There is as yet no traction under the wheels of Canada’s efforts to have this year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting moved from Sri Lanka because of the human rights abuses of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his administration.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he will boycott the summit scheduled for November unless Colombo abides by United Nations demands that it properly investigate allegations of massacres of civilians and other abuses by its armed forces in the closing weeks of the war against Tamil separatists in May 2009.

Last week, in one of those regular breakfast meetings with newspaper editors, President Mahinda Rajapaksa had quipped that the setting up of an Election Commission is not necessary, because in his opinion, the Election Commissioner does his job well.

The President was responding to a question asked by one of the newspaper editors, who had queried whether the Election Commission would be appointed before the Provincial Council election in the North, which is scheduled for September this year. A pertinent question, indeed! However, the sad thing is that none of the media heads who were present voiced the other important follow-up question: Isn't it a constitutional requirement under the very Constitution that Rajapaksa was sworn in as the President of Sri Lanka that the Election Commission be established?

David Cameron is facing mounting calls to boycott an important Commonwealth meeting in Colombo amid continuing allegations that the Sri Lankan government is failing to end human rights abuses.

Mr Cameron is scheduled to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka in November. At the start of the three-day meeting, the presidency of the group is to he handed to Sri Lanka’s president, Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Queen, or else another member of the royal family, is also due to take part in the biennial event.

As many as 72,319 names of voters were omitted from the 2012 electoral register, the latest one, due to multiple registrations, reports say.  

The annual report of the Department of Elections says, in the Colombo electoral district alone, there were 11,359 such names deleted from the register, besides 9,023 names omitted from the Gamapha district, 5410 names from the Vanni district, 4,067 from the Jaffna district, 4040 from the Kandy district and 3,951 from the Kalutara district.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says the Commonwealth is failing its greatest test by letting Sri Lanka host this year’s leaders summit but yet Canada has no intention of leaving the organization, the Vancouver Sun reported.

Canada has been alone in threatening to boycott November’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo unless Sri Lanka improves its human rights record and moves towards post-civil war reconciliation with the country’s Tamil minority.

Four unidentified masked individuals had appeared at the Jaffna residence of Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) Leader, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, making enquiries about his movements, informed sources said.

On being told that he was out, the four individuals, who were wearing helmets and raincoats, had proceeded to take photographs of the motorbikes of the TNPF members parked outside Ponnambalam's house, sources added.

The University Student movement against Indo-Lanka Accord, Janatha Mithuro, National Movement Against Terrorism (NMAT), Sihala Urumaya and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) – in this unbroken twenty five year history of the nationalist movement in modern Sri Lanka  Patali Champika Ranawaka remains the consistent common factor.
At a time his government is gearing for the Northern Provincial polls the Minister of Technology, Research and Atomic Energy thrashed out a slew of key current issues ranging from power politics to politics of power and energy during his conversation with the
Daily Mirror.

Muslim Tamil National Alliance leader and former member of the Colombo Municipal Council Azath Salley, was arrested this morning.

Salley’s media office said that officers of the police Criminal Investigations Department  (CID) and the Special Task Force carried out the arrest at his Kolonnawa residence.

Police spokesman SP Budhika Siriwardena said that the politician was arrested over some complaints lodged with the CID.

The government says the resolution on Sri Lanka at the UNHRC session in Geneva in March was intrusive and unwarranted and was based on political motives.

External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L Peiris said this at the conclusion of the 3rd Sri Lanka – Thailand Joint Commission Meeting today.

Surapong Tovichakchaikul, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Thailand attended the meeting.

The United States has called on Sri Lanka to ensure freedom of expression in the country by conducting thorough investigations into all attacks and killings of journalists and bringing perpetrators to justice.

"The United States calls on Sri Lankan authorities to demonstrate their commitment to the rule of law and freedom of expression by conducting thorough investigations into all attacks and killings of journalists and bringing perpetrators to justice. We urge Sri Lankan authorities to protect freedom of expression", said State department deputy spokesman Patrick Ventrell at the daily media briefing in Washington on Tuesday April 30.