Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

After 1252 posts at LNP, the kind of political immaturity you show is preposterous. There are no poluitical solutions to this conflict, only a military one.

The heightened violence comes as the government -- which, along with the rebels, is accused by human rights groups of massive human rights violations -- is seeking $590 million in economic aid from Millennium Challenge Corp. Under the rules of the U.S. government organization, recipient countries must meet certain standards regarding the rule of law, human rights and the environment.

According to Human Rights Watch, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Catholic relief groups operating in Sri Lanka, the number of displaced people has risen to 150,000 in the northeast in recent weeks, bringing the nation's total to 350,000.

The forced repatriation of civilians to certain devastated areas in a government attempt to accelerate a return to normalcy has drawn criticism from relief workers. Returnees have told them that the fighting and destruction have stripped them of their means of livelihood, such as fishing boats and farming tools.

The Tiger rebels, classified by the State Department as a terrorist organization, have a dismal record concerning respect for human life, rights groups say. They have carried out random bus bombings and suicide attacks and recruited as many as 6,000 child solders. 'Both the government and have shown a brazen disregard for the safety and well-being of civilians,' the New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch said in a recent report.

Rights groups have noted the recruitment of child soldiers by a splinter Tamil faction, the Karuna, now allied with government forces, and indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas through which rebels may have passed.

The government has silenced critics, muzzled journalists and intimidated nongovernmental organizations, creating a 'palpable climate of fear, with people afraid to speak by telephone or to give their names,' Fred Abrahams, senior emergency researcher for Human Rights Watch, said in an interview following a three-week visit to the country.

By his account, more than 1,000 people have disappeared since January 2006. 'Some bodies have appeared,' he noted.

Former foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera, in a letter to Rajapakse in December, warned, 'Whether or not these were committed by terrorist groups or government agencies, it is the responsibility of the government to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators.'

Millennium Challenge officials did not respond to repeated requests for an interview about aid to Sri Lanka. 'We continue to monitor the situation and Sri Lanka's performance on the indicators,' said an assistant in the press office, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak publicly.

Sri Lankan observers in Washington maintain that the hawkish president enjoys strong support from his country's Buddhist clergy.

For peace, Sri Lanka has to change: Canadian leader

tap the wellawatta and sea street reserves

I wonder in south how do you call that type of activities... salary, wages, family business..

Frankly my dear with statements like the ones you post I would relinquish my seat at the same dining table in a heartbeat!

No changes at gun-point. Would you do that?

Rae, elected eight times to Canada's federal and provincial parliaments before he quit politics in 1996

Unless the legitimate collective and individual rights of the Tamils are recognised by the government, this problem will never be solved,'