Jaffna Mayor says ‘no’ to Mullivaikal remembrance at Municipal Council

Friday, 30 May 2014 00:19 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A motion to remember the dead in the last phase of the war at the EPDP-run Jaffna Municipal Council were stopped in their tracks yesterday by Mayor Yogeshwari Patkunarajah, resulting in an opposition walkout. The Mayor said if such a motion is to be presented, it should include those killed since 1983 when the war began and not just those killed during the final battle. However the opposition objected to this saying the motion must only draw attention to those killed during the final stages of the war in 2009 and not since 1983.

Aussie Envoy meets Wigneswaran in Jaffna

Northern Province Chief Minister Justice C.V. Wigneswaran held talks with Australian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Robyn Mudie in Jaffna yesterday. High Commissioner Mudie met with Chief Minister Wigneswaran to discuss the latest situation in the Northern Province, officials said. Details of the discussion were not immediately available to the media. Australia has been a strong critic of attempts to launch an international investigation in the country over the human rights issue. However recently the Australian Government had said it will push Sri Lanka to implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and to engage with domestic and international stakeholders to advance an effective and transparent reconciliation agenda. Brett Mason, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs in Australia, in a letter to the Australian Tamil Congress, said that Australia will also continue to urge Sri Lanka to ensure that all allegations of serious international crimes committed by both sides to the conflict are investigated and prosecuted in a transparent and independent manner. (Colombo Gazette)

When the Mayor refused to permit the motion to be presented, the opposition TNA staged a walk-out and boycotted the proceedings of the Council for the rest of the day. Earlier this week, the TNA councillors of the Eastern Provincial Council wore black shawls in a mark of protest and attempted to hold a memorial for people killed in May 2009 inside the chamber, resulting in a similar uproar. Mayor Patkunarajah was a member of the Presidential delegation that attended Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing in ceremony on Monday.