Monthly Archives: November 2011

The war is over and people are looking at what could have been

In the thirty-something years that Sri Lanka fought with itself, profound changes were wreaked on the country. Its institutions have been greatly weakened and some of the best achievements since independence frittered away.
In the 1960s, East Asian countries such as Singapore and South Korea visited Sri Lanka to study its social support system that provided […]

By Arjuna Ranawana | Published on November 22, 2011 at 2:21 am

Pakistan seeks to ban JESUS CHRIST and other “obscenities” from text messages

NEWSWEEK PAKISTAN: Pakistan’s mobile operators on Nov. 21 deferred implementing a ban on nearly 1‚700 “obscene” words from text messages‚ saying they were seeking further clarification from the telecoms authority.
The list‚ including words from “quickie” to “fairy“ to “Jesus Christ”‚ was distributed on Nov. 14 with operators given seven days to comply‚ but has met […]

By NEWSWEEK Pakistan | Published on November 21, 2011 at 9:47 pm

Double edged Peace Process contributed to ending the War

A little over a year ago, the Norwegian government commissioned an evaluation of its intervention in regard to Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict during the years 1997 to 2009. This report is now made public. It traces the story of
Norway’s involvement in peacemaking in Sri Lanka. Ironically the Norwegian peace effort both began and ended in […]

By Dr. Jehan Perera | Published on November 21, 2011 at 9:03 pm

General Fonseka convicted in White Flag case

BREAKING NEWS: Former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka was sentenced to three years imprisonment and fined Rs. 5,000 in the White Flag case in a judgement delivered in the High Court of Colombo today.
The judgment was divided 2 to 1 with Deepali Wijesundara who presided over the High Court Trial-at-bar and judge M.S Razeen finding him […]

By Staff Correspondent | Published on November 18, 2011 at 10:48 pm

Norwegian peace efforts in Sri Lanka courageous and worthy of study

18.11.11: Sri Lanka’s internal war and terrorism lasted for three decades and ended in May 2009 with the military defeat of the LTTE. The overall cost in terms of lives lost, property destroyed, development opportunities foregone,
emotional suffering and migration of Sri Lankans is incalculable. The bitterness and animosity that the last stage of the war caused […]

By National Press Council | Published on November 18, 2011 at 9:20 am

Beefed up security in Colombo ahead of verdict in White Flag case against Fonseka

Colombo is beefing up security ahead of the delivery of the verdict in the controversial white flag case against former
army commander General Sarath Fonseka. While there are reports that to avoid the immediate heat, a key witness against Fonseka has temporarily fled the country in fear to Singapore on a Cathay Pacific Flight bound for […]

By Sonali Samarasinghe Wickrematunge | Published on November 18, 2011 at 4:25 am

Lessons from Japan: Sri Lanka must move towards a positive peace

“The peace museums in Japan remind the present generation of mistakes that must not be repeated, and of suffering that must not happen again. I saw hundreds of school children come every day to those museums along with their school teachers”
When the war ended in May 2009, it was the worst that was over, but […]

By Dr. Jehan Perera | Published on November 14, 2011 at 10:40 am

Sri Lanka’s Expropriation Bill – Does it unmask the Private Sector?

“It is the tragedy of this country that those who should be in the forefront of espousing the public interest – mainly the corporate sector, the professionals and the religious clergy have by and large maintained a deafening silence in the face of the most heinous onslaught on the rule of law and abuse of […]

By Amrit Muttukumaru | Published on November 13, 2011 at 8:23 pm

Nepali journalists strongly condemn arbitrary blocking of websites in Sri Lanka

November 11, 2011: Press Statement on Arbitrary Blocking of Websites in Sri Lanka
The Digital Media Committee at the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), the Online Journalists Association of Nepal (OJAN) and the Internet Society, Nepal Chapter (ISOC) is deeply concerned by the recent development in Sri Lanka where the government has arbitrarily blocked several news websites and issued a […]

By Staff Correspondent | Published on November 11, 2011 at 7:02 pm

The people of Hope

Place is important
I want to thank the Brahma Kumaris for hosting us here. I think place is really important in terms of the kinds of dialogues we are able to have, and Peace Village is certainly a wonderful place and space for this dialogue to happen. I want to process the time we had together […]

By John Esterle | Published on November 11, 2011 at 6:41 am