Tamil Sydney

Dr.T.Somasekaram former Surveyor General of Sri Lanka and Jaffna Hindu College Oldboy passed away

Dr.Thamotharam Somasegaram, former Surveyor General of Sri Lanka and a long served past president of Jaffna Hindu College Old Boys Association Colombo passed away in Colombo. Dr.Somasekaram,a retired Surveyor General is the loving husband of Sathanithi, loving father of Ms. Damayanthi(UK), Jayanthi(HNB), Arjun(UK) and the brother of Dr.Arulambalam.

Six Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were taken into custody for allegedly molesting a nine-year-old Tamil girl at Ki'raan Vaazhaichcheani in the eastern Batticaloa district, sources in Batticaloa said. The victim identified one of the perpetrators during an identification parade held in Batticaloa Magistrate Court. Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) reported that the soldiers of the Digiliwatiya camp had threatened the protesting villagers, and the body of one protester was recovered in a pond near the SLA camp after the protests.

The Rudd Government has today appointed Professor John McMillan as the Information Commissioner Designate.Cabinet Secretary, Senator Joe Ludwig, said Professor McMillan’s extensive experience will be fundamental in establishing a successful Office of the Information Commissioner. “I am very pleased Professor McMillan has been appointed the Information Commissioner Designate,” Senator Ludwig said. “Assuming the Parliament supports the Bill, as soon as the Information Commissioner Bill is enacted, I will recommend to the Governor-General in Council that she appoint Professor McMillan as the Information Commissioner,” Senator Ludwig said.

Today also marks the start of construction of a new generation of communication antennas at the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex at Tidbinbilla. Since the early 1960s NASA has contracted CSIRO radio telescopes to augment its network of tracking stations for particular missions as part of its Deep Space Network (DSN). CSIRO manages the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex (CDSCC) – one of three DSN stations around the world used for communicating with NASA's spacecraft.

After Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa won in the elections, held in January this year, for the second consecutive time. Indian leaders issued statements congratulating Rajapaksa. India, too, requested that Rajapaksa carefully handle Sarath Fonseka, the former Sri Lankan army general, who contested as the main oppositing candidate against Rajapaksa. The Indian leaders’ statements were in empathy on the arrest of Fonseka and the victory of Rajapaksa and the elections manifested India’s real motives in dealing with Sri Lankan affairs.

Commenting on the clause in the M2 motorway contract that could result in compensation being paid to operator, Transurban, Greens MP and transport spokesperson Lee Rhiannon said the northwest rail line is an essential piece of infrastructure that should be fast tracked not held up because of a poor decision by the Coalition when they were in government.
Read more...

Sri Lanka - War Stories, On air: 28th February 2010 - SBS Dateline

"They were not armed - That is straight as murder on a significant scale - Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions"
Full Text:
It’s almost a year since the Sri Lankan government defeated the Tamil Tigers after 27 years of civil war, but survivors on both sides are still seeking answers over accusations of war crimes. Video journalist Ginny Stein tracks down Tamil civilians who were trapped, along with the Tigers, in the tiny enclave where the rebels made their last stand. Witnesses allege the Sri Lankan government deliberately shelled safe zones and hospitals, and restricted supplies in order to starve out and execute the rebels.

Asia Report Nº186
23 February 2010

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
For the past quarter-century the Tamil diaspora has shaped the Sri Lankan political landscape through its financial and ideological support to the military struggle for an independent Tamil state. Although the May 2009 defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has dramatically reduced the diaspora’s influence, the majority of Tamils outside Sri Lanka continue to support a separate state, and the diaspora’s money can ensure it plays a role in the country’s future. The nature of that role, however, depends largely on how Colombo deals with its Tamil citizens in the coming months and on how strongly the international community presses the government to enact constitutional reforms to share power with and protect the rights of Tamils and other minorities. While the million-strong diaspora cannot regenerate an insurgency in Sri Lanka on its own, its money and organisation could turn up the volume on any violence that might eventually re-emerge.

Now despite the scale of this humanitarian crisis and the need for us to focus on it as a matter of urgency, we do not forget the longer term, because anyone who cares about the future of Sri Lanka knows that it will not be built by aid alone. It must be built through a new political settlement. Since the end of the civil war, since the re-election of President Rajapaksa, as we look forward and await the parliamentary elections, we continue to make the case that the President should use his mandate for a real drive for national reconciliation, a real drive to respect the rights of every single Sri Lankan, a real drive to fulfil the commitments, constitutional and other reforms, that would make a difference.

"As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on South Asia, I have examined the unfortunate effects of the conflict in Sri Lanka. I have sought to shed light on the plight of internally displaced people and the importance of development in post-conflict Sri Lanka. As Americans, we will continue to seek opportunities to play a constructive role in post-conflict Sri Lanka. As Sri Lanka heals from the horrors of war, it will also require that the Tamil population in and outside the country play a key role in the development of Sri Lanka’s infrastructure as well as its social fabric."

A SINHALESE fisherman who fought the Rudd government in the Federal Court in a bid for asylum has been flown back to Sri Lanka, the last to be sent home from a group that reached the Australian mainland. Meril Fernando was sent home on Thursday, more than a year after he and 11 others travelled from Sri Lanka in a fishing boat fitted with a GPS.
Read more...

More...

<< Start < Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > End >>

[ Back ]