Military

Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena*, Gehan Gunatilleke** & Prameetha Abeywickreme*** Originally published in the LST Review, Volume 23, Issue 306 & 307, April & May 2013 Introduction The Nature of Impunity Those who abuse power almost invariably enjoy the power to abuse. Impunity is both a corollary of power and a tool for power retention; a phenomenon that, by […]

This article was initially published in LST Review- Vol.306 and 307 in May 2013 1. Introductory Remarks “We have every reason to be proud of the fact that our judicial system has been adopted in so many different parts of the world. At the heart of it is fairness to everyone who holds views with which […]

The Balochistan government has registered a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act against the chief executive and three other employees of a television channel, ARY Digital, for releasing a documentary about the attack on the former residency of the father of the nation. The three other employees are the Executive Director, Owais Tohid, the Quetta bureau […]

Contact: Contact: John M. Miller, +1-917-690-4391 Ed McWilliams, +1-575-648-2078 The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) and the West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT) today condemned the U.S. government’s decision to approve the sale of deadly Apache attack helicopters to Indonesia. The sale demonstrates that U.S. concern for greater respect for human rights and justice in Indonesia are nothing […]

by Basil Fernando Within just a few days of the announcement of the new ministry, the Ministry of Law and Order, a rather unusual level of interest has emerged, judging by the many articles that have appeared in response to the government’s move. Though such quick responses are unusual, they are not surprising. If anyone […]

2013 අ‍ගෝස්තු 23 ජනාධිපතිවරයා යටතේ නීතිය හා සාමය අමාත්‍යාංශයක් ස්ථාපිත කරන බව නිවේදනය කර තිබේ. මේ අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් වන්නේ, වාර්තාවන්ට අනුව විශ්‍රාමික හමුදා නිලධාරියෙකු වන මේජර් ජනරාල් (විශ්‍රාමික) නන්ද මල්ලවාරච්චි ය. මේජර් ජනරාල් මල්ලවාරච්චි    ශ්‍රී ලංකා යුධ හමුදාවේ හිටපු කාර්ය මණ්ඩල ප්‍රධානියා ය. පසුව ඔහු ඉන්දුනීසියාවේ සිටි ශ්‍රී ලංකා තානාපති බවට පත්විය. මැලේසියානු ආරක්ෂක අංශවල උදව් […]

The establishment of a Law and Order Ministry under the President has been announced. The Secretary to this Ministry, according to reports, is Major General (Retired) Nanda Mallawarachchi, a retired military officer. Maj.Gen. Mallawarachichi is a former Chief of Staff of the Sri Lankan Army. He later became the Sri Lankan Ambassador to Indonesia. He […]

ආසියානු මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමෙන් ප‍්‍රකාශයක් English වැලිවේරිය, රතුපස්වල ඝාතන විසින් ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවේ නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යය තියුණු නාභිගත වීමකට ලක් කර තිබේ. හමුදාවේ කි‍්‍රයාවන් මගින් ඝාතනයට ලක්වීම හෝ සෙසු ආකාරයකින් බරපතළ ලෙස තුවාල ලැබීම පිළිබඳ චෝදනා ඔප්පු කිරීමේ භාරය දැන් ජනතාව මතට මාරු කර තිබේ. මේ අතර හමුදාව විසින් සිදුකළ මේ හිංසාවන්ගේ ඇසින් දුටු සාක්ෂිකරුවන් වීම හේතුවෙන් […]

ආසියානු මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමෙන් ප‍්‍රකාශයක් English වැලිවේරිය, රතුපස්වල ඝාතන විසින් ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවේ නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යය තියුණු නාභිගත වීමකට ලක් කර තිබේ. හමුදාවේ කි‍්‍රයාවන් මගින් ඝාතනයට ලක්වීම හෝ සෙසු ආකාරයකින් බරපතළ ලෙස තුවාල ලැබීම පිළිබඳ චෝදනා ඔප්පු කිරීමේ භාරය දැන් ජනතාව මතට මාරු කර තිබේ. මේ අතර හමුදාව විසින් සිදුකළ මේ හිංසාවන්ගේ ඇසින් දුටු සාක්ෂිකරුවන් වීම හේතුවෙන් […]

වැලිවේරිය, රතුපස්වල ඝාතන විසින් ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවේ නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යය තියුණු නාභිගත වීමකට ලක් කර තිබේ. හමුදාවේ කි‍්‍රයාවන් මගින් ඝාතනයට ලක්වීම හෝ සෙසු ආකාරයකින් බරපතළ ලෙස තුවාල ලැබීම පිළිබඳ චෝදනා ඔප්පු කිරීමේ භාරය දැන් ජනතාව මතට මාරු කර තිබේ. මේ අතර හමුදාව විසින් සිදුකළ මේ හිංසාවන්ගේ ඇසින් දුටු සාක්ෂිකරුවන් වීම හේතුවෙන් ජනතාව භීතියෙන් ජීවත් වෙති. සියලූ අපරාධ […]

During the month of July, casualties of violence remained as high as 1214 (deaths 572 and injuries 642). Some new trends in military operations and drone attacks also surfaced. Acts of violence kept demoralizing the population at large, and humiliating the state security apparatus (Dera Ismail Khan jail break or attack on the ISI office […]

The killings at Rathupaswela, Weliweriya have brought into sharp focus the crisis of the rule of law in Sri Lanka. The burden of proving the allegation of being killed or otherwise seriously injured by the actions of the military has now been shifted to the people. Meanwhile the people live in fear of reprisals due […]

Sinhalese The killings at Rathupaswela, Weliweriya have brought into sharp focus the crisis of the rule of law in Sri Lanka. The burden of proving the allegation of being killed or otherwise seriously injured by the actions of the military has now been shifted to the people. Meanwhile the people live in fear of reprisals […]

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following joint statement from Catholic Human rights Committee, Jinbonet: Korean Progressive Network, Korean Metal Workers’ Union’s Ssangyong Motors Branch, MINBYUN: Lawyers for a Democratic Society and Truth-finding Commission on Yongsan Disaster in South Korea. (Please click here for Korean) For further questions or media inquiries, please contact: MINBYUN: […]

On August 15 (yesterday) people from Rathupaswela, Weliweriya, were asked to go to the army camps in order to record evidence from them. The people did not want to go to the camps for obvious reasons. Previous reports revealed that the people are afraid that those who are witnesses to the events which led to […]

“The destiny of any nation, at any given time, depends on the opinions of its young men under five-and-twenty.” – Goethe. If what Goethe said is true then what is the problem with the destiny of Pakistan? Why is its destiny twisting in a whirlpool of troubles though it is a rich country? It is blessed […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that army personnel deployed in Assam to counter insurgency are allegedly involved in an extortion and burglary activity in Arunachal Pradesh. On 18 July 2013, four army officials along with five civilian touts were arrested by the Arunachal Pradesh police while they were attempting […]

What makes a soldier capable of shooting young boys of 16 and 18 at point blank range with the intent to kill? That is what happened at Rathupaswela, Weliweriya. Of course, such killings have not been an exception as far as the Sri Lankan armed forces are concerned, judging particularly from the aftermath of the […]

Human rights defender and philanthropic educator Shahed Kayes knew there were serious risks involved in his work. He had to, as nothing in Bangladesh comes without associated risks. He knew that his attempt to educate impoverished children from the low castes was unacceptable to the deeply entrenched local power structure and those at the top […]

The Pakistan People’s Party took office in 2008, and shortly thereafter issued a moratorium on the death penalty, temporarily commuting thousands of death penalty cases to life imprisonment. The move was hailed by the UN and rights organizations worldwide, as it indicated a move by the Pakistani government to respect the right to life and […]