LLRC was for reconciliation, not to create divisions - President Rajapaksa

‘We are committed to freedom; countries of the world should understand this from the North’ :

I need not state afresh that this day - May 19 - is now a great historic day in our country. Today marks third celebration of victory of the nation under a single flag. It is the great victory that restored the honourable peace that our country had preserved through many centuries. Similarly, it is also the great victory that freed many lakhs of people in the North who were held hostage by the forces of terror and removed the fear of death that existed among all people.

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‘Proposal to appoint Commission to curb crime, laudable’

As published in your paper of May 4, 2012, the proposal made by Most Ven Aggamaha Pandita Kotugoda Dhammawasa Anu Nayake Thera on the appointment of a commission to investigate the causes for the rise of crime in the country comes as a launching pad for the ongoing development of the island commonly known as Dhamma Dveepa. Your editorial commenting on this proposal speaks on the need for a fundamental approach to crime in order to establish a relevant machinery to implement law and order in the country, while a long-term programme be implemented through a commission to investigate the causes of crime and seek for remedies.

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Sri Lankan Rights Watch

Involving Civil Society

After several discussions with government officials on the implementation of the National Human Rights Action Plan, I reverted last week to what we had begun in the Reconciliation Office in February, before I was asked to convene the Task Force on the Plan. This was a series of consultations with Civil Society on the Plan, and as mentioned previously, a number of good ideas had come up with regard to areas of particular concern, Women and Children, the Law’s delays and Prisons.

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