Sri Lanka parliament speaker rebuffs Supreme Court summons

By Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal | Reuters 
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Sri Lanka's parliament speaker on Thursday rejected a supreme court summons to a parliamentary panel looking into a move to impeach the chief justice, deepening a crisis that has raised concern about the independence of the country's judiciary.
The stand-off in the south Asian state has raised the risk of a destabilising clash between the judiciary and President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government.

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Sri Lankan Army deserter gives insider account of torturing civilians

By Stewart Bell | National Post .............................................................................................................................................................................................

An officer in the Sri Lanka Army, who fled to Canada and claimed he was ordered to plant explosives at the home of an outspoken opposition politician, is raising new questions about military abuses committed during the island nation’s long civil war.

Captain Ravindra Watudura Bandanage, 38, deserted after flying to Toronto in October 2009.

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Jaffna University Tamil students boycott classes

By Charles Haviland | BBC News [Photo courtesy: Tamil Net] 
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Students at Jaffna University in northern Sri Lanka have started a two-day boycott of classes after clashes with security forces on Wednesday.
They say they do not feel safe after several were beaten and injured in the worst political disturbances since the civil war ended in 2009.

Security forces entered the university, disrupting students marking a commemoration of dead rebel fighters.

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Sri Lanka sends us a suspect emissary

By Peter Fabricius | IOL News .............................................................................................................................................................................................

The Sri Lankan government’s controversial decision to appoint, as its deputy high commissioner to South Africa, an army general accused of war crimes serves – if nothing else – to highlight that country’s inadequate efforts to consign its recent dismal civil war to history.

Sri Lankan high commissioner Winithkumar Shehan Rantavale confirmed speculation in the Sri Lankan media that General Shavendra Silva’s appointment to Pretoria was “in the pipeline”.

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Tamils demand army withdrawal after S. Lanka clashes

By Amal Jayasinghe | AFP [Photo courtesy: Tamil Net]
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Sri Lanka's main Tamil party Thursday demanded troops be withdrawn to barracks in the former rebel heartland of Jaffna after the worst ethnic violence since the end of the island's decades-long civil war.

About 20 students were wounded, seven of whom needed hospital treatment, in clashes with security forces at Jaffna University, underscoring tensions in the region despite the end of the conflict in May 2009.

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