By Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah, Senator TGTE, 01 Nov 2012 - “Our solution does not lie in the 13th Amendment but on the Tamil nationhood to be recognised. We are not a minority. From the beginning of history there have been two nations that must be recognized” With these profound words that is sure to resonate well with the Tamil Diaspora and the Tamil heartland in the North and East of the island of Sri Lanka, the outspoken Bishop of Mannar, in characteristic fashion set the benchmarks as it were for any future dialogue for a political solution for Eelam Tamils; benchmarks that must be heeded not just by the Rajapaksa administration but by the UN, the international community and India, requiring immediate international intervention.

By Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah, SAAG, 30 April 2012 - It is hard for a man to keep a straight face and tell a lie but President Rajapakse manages to do it every time he has to face the Indians and the International community about devolving power to the Tamil NorthEast. He just did it again when he had breakfast with Sushma Swaraj on the last day of the Indian delegation’s visit to Sri Lanka. There is now a huge confusion as to who said what. Sushma says Rajapakse talked about devolution and mentioned 13th +Amendment and Rajapakse through the Island denies he said that: “The Sri Lankan government on Monday strongly denied a statement attributed to Indian Opposition Leader Sushma Swaraj, that her delegation had received an assurance from Mr. Rajapaksa on his commitment to the 13th Amendment, and his readiness to go even beyond it.”

by Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah, SAAG, 23 March 2012 - The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution against Sri Lanka, at its 19th session, has opened a small window of hope, where there was none before, for truth and justice to finally triumph; not now but in the foreseeable future when the Sri Lankan government is expected “to implement the LLRC recommendations” and “fulfill its relevant legal obligations and commitment to initiate credible and independent actions to ensure justice, equity, accountability and reconciliation for all Sri Lankans.”

SAAG, 23-April-2011 - By Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah - Since day one the Rajapaksa regime has successfully manipulated the whole UN establishment including its Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, his chief of staff Nambiar and the UN Human Rights Council, and has in the process not only made a mockery of the UN system but made Ban him self look weak and not in control. The regime has used every tactic in the book before, during and after its brutal war with the LTTE to cleverly out-maneuver the UN and twist Ban round its fingers. All this at a high cost amounting to colossal loss of lives; untold human suffering; obstruction of justice including distortion of the truth. The UN Panel of Expert’s Report has turned out to be an expose of the Rajapaksa regime’s conduct of the war and the aftermath. Although cornered, the Rajapaksa regime is defiant; while denouncing the report and in a last ditch effort to prevent the publication of the report is engaging in political and diplomatic maneuvers in a multi-pronged attack against the Panel’s findings.