The Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia, former Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, could be investigated for war crimes by the International Commission of Jurists (Australian section). He is accused of being in command when subordinates fired on some of the 40,000 civilians reckoned to have died during the war’s final weeks. (Duncan MacLaren, Eureka Street)

The Australian Government can be sure that the reaction of the Sri Lankan government will be fierce.

I returned from Sri Lanka recently, having facilitated a meeting on the Church and development in Sri Lanka for Caritas Sri Lanka and its partners from Australia, Europe and the US.

I got to know and love Sri Lanka through my work for Caritas in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami. In subsequent visits I was pleased to see the huge progress made through the efforts of Caritas and other agencies in serving the Sri Lankan people — people of all faiths and ethnicities — as houses were built, livelihoods restored and hope and confidence began to flourish.

It was heart-warming to see people of all faiths working together to build a better and more just Sri Lanka out of the ruins of the old.

With the end of the war, we are now in a new Sri Lanka. That war cost the country dearly in terms of lives lost, distrust sown and loss of revenue. There is still a great deal to do to build up the country, get rid of the poverty gap and heal the divisions of the past.

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Putting the faith back into development (Eureka Street)

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