[BBC]

The US will support efforts to get Sri Lanka to implement a government commission’s conclusions in relation to the civil war, officials say.

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[Canada News Centre]

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today issued the following statement on the final report of Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission:

“Canada notes the public release of the report of Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. Although we are still studying the report, the commission has addressed and provided recommendations in some areas of concern, including reconciliation, the rule of law and demilitarization.

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[National Post]

The Tamils’ situation in Sri Lanka brings to mind the old legal maxim, inter arma enim silent leges - essentially, in times of war, the law falls silent. Most unfortunate for all Tamils is the continued cynical silence of the international community on this troubling ongoing ethnic conflict.

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[ Reuters ]

Thousands marched in the funeral procession of a slain Sri Lankan newspaper editor in the capital Colombo on Monday, demanding the government punish those responsible to ensure media freedom and democracy. A packed crowd gathered at the entrance of Sri Lanka’s main cemetery in one of the largest protests in recent memory, blocking roads and vowing to fight until democracy was restored. Sunday Leader Chief Editor Lasantha Wickramatunga was gunned down in traffic on Thursday morning and died in hospital soon afterwards. The government promised a thorough investigation.

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[ UPI Asia ]

“Anti-terrorism” initiatives from the world’s most powerful country were exploited to the maximum by cynical leaders in other countries, mainly to deprive their own populations of basic freedoms and democracy. In many countries the War on Terror was manipulated to portray freedom of expression, publication and organization as subversive endeavors, and to deprive people of fair trials and protections against torture, illegal arrest, illegal detention and extrajudicial killings. Through what are called “prevention of terrorism laws,” all these freedoms were sacrificed under the pretext of national security.

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