The case of five Tamil Nadu fishermen in Sri Lanka custody was pushed by India's newly appointed External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Friday.

Speaking to GL Peiris on the sidelines of the Indian Ocean Rim-Association for Regional Cooperation meeting, Khurshid is understood to have stressed that the issue be addressed "expeditiously" before it becomes an "irritant" in India-Sri Lanka relations.

An official sourse told OutLookIndia,

"The issue of Indian fishermen and the difficulties they face when they are apprehended by Sri Lankan Navy and Sri Lankan Coast Guards were raised.

"Khurshid said it was necessary to deal with them humanely and he urged Peiris on the case of five Indian fishermen who still remain in custody there.

"The Minister requested his Sri Lankan counterpart to try and address this issue expeditiously so that this is not an irritant in the relationship,"

The body of the brother-in-law of TNA MP for Vanni, Selvam Adaikalanathan, has been found dead reported the Daily Mirror.

53-year-old Sinnathurai Inthireswaran’s body was found by police on Thursday who stated that he had been robbed prior to having been murdered.

Inthireswaran had gone missing on October 30th. His brother-in-law Selvam Adaikalanathan, an MP for the Tamil National Alliance in Vanni and president of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) had registered a complaint with the police the day he had gone missing.

Adaikalanathan identified the body on Thursday.

Sri Lankan journalists received interest free vehicle loans, courtesy of President Mahinda Rajapakse, according to the Department of Government Information.

Over five hundred journalists had been selected for the scheme, with the first phase inaugurated earlier today.
The president is behind the implementation of the plan, as a relief loan scheme for senior journalists.

500 free laptops will also be provided to all of the journalists.

The loans will be provided by state banks for up to Rs 1.2 million, with the interest covered by the treasury.

Tamil undergraduates at the Eastern University of Sri Lanka (EUSL) have faced physical attacks from Sinhalese students at the university, reports TamilNet.

The students were attacked on a campus bus after a picture of the Buddha was found torn at the front of the vehicle. The Sinhalese undergrads that were culpable for the attacks are yet to face repercussions for their actions.

The 25 Tamils, who are now a minority in the once predominantly Tamil university, claim that the campus administration has not acted on their complaints. Tamil students concluded that this impunity was a result of the major political influence Sinhalese students had on campus.

Fearing for their safety in lectures, the Tamil students have decide not to return to their campus at present.

As the torrential rains and gusts, caused by Cyclone Nilam, battered the North-East, the recently uprooted families have been hardest hit. The 178 families from Keppapulavu, who were forced to move in September from a camp to what was little more than a clearing in a forest, have had their makeshift shelters battered, reports Uthayan.

Not having received any food aid since being forced out, the families are now unable to prepare food, having had their makeshift roofs and walls swept away by the rain.

The President of the Organisation of Professional Associations (OPA), Benedict Ulluwishewa, has reiterated that they would support a repeal of the 13th Amendement.

Speaking to The Island, Ulluwishewa said that the body was to discuss and propose an 'alternative mechanism to the hotly disputed piece of legislature'.

To mark May 18th this year, the OPA passed a resolution that called for the repeal of the 13th Amendment.

Last week, the defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, defended his calls for the repeal and highlighted the widespread support he had, including within the OPA, which has over 50,000 professionals as members.

A group of 26 people who had arrived at Cocos and Christmas islands by boat have been deported, announced Australian Immigration Minister Chris Bowen.

Bowen said of the deportees:

"They did not make any case, any claims, which meant Australia had any international obligation to them.”

Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard said on Thursday that people attempting to enter Australia without a credible claim should be returned to where they came from.

It is also reported that the opposition spokesman for immigration, Scott Morrison said it was “about time” the government sent Sri Lankans home, saying:

"It took a boatload of pirates and constant pressure from the opposition to shake this government into action," Mr Morrison said. "We're not going to quibble over the detail here, so long as the government follows through."

Australia’s stance on deportations to Sri Lanka comes as a contrast to recent injunctions in the UK to stop deportations based on appeals that deportees may be tortured upon their return.

Tamil diaspora organisations have condemned Sri Lanka’s “abysmal lack of progress” in implementing recommendations made by the UN’s Universal Periodic Review process in 2008, and demanded "decisive action".

In a joint statement released on Thursday, ahead of Sri Lanka's UPR, British Tamils Forum, Canadian Tamil Congress and the United States Political Action Council, said that the ground reality is one of “ongoing militarisation, enforced disappearances, torture, violence against women and a lack of independence of
media and human rights institutions”.

Speaking on behalf of the three organisations, Dr Yaso Natkunam said,

“Sri Lanka has failed miserably in protecting the human rights of its citizens, despite its claims of moving forward,”

“The universality of human rights is undermined when a country like Sri Lanka tramples on the rights of its citizens, absolves itself of its responsibilities, and then deliberately misleads the international community on its offences,”

See full statement here.

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), a body of 60 eminent judges and lawyers across the world condemned the lack of justice for victims of human rights abuses in Sri Lanka and the "climate of impunity" in a report released on Thursday - 'Authority with Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka'.

Speaking ahead of Sri Lanka's UPR, ICJ's Asia Director said,

"Victims and survivors of major human rights violations do not receive redress, and perpetrators are not brought to justice. The absence of justice removes an important deterrent to future perpetrators."

“This situation is the very definition of a climate of impunity, and constitutes a serious breach of Sri Lanka’s international obligation to protect and promote human rights.”

“The situation has gotten particularly bad in the past few months, as we’ve seen the attacks on the judiciary turn into acts of physical violence.”

“The Sri Lankan government must immediately act to reaffirm the independence of the judiciary and to protect judges and legal officers from violence.”

In its report, the ICJ urged the government to repeal all statutes that protect state officials from prosecutions for human rights violations, repeal article 35(1)-(3) of the constitution that awards immunity to the president during office, establish an independent office to oversee the prosecution of state officials, ensure emergency orders by the president are subject to judicial review, and repeal or amend the 18th Amendment.

The ruling party of Sri Lanka has begun procedures to impeach the Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake for allegedly violating the country’s constitution.

117 signatures have been collected from across President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) against Bandaranayake after she ruled against a parliament bill.

She ruled that the provincial councils in the country, including in the Tamil dominated Northern and Eastern provinces, needed to approve needed to approve development budgets before they came to parliament.

Cabinet spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told reporters that the Chief Justice’s conduct had "affected the sovereignty of the people", saying,

"The government is all out to suppress anyone who tries to stand up against the executive".

Speaking on the day of Sri Lanka's UPR at the UN Human Rights Council, Amnesty International's Sri Lanka expert, Yolanda Foster, said that Sri Lanka's promises on human rights should not be accepted by the international community.

Foster said,

“Sri Lanka has been making empty promises about human rights for decades. This was made clear by a number of countries which questioned Sri Lanka’s lack of progress in ending human rights violations during the review,”

“Three years after the end of the civil war, the government continues to stifle dissent through threats and harassment, and has failed to take steps to end enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions.”

“Four years after the UN’s first review of human rights in Sri Lanka, there has been virtually no progress – as shown today - on any of the commitments the government made to end arbitrary detentions,”

“The persistent lack of justice in these cases is shocking and flies in the face of repeated promises by the government for the past six years that it would investigate them properly. Victims’ families won’t believe the government until some practical action is taken. As a very basic first step the 2007 commission’s findings should be made public,”

“Why did it toke so long for the Sri Lankan authorities to order an investigation into cases this grave, and what will happen to the police inquiry when international interest sparked by the UPR dies down?”

In a statement, the rights group further added,

'Human rights defenders have told Amnesty International about a climate a fear in Sri Lanka in which the state does nothing to protect them from threats.

Following a UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution in March 2012 calling on Sri Lanka to address violations of international law during the civil war, government officials and state-run media lashed out at human rights activists. They were called “traitors” and threatened with physical harm by the Public Relations Minister, prompting the UN to denounce the threats and call for an investigation.'

A Tamil asylum seeker at Maribyrnong Detention Centre in Melbourne, Austrlia, who was facing deportation to Sri Lanka today and attempted to take his own life in the early hours of this morning (see here and here), has won a last minute reprieve, only a few hours before he was due to be flown home.

The Federal Court in Sydney decided to overturn an earlier court decision on the man, who is known as "Anjan" and said to be in his 40s.

News of his attempted suicide had earlier prompted several refugee solidarity activists to form a community blockade outside the detention centre, preventing the police from attempting to deport the individual.

In a statement released prior to news of the reprieve, the Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition, said: 

“We are extremely concerned about the fate of this asylum seeker,”

“Sri Lanka remains a dangerous place for anyone deemed to be an opponent of the Rajapaksa regime. The use of torture is systemic."

“In recent months the British High Court has intervened to stop the deportation of Tamil asylum seekers from Britain to Sri Lanka because of the threat of torture they faced."

“The attempted suicide overnight is a reminder of the life and death situation that Tamil asylum seekers face. We are calling on the Minister to urgently intervene to stop the deportation. Tamil asylum seekers being returned to Sri Lanka are being deported to danger.”

The World Bank has withdrawn its offer of financial assistance to two parliamentary oversight committees - COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises) and PAC (Public Accounts Committee), citing a lack of progress on changes the government agreed to implement in return, reports DailyMirror.

The World Bank had agreed to provide a package of US $494,000 and to assist in developing the capacity of the parliamentary secretariat liaising with them which included two foreign traning programmes for committee members. The aim was to make positive changes in the laws and regulations that govern public finances.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror in confidence, a member of COPE, said that the World Bank had withdrawn because 'certain government members' had not agreed to ensure transparency in the use and disimbursement of public finances.

The official said,

“At the time the WB [World Bank] withdrew, we had spent only ten per cent of the assistance package. We lost the rest. The project that started in 2008 is to have been completed last year,”

“The World Bank has proposed to amend the Finance Act for effective monitoring of public finances by Parliament. But unfortunately it did not happen.”