Melani Manel Perera

The government is derelict in its duty to help hundreds of thousands of people who are landless and homeless. An NGO, Praja Abhilasha, is setting up people’s tribunals to collect evidence about the abuses inflicted upon civilians. One of the organisers, Herman Kumara, says the goal is to mobilise public opinion, create a movement and rewrite the constitution so that “land is a fundamental right”.

Parties agree on a weaker presidency in favour of a stronger prime minister. The dialogue between President Rajapaksa and main opposition leader Ranil Wickramasinghe over a mixed electoral system continues.

Ban Ki-Moon recalls UN Resident Coordinator Neil Buhne to New York. Demonstrations began last Tuesday. For opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe, “The protest outside the UN office in Colombo has brought shame and disrepute to the country”.

For Buddhist lawyer S.G. Punchihewa, anti-UN protests are stupid and useless. The government is trying to hide its mistakes. For Anglican Rev Marimuttu Sathivel, protests are another “terrorist action of the present government” carried out in broad daylight.

For Fr Benedict Joseph, “the Church is aware” of how media “influence the world.” In Sri Lanka, we must know and “tell the truth” despite “many obstacles” on our path.

The government is derelict in its duty to help hundreds of thousands of people left landless. The Praja Abhilasha Network sets up a tribunal to “eliminate any legal barrier to solving problems for affected communities”.

More than year after the end of the civil war, no one has yet said what fate awaits hundreds of political prisoners held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Prisoners say they wrote a letter to the Pope about their fate, but no one has seen it.

The new textbooks offered by the Ministry equate Christianity and Western culture, accused of trying to destroy the Sinhalese culture. Archbishop of Colombo: "This is an attempt to bring disharmony between religious communities and to inculcate a defamatory image in the minds of students."

Snubbed by the Fisheries minister, Sri Lankan fishermen meet to discuss ways to develop a sustainable fishing industry. Small-scale fishing is crucial for their survival. Indian fishing fleets are blamed for environmental degradation.

The civil war has widowed tens of thousands of women in Jaffna, their husbands, civilian victims of the conflict. The women have to cope with an unhelpful government and social prejudice in Tamil society. Private groups provide aid so that they can regain their dignity. Our correspondent continues her reports on the aftermath of the war.

Report from Jaffna, the scene of a long and bloody civil war lost by the locals against the central power. The stories of the people. The many instances of violence, still current ongoing. The desire to start over.

The Pampemadu centre hosts mass wedding for 41 Hindu couples, 11 Catholic and 1 Protestant. It is an “important step from a religious, cultural and political point of view”.