JAYANTHA DHANAPALA
25/6 Pepiliyana Road,
Nugegoda.
1st September 2010.
Dear Sir/Madam,
As promised in my letter dated 30 August 2010 I attach the authentic transcript of my oral presentation to the Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission which was received from the Commission.
Yours sincerely,
Jayantha Dhanapala
Continue reading "Jayanatha Dhanapala submissions before LLR Commission - Full transcript" »
Full Text of Press Release
SEPTEMBER 1, 2010
NDP MP VISITS TAMIL ASYLUM-SEEKERS IN B.C.
Peter Julian concerned over human rights, access to services, support and translators
BURNABY – New Democrat MP Peter Julian (Burnaby-New Westminster) is concerned about the human rights situation of the recent 492 Tamil asylum-seekers currently detained in British Columbia.
RIYADH — Saudi government and private sector officials have questioned the account of a Sri Lankan maid who said her Saudi employers forced 24 nails and needles into her body.
Continue reading "Saudis query Sri Lankan maid's torture claim" »
By: Dr.Rajasingham Narendran
"The least government is the best government. We should have just as little as we can get along with"–President Harry Truman
We have glimpses of the unimportant among the constitutional changes contemplated. However, what has been revealed is not what we need.
Continue reading " Constitutional changes in Sri Lanka: Cabaret Dance by Burqua-Clad!" »
by Kalana Senaratne
"Thanks Transcurrents, for publishing Dr. Jayantha Dhanapala’s letter (dated 30 August, 2010). As I pointed out in my article (see final paragraph), I hoped he was misquoted and ‘misquoted badly’.
Continue reading "I hope Dr. Dhanapala would accept my apologies for any inconvenience caused" »
by Dayan Jayatilleka
Testimony by former senior officials at the Lessons Learnt panel has provided useful insights into what went wrong with policy perceptions, process and prescriptions during the CFA
Continue reading "Is anyone listening to what I've been saying since the war was won?" »
MULLAITIVU, 31 August 2010 (IRIN) - Few studies of children in Sri Lanka have examined the daily stress they continue to face since the tsunami and civil war, focusing instead on the direct impact of both, according to two studies in the latest Child Development journal.
In the spring of 2009, a young boy sits in a makeshift bunker where tens of thousands of Sri Lankan civilians squeezed into the last small strip of land controlled by Tamil Tiger. Thousands were trapped in the so called 'no-fire zone' in the final days of the confict © Contributor/IRIN
by Apsara Fonseka
Almost two weeks ago, after six whole months of illegal detention and many court cases, my father’s first court martial case convicted him of doing politics while in uniform.
Continue reading "We knew my father would be found guilty until proven innocent" »
Jayantha Dhanapala
25/6 Pepiliyana Road,
Nugegoda.
30th August 2010.
Dear Sir/ Madam,
In response to an invitation from the Chairman of the Presidential Commission on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation (LLRC), I appeared before the Commission at 2 p.m. on Wednesday the 25th of August in Colombo having sent a written submission ahead. I considered this a performance of a civic duty on my part.
By a special correspondent
Exclusive to BBC Sinhala service
The alert and watchful eyes of weary soldiers scanned every vehicle passing through the checkpoints.
Broken, torn buildings tower over the tiny UNHCR tents on the gardens and court yards. Hanging clothes, pots and pans and carry bags scattered around the land show signs of civilian life.
The alert and watchful eyes of weary soldiers scanned every vehicle passing through the checkpoints
By Chris Kamalendran
A garment sector trade union leader charged yesterday that some garment manufacturers were seeking cheap female labour from the one time battle areas of the north.“Factory workers were leaving due to poor wages, work and living conditions.
Most in the north are ignorant of the labour laws and are falling prey,” Anton Marcus, President of the Progressive Free Trade Zone and Apparel Union told the Sunday Times.
Continue reading "Garment factories exploiting Northern girls, union charges" »
By Chris Kamalendran
A 20,000-strong Indian workforce will arrive in Sri Lanka to carry out mega housing projects in northern districts.
The first phase of the scheme, the construction of a pilot project to build 1,000 houses in Jaffna, will get underway in October this year. Similar pilot projects will be launched thereafter in the districts of Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar and Vavuniya.
Continue reading "20,000 Workers from India will Arrive Soon to build houses in northern Province" »
By Ranil Wickremesinghe
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) guarantees to every citizen the right and the opportunity to be elected at periodic elections to ensure the free expression of the will of the electors (Article 25). Sri Lanka, as a party to this Convention has an obligation under Article 2 of the ICCPR to ensure that all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction are granted the rights recognized in the Convention
By Arthur Wamanan
Q. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has not been vocal in recent times. Has the party changed its stance on the solution for the ethnic issue after the end of the war?
Well, the TNA has a manifesto on which we contested the election. In that, we have specifically stated that we are looking for meaningful devolution of powers in terms of constitutional reforms. There must be sharing of power. And as far as the TNA is concerned, that sharing of power must be meaningfully implemented in the North and East. We have very specifically said that these reforms must be within a united country and must take the form of a federal structure.
By Col R Hariharan
For General Sarath Fonseka who revamped a demoralised Sri Lanka army and led it to final victory in the nearly three-decade long campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009, its aftermath had not been peaceful. His woes appear to be mounting after an army court martial found him guilty of dabbling in politics while in uniform and recommended his cashiering.
Continue reading "Fonseka's Perils of Playing Politics and its Implications" »
By Col R Hariharan
The recent India-China stand-off over the issue of a Chinese visa for Lt General BS Jaswal, a serving commander of Northern Command, has highlighted the tenuous nature of existing ties between the two countries.
Continue reading "Can India build a meaningful military relationship with China?" »
by Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai
“In peace prepare for war, in war prepare for peace. The art of war is of vital importance to state. It is matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence under no circumstances can it be neglected”~ Sun Tzu , Chinese Military commander, (722–481 BC or 476–221 BC)
Visual Responses During the War:
Selected Works of Artists Painting,Drawing,Sculpture,Installation and Photography is currently being held at Lionel Wendt Gallery&Harold Pieris Gallery in Colombo. The exhibition will remain open from 28th of August 2010 till 31st of August 2010.The gallery hours are from 10am to 7pm. [click here to see & read in full]
by Tisaranee Gunasekara
“Tomorrow, perhaps the future” - WH Auden (Spain 1937)
The charade is finally over. President Rajapakse has informed Sri Lanka’s Micawberian Opposition that he intends to remove presidential term-limits and run for a third (and, the Grim Reaper permitting, a fourth and a fifth…) term. Clearly Rajapakse père means to be President for life, and be succeeded by Rajapakse fils. The UNP has been deluded, yet again, and (wittingly or unwittingly) made to serve the dynastic ambitions of the Ruling Family.
Continue reading "Mahinda Rajapakse means to be President for life" »
by Dayan Jayatilleka
The Lessons Learnt process is turning into quite an exercise in public pedagogy and performance, though it could be better. I rather liked Prof Rajiva Wijesinha’s ‘all round the wicket’ batting -- interspersed with episodes of whistle blowing (if one may mix one’s sporting metaphors) -- but then again I would, wouldn’t I? The mini-debate between LLRC chairman and former Attorney General CR de Silva and Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala was rather a superfluity
Continue reading " Sri Lankans must thank for JVP and ex-Chief Jutice for saving us from PTOMS" »
by Dayan Jayatilleka
Was Opposition firebrand, lawyer, karateka and pop vocalist Dayasiri Jayasekara right when he warned several weeks back that the UNP stood in danger of electoral extinction, like the Old Left in general and the LSSP in particular? The answer probably resides in yet another question: what would be the Wickremesinghe led UNP’s strength in parliament today, if Sri Lanka had the first-past-the-post system?
Continue reading "If the UNP is to preserve itself and survive it has to change" »
by Gladys Terichow
WINNIPEG, Man. – It is extremely regrettable that the Tamil refugee claimants who arrived in Canada in early August by boat arrived under such a cloud of suspicion, says a Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) spokesperson.
Continue reading "Not a crime to seek asylum - Mennonite Central Committee, Canada" »
By Kalana Senaratne
Numerous reports suggest that Dr. Jayantha Dhanapala had some interesting things to say when he appeared before the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) recently; about aspects relating to the interference of certain States in the internal affairs of other States; about the R2P concept; about the Sri Lankan Armed Forces carrying out a daunting humanitarian operation, saving 300,000 innocent civilians kept as a human shield by the LTTE and thereby preventing a certain ‘holocaust’ (The Daily News, 26 August 2010; The Ministry of Defence (defence.lk), 25 August 2010)
Jayantha Dhanapala and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ~ pic: http://www.pugwash.org
Tamils of a different stripe
by Gordon Weiss
The Tigers are history and Sri Lanka’s ethnic minority remains under the government’s thumb. Think about it – who wants to portray the boat people as a security threat?
Continue reading "Gordon Weiss: "Who wants to portray the boat people as a security threat?"" »
by Swati Parashar
Counter terror experts and security analysts are back in action and what do they fear this time? Not bombs, IEDs, nor suicide bombers but the ‘boatpeople’! I have gained sufficient insight into the issue, having camped in Australia for the last two months, to comment on what I call a new form of racism called ‘boatophobia’.
Continue reading "The ‘Boatophobia’ debate: Dehumanising asylum seekers and refugees" »
By Lincoln Tan
A Sri Lankan citizen who was a crewman on a gun-running boat for the Tamil Tigers has been given the right by the Supreme Court to apply for refugee status in New Zealand.
Continue reading "Sri Lankan who crewed Tamil Tiger boat free to seek refugee status" »
(CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK)
QUESTION: Thank you for relating these details about these important events of the recent past. Your input provides fresh insight into these matters. But now I want to ask you about the present.
Let me start with your relationship with this government particularly the Defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse. You have already told me about your arrest and your first meeting with the defence secretary. It’s obvious that both of you have established good rapport. But there are lots of allegations about this. Several opposition leaders and sections of the media have alleged that there is some kind of shady deal in between . What do you have to say? [click to read in full ~ dbsjeyaraj.com]
by UN News Centre
The top United Nations humanitarian official in Sri Lanka is appealing to the international community to “stay the course” in helping displaced persons return to their former communities in the wake of last year’s end to the country’s protracted civil war.
Continue reading "UN official calls on donors to ‘stay the course’ to help displaced" »
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver
Statement by Archbishop J. Michael Miller
The arrival of 492 Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka has generated much discussion about Canada’s immigration policy and the appropriate means of dealing with the men, women and children who recently came by ship.
Measures to address Tamil refugee issues recommended
Toronto – As public debate regarding the plight of the 492 Tamil refugee claimants intensifies, B’nai Brith Canada has warned against allowing racism to creep into public discourse on the issue and recommended three proactive solutions.
The cost of war
by nkabom
Sri Lanka’s Andi Schubert finds hope amid ruins.
When I got the email telling me I had been selected for Nkabom, I had just left home on the first leg of my trip to the Jaffna peninsula in the North of the country. Driving through areas that had very literally been at the center of the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict was for me more than just a tourist tour to the north.
Continue reading "My trip to Jaffna: "That somewhere life was taking root again…"" »
by Dayan Jayatilleka
KP’s story continues to provide insights into the history of the LTTE, Tamil politics and the contemporary history of Sri Lanka. One disclosure stands out.
Continue reading "Tamil politics and Tiger strategy in perspective" »
After being trapped for years in third countries, many feel they have no other realistic option
by Amarnath Amarasingam
In 2007, the Tamil Tigers approached Sabalingam Kumarasamy and asked him to work for them.
Continue reading "Why refugees turn to smugglers: Story of Sabalingam Kumarasamy" »
By Seth Klein
If the 492 Tamil asylum-seekers who recently arrived by boat on B.C.'s shores are "queue-jumpers," then I guess my parents were too. See, they came as Vietnam War draft dodgers from the U.S. in 1967.
Continue reading "Video: Reaction to the Tamil boat: Curious comparisons" »
by No One Is Illegal.org
Myth 1: They are illegals who are jumping the queue.
There is no ‘queue’ for refugee claimants. Refugees are forced from their homes in emergency situations due to human rights abuses committed during wars, military occupations, or persecution against a minority group. We cannot expect refugees to wait for Canada to select them from overseas. We must understand that they undertake long and dangerous journeys to protect their lives and the lives of their families. According to the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees, to which Canada is a party, there are no penalties on refugees who arrive without pre-authorization and irregularly.
Continue reading "Myths and Realities about 490 Tamil Refugees on MV Sun Sea" »
by Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka
It is not that Sri Lanka’s foreign relations are not in need of repair, especially after five dismal years between Lakshman Kadirgamar and GL Pieris, but it is ironic in the extreme when the criticism comes from the UNP or its sympathisers.
Continue reading "Hambantota and the Delhi-Beijing-Colombo triangle" »
by Steve A. Morrell
Country Director, The British Council, Gill Westaway is an unavoidable adjunct to the British Council. Alternatively The British Council and Gill Westaway seemingly are synonymous entities and its image was, since she assumed her functions, projected a strong profile that most young people have come to depend on its institutional character for self development. Self development in many fields of endeavour.
Gill Westaway ~ pic: Britishcouncil.org
Continue reading "'Sri Lanka has become my home' - Gill Westaway, Director, British Council" »
by Melani Manel Perera
Colombo (AsiaNews) - Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims together to remember Fr Nihal Jim Brown, an ethnic Tamil Catholic priest, who disappeared on Aug. 20, 2006. The group of people, and relatives of the priest, met yesterday at the Centre for Society and Religion in Colombo, "because the memory of Fr Jim Brown and his assistant can not be erased from our hearts".
Tamil, Sinhalese and Muslims together to remember his disappearance. Fr. Brown was last seen August 20, 2006.
This article was first publihed on Aug 21, 2006, marking 20 years since the arrival of 155 Tamils on August 11, 1986 by boat to New Foundland
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, beaconed to Tamils in torment
by K.T. Kumaran
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand - William Butler Yeats, Irish Poet (1865 – 1939)
Tamils fleeing their homeland amidst continuing ethnic pogroms of the Sinhala State remember with certainty, the gracious manner in which Canada’s 18th Prime Minister Hon. Martin Brian Mulroney touched their lives, twenty years ago in August, 1986.
from the Opinion columns of The Ottawa Citizen
by Mohan Samarasinghe
A ship arrived in B.C. and tempers flared around dinner tables in suburban Ottawa.
Spurred by radio talk show hosts, many Canadians shed their benevolent skins and began bellowing that the 492 Tamil men, women and children who arrived on the smuggler-operated ship MV Sun Sea should be sent packing, back to sea.
Mohan Samarasinghe worries the Sri Lankan Canadian community is divided on status of refugees from the MV Sun Sea. Photograph by Pat McGrath, The Ottawa Citizen, courtesy of: The Ottawa Citizen
(CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK)
Question: What happened finally to your plan of rescuing Prabhakaran and his family by helicopter? Why did the plan not take off?
Answer:
It’s a very sad story………
After Prabhakaran’s son Charles Anthony asked me to rescue his family members by air I devised a plan and made preliminary arrangements. I arranged for a ship to be kept waiting at a far –off port beyond the reach of the Sri Lanka navy. I also made arrangements to buy a second-hand helicopter from an Ukrainian contact. [click here to read in full]
by Clare Ogilvie
The first wave of Tamil refugees to have completed their first immigration hearings will remain in detention for now, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada ruled Tuesday.
Katpana Nagendra (right) talks to the media outside the refugee hearings in Vancouver on Tuesday. Darshika Selvasivan is on the left.
Photograph courtesy of: Wayne Leidenfrost, PNG
Continue reading "First wave of Tamil refugees ordered held in detention at hearings" »
by Amnesty International
AI Index: ASA 37/012/2010
19 August 2010
On World Humanitarian Day (19August) Amnesty International recalls the many humanitarian workers who have fallen victim to human rights violations in Sri Lanka and the families of victims who have been frustrated in their pursuit of justice.
By: Amarnath Amarasingam
Author Note: The research for this article was done in early 2008, and obviously does not include interview data collected from 2009-2010. It was submitted for publication in June 2008, and finally published it in August 2010.
Introduction
The Sri Lankan Tamil population in Canada has been increasing in size since the first refugees arrived in the early 1980s.
Continue reading "Religion and Ethnicity among Sri Lankan Tamil Youth in Ontario" »
from The Economist
Rebuilding, but at a cost
Aug 19th 2010 | Trincomalee
WEARING a crisp blue shirt, Kumaraswamy Nageswaran gestures dejectedly to a towering fence that keeps him from his village and his three acres of farmland on the Trincomalee coast.
Continue reading "Sri Lanka is developing again. But not all can celebrate" »
Comments made by the Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty today, when asked by about Immigration in Toronto:
QUESTION: Premier, some comments have been made in the race for mayor that the City of Toronto should close its doors to immigrants because it has enough trouble taking care of the 2.5 million people who live here. Do you think that’s a very Canadian comment?
By John Moore, Special to the National Post
You're shivering in the sharp cold of a winter's night outside of the hottest club in town. You try your hardest to attract the attention of the doorman. You smile and say clever things to your friends in a raised voice to look more deserving than everyone else in line. Eventually -- if you're lucky -- he unclips the velvet rope, the door swings open and you're swept into the party. He refastens the rope. Now everyone behind you is a sucker.
Continue reading "Tamil Boat Refugees and Canada: How soon we forget" »
A qualitative inquiry into the mental health of the internally displaced due to the civil war in Sri Lanka
by Dr Daya Somasundaram
Department of Psychiatry, University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Background
From January to May, 2009, a population of 300,000 in the Vanni, northern Sri Lanka underwent multiple displacements, deaths, injuries, deprivation of water, food, medical care and other basic needs caught between the shelling and bombings of the state forces and the LTTE which forcefully recruited men, women and children to fight on the frontlines and held the rest hostage. This study explores the long term psychosocial and mental health consequences of exposure to massive, existential trauma.
by R.K. Radhakrishnan
A majority of the Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, who have been in India for a decade or more, are reluctant to go back to their nation, according to M. Mutia Kalaivanan, Director of Rehabilitation.
Continue reading "Majority of Sri Lankan Tamil Refugees in India reluctant to return home" »
By Vidya Abhayagunawardena
A Technical Working Group (TWG) on Mine Risk Education (MRE), Victim Assistance and Advocacy, was held on 10th and 11th of August in Ampara with the participation of the Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Social Services, Sri Lanka Army Humanitarian De-Mining Unit (HDU), Social Departments of North and East Provincial Councils, partner NGOs and with the facilitation from the UNICEF.
Continue reading "Sri Lanka working towards being free from threat of land mines" »
By Amarnath Amarasingam
After the MV Sun Sea was boarded and escorted into Canadian waters two days ago, speculation has been rampant about whether there are members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, or Tamil Tigers) on board, and whether this is an instance of human smuggling.
Continue reading "Human smuggling or Tamil Tigers - A Story from the 'Ocean Lady'" »
By Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka
History tells us that ports are not only a driver of rapid development but a multiplier of modernization, and the Deep South, which after centuries of neglect has generated and benefited from a provincial power shift, will never be marginalised again.
by Vasuhi (Balachandran) Collins
I was surprised to read that, according to the 2006 census, there are no Sri Lankan families living in the Victoria area and none who list Tamil as their mother tongue (Aug. 14).
17 August 2010
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 17 August 2010, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
UNHCR continues to follow the developing situation of 490 Sri Lankan nationals of Tamil origin, former passengers of the cargo ship MV Sun Sea which docked at Vancouver Island in British Columbia last Friday. According to our staff in British Columbia, all 490 passengers have claimed asylum.
Continue reading "UNHCR encouraged by Canada's handling of Tamil boat people case" »
by enna da
I'm a stain, or so they claim
because they are so White clean- exceptionally supreme
And I'm not allowed here because I'm dirty
A Thai ship believed to carry 490 Sri Lankan Tamils arrived in Esquimalt Harbour in Victoria, B.C. August 13, 2010.
Photograph by: Darren Stone, Victoria Times Colonist
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Contrary to reports, none of the Sri Lankan Tamils who paid $ 40,000 to $ 50,000 each for passage to Canada are ex-LTTE combatants involved in Eelam war IV.
Authoritative military officials say the LTTEers had no way of escaping the advancing army on the Vanni (east) front early last year by taking a boat due to heavy naval presence backed by 24-hour monitoring by the SLAF and navy technical sources.
Continue reading "None of the Passengers on MV"Sun Sea" are ex-LTTE combatants" »
Send Them Back an Old, and Awful, Refrain
by Bob Rae
Canadians have been caught up in the drama of the arrival of a small boat with 500 people aboard. They have travelled for several months on the Pacific Ocean, turned away in Thailand, Australia, and given the cold shoulder everywhere else until they reached the western shore of Vancouver Island, escorted by the Canadian navy.
Bob Rae MP (Toronto Cenre)
By Shihar Aneez
HAMBANTOTA Sri Lanka (Reuters) - Sri Lanka flooded a new port on Sunday, built with Chinese assistance as part of a $6 billion drive to rebuild the island nation's infrastructure after a quarter century of war.
~ click on pic for larger image ~ Sri Lankan dancers perform at the site of A new port under construction at the southern town of Hambantota on August 15, 2010, Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse presided over a ceremony marking the commencement of the building of sea walls of the 1.5 billion dollar Chinese-founded construction~pic:Getty images~Daylife
Continue reading "Sri Lanka launches new port built with Chinese loan" »
by C. L. Cook
The small boat, traveled from across the world recently, its passengers a desperate collection of men, women, and children fleeing brutal repression in the wake of a failed popular uprising, has provided Canada an opportunity to define for itself just of what it is constituted and for what it will stand.
Continue reading "The Battle to Define Again the Soul of Canada" »
by Harsha Walia
From the Komagata Maru carrying 376 Punjabi passengers and the SS St. Louis travelling with 900 Jewish asylum seekers, to the boats with 600 people from China's Fujian province and the Ocean Lady that docked in B.C. last year with Tamil refugees - there is something about boatloads of migrants that triggers a national hysteria. Perhaps it is the realization that the expanse of ocean is not enough to enforce the divide between the West and the so-called Third World.
Harsha Walia ~ Harsha Walia has a law degree and is a local activist with, among other social justice groups, No One Is Illegal.
Continue reading "Why we Canadians should welcome boatful of Tamil refugees" »
by Bob Russell
Working at my desk early yesterday I watched the arrival of the ship of Sri Lankan refugees just as dawn broke.
Passengers of MV Sun Sea crowd the deck after spotting HMCS Winnipeg in open seas. (Photograph altered at source.) MCpl Angela Abbey/DND-MDN Canada
Continue reading "As the ship arrived, feeling proud of Canada" »
by Tisaranee Gunasekara
The tyrant desires that his subject shall be incapable of action, for no one attempts what is impossible, and they will not attempt to overthrow a tyranny, if they are powerless.” – Aristotle (Politics)
The Samurdhi officials have shown that there is still a way. By refusing to tolerate the barbaric injustice done to a colleague and by using their collective strength to resist the über-power of the power-wielders, they compelled the Rajapaksa regime to digress, however temporarily, from its habit of impunity.
Continue reading "Rajapaksa onslaught on basic rights is a common threat to all our citizens" »
by Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka
He who says A, must say B”. Those who, with good reason, lament the prospect of a new constitution reflective of the dominant ideology and power relations, must also admit and criticise the factor that makes this possible.
CHENNAI: Sri Lankan Minister Anandan alias Douglas Devananda has moved the Madras High Court seeking to set aside an order of 1994 declaring him as a ‘proclaimed offender' in a Chennai murder case.
In his petition, Mr.Devananda (55) said the alleged offence took place on November 1, 1986 at Choolaimedu here.
Revisiting Jaffna
BY Dushy Ranetunge
Jaffna remains one of Sri Lanka’s most beautiful cities with the lagoons, the long roads across the sea connecting its many islands, stunning beaches, the calm lagoon like sea, many beautiful Hindu temples, the many excellent centres of education, the Portuguese fort and its gentle peoples who are to a great extent bilingual and perhaps the most hardworking and productive in Sri Lanka.
by Tisaranee Gunasekara
“A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill….” - George Orwell (Nineteen Eighty-four)
Some months ago, Defence Secretary and Presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapakse threatened to send the former Army Commander, Gen. Sarath Fonseka, to the gallows.
(continued from last week)
Question: So how did the return occur? How and why did you re-join the movement?What was your role during the last days of the war?
Answer: That’s another long story.
I was now out of the movement and leading a quiet life in Thailand with my family.I had no idea of returning to the movement though my wife felt that I would always go back if asked by Prabhakaran himself. [click here to read in full ~ dbsjeyaraj.com]
by Anthony Reinhart
Almost as soon as the Sun Sea set sail, two Canadas scrambled to respond – and how they get along could decide the fate of hundreds of asylum seekers, present and future.
Continue reading "Fate of ship steered by two forces – Ottawa and Tamil diaspora" »
Source: Ministry of External Affairs, Sri Lanka
China welcomes the current situation in Sri Lanka, characterized by durable peace and stability, and looks forward to intensifying its initiatives to offer Sri Lanka every assistance in developing its economy and strengthening its infrastructure, Mr. Li Keqiang, Vice-Premier of China, told Prof. G.L. Peiris, Sri Lanka’s Minister of External Affairs, in Beijing on Wednesday.
by IRIN News
For years, the Tamil Tigers restricted access to the northern areas of Sri Lanka under their control, but after the decades-long civil war ended a year ago, the government relaxed security checkpoints and most NGOs were given access to the war-affected population in the north.
NGOs can play a key role in recovery efforts in the north
Continue reading "NGOs question tighter access to Sri Lanka's north" »
58 US Legislators Call on Secretary Clinton to Support War Crimes Probe in Sri Lanka
Press Release by Tamil American Peace Initiative
Fifty-eight U.S. Members of Congress have signed a letter urging Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to call for international investigations into alleged war crimes committed during Sri Lanka’s civil war. The Tamil American Peace Initiative (TAPI) has long supported such a probe. TAPI commends the work of the letter’s co-sponsors, Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Jim McGovern (D-MA), and applauds all of the cosigners for supporting an international war crimes probe.
One Inquiry ‘Ineffective,’ a Second Raises Concerns
by HRW
(New York) - A US State Department report released on August 11, 2010, shows that Sri Lanka has not yet conducted an effective investigation into laws-of-war violations by government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the final months of the war that ended in May 2009, Human Rights Watch said today.
Continue reading "US Report Shows No Progress on Accountability in Sri Lanka - HRW" »
Report To Congress on Measures Taken by the Government of Sri Lanka and International Bodies To Investigate Incidents During the Recent Conflict in Sri Lanka, and Evaluating the Effectiveness of Such Efforts
Office of War Crimes Issues
Report
August 11, 2010
This report is submitted pursuant to the Joint Explanatory Statement accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 (P.L. 111-117), which directed “the Secretary of State to submit, not later than 180 days after enactment of this Act, a report supplementing the Secretary’s October 21, 2009, report on crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka detailing what, if any, measures have been taken by the Government of Sri Lanka and international bodies to investigate such incidents, and evaluating the effectiveness of such efforts.”
58 US lawmakers are urging the Obama administration to call for an independent international investigation into alleged war crimes that occurred during Sri Lanka's civil war.
In a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the members of Congress called for such a probe saying panels set up by the Sri Lankan government to probe the allegations "lacked the needed credibility."
by Kusal Perera
Latest news on Mervyn caught every one off guard and in total surprise. There were frantic calls on Tuesday night by many who wanted to know, if the news was right. Some one left a comment for an online news on Mervyn’s removal that said, “Don’t do this. This would rob us, of our popular Sri Lankan identity.”
Continue reading "Mervyn Silva must be arrested and produced in courts" »
by Prof. Michael Roberts
The citizens of Thamileelam who struggled out of the inferno of war in the north-east corner of the northern Vanni during the months of January-May 2009 journeyed on foot or boat. During the first few months the escapee refugees got out mostly in dribs and drabs. But circa 20-23 April, and then again in mid-May during the last stages as the LTTE resistance was smashed, two hordes of "Thamileelam people" poured out of the confines of the LTTE corral.
Continue reading "Omanthai! Omanthai! Succour for the Tamil Thousands in Sri Lanka, May 2009" »
Independence dawned for Sri Lanka then Ceylon on February 4th 1948. The union jack was lowered and the national flag raised at the stroke of midnight. Even as the flag fluttered proudly four young athletes carrying flaming torches entered the square and ran up the steps of Independence hall. Together they lit the lamp of freedom.
by Mirak Raheem
In June 2010 the Minister for Resettlement, Milroy Fernando stated that there were 60,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sri Lanka and that the Government would resettle them by August 2010. With some 30,000 IDPs remaining in Menik Farm at the end of July it would not be impossible for the Government to close the camp down and meet this self-imposed deadline.
Continue reading "Govt focus on resettling "New" IDP's resulting in "Old" IDP"s being overlooked" »
by IRIN News
Parvathi Kumar has no idea whether her son is in detention, or worse. He was abducted by the Tamil Tigers in January 2009, and she has not heard from him in more than a year.
Allagamma Sivam is still waiting for her son to return - pic by: Udara Soysa
Sri Lankan asylum-seekers deserve hearings
By James McDonald
From Letters to the Editor @ The Washington Post ~ Monday, August 9, 2010; A12
The Aug. 4 news story "U.S. monitoring Sri Lankans aiming for North America, asylum" quoted a former Pentagon official who advocated summarily sending approximately 200 Sri Lankan Tamil asylum-seekers, now on a boat heading toward North America, back to Sri Lanka. This is a dangerous, ill-considered position.
Continue reading "'Not every Tiger is necessarily guilty of crimes' - Amnesty International" »
by Col. R. Hariharan
Sri Lanka appears to be following Hindu philosophy’s four ways of dealing with people - Sama, Dana, Bheda and Dand - in defusing the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora’s potential to incubate separatist militancy of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) kind.
Continue reading "Sri Lanka Using Sama, Dana, Bheda and Dand strategy against Tamil Diaspora" »
By Sumanasiri Liyanage
Why do we need laws? If all of us are law-abiding citizens, laws may become redundant. Someone has remarked that laws are needed to restrict and limit the actions of the heartless people.
Continue reading "People must demand that govt should take immediate action against Mervyn Silva" »
by L C A de S Wijesinghe
The World Heritage Committee, the decision-making body on matters connected with the World Heritage Convention, met in Brasilia, the capital city of Brazil, from 25 July to 3rd August 2010. A major item on its agenda was to decide on nominations that had been made by member states for inscription of properties in the World Heritage List. On 30th July, after deliberating on the matter, the Committee declared the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka as a World Heritage, and it will be so inscribed in the World Heritage List.
Continue reading "Why Central highlands of Sri Lanka were made a World Heritage Site" »
by S.Muthiah
“Go, Thora, Go,” the girls from Colombo shouted, and responding to the shouts from their sister school, Bishop's College, the boys from St. Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia, a suburb just south of Colombo, came up with an all-out effort to row away with the honours — just as the shouting girls had done — at the recent Asian Schools' Rowing Championships held near Muttukkadu.
Continue reading "Go, Thora, Go; Thomians become Asian Schools Rowing Champions" »
by Melani Manel Perera
On 17 July, masked men wielding weapons destroyed the homes of residents in Panama and Ragamvila, two coastal villages in northeastern Sri Lanka. Police and troops who now occupy the area have prevented residents from coming back. Locals accuse the government of taking their land to promote tourist development.
Continue reading "Villages destroyed, residents driven out to develop tourist sector" »
MIA takes on Google, YouTube and Wikipedia
by Malik Meer
Sri Lankan military take down my videos and bully my fans, says the controversial star on a trawl through her web profile. But she's fighting back by communicating in characters
"Mathangi 'Maya' Arulpragasam (born 18 July 1975), better known by her stage name MIA, is a Sri Lankan/British songwriter, record producer, singer, rapper, fashion designer, visual artist, and political activist."
Continue reading "MIA on YouTube (and the Sri Lankan government)" »
by Shanika Sriyananda
Parliamentarian Prabha Ganesan who pledged to support the government on Thursday to help reach a two-third majority, said the weak Opposition could not address the grievances of the Tamils and the only leader that could solve the national problem was President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his government, which would be in power for the next 15 years.
Continue reading "I Joined Govt to Help Tamils and not to betray them - Prabha Ganesan" »
By Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka
Whether it is aware of this or not, a spectre is haunting the Sri Lankan state — the spectre of Anton Balasingham. The Sri Lankan state defeated and virtually destroyed Velupillai Prabhakaran’s LTTE, but it couldn’t and didn’t destroy Anton Balasingham’s LTTE.
Continue reading "The ghost of Anton Balasingham haunts the Sri Lankan state" »
By Tisaranee Gunasekara
The welfare of the people in particular, has always been the alibi of tyrants…”
— Camus (Resistance, Rebellion And Death)
After a lull, the onslaught on the media has resumed. “We need to maintain emergency laws to ensure the safety and security of the nation,” the Prime Minister informed parliament, days after the slash and burn attack on the Siyatha office, located in a downtown Colombo high security zone. The PM also announced that more than 1,500 Tiger suspects were arrested, post-war, even as the police claimed to be ‘clueless’ about the identity of the Siyatha attackers.
Continue reading "This is a govt of the Rajapaksa, for the Rajapaksas, by the Rajapaksas" »
by Amy Rose Thomas
Girl Guides, as many as 100, from all over the country will converge in the south and then head to the north in true Guiding spirit to help set up libraries in three schools in Jaffna.
Intrepid Guide from the north: Ponnammah
Continue reading "How Girl Guides in half-sarees from Jaffna came to Colombo in 1922" »
by Mangala Samaraweera
This week marks a momentous occasion in my political journey. After 22 years of politics in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), a party to which I have given the best years of my life, I have now joined its arch rival, the United National Party (UNP).
Continue reading "The UNP is the only party in Sri Lanka with a future" »
by Rev.John Barr
After UnitingWorld’s the Rev. John Barr returned from visiting the war-torn north of Sri Lanka in June, he described his journey as one of the most challenging and confronting trips he has ever experienced. Here is his reflection.
Continue reading "Tamils in Sri Lanka seeking asylum: A need no more or not?" »
By Dr. S. Narapalasingam
The ‘Lions and Tigers’ here are not the four-legged animals that live in forests away from human habitats but the two groups of natives in the war-torn island, who opted to embrace the lion and the tiger as their distinct emblems after the British colony, Ceylon (Sri Lanka since 1972), became an independent self-governing State in 1948.The ‘Tigers’ emerged openly as a distinct species after Black July 1983, though there was some indication of their emergence in the 1970s.
Continue reading "‘Lions’ and the ‘Tigers’ of Sovereign Sri Lanka" »
by Rajan Philips
Two weeks ago I wrote that “everything is predictable in Sri Lankan politics but nothing bears a positive outcome”. Well, not everything is predictable it turns out from the events of the last two weeks. Who would have predicted a longstanding supporter of the UNP setting himself on fire disgusted by party infighting and its falling support in the country?
Continue reading "Dystopian Politics: UNP suicide, a Clown Minister, and two Crossovers" »
By D.B.S. Jeyaraj
It was one year ago on August 5th 2009 that Thambiaiya Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias "KP" was taken into custody in Kuala Lumpur at First Tune Hotel on 316 Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman road.The former chief arms procurer of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) was brought to Colombo the following day.
Two Tamil MP's P. Digambaam of National Union of Workers & Praba Ganesan of Democratic Peoples Front crossed over to the Govt formally today
Both were elected on the UNF ticket at the 2010 polls. Digambaram from Nuwara-Eliya & Praba Ganesan from Colombo.
By Amarnath Amarasingam
Kenneth Alex Randolf is a fifty-six year old former lawyer living in Seattle. When Barack Obama announced his presidential aspirations in 2008, Randolf got to work on a blog that soon attracted some attention, and was later featured on CNN.
Continue reading "Barack as Anti-Christ: End times theology in the age of Obama" »
Press Release
It is now a week since the news room of Siyatha Television was destroyed by masked gunmen. The Free Media Movement (FMM) is concerned that the authorities have not been able to shed light on the perpetrators of this attack even after one week.
Continue reading "Arrest perpetrators of the attack on Siyatha TV - Free Media Movement" »
The lecture was delivered on August 1st at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute
by Prof. Romila Thapar
I would like to express my deep appreciation to the Neelan Tiruchelvam Trust and the International Centre for Ethnic Studies for inviting me to deliver this lecture. I feel immensely privileged. I am also grateful for this opportunity to express my admiration and regard for Neelan, and for his insistent upholding of the rights that make for a just society.
Continue reading "Of histories and identities -11th Neelan Tiruchelvam Memorial Lecture" »
A silent protest (sathyagraha) and seminar aimed at forcing the authorities to find Prageeth Eknaligoda will be held on August 10, 2010. The silent protest (sathyagraha) and the seminar is organized by Alliance of Media organizations to mark the 200 days since the disappearance of media personal Pradeep Eknaligoda.
Continue reading "Prageeth's Disappearance 200 days ! Sathyagraha and seminar on August 10th" »
by IRIN News
NEW YORK, 4 August 2010 (IRIN) - The decades-long civil war in Sri Lanka ended more than a year ago, but emergency powers are still in place, sending the wrong message, Amnesty International says.
Continue reading "Amnesty says Sri Lanka emergency rule must end" »
New ¾ Rule of the Maligawa
by Dushy Ranetunge
According to police officers controlling entry at the Maligawa in Kandy, a new dress code is in place from Thursday. Those wearing ¾ length trousers will not be allowed entry. However those wearing ¾ length skirts were allowed entry on Thursday.
Continue reading "New dress code for Dalada Maligawa entry" »
by Dushy Ranetunge
Three vehicles carrying goons of the regime were spotted speeding to Kandy with scant regard to the road rules last Thursday. The registration numbers of the three vehicles were WP KC 2275 (Land Rover), WPC 2008/2009 (Toyota Land Cruiser), WP HN 4217 (Volvo car). They were regularly crossing the white lines and double white lines while Kegalle police looked the other way
Continue reading "Govt goons flout road rules on Colombo - Kandy Raod" »
On 29th July 2010 Members of Parliament of the TNA, Suresh Premachandran, M A Sumanthiran and S Shritharan visited Santhapuram and met with the original inhabitants now living in a transit camp at Santhapuram. On the same day Suresh Premachandran, M A Sumanthiran and Sivasakthy Anandan also met the original inhabitants of Indupuram and Thiru Murikandy who are still at the ‘Welfare Centres’ in Chettikulam.
by Dr.Rohan Gunaratne
Professor of Security Studies
S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Nanyang Technological University
Singapore
Delivered on 2nd August 2010,
at the Auditorium of the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute
on the invitation of the Nandadasa Kodagoda Memorial Trust.
Chairperson of the Board of Trustee of the Nandadasa Kodagoda Memorial Trust Mrs. Ratna Kodagoda, Chairman of the Board of Management Professor Colvin Goonaratna, other office bearers of the Memorial Trust, family member of late Professor Kodagoda, distinguished invitees, ladies and gentleman
by NEIL MacFARQUHAR
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, announced Monday the formation of a panel to look into the deadly Israeli raid on a Turkish-led aid flotilla bound for Gaza in May.
Continue reading "U.N. Forms Review Panel for Israeli Raid on Flotilla" »