believed to be hidingin the country.

SLN discovered the debris of a SLAF helicopter believed to have crashed sometime ago in the seas off Chalai in Mullaitivu District in the Northern Province, astronghold of LTTE. The Navy however did not confirm if the debris belonged to ahelicopter which might have been shot down by the LTTE during their militarycampaign.

May 26 UNHCR Spokesperson Yante Ismail said that a close and full examination of allfacts is needed following the detention of three members of LTTE bearing thecommission’s cards in Malaysia.

May 27 Police Spokesman, SSP Ajith Rohana said that the three most wanted LTTEleaders, identified as Sandalinga Raja Dushanthan, Mahadevan Kiribakaran andSelvthurai Kiribavan arrested by the Malaysian Police have been brought to thecountry and are now in the custody of Sri Lankan authorities.

Police identified the three suspects as active members of LTTE before they fledto Malaysia. According to the Police one of the suspects Sandalinga RajaDushanthan had joined the LTTE Political Wing in 1994 and later had extendedhis full support to the revival of the LTTE outfit. The second suspect, MahadevanKirubaharan, had joined the LTTE Music Band before he fled the country and thethird suspect, Selvathurai Kirubananthan, had joined the Intelligence Network ofPottu Amman alias Shanmugalingam Sivashankar and had fled the country in2006.

SLAF, in a statement said that wreckage of a helicopter found in northern seaand recovered by the SLN off Chalai in Mullaitivu District in the Northern Provincehas been identified as belonging to the SLAF Mi 24 Helicopter CH 614 whichwent missing in March 1997. It also said that "the helicopter crashed with all onboard and was believed to have been shot down by enemy fire. This was laterconfirmed by Intelligence Sources."

When the new Indian PM Narendra Modi met President Mahinda Rajapaksa forbilateral talks at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi, India, he requested SriLankan Government to expedite the process of national reconciliation by fullyimplementing the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and going beyond.

May 28 Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva while responding to Indian PM Narendra Modi’srequest to the full implementation of the 13th Amendment and go beyond saidthat it was only the PSC that could decide on the matter and Government wouldcooperate with India always but no one should interfere with the internal affairs ofthe country.

The fisherman engaged in fishing about one kilometer away from the shore offMoragolla area in Aluthgama, Kalutara District in the Western Province found therim of a wheel, believed to be of an aircraft. SLAF Wing Commander GihanSeneviratne said that an expert would be consulted regarding the wheel and theAir Force has sent a team to inspect the debris.


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Senior security official said that an urgent review of UN procedures wasnecessary in the wake of the recent arrest and deportation of three LTTE cadresregistered with the UNHCR in Malaysia. The official said that two of the LTTEcadres had received refugee status, while the third was in the process ofsecuring the same and Sri Lankan government had never been consulted asregards the applications made by them, therefore an inquiry was necessary.

May 29 Daniel Painter, the head of the political team at the British High Commission inColombo said that UK will continue to encourage the Sri Lankan Government torespect human rights, promote meaningful reconciliation and agree a politicalsettlement with the Tamil and other opposition parties.

June 1 Jaffna Mayor Yogeswari Pathgunarajah prevented attempts by the TNA tocommemorate the death of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran at Mullivaikal inMullaitivu District, Northern Province. The Mayor said, "Tamil leaders like AlfredDoraiappa and A. Amirthalingam served the people of the area and they weremurdered by the LTTE and TNA should commemorate the deaths of such leadersinstead of commemorating the terrorist leader”.

PSC, headed by Leader of the House Nimal Siripala de Silva, has requested theTamil party, TNA, to make submissions on its stand if it cannot attend regularsessions.

June 3 The Retired Senior Police Officers' Association members have urged the'Presidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints Regarding MissingPersons' to pursue the matter regarding the murder of 600 Policemen by LTTE inAmpara District in Eastern Province in June 1990.

Deputy Home Minister of Malaysia, Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said thatMalaysians who gave donations to refugees may have unknowingly helped LTTEraise enough money to buy warships and weapons.

UNP rejected Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa's call for a referendum among Tamilsin Sri Lanka including those currently living abroad to decide on theestablishment of a separate state (Eelam).

UNP MP Eran Wickremeratne criticized the Government by saying that "It wasthis tragic state of affairs that has led to foreign countries and internationalorganizations telling us to put our house in order. It has reached a stage wherethe UNHRC is about to commence a war crimes probe into the conduct of theRajapaksa Government and the LTTE."

June 4 External Affairs Minister Professor G.L. Peiris said that it is not the policy of theSri Lankan Government to provide Police powers to any provincial council in thecountry. He said in the Parliament that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has clearlypointed out to India during his discussions with the Indian Government thatadverse effects will result in the country by devolving such powers.

BCGR said it has almost completed the rehabilitation of nearly 12,000 formerLTTE cadres who either surrendered or were taken into custody following the endof the civil war in 2009. According to the Commissioner General of RehabilitationMajor General Jagath Wijetilleke, there are 132 former LTTE cadres currentlyundergoing the oneyear rehabilitation program that is jointly conducted by theArmy and BCGR at the Poonthottam Rehabilitation Center in Vavuniya District ofNorthern Province. Following a recommendation by LLRC a special committeewas also appointed to study the cases of detained LTTE suspects and expeditelegal action where necessary.

Police arrested an individual, identified as Nandarasa Saundranayagam in thepossession of nearly 15 kilograms of TNT explosives in the Madhu area ofMannar in Mannar District in Northern Province. According to Police mediaSpokesman SSP Ajith Rohana, a second suspect believed to be an explosiveexpert of LTTE, identified as Gunasekara Mudiyanselage Nilanka Jude Anthonyalias Cyril Nilangam Jude Anthony alias Villango had escaped during the Policeoperation and remains at large. Rohana added that the suspect has knowledge ofthe landmines buried by the LTTE during the war in the area between Madhu andKanagarayankulam as a protective barrier.

June 5 The Commissioner General of Rehabilitation Major General Jagath Wijetilleke


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said that about 40 former members of LTTE, who have successfully undergonerehabilitation under a Government programme, are likely to get employed in aconstruction firm in Singapore.

June 6 The Chairman of the 'Presidential Commission Investigating Cases of MissingPersons', Attorney Maxwell Paranagama said that most of the complaints onmissing persons from Batticaloa District, Eastern Province held LTTEresponsible for the disappearances and there were no allegations against SFs.

June 7 The Director General of Sri Lanka CAA, H.M.C. Nimalsiri said that the debrisfound recently at Moragolla area in Aluthgama, Kalutara District in the WesternProvince was not parts of an aircraft as suspected earlier. The Authority nowsuspects that the debris may be a part removed from a ship.

Former Norwegian Minister and Peace Envoy Erik Solheim, once a keynegotiator in Sri Lanka's Oslomediated peace process, said he is willing to be awitness at any recognized international tribunal on alleged war crimes committedby Sri Lanka during the war. He explained that LTTE leader VelupillaiPrabhakaran's refusal to accept federalism and the constant infighting, betweenthe two main political parties, the SLFP and the UNP were the two mainobstacles to the Norwaybrokered peace process.

June 8 Sri Lankan MEA rejected the appointment of a team by UNOHCHR to conduct acomprehensive investigation into the alleged human right violations committed bythe both sides during the last seven years of civil war.

June 9 The Presidential Commission Investigating Cases of Missing Persons concludedits public sittings in the Batticaloa District, Eastern Province and received 216new complaints. The Commission also recorded evidence in relation to theKurukkalmadam massacre where the LTTE allegedly killed 163 Muslims in1990s.

Government decided to hold a debate in Parliament on the internationalinvestigation mandated by the UNHRC to probe alleged human rights violationsduring the last seven years of the civil war. SLFP has taken this decision duringits central committee meeting held at Temple Trees under the patronage of thePresident.

June 10 US and the UK asked the Sri Lankan Government to fully cooperate with theinternational investigation mandated by the UNHRC to probe alleged human rightsviolation during the civil war.

June 11 MP of TNA, M.A. Sumanthiran warned that the country will have to face seriousproblems if a decision is taken in Parliament to bar the team appointed by theHigh Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay to investigate alleged humanrights violations committed in Sri Lanka during the last seven years of civil war.

A legislator of UNP, Wijedasa Rajapakshe said that a vote on a debate on thematter may show to the international community that there is at least a minorityof MPs supporting such an international investigation since TNA may vote infavor of the international probe.

NFF praised the main constituent party's decision to debate in parliament on theinternational investigation mandated by UNHRC and said the party totallysupports the initiative.

Defence Ministry Spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said that thosemaking false accusations from European and North American countries thatdeported Tamil asylum seekers are subjected to rape and sexual abuse at thehands of SFs wanted to avoid being deported to Sri Lanka. He stressed thatthese allegations are part of a massive campaign launched by the asylumseekers along with over 7 per cent of the Tamil Diaspora members who aredesperately trying to carve out a separate state in the country.

Representatives of the Retired Senior Police Officers' Association requested tothe Chairman of the Presidential Commission Investigating Cases of MissingPersons, Maxwell Paranagama to investigate matters regarding the murder of600 Police officers by LTTE in the Eastern Province in 1990. Over 600 Policeofficers served in Batticaloa and Ampara Police Divisions in the EasternProvince surrendered to the LTTE under the orders of the then President R.Premadasa who had agreed to a ceasefire with the rebels. Shortly afterwards


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their surrender on June 11, 1990 LTTE killed all the officers.

The UNHCHR Navi Pillay has appointed the team as mandated by the UNHRC toconduct a comprehensive investigation into the alleged war crimes committed bythe SFs and LTTE during the last seven years of the civil war. Senior UN officialMs. Sandra Beidas will be the coordinator of the OHCHR investigative teamwhich comprises 12 members, including two forensic experts, a legal analyst, agender specialist and investigators.

June 12 SR on the Human Rights of IDPs Chaloka Beyani told the 26th Session ofUNHRC in Geneva that the Sri Lankan Government has undertaken positiveefforts to rebuild the infrastructure destroyed during the conflict and the deminingin return areas, post conflict reconstruction and development but still needs tofocus on building livelihoods linked to durable solutions for IDPs. He undertookan official mission to Sri Lanka from 2 to 6 December 2013 at the Government'sinvitation and visited Colombo, Jaffna, Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi. Beyani.

June 13 A Local Court in The Hague ordered five LTTE suspects to be imprisoned forcollecting funds for the organization in Netherlands. The five men are believed tobe frontliners of the LTTE in Netherland and they were given sentences rangingfrom 2 to 6 years.

Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody announced that Parliament will debatethe comprehensive international investigation mandated by UNHRC to investigatealleged War Crimes on June 17 and 18.

A special Police team led by North Central DIG Ranjith Padmasiri arrested asuspect from a location close to the clock tower in the Anuradhapura Town, NorthCentral Province while he was allegedly transporting 10 kilogrammes ofexplosives, 500 detonators and 40 meters of fuse cord. The suspect was a 52yearold man from Nochchiyagama, Anuradhapura District and the explosiveswere being transported to Trincomalee.

Main opposition parties of Sri Lanka have decided to abstain from voting for themotion to be taken up for debate in the parliament next week condemning theUNHRC probe on the human rights violations in Sri Lanka.

June 14 Pro LTTE candidate for ScarboroughRouge River, Neethan Shan, despite hisalliance with the Tiger rump failed to win at the recently concluded Ontarioprovincial election in Canada. He was a staunch LTTE supporter who had takenpart in all LTTE heroes' day celebrations in Canada. Shan had publicly criticizedthe Canadian Government for banning the LTTE front, World Tamil Movement. Hehad also participated in TV talk shows during the last phase of the humanitarianoperation in 2009 which wiped out the LTTE in Sri Lanka. He spoke on behalf ofterrorist leaders, and maintained that they were fighting for the liberation ofTamils.

The Minister of Land and Land Development, Janaka Bandara Tennakoon, saidthat Government has decided to bring a Prescription (Special Provisions) Act toParliament for the benefit of the people of the Northern Province displaced due towar. He said the new act will benefit 500,000 people who resided in the Northernand Eastern Provinces in the period between May 1, 1983, to May 18, 2009.

Former TNA MP and NPC member M.K. Sivajilingam in a letter to Indian PMNarendra Modi said that the Tamil people in Sri Lanka cannot expect a politicalsolution from Sri Lankan Governments without the direct and active interventionof India. He sought the PM's help in reaching a solution which can, at theminimum, offer a true federal autonomy to the Tamils in a single merged NorthEast special region. He also sought help to the medical and educational needs ofthe Tamil people in the region.

June 15 Rupert Colville, the Spokesman at the UNOHCHR said that UNHRC mandatedinternational investigation into the alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka is ready tobegin this month (June).

Violence between Buddhists and Muslims in Beruwala and Aluthgama areas inKalutara District of Western Province has left three people dead and at leastanother 78 injured. Clashes erupted between the Sinhala and Muslimcommunities in the area after the extremist Buddhist group BBS held a


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demonstration in the town to denounce the attack on a Buddhist monk and hisdriver by a Muslim youth.

Local media reports said the communal violence was spreading to Colombo, thecapital city of Sri Lanka, as an unidentified gang attacked a pharmacy inDehiwala area.

June 16 UNOHCHR said that it had developed extensive methodologies to deal withsituations where access had been denied. OHCHR Spokesman Rupert Colvillesaid that "The investigation will take place either way. It will be better to haveaccess, but it is still possible to do a full and thorough investigation without it."

41 people have been arrested in the aftermath of the violence between Buddhistsand Muslims in which three people dead and several injured at Aluthgama andBeruwala areas in Kalutara District of Western Province.

A group of journalists of Sunday Leader and Irudina newspapers complained thata group of unidentified men threatened and attacked them when they went toreport the communal violence in Beruwala electorate.

Sri Lankan Government has proposed to hold a referendum regarding the UNinvestigation on human rights violations in Sri Lanka. The proposal was made inthe Parliament by ruling UPFA MP Janaka Priyantha Bandara.

June 17 Sri Lankan PM D.M. Jayaratne said that Police with the support of STF andArmy has taken all measures to maintain law and order in the affected towns andstern legal action will be taken against the persons who are responsible foratrocities.

The southern coastal towns still remain under siege of violence and sporadicattacks have been reported from the areas despite a curfew imposed by thePolice.

UNP MP Palitha Thewarapperuma was attacked by a mob at Welipenna in hisMatugama electorate (Kalutara district, Western province) as he was involved inrescuing Muslims who were under siege from the Sinhala nationalist mob. Themobs attacked the MP and damaged his vehicle whilst the MP escaped from themob without harm.

A massive protest was held in Kattankudi Muslim town of Batticaloa District inEastern Province over the atrocities committed against the Muslims in towns ofAluthgama and Beruwala. The protestors chanting slogans demanded thegovernment to ban the Buddhist militant group BBS and grant security for theminority communities.

The Police obtained a court order from the Mawanella Magistrate's Court to stopthe BBS from holding a rally in the Muslimdominated Mawanella Town in KegalleDistrict of Sabaragamuwa Province.

Police curfew imposed in Aluthgama and Beruwala areas have been liftedtemporarily for 4 hours from 8 am to 12 pm.

LTTE 'Intelligence Unit' member Subramaniyam Ravi Chandran was arrestedwhen he was hiding in Raigamwatte in Horana, Kalutara District of WesternProvince. SSP Ajith Rohana said that he is being detained for questioning.Subramaniyam Ravi Chandran had joined the LTTE in 2002.

June 18 President Mahinda Rajapaksa promised to take stern action against theperpetrators of the communal violence in Aluthgama and Beruwala areas inKalutara District of Western Province. He visited the affected areas of Beruwalaand Aluthgama and guaranteed to conduct an impartial investigation into theincidents and to definitely bring all culprits to the book. The President alsoinstructed the District officials to make arrangements for compensation and torepair the damaged property. He said measures will be taken to prevent suchincidents in future by certain extremist groups.

The founding leader of extremist Buddhist movement BBS Kirama VimalajothiThero said that the organization he founded was beyond his control now. He saidhe would not approve the language, BBS secretary Galagodaaththe GnanasaraThero used to speak about the President and the other politicians and the hateful


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words were not suitable for Buddhist monks.

The sources say that Thero who is accused of instigating communal violenceagainst Muslims has gone underground. The organization is on the verge of splitand a legal battle regarding the property is expected.

Sri Lanka Parliament passed the motion submitted against the comprehensiveinternational investigation mandated by the UNHRC to probe alleged war crimesduring the civil war. The motion passed in with a majority of 134 votes with 144voting in favor and 10 against. However, the main opposition UNP abstained fromvoting.

Head of Sri Lanka Police, IG, N.K. Ilangakoon said that Police arrested 55 peoplesuspected of instigating the clashes that took place in Beruwala, Aluthgama,Welipenna and Matugama in Western Province and 35 of them have beenremanded. He said Police received 138 complaints relating to the recentskirmishes and an extensive investigation will be conducted into the communalclashes.

June 19 Facebook has suspended the profiles of Sri Lanka's Buddhist extremist groupBBS and its monk leader Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera. A large number ofindividuals have reported to the Facebook administration that the two accountholders are engaged in spreading racism and hatred.

Minister of Technology, Research and Atomic Energy Patali Champika Ranawakaaccused that similar to how the US nurtured Taliban, which later targetedstrategic locations in New York, US Ambassador Michele J. Sison is nurturingthe Sri Lankan Jihadist groups thus jeopardizing the security of not only SriLanka and the US but of the entire world.

Sri Lankan Parliament gave approval to extend the period granted to the PSCresponsible for recommending and reporting on political and constitutionalmeasures to empower the people of Sri Lanka to live as one nation till December21, 2014.

A LTTE 'Sea Tiger Force' member, Thirunagarasu Pradeepan was arrested at theKatunayake Airport in Western Province when he was to take a flight to Qatar.

June 20 Sri Lanka briefed the UNHRC of the measures that have been implemented bythe Government to prevent further deterioration of the situation and to bring backnormalcy to the areas affected by the communal violence in the Beruwala andAluthgama areas in Western Province.

June 21 Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero, the secretary of Sri Lanka's Buddhistextremist BBS said that they had stopped violence and urged the Muslimextremists also to stop. He rejected that the BBS had any connections to thecommunal violence in Beruwala electorate and other places.

June 22 Police Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana announced that no permission would begiven in the future to hold religious or ethnic rallies inciting hatred and tensionamong communities in the country.

SI Nimal Piyatissa attached to the Sri Lankan President's Security Divisionarrested three LTTE cadres while they were filming the official residence offormer President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Independence Avenue, Colombo ontheir mobile phones. Police recovered photographs and video clips of LTTEsuicide cadres on the suspects' mobile phone. Later, the three suspects wereremanded.

June 23 Sri Lanka strongly rejected a statement made by the Canadian delegation at theongoing UNHRC sessions in Geneva that referred to the military presence in theconflict affected zones in Sri Lanka contributing to the vulnerability of women andgirls in the areas. Sri Lankan delegation stated that the references made by theCanadian delegation remains at the level of 'allegations unsubstantiated byverifiable data'. They further went on to state that no evidence has been directlybrought to the attention of Government authorities by any claimant, to enable theconduct of credible investigations and prosecutions.

A Sri Lankan court in Kalawanchikudi of Batticaloa District in Eastern Provinceordered to exhume a large number of grave sites in the Eastern Provincefollowing claims that the grave sites contain the bodies of scores of Muslims


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massacred by LTTE in 1990. The court, after examining a motion submitted byAbdul Majeed Mohammed, a resident of Kalawanchikudi, ordered the exhumationof the graves to begin on July 1, 2014. Mohammed in his complaint said LTTEkidnapped more than 100 Muslims in the area and subsequently killed them andburied in mass graves near the coast off Kurukkalmadam.

June 24 The Vavuniya High Court Judge convicted top LTTE cadre KanagarajaRavishankar in connection with three cases of illegal transportation of arms andmissiles into the country from abroad. Ravishankar, a resident of Kilinochchi ofNorthern Province was sentenced to 30 years rigorous imprisonment.Ravishankar, had joined the LTTE in 1992 and was trained overseas by theorganization as a ship's captain. According to police he had left Sri Lanka in 2005and is now known to reside in Canada.

June 25 SSP Ajith Rohana said after the reorganization attempts of the LTTE led by Gopi,Appan and Thevian were exposed on March 8, 2014, the Police had arrested 51suspects in connection with LTTE activities and there had been five femalesamong them. He said as of today (June 25), a total of 110 suspects with LTTElinks are in jail.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay announced the names ofthree distinguished experts who have agreed to advise and support the team setup to conduct a comprehensive investigation of alleged human rights violations inSri Lanka, as mandated by the UNHRC in March. Former President of Finlandand Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Martti Ahtisaari, Dame Silvia Cartwright, formerGovernorGeneral and High Court judge of New Zealand and Ms Asma Jahangir,former President of Pakistan''s Supreme Court Bar Association and of the HumanRights Commission of Pakistan are the three experts appointed to the team.

US welcomed Navi Pillay's announcement of the appointment of threedistinguished experts to the international team to investigate Sri Lanka''s allegedhuman right violations and called on the government to cooperate.

June 28 Sri Lanka banned visas on arrival for Pakistanis after investigations showed thatjihadist groups targeting India were using Sri Lanka as a transit point. Indianofficials confirmed that Sri Lanka and Maldives have been redflagged by Indiansecurity establishment for some time.

June 30 The Anuradhapura Special High Court Judge Khema Swarnadhipathy ordered tofurther detain two former militants of the 'Missile Brigade' of LTTE for bombing ofa military aircraft 14 years ago, till July 22, 2014. The two LTTE cadres, Jeganalias Kulawan and Vallami alias Sinnathilakan, both residents of Irasathurai inJaffna are suspected of shooting down an Antonov34 aircraft flying from Palalyto Ratmalana on March 30, 2000 over Anuradhapura, North Central Provincekilling at least 40 people including 4 Russians. According to the Police, the twoarrested two years ago in Kilinochchi in Northern Province had revealed that therebels had fired missiles towards the aircraft from Wilpattu forests.

Minister of External Affairs, G. L. Peiris said in Colombo that Sri Lanka's victoryin war against LTTEbacked terrorism and the resulting peace and stabilitybenefitted not only the island nation, but also the entire South Asian region and itis only right and proper the magnitude of these benefits should receiverecognition.

July 1 The Anuradhapura Special High Court Judge Khema Swarnadhipathi permittedthe CID of Police to indict four militants of LTTE for the attack on theAnuradhapura Air Force Base and massacre of soldiers. They are accused ofkilling 14 Air Force and Army personnel, completely destroying 10 aircraft andpartly damaging another six. Tamil Tigers launched an air and ground attack onthe Anuradhapura Air Force Base on October 22, 2007. The Judge also permittedthe CID to amend the charges of one accused, Rasalingam Thaboruban.

The Anuradhapura Special High Court Judge Khema Swarnadhipathi permittedthe CID of Police to indict four militants of LTTE for the attack on theAnuradhapura Air Force Base and massacre of soldiers. They are accused ofkilling 14 Air Force and Army personnel, completely destroying 10 aircraft andpartly damaging another six. Tamil Tigers launched an air and ground attack onthe Anuradhapura Air Force Base on October 22, 2007. The Judge also permittedthe CID to amend the charges of one accused, Rasalingam Thaboruban.


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Police media Unit said that Sri Lankan authorities have postponed theexcavations of a suspected mass grave site at Kaluwanchikudy in BatticaloaDistrict, believed to be of Muslims massacred by LTTE terrorists in the EasternProvince in 1990. Excavation of the mass grave site was to begin today (July 1).

The Presidential Commission Investigating Cases of Missing Persons in SriLanka announced that it will conduct its fifth round of Public Sittings in MullaitivuDistrict of Northern Province from July 5 8, 2014. Sittings will be held at thePuthukudiyiruppu Divisional Secretariat on July 5th and 6th, and at MaritimepattuDivisional Secretariat on July 7th and 8th.

July 2 Police arrested four Sri Lankan Tamils, including a LTTE cadre, on charges ofillegal entry when they clandestinely landed at Arichamunai, off Danushkodi, inTamil Nadu. The police identified them as S. Sathish (39), who had worked as an'accountant' with LTTE, S. Ravindran alias Ravi (38), who had worked in EPDP,J. Santhi (38) and Malar (55). Enquiries revealed that Sathish, who had studiedBA (Accounts) at the Jaffna Hindu College, had served in the LTTE as anaccountant from 2004 until the final phase of the war in 2009.

Sri Lanka Army troops, now engaged in restoration of damaged properties in theviolencehit southern coastal towns of Aluthgama and Beruwala in WesternProvince since June 27, expect to complete the phase of the reconstructionproject within few weeks. According to Major General U.A.B Medawela,Commander of SFHQWest many groups of Sinhalese and Muslim social workershave enthusiastically extended their support to the troops.

CID of Sri Lanka Police questioned the leader of the extremist Buddhistorganization BBS Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero over the hate speech hedelivered in Aluthgama earlier last month.

Sri Lanka Police have requested the assistance of the INTERPOL to trace theabsconding suspect who had maintained close links with LTTE. The suspect,Kathirwel Dayabaran Raj, is believed to be in India. Preliminary investigationshave revealed that he had escaped to Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu on May 4with his wife and three children. An Indian magazine has reported that DayabaranRaj was killed by the SFs but the Sri Lanka Police denied the allegation. SriLanka Police said they have evidence that the suspect had escaped by boat toRameshwaram.

July 3 Australian PM Tony Abbott rejected the international criticism of its handling ofTamil asylum seekers and justified sending them back to Sri Lanka as thecountry is now at peace. Abbott said it was no secret that Australia was turningback boats on the high seas but Australia always acted legally and morally atsea.

Australian media reported that 50 Sri Lankan asylum seekers on board one boatwere asked just four basic questions by immigration officials via ateleconference, as part of a screening process. Another boat with 152 Sri Lankanasylum seekers including 32 women, and 37 children has not been contactablesince the weekend, indicating it may have been intercepted by the AustralianNavy and handed over to the SLN.

Australian government has refused to confirm the media reports that the asylumseekers have been handed over to Sri Lankan authorities.

Australian government has refused to confirm the media reports that the asylumseekers have been handed over to Sri Lankan authorities.

The Sri Lankan Government reiterated its stance on the UN investigation that it isnot ready to accept an investigation mandated by the UNHRC.

Government Spokesman and Media Minister, Keheliya Rambukwella said thatsome rehabilitated former LTTE combatants are now in the main stream politicswhile some others have also been recruited to the SFs. He also stressed that theGovernment is not ready to accept TNA as the sole representative of the Tamilcommunity in the country.

Malaysian Police arrested four former LTTE leaders accused of trying to revive


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the organization using Malaysia as a base. The arrestees suspected ofinvolvement in terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka were arrested by the MalaysianPolice in a series of antiterrorism operations in Klang Valley, Kuala Lumpur andthe four are being detained by the SBCTD. Malaysian Police said one of thesuspects was wanted for his involvement in the assassination attempt on thethen Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga in 1999. Police IG, Khalid AbuBakar said that the suspects "were planning to reactivate the group by makingMalaysia as their base of operations". Some activists, he said, had exploitedtheir status as refugees to pursue illegal activities. According to the MalaysianPolice one of the suspects was an explosives expert, and another is alleged offacilitating planned attacks on Sri Lankan consulates in India. The fourth man isaccused of gathering intelligence for the group. The Police confiscatedcounterfeit passports of multiple nations, counterfeit rubber stamps of theImmigration Department and foreign embassies and other documents.

July 4 Sri Lanka Police by July 3 received over 400 complaints related to the recentSinhalaMuslim communal violence that broke out on June 15, 2014 inAluthgama, Beruwala and adjacent areas of Western Province. About 90 percentof the complaints were against unidentified persons burning houses, damagingbuilding, vehicles and attacking people. Aluthgama and Beruwala police stationshad reported to Kalutara Magistrate Court about over 200 cases in which theperpetrators have not been identified.

Initial interviews to recruit more Kilinochchi Tamil youth to the Sri Lanka Army asvocational tradesmen commenced in the past week at the Harmony Centre,Killinochchi District, Northern Province. Under Phase 2 of this program, Armyexpects to recruit as many as 500 young tradesmen who are vocationally skilled.

A Tamil political party in Sri Lanka, TNPF staged a protest at Kilinochchi towndemanding Sri Lanka Army to withdraw from their lands. The protest was heldoutside the Kilinochchi District secretariat. They demanded the Army to withdrawto the barracks returning their lands to them. TNPF is a breakaway faction ofTNA, the major Tamil party of Sri Lanka which rules NPC.

July 5 The Presidential Commission Investigating Cases of Missing Persons in SriLanka began public sittings to hear cases of missing in Mullaitivu District ofNorthern Province where the conflict between SFs and LTTE ended in May 2009.The Commission started its fifth round of Public Sittings at the PuthukudiyiruppuDivisional Secretariat in Mullaitivu District. In its session, the Commission hasinterviewed 25 out of the 60 complaints it invited for hearing while 152 new caseswere registered with the Commission.

July 6 The Australian Government confirmed returning a group of 41 Sri Lankan asylumseekers who attempted to arrive illegally by boat to Australia as part of amaritime people smuggling venture, back to Sri Lanka. Australian Minister ofImmigration and Border Protection, Scott Morrison said the Border ProtectionCommand West of Cocos (Keeling) Islands in late June, 2014 intercepted thesuspected vessel carrying illegal asylum seekers. The Minister said the 41 SriLankans were transferred from an Australian BPC vessel to the SLN outside theSri Lankan port of Batticaloa, Eastern Province.

July 4 Malaysian authorities are on the hunt for more cadres of LTTE after a crackdownon the Tamil militant group led to the arrest of seven persons in the last twomonths in the country. Four suspected LTTE cadres were arrested on July 3brings the total number of Sri Lankan Tamils arrested here in the last two monthsto seven. Malaysian Police believe the Tamil Tigers were trying to revive theirmovement using Malaysia as a transit point, hideout and a new base ofoperation.

July 6 Australian authorities handed over the 41 asylum seekers to SLNS Samudurawhen it was on deep sea patrol in the southern seas of Sri Lanka.

July 7 SLN said that it's Offshore Patrol Vessel, SLNS Samudura is bringing 41Australiabound Sri Lankan illegal immigrants to the Galle Harbor in SouthernProvince. Sri Lanka Navy said it will hand over the group to the law enforcementauthorities for further investigations when brought ashore.

UNHCR has expressed concern over the deportation of 41 Sri Lankan asylumseekers from Australia. A further 153 asylum seekers also from Sri Lanka havehad their deportation blocked by the Australian High Court. UNHCR said it had


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been informed by authorities in Australia that enhanced screening procedures hadbeen applied to determine whether those deported raised claims for protectionwhich required further consideration.

July 8 A Sri Lankan court in Galle, Southern Province remanded five of the 41 asylumseekers handed over to the SLN by the Australian authorities after interceptingthem at high seas. Galle Magistrate, U.S. Kalansooriya remanded five of theillegal migrants until July 14 and released 27 each on cash bail of LKR 5,000 andpersonal bail of LKR 100,000. The judge acquitted nine children, who were underthe age of 16, among the asylum seekers. The released asylum seekersspeaking to reporters outside the court, claimed that they did not receive anyfacilities in Australia and that Australian authorities even ignored the children.

UNHCHR said it is deeply disturbed by the return of 41 Sri Lankan asylumseekers to Sri Lanka by Australian authorities without proper screening and calledfor a full judicial review on the matter. The High Commissioner said theinternational law requires that each and every case be properly and individuallyexamined on its own merits.

Australia rejected allegations by Sri Lankan refugees returned to the island nationthat they were mistreated and said their return sent a strong message to thosethinking of following suit. Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said inColombo that "I find those allegations offensive and reject them absolutely." Hehanded over two patrol boats to Sri Lanka to strengthen surveillance of peoplesmuggling. Morrison rejected claims that Australia had breached internationalconventions by handing over the Sri Lankans.

Sri Lanka said many asylum seekers are economic migrants, but human rightsgroups said Tamils seek asylum to prevent torture, rape and other violence at thehands of the military.

July 9 Two Police reports have been lodged against Malaysia's Penang Deputy CM II DrP. Ramasamy over alleged links with LTTE. The reports were lodged by twoNGOs at the Central Seberang Prai Police stations, Penang, Malaysia. One ofthe groups also alleged that Ramasamy was brave as he is "backed up by theTiger Eelam separatist group from Sri Lanka". The NGOs also demandedRamasamy be investigated and arrested.

The Presidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints Regarding MissingPersons has completed taking evidence in the Mullaitivu area, Northern Province.Chairman of the Commission Maxwell Paranagama said the Commissionrecorded submissions from 129 people from 23 Grama Seva divisions during itssittings. He said the new complaints were registered and complainants will begiven fresh dates to make their submissions. He also added that duringsubmissions most of the people shared their own experiences during the lastdays of the conflicts and the hardships they had to face from LTTE while tryingto cross the lagoon towards areas controlled by the SFs. People told theCommission that they were treated well once they reached army controlled areasand were being escorted to different welfare camps.

July 10 Malaysia has agreed to hand over to Sri Lanka four former leaders of the LTTEarrested during a recent operation. Sri Lankan Police sources said that fourspecially trained Policemen would leave next week for Kuala Lumpur to bringdown the hardcore terrorists to Colombo. A senior Police officer said that theMalaysian police had assured to cooperate with their Sri Lankan counterparts toapprehend other LTTE suspects who have taken refuge in the South East Asiancountry with the help of the information elicited from the LTTE suspects arrestedby them. The Malaysian Police have warned the citizens of that country with direconsequences if they provided refuge or assisted terrorists in any manner.Among the former LTTE cadres arrested by the Malaysian Police is a suspectwanted in connection with the abortive attempt on former President ChandrikaBandaranaike Kumaranatunga's life at the Colombo Town Hall grounds during her1999 presidential election campaign.

July 11 PM D. M. Jayaratna said in Parliament that It is a well known fact that severalNGOs have exceeded their remits even to the extent of procuring weapons forterrorists.


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Justice Minister and leader of SLMC, Rauff Hakeem said the arrest of LankanMuslim Zakir Hussein in a Pakistanisponsored espionage case in Chennai, Indiahas contributed to the propaganda in Lanka that there are "Islamic terrorists" inthe island nation. He said that "We are acutely aware of the ongoing propagandain some quarters that there are terrorist elements or extremist groups that existwithin the Muslim community in Sri Lanka. We suspect that vested interests arebehind such propaganda interests which are bent on seeing the emergence ofterrorism in Sri Lanka, which we abhor by all means, in what we call a selffulfilling prophesy." Hakeem said that the propaganda is part of a "long termproject" of some influential groups among the majority Sinhalese community inSri Lanka to "annihilate" the Muslim community through a "virtual holocaust". Theminister said the said "project" was initiated during Eelam War IV and it pickedup after that with the establishment of extremist Sinhalese Buddhistorganizations like the BBS.

July 12 CM of the Northern Province C.V. Vigneswaran was considering to resign fromhis post in protest of reappointing a retired Army officer Major General G.A.Chandrasiri to govern the Province. Ignoring the Tamil party's strong objections,President Mahinda Rajapaksa reappointed Chandrasiri, whose official term wasslated to end July 12. TNA leader R. Sampanthan said the Government's movehad indicated the careless attitude of the Government about the Tamils.

July 14 Power and Energy Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi claimed that US PresidentBarack Obama and British PM David Cameron had secured votes from LTTEsupporters to come to power. She claimed that now Obama and Cameron areworking according to the agenda of the LTTE supporters against the Sri LankanGovernment. However she said President Mahinda Rajapaksa will not allow theLTTE to raise its head in Sri Lanka with the support of any international force.

July 15 TNA agreed to denounce separatism and accept a united Sri Lanka for allcommunities. Lawyers appearing for the Secretary of TNA and its mainconstituent ITAK, Parliamentarian Mavai Senathirajah and leader of TNA R.Sampanthan agreed to submit the affidavit to the Supreme Court that Sri Lankais a unitary state.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has broadened the scope of the mandate of thePresidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints Regarding MissingPersons and appointed a threemember international panel of experts to advisethe Commission. Sir Desmond de Silva, Sir Geoffrey Nice and David Crane arethe three members of the eminent panel.

July 16 Sri Lanka is urging US to avoid letting human rights concerns dominate therelationship between the countries five years after the end of a civil war that killedas many as 40,000 civilians. Sajin de Vass Gunawardena, a lawmaker andCoordinating Secretary to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, said that reconciliationin Sri Lanka is occurring at a "rapid pace" and the Government is focused onstrengthening its economy. Human rights issues shouldn't hinder closereconomic ties with the US.

In a report, UK, FCO said that doing business in Sri Lanka is not without securityrisks but no threat from terrorism. The report highlighted information on keysecurity and political risks which UK businesses may face when operating in SriLanka. However, there is no threat from terrorism in Sri Lanka for businesses.The Government forces are strongly in control of the former conflict zones andthere is little scope for insurgency, it said.

July 17 An Australian court has given Government lawyers until July 21 to file theirdefence in the case of the 153 Sri Lankan asylum seekers. A government lawyerhas told the court that the Commonwealth has no plans to send the asylumseekers to Sri Lanka without giving a threeday written notice.

July 18 The four LTTE militants arrested by the Malaysian Police on July 3 have beenbrought to Sri Lanka. Police media unit identified three of them as EdmondSingharaja alias Seelan, Angurukankanamlage Indika Sanjeewa alias MohamedSanjaya Abdul and Abdul Saleem Bin Mohamed.

July 19 Sri Lanka Controller of Immigration and Emigration Chulananda Perera said thatall overstaying foreign nationals including the Pakistan and Afghan nationals whohad applied for refugee status would be deported. Parera said that last week, thegovernment took steps to deport five Afghan nationals who had been overstaying


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in Sri Lanka. He further stated that there were 1,450 Pakistan nationals and 40Afghan nationals overstaying.

The LTTE cadres arrested in Malaysia and extradited to Sri Lanka have spilledthe beans on Tiger activists under questioning by the sleuths of the TID. Theyhave told the interrogators that they had never thought that the LTTE would bedefeated militarily in the North. They said the LTTE?had a lot of members inMalaysia. "We thought of rebuilding the LTTE organization. We commemoratedthe LTTE Heroes Day in Malaysia. Our efforts were all in vain. Our members arestill in Jaffna."

July 20 President Mahinda Rajapaksa told visiting Portuguese PM Pedro Passos Coelho,that it will take time to heal the wounds of the 30 yearlong war. Rajapaksa said"It will take time to heal the wounds of war because way many youth died fromsouth and the north", even as he pledged Lanka's commitment to the process ofreconciliation with the minority Tamils. He added that "The LTTE destroyed allinfrastructure in the north, east and other parts of the country while the peoplelived in fear."

India has refused to grant visas to the UN team appointed by Navi Pillay(UNHRC) to probe the alleged human rights violations during the last seven yearsof threedecade long civil war in Sri Lanka. Commissioner of the SLHRC, Dr.Prathiba Mahanamahewa has said that India has rejected to provide visa to theinvestigations committee to enter that country to conduct the probe.

Reports said that the committee appointed by Navi Pillay will initiate itsinvestigations from three different locations worldwide. Centers established inNew York, Bangkok and Geneva will initiate the investigations connecting viaSkype, and Satellite.

July 22 A document filed by the Australian Government in the High Court reveals thatthere are 157 asylum seekers on a boat that was intercepted off Christmas Islandmore than three weeks ago while it was previously stated 153. According to thedocument family members among 157 asylum seekers in separate rooms on acustoms vessel are allowed out for meals and ''approximately three hours'' ofdaylight a day.

July 23 SLA said that it has gradually returned a large extent of land to the originalowners after reducing the size of Army camps in Jaffna. Military Spokesman andMinistry of Defence, Media Center Director Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya saidthe land occupied by the Army now has been reduced to 6,500 acres from theoriginal 26,000 acres. He noted that most of the returned land was earlieroccupied by the LTTE for their military purposes after taking them over from thepeople by force.

July 24 The CBCID wing of Puducherry police arrested two persons in connection withthe trafficking of Tamil refugees, who travelled from the Puducherry coast toChristmas Island in June. Sources said the boat owners, Raja alias Sanjeevi ofKuruchikuppam and A Manjini of Vambakeerapalayam were arrested as per theinformation provided by Australian immigration officials.

July 25 An Australian Government source said that Australia will transfer 157 Sri LankanTamil asylum seekers that it has been holding at sea to the mainland Curtin IDC,Kimberley in Western Australia, in a setback for PM Tony Abbott's tough policyon refugee boat arrivals.

With "security concerns" keeping President Mahinda Rajapaksa away fromattending last week's opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games inGlasgow, Scotland, the planned proLTTE demonstration opposite the Celticstadium lost its steam. Sources said that "The number of activists expected toturn up for the demonstration dwindled as news spread that the President wouldnot be coming for the event." The protesters openly waved Eelam flags, shoutedantiSri Lanka slogans and were attired in Tshirts sporting Velupillai Prabakaran'sphotograph despite the LTTE listed as a proscribed terrorist outfit in the UK.

July 26 Ministry of Defence said that al Qaeda does not have a base in Sri Lanka nordoes any other terrorist organization. Defence Ministry spokesman BrigadierRuwan Wanigasooriya said that the Sri Lankan authorities have not given anyspace for such groups to operate inside Sri Lanka. "Terrorism is terrorism nomatter what form it is in. Like the way we defeated LTTE if Muslim or Islamic


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groups attempt to engage in terrorism from inside Sri Lanka we will not leaveroom for such activities," he said.

The Presidential Commission investigating cases of missing persons in the Northand East said that the LTTE was responsible for nearly 80 percent of the allegedabductions, of the cases already heard in four Districts except Jaffna. The LTTEwas blamed for missing persons; 90 percent in Mullaitivu, 80 percent inKilinochchi, 70 percent in Batticaloa and only 10 percent in the Jaffna District bythe relatives of the deceased. A total of 19,284 written complaints had beenreceived by the Commission so far.

July 27 A group of 157 Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers including 37 children held onboard an Australian Customs vessel for nearly a month have been taken to theCurtin IDC in Kimberley, Western Australia.

Indian consular officials are due to begin interviewing members of the group,whose boat was intercepted by the Australian navy several weeks ago aftersetting sail from India. While the group of Sri Lankans will be processed at theCurtin camp, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has stressed they will not beresettled in Australia and has released little information about them. India hasagreed to take back any of its nationals among the group. They should first beinterviewed by Australian authorities to establish any claims for asylum.

Australia's Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Scott Morrison saysthe 157 Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers are economic migrants seeking toillegally enter Australia since they came from India, a safe country. Morrison saidthat since the group came from India, Indian officials will be determining theiridentity and residency and the measure was a result of the discussions he hadlast week with his counterparts in New Delhi. He dismissed the idea that therefugees will be persecuted if returned to India.

July 28 Sri Lankan External Affairs Ministry while responding to a statement expressingconcerns on media freedom in Sri Lanka issued by the US Embassy in Colombocharged that the actions of the US targeting a specific community in the islandcan seriously hamper the fragile reconciliation process.

July 29 TNA Northern Provincial Councilor Dharmalingam Sitharthan, during his Europeanvisit said that Norway, which facilitated the peace process between the thenGovernment and the LTTE is now giving less emphasis to the peace buildingprocess in Sri Lanka. However, he added Switzerland keenly looking at SriLanka's situation.

Former cadres of the LTTE, undergoing rehabilitation, have recently visited theSouth. The Ministry of Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms has organized the tourof the South as a goodwill mission for the exLTTE members who are scheduledto be released soon after completing their rehabilitation.

August 2 The Sri Lankan Government said recent influx of asylum seekers has burdenedthe country and the UNHCR has been slow to address their requirements forresettlement. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the asylum seekerand refugee population in Sri Lanka has witnessed a dramatic 700 percentincrease during the period 201314 and as at June 30, 2014, there are 1,562asylum seekers and 308 refugees.

The UNHRC in a statement criticized Sri Lanka for failing to follow internationalobligations and deporting Pakistani and Afghan refugees before the agency canassess their asylum claims. It said that Sri Lanka, in violation of its internationalobligations, has deported 18 Pakistani asylum seekers in the past two days and10 more facing imminent expulsion.

Reports said that Pakistan is understood to have quietly withdrawn its officialfrom its High Commission in Colombo following an allegation against him that hewas involved in conspiracy to target the US and Israel consulates in south Indiaat ISI's behest. Sources said that Counselor Amir Zubair Siddiqui had beenwithdrawn even before NIA's request under MLAT reached Colombo as hispresence had become untenable to his diplomatic duties.

August 4 The Presidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints Regarding MissingPersons will conduct public sittings next week in the Mannar District, Northern


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Province. Commission Secretary H.W. Gunadasa stated that the sittings will beheld on August 8 and 9 at the Manthai Divisional Secretariat, Mannar DivisionalSecretariat on August 10 and the Madhu Divisional Secretariat on August 11.

The term of the Presidential Commission to Investigate into ComplaintsRegarding Missing Persons in the Northern and Eastern Provinces has beenextended to February 15, 2015. The Commission, to date, has received 18,789complaints, and approximately 5,000 were from relatives of missing SFspersonnel.

The international investigation on Sri Lanka that will be conducted by the UNOHCHR as mandated by the UNHRC has officially begun in Geneva, Switzerland.The OISL will probe the period from 21 February 2002 until 15 November 2011,the period covered by the LLRC, from the day the ceasefire agreement wassigned to the day LLRC presented its report to the President.

August 5 UNHCR expressed deep concern as Sri Lanka continues deporting the Pakistaniand Afghan asylum seekers back to their own countries from where they fled.UNHCR said that it has learnt that a total of 36 Pakistani asylum seekers havebeen deported from Sri Lanka since last Friday (August 1). More could follow,including women and children.

Sri Lanka's Department of Immigration and Emigration said that Pakistani, andAfghan nationals visiting Sri Lanka will no longer receive tourist visas upon arrivalat the airport and the asylum seekers who are staying in the country without visafor a long time will be deported. The Department said the process will commencewith the deportation of 147 Pakistani, and 85 Afghan nationals arrested by SriLankan authorities.

August 6 During a meeting between Foreign Secretaries of Pakistan Aizaz AhmedChaudhry and his Sri Lankan counterpart Kshenuka Seneviratne in Islamabad,the two sides agreed to enhance cooperation in combating terrorism, drug andhuman trafficking, handling asylum seekers and other transnational crimes and tocontinue the cooperation with renewed vigor, which includes training of securitypersonnel.

Police Media Spokesperson's office said that a group of special officers from theTID arrested a second year student of the Management Faculty of theSabaragamuwa University. Investigations have revealed that the youth, who is aresident of Jaffna, had maintained connections with the LTTE, for several yearsduring the war. This student, who had been an active member during the finalmission, has been sent for rehabilitation following the conclusion of the war.

August 7 Spokesperson of Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that reports in theIndian media alleging that a Pakistani diplomat posted in Colombo is involved inplanning attacks in Indian cities is an attempt to "create a wedge" betweenPakistan and Sri Lanka.

Deputy Minister of Health Lalith Dissanayake said in Parliament that theGovernment had resettled 1, 50,202 IDPs by September 30, 2012. He said that,with the end of the Humanitarian Operations there were IDPs who had beenforcibly held by the LTTE. The SFs provided them the basic facilities until theycould be properly resettled in their former villages. Each family had been givenSLR 25, 000 as a grant to commence constructing their houses. The sum total offunds given in this was SLR 2241 million.

August 8 The Presidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints Regarding MissingPersons in Sri Lanka commenced its public sittings to hear cases of missing atthe Manthai West Divisional Secretariat in Mannar District of Northern Province.The Commission attended to 48 of the 60 complaints it has received in thatdivision and registered 27 new complaints. In total, the Commission recorded 75complaints from the kin of missing persons.

At least nine Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who attempted to illegally ferry toAustralia from the coastal town of Oriyur in Tamil Nadu, India were arrested bythe Indian Police. Police said they had come from different refugee camps in theState and had been staying in rooms attached to St. Arulanandar Church atOriyur for the past two days when Police zeroed in on them.

According to reports, International intelligence services have arrested four


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August 9According to reports, International intelligence services have arrested fourindividuals who had allegedly attempted to carry out a plot to assassinate twoVIPs of the Sri Lankan Government. The report said that the four, who werearrested in a foreign country, includes a former SLA captain and three activists ofthe defeated LTTE terrorist group. The suspects have requested money fromLTTE diaspora to carry out the plot.

August 10 President Mahinda Rajapaksa is expected to nominate an Indian human rightsand civil liberties activist, Avdash Kaushal to the panel of international expertsappointed to advise the Presidential Commission to Investigate into ComplaintsRegarding Missing Persons in Sri Lanka. The report however has said thatGovernment of India was not officially associated with this nomination.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay said that visiting SriLanka is not necessary for the UN to conduct an effective investigation into thealleged war crimes by both the Government and LTTE during the threedecadelong civil war. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has said that thereis a large amount of information available outside the country.

August 11 Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Minister DouglasDevananda said that some sections of the Tamil media are trying to mislead thepublic with poisoned views in favour of certain political entities. He criticized thatsome sections of the Tamil media have placed politics above journalism.

The Presidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints Regarding MissingPersons in Sri Lanka, during the four days of hearing in Mannar District recordeda total of 314 complaints. The Commission has invited a total of 225complainants, out of which only 157 have been interviewed. The Commission hasreceived another 157 new complaints of missing persons during the sittings.

August 12 UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards in Geneva said the refugee agency isalarmed that recent deportations of asylumseekers from Sri Lanka are growing insize and scope despite international calls to stop sending them back to a placewhere their lives could be in danger. UNHCR reiterated its call to the Sri LankanGovernment to stop the deportations immediately and to grant access to asylumseekers in detention so that UNHCR staff can assess their needs for internationalprotection.

Chairman of the Presidential Commission to Investigate into ComplaintsRegarding Missing Persons in Sri Lanka, Maxwell Paranagama said that thenumbers cited by groups on alleged disappearance of individuals have beengrossly exaggerated. He said, "We have seen figures presented by variousorganizations which claimed that over 3,300 had disappeared from the NorthernProvince. But the number of complaints received by us does not confirm suchclaims."

External Affairs Minister G. L. Peiris said that the Government has invited USSecretary of State John Kerry to visit Sri Lanka and see for himself what thecountry has achieved on the ground since the war ended in 2009.

External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris said that in fighting terrorism, in all its formsand manifestations, Sri Lanka has always believed in the need for its eliminationin its entirety, given that it has fundamentally impeded progress in large swathesof the globe. He said, “It is ironic, however, that Sri Lanka, having eliminatedterrorism for the benefit not only of the people of our country but a significantlywider region, is today having to contend with immense pressure exerted primarilythrough the use of human rights as a political tool.”

An Indian human rights activist, Prof. Avdhash Kaushal, who was nominated bythe Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to be part of the international panelof experts advising the Presidential Commission to Investigate into ComplaintsRegarding Missing Persons in Sri Lanka, has accepted the offer after Presidenthimself called and made the offer.

Defense Ministry Spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said that SriLankan Government has removed names of three people from the blacklist ofthose who are accused of conniving to revive terrorism in the country. The threepersons who have been cleared are Karunanithi Thurairathnam a.k.a Thurai whoresides in France, Sutharasan Kailayanathan who lives in India and Thanushkody


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Premani, a resident of Kilinochchi, Northern Province.

August 13 Sri Lanka Defense Ministry spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasuriya said thatthe persons and organizations that have been blacklisted under a special gazettenotification by Sri Lanka Government can apply for clearance. Governmentdesignated 424 individuals and 16 organizations including the LTTE as terroristsunder the UN Act No 45 of 1968. These persons were blacklisted due to theirinvolvement in terrorist activities of the LTTE.

August 14 Cabinet Spokesman and Mass Media and Information Minister KeheliyaRambukwella said that, Sri Lanka is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Conventionand thus is not bound by any obligation towards Pakistani refugees in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka charged that the outgoing United Nations High Commissioner forHuman Rights Navi Pillay of seeking to influence the international investigationby her office, OHCHR into Sri Lanka's alleged war crimes.

August 15 A Sri Lankan court ordered the Government authorities to suspend repatriatingPakistani nationals who have sought refugee status in Sri Lanka. The Pakistanipetitioner, Anila Imran, in her petition has told the court that Pakistani authoritiespersecute Christians and Shia Muslims in the Ahamandi region and they hadarrived in Sri Lanka seeking protection.

Indian Consul General in Jaffna S D Moorthy said that under the Housing ProjectIndia assisted in building 14,514 houses for the Tamil IDPs in northern Sri Lanka,and at total of 19,703 houses will have been completed by the year end. Moorthysaid that the flagship Housing Project targets to build 50,000 houses by the endof 2015.

August 16 Minister of Petroleum, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa accused European nations ofassisting the LTTE to build its international network. He said Europe like Americais not happy with the defeat of the LTTE as they could not achieve what theywanted in Sri Lanka.

August 18 Minister of External Affairs G.L. Peiris said that the relentless internationalpressure on Sri Lanka to probe alleged human rights violations is not onlyunhelpful, but is also absolutely harmful to the country. The Minister questionedthe wisdom of illtreatment towards Sri Lanka by some foreign powers whileexerting relentless pressure on the country's forwardmarch.

Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed two more members to the panel of internationalexperts advising the Presidential Commission to Investigate into ComplaintsRegarding Missing Persons in Sri Lanka. The two appointees are AvdashKaushal, a civil liberties activist heading a NGO called RLEK in India and AhmerBilal Soofi, an advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and an internationallaw expert.

August 19 Mahinda Rajapaksa said that Sri Lanka will not allow the UN team investigatingalleged war crimes committed during the last seven years of the threedecadelong armed conflict with LTTE. He said the team of UN investigators appointedby the High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay will not be allowed intothe country. He however, assured that Sri Lanka will fully cooperate with the otherUN agencies.

External Affairs Minister G L Peiris said that the Government will not allowanyone to use its soil for terror elements to plan antiIndia activities. Peiris said,"We have constantly assured India that under no circumstances will Sri Lankansoil be used for any acts against India."

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said that since the LTTE’s defeat,some groups have begun to engage in activities that stem far beyond selfprotection and there is information that some of these groups have even tried tolink up with global Islamic terrorist organizations and so the situation requirescareful monitoring.

August 21 The UN may become involved in the case of the Tamil asylum seekers who weredetained on an Australian customs boat. A brief High Court directions hearing inMelbourne resulted in Justice Kenneth Hayne setting a date of October 14 and 15for the full court case. The legal team representing the asylum seekers indicatedthat the UNHCR and the Australian Human Rights Commission were looking tointervene in the case.


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A fivemember TNA delegation, led by its leader Rajavarothiam Sampanthanleave for India to hold discussions with the Indian PM Narendra Modi and othersenior Indian leaders on a host of issues. The TNA delegation will meet PM Modiin New Delhi on August 23 and the delegation is expected to raise the issue ofpower devolution under the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and host of otherissues including the demilitarization of North.

August 22 A former LTTE cadre accused of assassinating the former SLA senior officialMajor General Janaka Perera and 28 others in a suicide bomb attack in 2008 inAnuradhapura pleaded guilty. The second accused of the case,Shammuganathan Sudaharan, a former colonel of LTTE pleaded guilty for thekillings before the North Central Province High Court judge Sunanda KumaraRathnayaka and the judge accepted his guilty plea. He was further remanded andthe sentencing was postponed to September 5.

Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Ravinatha Aryasinha, revealedthat the LTTE are running “Madrassa type” indoctrination schools in EUcountries. He said that the LTTE has established “Madrassatype” schools called“Tamil Cholai” to “ferment the radicalisation of Tamil youth, and glorify terrorismand martyrdom.” He added that students of these schools are forced toparticipate in propaganda events organised by the LTTE and its frontorganisations. He also said that an estimated 20,000 Tamil students between theages of 4 and 21 years are studying in more than300 “Tamil Cholai” schoolsfunctioning in Europe under different names.

According to a local newspaper report, India, Pakistan, and China have refusedto provide information to the UN team appointed by the High Commissioner forHuman Rights Navi Pillay to probe the alleged human rights violations during thecivil war in Sri Lanka.

August 23 India urged Sri Lanka to "engage constructively" to find a political solution thatbuilds upon the 13th Amendment of the Sri Lankan Constitution, to the Tamilissue. Indian PM Narendra Modi stressed the need for a political solution for theethnic problem when a sixmember TNA delegation met him in New Delhi.

August 24 Commander SF Jaffna Major General Udaya Perera said that tense situation inJaffna helps some factions of Tamil Diaspora to survive in those countries andthey are spending plenty of money through extremist local political elements tocreate mayhem in Jaffna. He also said that whilst all those projects are carriedout aiming at National Reconciliation, his troops are always alert on NationalSecurity.

PCICMP panel probing the disappearances of people during the nearly threedecade war with the LTTE will hold a second public hearing in the former rebelstronghold of Kilinochchi next month. SD Gunadasa, an official of thecommission, said the panel's hearing in Kilinochchi would take place fromSeptember 18 to 22.

August 25 Minister for Small and Medium Industries and a Tamil MP from Jaffna, DouglasDevananda said that the TNA, which rules Sri Lanka's Northern Province, andwhose leaders met Indian PM Narendra Modi in New Delhi on August 23, is notinterested in finding a solution to the Lankan Tamil question. The Tamil leader,who heads the antiLTTE EPDP, predicted that the TNA, which is now demandingthe full implementation of the 13A, will change its demand the moment thegovernment implements it.

Seven LTTE cadres who were rehabilitated at the Punthottam RehabilitationCamp in Vavuniya, Northern Province were entrusted to their relatives. 11,970LTTE cadres of the 12,298 who gave themselves up to the Army have so farbeen reintegrated into society.

August 26 TNA has sought India's help in the return of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees from India.TNA parliamentarian Mavai Senathirajah, who was part of the TNA delegationthat met PM Narendra Modi in New Delhi said that, "There are over one lakhrefugees in Tamil Nadu living in 115 camps. We have requested the IndianGovernment to pressure the Sri Lankan Government to release their [refugees']land in the north which has been taken over by the Army."


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A large cache of arms including spent shells of 245 grenades and 28 rockets,believed to have been used by the LTTE in the 1980s have been unearthed in areserved forest at Kolathur near Mettur in Salem district of Tamil Nadu, India. It isbelieved that LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran and his cadres had used thisKolathur camp for training purpose during 198486.

Police arrested two Indian citizens for allegedly recording and possessingphotographs and video footage of Parliament and the PM's residence. Policespokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said that acting on a tip off, they were arrested bythe Police while travelling in a three wheeler taxi in Colombo. Rohana added thatthe two men were from Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

August 27 A collective of international human right organizations has urged the Sri LankanGovernment and the member states of the UNHRC to ensure protection for thewitnesses at the UN mandated war crime probe against Sri Lanka. Six humanrights organizations jointly expressed concern over the allegedly ongoing attacksagainst human rights defenders and other individuals from Sri Lanka who seek toengage with the UN human rights system.

August 28 TNA MP M A Sumanthiran said that TNA was ready to resume talks with theGovernment in search of a lasting solution to the ethnic crisis based on powerdevolution within a united Sri Lanka. He said that, "The Government is nowsaying it cannot hold talks with the TNA because we are representatives of theLTTE. The Government is trying to evade resolving the Tamil issue citing thesefalse claims. We do not have any hidden agenda. We strongly believe a solutionto the issue in a united country and we do not want a separate state."

August 29 A Sri Lankan court extended an order it issued earlier suspending the repatriatingPakistani nationals who have sought refugee status in Sri Lanka. The Court ofAppeal Judge Upali Abeyratna ordered to extend the order for four more dayswhen the case was heard before the court.

Facing international criticism for forcibly deporting Pakistani and Afghan nationalsseeking refugee status in Sri Lanka, the Government has established two morecentres to detain foreigners who are overstaying. One of the new detentioncenters is established in Boosa, Galle. The other has been established inNegombo, north of Colombo International Airport. Immigration officials said thatthe detention centers have been opened for those foreign nationals, who haveregistered with the UNHCR, seeking refugee status.

August 30 The arrest of four human traffickers while trying to transport six Sri Lankans toAustralia through the Prakasam coast, Andhra Pradesh in India earlier this weekhas raised the suspicion among Indian investigators that the LTTE may be tryingto revive in Australia. Report said that the officials from agencies including theIB, CBI and Tamil Nadu Police, conducting the investigations suspect that theLTTE is trying to regroup itself in Australia after lying low for five years sincetheir defeat at the hands of Sri Lankan SFs. The illegal emigrants to Australiafrom Sri Lanka were from, among other places, Mullaitivu and Mattakalappu andare in the age group of 24 to 28 years.

According to a report, Sri Lanka will soon begin a probe on alleged war crimeviolations parallel to the investigations conducted by the PCICMP. MaxwellParanagama, the Chairman of the PCICMP said that probe on the war conductedby them will begin soon parallel to the public hearings of the Commission. Theinquiries will go hand in hand with the investigations being conducted by thePCICMP.

August 31 Sri Lanka's High Commissioner in the UK, Chris Nonis said that the funds usedby the rump of the LTTE to procure arms are now being diverted to fight the'propaganda war' and the international 'propaganda war' has to be fought with thesame focus and same strategy as the physical war that was fought and finished.

September 1 A Sri Lankan court withdrew the interim order suspending the deportation ofPakistani and Afghan asylum seekers allowing the Government to send themback to the countries where they fled from.

September 2 Pakistani asylum seekers, who had been detained at the Boossa detention campin Galle, Southern Province pending court decision, have been released from thecamps and sent to temporary accommodation in preparation for their deportation.

Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwelle said that Army camps in the North would


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September 4 Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwelle said that Army camps in the North wouldnot be dismantled just because the Northern Province Chief Minister C. V.Vigneswaran made such demands.

Following al Qaeda leader Ayman alZawahiri's announcement of the formation ofan Indian branch of his global armed group, Government said it was taking the alQaeda threat 'very seriously' and would review its visa restrictions to preventextremists entering the island.

September 5 Anuradhapura High Court sentenced Shanmuganadan, a former LTTE cadre to 20years in rigorous imprisonment for the assassination of retired Major GeneralJanaka Perera and 28 others in a suicide bomb attack in 2008.

Military spokesperson Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said "Only the centralGovernment has the power to make decisions on the country's national securityand it is not something that concerns the Local Governments, nor ProvincialCouncils or its councilors".

British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, John Rankin said, "Though Sri Lanka'sNorthern region is moving forward from its difficult past, some concerns stillremained".

September 6 UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid AlHussein ofJordan remarked that he attaches great importance to the investigation on SriLanka led by the OHCHR while urging the Lankan authorities to cooperate withthe investigation.

Chief Minister of Northern Province, C. V. Wigneswaran alleged that the membersof Government intelligence services are spying on him as several persons posingas media men photographed him during a meeting with the German Ambassadoron September 5 in Jaffna District.

September 7 President Mahinda Rajapaksa expressed Government's willingness to conducthighlevel dialogues with the UNHRC and invited OHCHR to visit Sri Lanka during2014.

CM of Northern Province, C V Wigneswaran, speaking at the convention of ITAK inVavuniya District urged Tamil youth to collect information on the deployment andactivities of the Armed Forces in the Province and to use former women cadre of theLTTE in the ITAK's democratic movement

September 8 Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Ambassador RavinathaAryasinha said "Sri Lanka will continue the ongoing domestic processes ofaccountability, justice, reconciliation, and nation building in the best interest ofthe Sri Lankan people."

September 9 Governor of the Northern Province, G. A. Chandrasiri said that the Governmenthas allocated SLR 1.385 billion for the development in the Northern Province thisyear and will provide another SLR 6 billion next year.

September 11 The Presidential Commission Investigating Cases of Missing Persons announcedthat the next round of public sittings to hear cases of missing in KilinochchiDistrict will be held from September 2730, 2014.

September 12 TNA leader R. Sampanthan sought an international observer's presence at talkswith the Government on resolving the national issue.

September 13 UNHRC expressed grave concern about the 'resumption' of arrests, detention anddeportation of asylumseekers and refugees in Sri Lanka.

Six Human Right activists filed a petition in the Supreme Court against thedeportations of the Pakistani and Afghan asylum seekers.

September 19 A special Police team led by ADSP Usha Rani safely detonated and destroyedexplosive materials seized from LTTE in Nagapatinam in Tamil Nadu in 1985. ThePolice said the explosives were seized in the coastal areas of the District,particularly Vedarnayam and Kodiyakkarai. Police had seized 166 detonators and250 hand bombs and had kept it under their safe custody.

Sri Lanka Police have uncovered vital information about individuals who wereinvolved in giving LKR 202 million from the Kandy Trinity College funds to theLTTE. According to report, an old Trinitian Nishantha Priyalal Alwis in his


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complaint said that a sum of money had been donated to the LTTE during thetenure of a former Trinity College principal Rod Gilbert and Gilbert was deportedafter his connection with the LTTE was proven before the court. Alwis also saidthat a teacher and 11 students attached to Kandy Trinity College were arrestedon suspicion of their connection with the LTTE. Police and CID are continuingfurther investigations.

September 20 A batch of 500 youth from Northern Province recruited to the SLAVF completed their threemonthlong training and passed out in a ceremony at the SLEME grounds at Kankasanthurai in Jaffna. TheArmy said persistent threats from LTTE in the past discouraged the Northerners to join the Armybefore 2009 and also the Tamil officers, who were in the Army at that time in fear of LTTE reprisals,left the service.

September 21 British Deputy High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Laura Davies said the Peace inSri Lanka has brought many additional benefits, including opportunities foreconomic growth and political participation. The envoy also said that "UKcontinues to support Sri Lanka in its quest to further consolidate reconciliation,democracy and human rights in the country."

September 22 Sri Lanka expressed concern at the 27th session of the UNHRC in Geneva aboutthe increasing use of remotely piloted aircraft or armed drones for counteringterrorism violating other States' air space and causing civilian casualties.

The ITAK, the main constituent of TNA in an affidavit to the Supreme Courtaffirmed that neither the ITAK nor the TNA will seek a separate state within theterritory of Sri Lanka. The leader of ITAK parliamentarian Mavai Senathirajahsubmitted the affidavit stating that the TNA and its leaders has consistentlyexpressed publicly on the ITAK's position pertaining to a federal solution within aunited Sri Lanka at several occasions.

The PCICMP has completed investigations into 1,000 complaints concerningmissing persons, a commission spokesman said. The Commission has received19,541 complaints and 5,000 among these are about missing service personnel.The rest of the complaints are from the public.

September 25 Calling the UNHRC investigation on Sri Lanka as 'intrusive' and 'unjustified' theLike Minded Group of countries (a group of 22 nations) delivered a joint statementthrough its chair, Egypt at the 27th session of the UNHRC in Geneva supportingSri Lanka's stance on the probe. The Like Minded Group delivered the statementon behalf of Algeria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, North Korea,Myanmar, Namibia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, TheSudan, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

September 26 An Indian tribunal headed by Justice G P Mittal that was set up to judiciallyscrutinize the ban on the LTTE recorded the evidence presented by the UMHA insupport of a notification it issued proscribing the outfit for five years from May 14,2014.

September 27 The LTTE was considering the surrendering of several of its key members to theSFs during the final stages of the war, Northern Provincial councilor and widow offormer LTTE Eastern Political Wing Head, Velayutham Sasitharan alias S. Elilan,Ananthi Sasitharan said. Ananthi Sasitharan said that a few days before the warended, Elilan had informed her that he would be meeting LTTE's 'political winghead', Balasingham Nadesan with regard to the surrendering of some keymembers.

The UPFA MP Perumpulli Hewage Piyasena, onetime TNA and PradeshiyaSabha (local Government body) chairman, criticized the TNA for its pro LTTEand antiGovernment stance detrimental to the interests of Tamils. Piyasena saidthat instead of strengthening the hardwon peace for the Tamils, the TNA is on adeliberate course to destabilise it. Its open support to UNHRC investigationsagainst the Government on human rights' issues and Tamil Nadu proLTTEcampaigns are deplorable and intended to mislead the Tamils, he added.

September 28 The PCICMP is conducting public sittings to hear cases of missing persons inKilinochchi District in Northern Province from September 2730. The Commissionis hearing cases of disappearances and abductions in Kilinochchi District for asecond time due to the large number of complaints it received from the District.

September 29 SC dismissed a plea sought to stop the deportation of Pakistani and Afghanasylum seekers in Sri Lanka. Following the ruling by the Court of Appeals onSeptember 1 which allowed the Government to resume deportations of the


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asylum seekers back to the countries they fled from, six human rights defenderspetitioned the SC to challenge the deportations.

September 30 Civil society members and politicians at a campaign in Colombo demanded therelease of Balendran Jeyakumari, who was arrested by TID in March 2014, and torepeal the PTA, under which Jeyakumari was detained.

October 1 The Cabinet approved a proposal made by the President to form a cabinet subcommittee on Social Reconciliation and Coexistence among Communities asrecommended by the LLRC.

October 2 Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Mrs. SamanthaJayasuriya in a statement to the 65th Session of the Executive Committee of theUNHCR called on the UNHCR and refugee receiving countries to expediteresettling of refugees and assist Sri Lanka with resources to provide facilities toasylum seekers until they are resettled.

The Chairman of the PCICMP Maxwell Paranagama said that the commission isexpected to get statements from military personnel on disappeared persons inthe coming days.

October 4 The trial against Sri Lankanborn Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam forallegedly funding the LTTE is expected to begin as early as 2015. In a sevencount complaint filed in the US District Court of New Jersey by the familymembers of those killed and survivors of bombings committed by the LTTEalleged that Rajaratnam and the family foundation headed by his father providedmillions of dollars in funds used for terrorist attacks.

October 5 The Government has allocated SLR 300 million for 2014 alone to paycompensation to civilians of the North who were impacted by the war. Thecompensation is being granted to civilians who had lost their limbs and handsand also house and property due to the war. Out of the total amount allocated,SLR 110 million has already been paid and another SLR 130 million will be paid to1,500 affected families in the North on October 12 by the President MahindaRajapaksa at a function to be held at Iranamadu in Kilinochchi District.

October 6 Amnesty International's Deputy AsiaPacific Director David Griffiths said that SriLanka must stop making empty promises to the international community and theSri Lankan people on improving the country's still desperate human rightssituation. He said "More than a decade since the last Committee review of SriLanka's record in 2003, it's disturbing to see how many rights issues raised thenstill persist in the country and how the Government has ignored promises toaddress them. Sri Lanka still relies on draconian laws to silence dissent. Tortureand enforced disappearances continue unchecked, as do violations of freedom ofexpression and association."

October 7 The UNHRC opened its 112th session at Palais Wilson, Geneva during which itwill review the reports of Sri Lanka's human right record. The Committee of 18international independent experts will review Sri Lanka's human right record onOctober 7 and October 8.

October 9 The Government has taken measures to establish a special Bureau forReconciliation to facilitate the implementation of Recommendations of the LLRC.The Special Bureau for Reconciliation will function under the Secretary to thePresident to carry out tasks entrusted to it for the purpose of facilitating theCommittee's work in monitoring the implementation of the LLRCrecommendations. The proposal put forward by the President to establish theSpecial Bureau for Reconciliation, was approved by the Cabinet.

The HRCSL and the PCICMP have agreed to collaborate on the inquiries into thecases of missing and disappearances and share information in an effort to find asolution to the complaints regarding missing persons. The Chairman of thePCICMP Maxwell Paranagama and PCICMP Secretary H.W. Gunadasa met theChairman of HRCSL, Retired SC Justice Priyantha Perera at the HRC office inColombo and agreed to share the information they have in their possession fromrelatives of missing persons and work together in an effort to find a solution tothe complaints regarding missing persons.

October 11 President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared in Killinochchi that if the TNA and theTamil Diaspora gave up the eelam and separatist ideology, before anyone else hewould be the first person to scrap the executive presidential system. He said due


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to thirty years of terrorism not only lives were lost but also places of residencehad been lost. He said it should never be forgotten that the war the countryfought to put an end to LTTE terror had not been against the Tamil people.

October 12 The ICRC will carry out an island wide survey to assess the needs of the familiesof missing persons in Sri Lanka. The ICRC in January this year has presentedproposal to the Government to conduct a Family Needs Assessment for thefamilies of missing persons and Sri Lankan authorities have accepted it. Theorganization has held discussions with the officials from the Ministry of Defenseand the task force of the LLRC on the proposed survey.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa handed over land permits to 20,000 persons andreturned to 2352 women, gold jewelry which they had deposited in the "TamilEelam Bank" when the LTTE was running large parts of the Vanni region inNorthern Province. More than 100 kg of gold and gold ornaments were recoveredfrom the LTTE's banks by the Lankan SFs during Eelam War IV.

October 13 Sri Lankan SF’s authorities in the Northern Province have urged the northerncivilians, who are yet to claim their gold and other valuables recovered from theLTTE banks after the war, to make their claims at Civil Coordinating Offices. TheSFs in the North are now in the process of returning the identified gold jewelleryto the rightful owners.

Police Media Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said that Ten exLTTE cadres whounderwent rehabilitation in Boossa and a one month basic training course inheavy vehicle operation including back hoe loaders and excavators successfullycompleted the course at the Vocational Training Centre in Galle, SouthernProvince. The Government spent LKR 52,000 for each participant for theresidential heavy vehicle operation training course. Arrangements will be made tofind employment for them here or abroad. The training will continue for the otherexLTTE cadres as well, SSP Rohana said.

October 15 Army Media Spokesperson Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya announced thatforeigners and foreign organizations who wish to visit the warbattered region inthe Northern Province need to obtain prior clearance from the Ministry of Defenseand Urban Development. The Spokesperson stressed that the Ministry has takenthe decision following information received by the Government intelligenceservices that certain foreign nationals are engaged in spreading various opinionsamong different communities in North to incite public disturbance and conflictsamong the civilians, thereby threatening the national security.

Malaysian authorities have deported a Sri Lankan national, who is suspected ofindirectly having links to al Qaeda and planning terror attacks in India, to SriLanka. Mohammad Hussain Mohammad Sulaiman was arrested by the SpecialUnit of Malaysian Police from the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur in May for an allegedconspiracy to carry out terror attacks on the US and Israeli consulates in SouthIndia. Police spokesman Ajith Rohana said the man was sent back to Colombofor further investigation and to be questioned by TID of Sri Lanka Police.

The GTF has urged the UK to intervene on its behalf at the UNSC to prevent theSri Lankan Government exploiting UNSCR 1373 of 2001 to attack 16 Diasporagroups as well as 424 individuals. President of the GTF, Rev. Dr. S.J. Emmanuelin a letter addressed to Secretary of State for Foreign and CommonwealthAffairs, Philip Hammond, MP alleged that UNSCR 1373 was being used by SriLanka to intimidate Tamil speaking people living both in and outside the country.The targeted persons included UK citizens as well as those residing in UK.

October 16 The ECJ on procedural grounds annulled the European Council measuresmaintaining the LTTE on the European list of terrorist organizations but allowedmeasures to keep their assets frozen. The effects of the annulled measures willbe maintained temporarily in order to ensure the effectiveness of any possiblefuture freezing of funds, the Court ruled. The European Court said a decision bythe European Council to place the LTTE on a list of terrorist organizations hadbeen based on "factual imputations derived from the press and the internet" andnot on acts examined and confirmed in decisions of competent authorities asrequired by law. The Court stressed that those annulments, on fundamentalprocedural grounds, do not imply any substantive assessment of the question ofthe classification of the LTTE as a terrorist group.


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The Government of Sri Lanka expressed concern over the decision of the ECJ toannul the EU regulations proscribing the LTTE. The MEA said that the ECJjudgment requires indepth study by all the defendant parties. The Ministrystatement said the island was confident that the European Commission and theEU member states would take the “best possible decision” on the future courseof action to be taken in this regard.

October 18 Sri Lanka has decided to contest the decision by the ECJ to annul the sanctionsplaced on the LTTE and will send an envoy to seek support in the union againstthe ruling. Reports said that Sri Lanka's EU Ambassador Rodney Perera is totravel to Strasbourg on October 20 to attend the EU parliament's plenary sessionand to mobilize two key committees, foreign affairs and security and defense.

The PCICMP in Sri Lanka will conduct public sittings to hear cases of missing inMullaitivu District, Northern Province again from November 2 to 5, 2014. TheCommission is hearing cases of disappearances and abductions in MullaitivuDistrict for a second time due to the large number of complaints it received fromthe District. The Commission is scheduled to hear 231 cases of missing personsin the fourday sittings.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has charged that the recent decisions taken by the EUare a result of the attempts by the opposition parties to oust him. He accused thatcertain politicians are working with the proLTTE Tamil diaspora to oust him at the muchanticipated presidential election."European Union has lifted the ban on the LTTE. Ithappened within two weeks of certain opposition leaders having talks with the proLTTE diaspora, "the President said.

October 19 V Anandasangaree, President of the TULF has warned that the decision by theGeneral Court of EU to lift the sanctions on LTTE will help to revive thevanquished outfit in Sri Lanka's Tamildominated Northern Province. He said that"ProLTTE groups both within the island and overseas have received a shot inthe arm, and will now openly propagate the LTTE's cause of separatism andterrorism."

Following the ECJ decision to annul the sanctions against LTTE, the proLTTETamil political parties in Tamil Nadu, India have begun to demand the IndianGovernment to lift the group's ban in India. PMK party founder S. Ramadoss saidthat India should take its cue from the ECJ's directive.

October 21 According to the national radio, the Government has decided to submit an appealto the ECJ requesting to annul the decision taken by the lower court to liftsanctions on LTTE.

A patriotic movement in the country, the Alliance for National Unity and InterReligious Corporation said that they are prepared to brief the diplomaticcommunity in Colombo about the consequences of the removal of LTTE ban bythe EU. The leader of the movement, Kumburugamuwe Wajira thero said that EUis indirectly assisting the revival of terrorism in this country by removal of the banand urged the public to unite against the move.

The General Court of the EU said that the decision to lift sanctions on the LTTEwas a legal ruling of a court and not a political decision taken by the EUGovernments. The Court in a statement said that the legal ruling is clearly basedon procedural grounds and it does not imply any assessment by the Court of thesubstantive issues of designating the LTTE or of freezing LTTE funds. It alsosaid that the EU institutions are studying the Ruling carefully in detail and theywill reflect on the options open to them and, in due course, decide on appropriateremedial action to take.

October 23 Military Spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasuriya during the weekly mediabriefing held in Colombo said that the lifting of ban of the LTTE in the EU regionwill only help to increase the operational ability including fund collecting by theterrorist group. The Spokesman said that the LTTE through its network of'Sencholai' schools promote their doctrine of separatism and inculcate a negativeimage of the country, especially in the minds of the children of the Tamilexpatriate community.

October 24 UN Resident Coordinator Subinay Nandy, addressing a function to mark the 69thUN Day in Colombo said Sri Lanka has taken commendable steps for theresettlement of displaced persons and to develop property that were damaged


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due to the terrorism. He added that development in the infrastructure andfacilities available in the North and East today is significantly notable.

October 27 UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said that with the EU Court lifting theban on the LTTE, the Government may use LTTE assets through the formerLTTE leader Kumaran Pathmanathan for a presidential election. "According to theGovernment, LTTE assets and funds are worth over SLR 200 billion. They cansay that it couldn't get the funds because of the ban on the LTTE back then. Butthere is no longer a ban on the LTTE from the EU. Therefore LTTE leaders haveaccess to the funds," Attanayake said.

SecretaryGeneral of the Commonwealth Kamalesh Sharma and PresidentMahinda Rajapaksa discussed the reforms and objectives agreed upon at theCHOGM 2013 that took place in Colombo. The SecretaryGeneral, who is on anofficial visit to Sri Lanka from October 2529 called his visit a routine "healthcheck" of work resulting from a CHOGM and told Rajapaksa that the check "issuccessful." Sharma stated that the Secretariat stands ready to continueassisting in the implementation of the recommendations of the LLRC as required.

October 29 The Commonwealth encouraged the Government to accelerate its efforts towardssustainable reconciliation and consolidation of its "successful and hard wonpeace" through continued implementation of the recommendations of LLRC.Recognizing the significant effort Government has been made to redevelopinfrastructure and basic services in the Northern Province, the Secretary Generalof Commonwealth Kamalesh Sharma said these are important developments inpeacebuilding and in creating the conditions for enduring harmony.

October 30 The UNHRC asked the Government to repeal the 18th Amendment to theConstitution approved by the Parliament in September 2010. UN human rightstreaty body, which reviewed Sri Lanka on October7 and 8, said the Committee isconcerned by the 18th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution which, interalia, discontinues the Constitutional Council and empowers the President todismiss or appoint members of the judiciary and other independent bodies. TheCommittee asked the Government to take legislative and other measures toensure transparent and impartial processes for appointments to the judiciary andother independent bodies.

The Government denied the claims that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had metLTTE supporters during his last visit to the US. External Affairs Minister, G.LPeiris said in the Parliament that he was with the President during the US tourand he can guarantee that the President did not meet any proLTTE diasporamembers.

November 2 Sri Lanka Police's ITD arrested a suspected member of the LTTE, identified asSomasundaram Wasantha Kumar who returned from Qatar. Police mediaspokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said that the arrested Sri Lankan expatriate wasan ethnic Tamil and the suspect tiger cadre has not been rehabilitated after theend of war. Wasantha Kumar has migrated to Qatar and worked there for a longtime after the end of civil war in Sri Lanka. Reports also said that the suspectwas noted in the immigration records as a wanted person. Ajith Rohana addedthat the suspect had closely associated with three LTTE terrorists, identified asGobi, Appan and Thevian who were killed April, 2014 in Weli Oya, MullaithivuDistrict in Northern Province as they were trying to revive the now defunctterrorist organization.

PCICMP started conducting public sittings to hear cases of missing MullaitivuDistrict in Northern Province again from November 2 till November 5. ThePCICMP is hearing cases of disappearances and abductions in Mullaitivu Districtfor a second time due to the large number of complaints it received from theDistrict. Public sittings commenced at the Maritimepattu Divisional Secretariat.The commission was scheduled to hear 57 complaints on the first day but only42 were attended by the complainants.

November 3 Sri Lanka and India started a joint military exercise aimed at sharing theirexpertise and experience in handling counterinsurgency operations between SOFof both Sri Lanka and Indian Armies. The military training exercise, 'Mitra Shakti'started at UvaKudaoyo CRTS in Colombo, Western Province.

The Government vehemently rejected the request made by the UNHRC toremove the 18th Amendment to the country's Constitution. The Government


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stressed that the UNHRC has no right to ask for the removal of a constitutionalamendment adopted by the country's Parliament with a twothird majority.

November 5 The US has cautioned Sri Lanka against attempting to silence those cooperatingwith the UN. Ambassador Keith Harper, the US Representative to UNHRC,tweeted saying that Sri Lanka must understand that attempting to silence thosecooperating with UN is an attack on the UN. Concerns have been raised in recenttimes over reports that Sri Lankan authorities are cracking down on anyoneattempting to assist the UN led investigation on Sri Lanka.

The Indian central Government as well as state of Tamil Nadu have submittedbefore a tribunal that as per the documents and oral evidence on record the LTTEcontinues to practice violent, disruptive and unlawful activities, which areprejudicial to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India. However, a specialtribunal constituted by the Delhi High Court has reserved its verdict on whetherthe Centre's ban on the LTTE needs to be upheld. The central and stategovernments have also submitted that the LTTE and proLTTE groups have beenactive in Tamil Nadu even during the period of the ban on the outfit since May2012.

The PCICMP in Sri Lanka interviewed 172 complaints during the public sittings itheld in Mullaitivu District for the second time, due to the large number ofcomplaints it received from the District. The Commission on November 5,concluded its 4day public sittings in the District held from Nov 2 5 at theMaritimepattu and Oddusuddan Divisional Secretariats. Out of the 230complainants the Commission has invited, only 170 have been attended while166 new complaints have been registered during the fourday sittings.

November 8 The ECJ reassesses the removal of the ban on Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger errorgroup, LTTE in the EU before 15 January 2015, according to the FrenchAmbassador to Sri Lanka, JeanPaul Monchau. The French Envoy said thatlifting the restrictions on the LTTE is the decision of the ECJ at the moment andthe ECJ will review the matter before 15 January.

November 10 Sri Lanka's Marxist party, JVP plans to appeal to the CID to conduct aninvestigation on the External Affairs Ministry's, alleged transaction with the LTTEfor the renovations of the Geneva mission. It has been alleged that the currentSecretary of External Affairs Ministry, Kshenuka Seneviratne, has improperlyawarded a contract for the renovation of the official residence of the PermanentRepresentative of Sri Lanka in Geneva in 2009.

November 11 Leader of Sri Lanka's Opposition and the UNP, Ranil Wickremesinghe said thathe had asked the European Council to appeal against the ruling given by theGeneral Court of the EU favoring the lifting of sanctions against the LTTE.Wickremesinghe said he has written to the EU High Representative FedericaMogherini to file an appeal against the EU General Court's verdict to lift sanctionson the LTTE.

Australian ConsulGeneral to South India Sean Kelly said that Australia isverifying the genuineness of the asylum claims of the 157 Sri Lankan Tamils whohad left Puducherry in India by boat. The boat was intercepted by Australianauthorities in June, 2014. The migrants are now lodged in detention centres onNauru Island in the South Pacific.

November 12 A rehabilitated LTTE cadre, identified as Krishnasami Naguleswaran has beenkilled by unidentified gunmen in front of his house at Wellankulam in MannarDistrict. According to the local Sinhala daily the slain former cadre of the LTTEwas a fighter who had participated in a number of attacks against the Army.Mannar Police are investigating the incident.

Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador RavinathaAryasinha while addressing a conference in Geneva has said that Sri Lankastands ready to share its experience in comprehensive demining as a 'bestpractice' with countries which are facing similar challenges. Ambassador saidthat the Sri Lanka's continuing progress in demining has been achieved bytelescoping, what according to some estimates was to take 1520 years, into oneof 57 years duration. According to him, over 1,128,336 explosive devices (1,712Anti Tank, 615,669 Anti Personal and 510,955 UXOs have been recovered as atSeptember 2014. Five years since the ending of the conflict in Sri Lanka, so farthis year alone, a total of 55,761 explosive devices, including 78 Anti Tank


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mines, 28,577 Anti Personnel mines and 27,106 UXOs have been recovered. Headded that a large portion, about 75 percent, of the demining work, had beenallocated to the Sri Lanka Army. He also said the demining continues to takeplace as the number of mines and IED laid by the LTTE was extensive and theirlocations unknown.

Ambassador Aryasinha said due to the efficient and effective demining processand also to the infrastructure development in the former conflict affected area,the Government of Sri Lanka was able to resettle a total of 510,710 persons(153,837 families) out of nearly 767,748 IDPs (226,824 families), in the NorthernProvince and 257,038 persons (72,987 families) in the Eastern Province. Henoted that "as per the Joint Study undertaken by the Ministry of Resettlement,the PTF; and the UNHCR, as of August 2014, only a total of 26,056 persons(7,840 families) remain to be resettled, which includes 21,747 persons (6,498families) from the Northern Province and 4,309 persons (1,342 families) from theEastern Province."

November 15 President Mahinda Rajapaksa accused that Norway has funded the LTTE duringthe island's threedecade civil war and demanded an investigation into theinvolvement of the former Norwegian Government. The President said that "They(Norway) gave money to the LTTE. The Norwegian Government must investigate.We have evidence on how they funded the terrorists". He charged that the formerNorwegian peace envoy Eric Solheim has supported the LTTE and now theformer Norwegian Minister is getting ready to testify against Sri Lanka at theUNHRC led investigation.

November 17 External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris met the UN Resident Coordinator andconveyed to him the Government's extreme discontent regarding theunprofessional manner in which the investigation on Sri Lanka was beingconducted by the Office of the OHCHR. The External Affairs Ministry protestedthe unacceptable manner in which the October 30 deadline set by the OHCHR forsubmission of evidence to the investigation had been changed unofficially andreset again.

Former Norwegian Minister and facilitator of Sri Lanka's peace process, ErikSolheim, rejected President Mahinda Rajapaksa's allegation that he supportedand funded the LTTE. He said, "Norway, as the third, facilitating party to the SriLankan peace process financed neither the LTTE in general nor its militaryoperations in particular." He however, noted that Norway made economicresources available to the LTTE peace secretariat in order to assist them inengaging more fully with the ongoing peace process.

November 24 Sri Lanka's main opposition UNP MP Harsha De Silva said in the Parliament thathis party will not allow anyone to take any Sri Lankan leader to the internationalcourt on war crime charges. He said that "I am telling to the world. We (UNP), willnot allow anybody to take President Mahinda Rajapaksa or any other leader toInternational court about War Crimes, We will not allow the President whether hewon or lose to be tried before war crime tribunals."

The EU court's decision to delist Sri Lanka's LTTE and the upcoming presidentialelection were among the issues discussed at Britain's upper parliament, House ofLords. The discussion initiated when Lord Naseby, who is the chairman of the AllParty Parliamentary Group on Sri Lanka, asked the House of Lords what actionthey are taking in response to the EU of Justice verdict on October 16 and itsconclusions in respect of restrictive measures currently in place since the LTTEwas proscribed by the EU in 2006 and by the UK in 2000.

November 26 Army Media Spokesperson Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said that Sri Lankawill not allow anyone to celebrate the birth anniversary of the slain leader of theLTTE, Velupillai Prabhakaran or the 'Mahavir Day' that falls on his birthday.

Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Daya Ratnayake said that SLA hastaken measures to return another stock of gold jewellery the defunct terroristgroup LTTE possessed to the rightful owners in the Northern Province. He saidthat another stock of gold jewellery will be released to 1,960 identified rightfulowners in the Northern Province at a ceremony on December 4, headed byPresident Mahinda Rajapaksa.

November 27 Sri Lanka Police have detained the 37 asylum seekers who were returned by the


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Australian authorities in mid sea thwarting an illegal attempt to migrate toAustralia by boat.

November 29 A UN investigation team has obtained a comprehensive analysis of Sri Lanka'saccountability with regard to war crimes from the ECCHR. Among the high profileinvestigations undertaken by ECCHR is one on the conduct of the British army inIraq as well as the accountability on the part of political leadership. The ICC inThe Hague recently reopened preliminary investigations into the liability of Britishmilitary officials for the torture of detainees in Iraq. Sandra Beidas, formerly ofthe Amnesty International is coordinating the investigation into Sri Lanka's warunder the supervision of the OHCHR.

December 2 The Council of the EU decided to appeal the Judgment of the General Court withregards to the sanctions on the LTTE, the EU office in Colombo said. TheJudgement of the General Court of the European Union annulled measures takenby the Council of the EU against the LTTE, namely the designation of the LTTEas a terrorist organisation and the freezing of LTTE funds. The Court gave thejudgement following a case filed in support of the LTTE and against the EU banon the rebels.

Police launched investigations into an alleged mass killing of civilians, a PoliceChief Inspector and SF personnel carried out by the LTTE in Pudukudiruppu inTirunelveli District in 2007, Police spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said.

The Sri Lankan Government said that it welcomes the decision of the Council ofthe EU to appeal the judgment of the General Court of the EU of October 16,2014, which annulled measures taken by the Council to designate the LTTE as aterrorist organization and the freezing of LTTE funds.

December 3 The TID of Sri Lanka Police arrested Sri Skandarajah alias Nidiyawan, a formercadre of the Tamil Tiger terrorist group LTTE, from his home in Sambalthivu inTrincomalee District. Nidiyawan, who claims to be a member of the LTTEintelligence wing, is suspected of leading terrorist attacks in Sambalthivu,Sampur and Nilaveli in Trincomalee District of Eastern Province, had fled thecountry to Qatar during the last stages of the armed conflict in 2009 and believedto have returned to the country under a false name.

December 4 A Sri Lankan Police team conducting investigation into the alleged execution bythe LTTE of 80 people including Security Force personnel has identified thelocation in the Maradamadu jungle in Mullaitivu as the site where the PoliceIntelligence Specialist, Inspector Thureirathnam Jeyaratnam of Mount LaviniaPolice TID was believed to have been shot. The TID of Police, based on theinformation obtained from interrogating Nidiyawan, launched the investigation toidentify the location in the jungles of Mullativu District.

December 5 A South African Tamil group has filed criminal charges against General SrilalWeerasooriva, a former Sri Lankan General for alleged war crimes during the civilwar with the Tamil Tiger terrorist group LTTE. General Weerasooriva is in SouthAfrica as part of an international delegation attending the Association of MilitaryChristian Fellowships Global Interaction 2014 at the naval base of Simonstown.

December 7 The CBI of India has sought the assistance of Interpol to its request to question,Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP, the LTTE leader, who is under Sri Lanka'sprotective custody, for the conspiracy behind the assassination of former PrimeMinister Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, 1991. Sources have told TOI that Interpol'shelp has also been sought to convince Sri Lanka to assist in the case and replyto the judicial requests that have been pending for years.

December 9 The Election Commissioner's office in Colombo has received 73 complaints ofelection violations within a 48hour period up to 7 pm on December 8. Except for9 complaints, all others have taken place outside the capital Colombo. Out of the73 election violation complaints, 59 were minor complaints and 14 were seriousviolations such as assault, death threats and shooting.

The JVP lodged several complaints with the HRC of Sri Lanka on many otherelection violations.

Sri Lanka's upcoming presidential election promises more competition than wasinitially anticipated with the contest mainly centered between the incumbentPresident Mahinda Rajapaksa and his opponent common opposition candidateMaithripala Sirisena, but with the tight race comes a great risk of violence, the


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ICG warns. In a 15page report titled "Sri Lanka's Presidential Election: Risks andOpportunities" published, the Brusselsbased global conflict thinktank examinesthe challenges facing Rajapaksa's ruling party and the Sirisenaled opposition,and how domestic and international actors can mitigate the risk of politicalinstability.

December 12 The Presidential Commission Investigating Cases of Missing Persons in SriLanka will conduct public sittings to hear cases of missing in Vavuniya Districtfrom December 14 17, 2014. Sittings will be held at the Cheddikulam DivisionalSecretariat on December 14 15 and in Vavuniya Divisional Secretariat onDecember 16 17. Any persons / persons / organizations within the DivisionalSecretariats of Cheddikulam and Vavuniya are invited to submit their complaintsto the Commission on the scheduled days and venues.

December 13 The UN led international investigation on Sri Lanka will not deliver justice as it isbiased and not a proper investigation, Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister, G.LPeiris said. In an interview with The Sunday Leader, Minister Peiris, reiteratedthat the country will not be subjected to an international investigation.

Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake accused that the Marxist party JVPand the LTTE of having disrupted universities from 1980 to 2005. Dissanayakewas speaking after laying the foundation stone for a building complex at theTrincomalee campus of the Eastern University, and said that as a result ofcontrolling universities by proLTTE and JVP students two vice chancellors fromnorth and two from south had been killed.

Election monitoring group, PAFFREL in Sri Lanka, says that following thedeclaration of Presidential election out of the 175 cases, 48 incidents have beenreported as violent incidents. There were four shooting incidents and onebombing among the incidents reported. Some 19 persons have been injured andhospitalized, the PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi said.Hettiarachchi said such violations of election laws can undermine the legitimacyof the presidential elections and urged all politicians to dedicate themselves toconduct a free and fair poll.

December 15 President Mahinda Rajapaksa warned that despite the defeat of the LTTE in SriLanka, the country still faces a threat from the LTTE network overseas. Speakingat an election rally in Panadura town in Kalutara District, the President noted thatLTTE supporters living in foreign countries have formed a parliament of their ownand are working against Sri Lankan interests. The country needs to be vigilantagainst the actions of these groups operating overseas and those supportingthose groups from within Sri Lanka, Rajapaksa said adding, the government andthe people of Sri Lanka need to continue the fight against terrorism to ensure theLTTE does not raise its head in Sri Lanka again.

The Indian government has noted that the LTTE has links to other antinationalorganisations, like the UK chapter of JKLF, Kesari Lehat Movement, SikhActivist Network, etc. While seeking to extend the ban on the LTTE, the Indiancentral government and the Tamil Nadu government told a tribunal that thebanned outfit nurtures an idea of "greater Tamil Nadu, which includes the state ofTamil Nadu, part of Kerala, part of Karnataka, part of Andhra Pradesh andnortheastern provinces of Sri Lanka".

December 18 President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing an election campaign rally in MullaitivuDistrict said "After 27 years, we gave you an election. You all elected yourmembers. This election will decide a leader for the country". Speaking furtherPresident Rajapaksa said the Government has done a massive amount of workto rebuild the wartorn area and uplift the lives of the people in the North. Amongother initiatives to improve their livelihood, the Government has provided selfemployment loans for 430 exLTTE cadres of Mullaitivu, he noted.

December 23 UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon still wants Sri Lanka to cooperate with theongoing human rights investigation on Sri Lanka mandated by the UN HumanRights Council despite President Mahinda Rajapaksa saying he will not back theinvestigation. The President has said he will let local laws to deal with any humanrights violators and not agree to a UN probe. The report on Sri Lanka by theinvestigations team of the OHCHR will be taken up for discussion at the UNHuman Rights Council on March 25, 2015. The 28th regular session of the UNHuman Rights Council will be held from March 2 to March 27 in Geneva and the


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report on Sri Lanka is part of the agenda.

December 24 Sri Lanka Police arrested two suspects in connection with the shooting at thevenue of an election rally of the common opposition candidate MaithripalaSirisena in Kolonnawa in Colombo District, Western Province of Sri Lanka. PoliceMedia Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana, said the suspects, residents ofWellampitiya and Rajagiriya, were arrested following investigations carried out bythe Mirihana special election Police unit.

December 27 Police STF personnel have been deployed in the Beruwala area in KalutaraDistrict, following a clash between UNP and UPFA supporters, Police spokesmanSSP Ajith Rohana said.

Senior officials of Sri Lankan Government, Governors and other Governmentofficers are openly campaigning for President Mahinda Rajapaksa blatantlyviolating election laws, the election monitors in Sri Lanka complain. Manygovernment officers have clearly ignored the orders given by the ElectionCommissioner not to involve in election campaigning and the election officialshave become powerless to prevent such violations, the local election monitorCaFFE says.

The HRSCL has issued a directive to all public officers of Sri Lanka on the 2015Presidential election. The main intention of the directive is to ensure that theupcoming presidential election of Sri Lanka 2015 will be free and fair and areflection of the view of people of the country without any pressure being broughtupon them, the HRCSL said in a statement.

December 28 The CMEV, the official poll monitor for the Sri Lanka Presidential election, reportsof an attack on an election office of the opposition NDF located at Erakkandi inTrincomalee District. The Secretary for Monitoring Election Activities for NDF inthe Erakkandi area had reported that the attack had taken place at around 1.00Am. According to the complainant, 7 iron polls which were used for hanging flagsof the party had been stolen and office decorations had been completelydestroyed.

December 29 The TNA warned the government against making what it called clandestineefforts to settle the national question. Having declared its intention to thwartincumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa securing a third term at January 8, 2015poll, TNA chief R. Sampanthan, MP, addressing the media at Hotel Janaki,Narahenpita area of Colombo, where the fourparty alliance pledged its support toopposition presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena, declared: "The nationalquestion cannot be resolved through a backdoor deal. Such an agreement is notpossible. We'll not take that path."

December 30 TNA decided to support common opposition Presidential candidate MaithripalaSirisena at the forthcoming Presidential Election. TNA leader R. Sampanthanannounced the party's decision at a media briefing in Colombo. TNA's decision tosupport Sirisena follows the withdrawal of the two major Muslim parties from theGovernment. Both the ACMC led by former Minister of Industry and CommerceRishad Bathiudeen and the SLMC led by former Justice Minister Rauf Hakeemdecided to support the common candidate. With the defection of Muslim parties,the Government lost its twothird majority in Parliament.

December 31 Ministry of Defense spokesperson Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said that over14,000 skilled personnel have been added to SFs since the end of the war in2009 to carry out the postwar infrastructure development projects. Thespokesperson said that the Army has recruited over 10,000 skilled personnel whoare not entitled for uniforms for their daytoday duties and over 11,000 civil staffmembers have also been enrolled for these development duties. The Army, ingeneral has enlisted over 35,000 persons for the nation building purpose since2009.

Source:Compiled from news reports and are provisional.

Documents

Srilanka Timeline 2014