Northern Provincial Council member Thurairasa Ravikaran said Tamils in Mullaitivu have lost their livelihoods without access to their land, which remains under Sri Lankan military control. The people of Mullaitivu have faced continuous difficulties in temporary settlements, despite Sri Lankan government claims that they were resettled 4 years ago, the Uthayan reported him as saying. Without the… Read more »
Yearly Archives: 2014
On Illegal Possession Of Land By The Military And Demographic Change In North & East
Sir, land is the most complex problem in the North and the East and this relates to both private land and state land. The provisions of this Bill will of course relate to private land. But our problems in regard to state land are very many… I would like to use this Debate to identify some of those problems…
There are not just a few people. There are tens of thousands of Tamil families in this position…Lands have been taken over on various pretexts: security, development, occupation, cultivation, tourism and recreation. This is all for the benefit of the majority community. At the expense of tens of thousands of Tamil families, persons of the majority community are being settled on these lands. Who are the members of the armed forces? The armed forces are almost exclusively Sinhalese. When they come into possession of these lands and when the Tamil civilians are permanently kept out, what will happen? These Armed forces will continue to occupy these lands, they will cultivate these lands, they will derive their livelihood from these lands and they will continue to live in the North and the East. Is this not yet another way of settling the majority community people on lands which have belonged to Tamil civilians for generations and centuries on which they have lived, on which they have farmed, which they have cultivated, and making these lands available to the majority community?…
All this is being done because you want to change the demographic composition of the North and the East and you want to change the cultural and linguistic identity of the districts in the North and the East. These things are being done with a definite purpose, the purpose being to change the demographic composition of the Northern and Eastern Provinces and the cultural and linguistic identity of the Northern and Eastern Provinces so as to make a political resolution, a political solution irrelevant and unnecessary. That is the objective with which you are pursuing this agenda. This is not good for the country…
All these actions of the Government and persons who are working with the Government are concentrated largely in Mullaitivu and Trincomalee because you want to break the linguistic contiguity of the Northern and the Eastern Provinces. That clearly shows that you are pursuing a definite sinister objective which cannot be permitted and this is why I say that these actions of yours have geopolitical and geo-strategic dimensions and there can be consequences which will not be to the benefit of this country. As a Sri Lankan, I have a right to ask that this country be not placed in jeopardy by reason of such actions…
The Tamil Members of Parliament, except for those few who are with the Government, were given Rs. 5 million each under the Decentralized Budget. All the other Members of Parliament have been given Rs. 30 million – Rs. 5 million plus another Rs. 25 million… You are mere trustees of Government money; you are mere trustees of Government property having been elected by the voters. We also have been elected by the voters. Are our people not sovereign? Are our people not equal? Are our people second-class citizens?
Apart from that, Sir, persons of the majority community are being settled in various areas in the North and the East. This is particularly intensive in the Trincomalee District, the northernmost district in the Eastern Province and in the Mullaitivu District, the southernmost district of the Northern Province. Around 4,000 to 5,000 new voters of the majority community have been registered in the Mullaitivu District since 2009.
Demographic Projection And Implications For Sri Lanka
by Mural Vallipuranathan, ‘Colombo Telegraph,’ August 15, 2014 I write with reference to an article written by Mr.Rajan Philips in two parts under the titles of “Politics getting nuttier: Muslim Fertility Myths And Misplaced Polygamy Advocacy” (1) and “Politics Getting Nuttier – II: The Impact Of War On Demography And The Implications For Women” (2) …… Read more »
Repression of Dissent in Sri Lanka
Repression-of-Dissent-in-Sri-Lanka-June-2014-English-07Aug2014 http://srilankabrief.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Repression-of-Dissent-in-Sri-Lanka-June-2014-English-07Aug2014.pdf Summary: June 2014 will be remembered in Sri Lanka for the communal violence in the towns of Aluthgama and Beruwala in Southern Sri Lanka, that resulted in 4 persons (three Muslims and one Tamil) being killed, more than 80 injured and widespread damage to property, mainly of Muslims. The widely held belief, including… Read more »
Hidden from View, Sri Lanka is Trampling Over the Rights of its Tamil Population
It may have gone unnoticed by the rest of the world, but within Sri Lanka the message has been received clearly and chillingly: while a fuss may be made about a well-connected Sinhalese activist, the government can do what it likes to the Tamil population in the north and no one will lift a finger.
Losing Battles but Winning Wars
by Fred Carver, Independent Policy Digest, Washington, August 9, 2014 Jean-Marc Ferré/UN Photo To many external observers the Government of Sri Lanka appeared to lose the plot somewhat during the recent UN Human Rights Council (HRC) session. A series of overt and heavy handed attempts to silence dissent, even as the session was discussing a… Read more »
Destruction of Christian Churches in Sri Lanka
If the reader has more accurate information, please submit… 1.) Tamil Centre for Human Rights, Paris, France, “World Heritage in Sri Lanka – Buddhist Sites Only,” June 1, 2012, but original list dated 2/12/2004 http://www.tchr.net/pr_on_religious_freedom.pdf a.) For full list of damaged and destroyed churches – http://www.tchr.net/religion_churches.htm (Entire list copied below) or from 2004 TCHR_Christian_Hindu b.) Christian Churches attacked/destroyed/damaged and assaults by… Read more »
Where Have All the Young Men Gone?
2 Comments All photos by the author. See full set of photos here.Snippets from hearings of the Presidential Commission to investigate into complaints regarding missing persons Sathurukondan, 09/09/1990 Q: Who is the missing person? A: Father, mother, brother, grandmother, grandfather, younger sister, older sister and her three children. An eerie silence followed these words that was only broken… Read more »
Destruction of Hindu Temples in Sri Lanka
If the reader has more accurate information, please submit… 1.) M. Neiminathan, “Destruction of Hindu Temples in Sri Lanka,” March 28, 2014, published by the Federation of Saiva (Hindu) Temples U.K. 288, Haydons Road, Wimbledon, London SW 19 8JZ, Source World Hindu News http://www.hinduhumanrights.info/destruction-of-hindu-temples-in-sri-lanka/ “Since 1977 the number of Hindu temples damaged, desecrated or destroyed by the bombing, shelling,… Read more »
Tamils Dream of a Land of Their Own
Seeing is Believing If seeing is believing, then what brought Sri Lanka to the attention of the world were the atrocities committed by Sri Lanka in the war and exposed by Britain’s Channel 4 videos. According to reliable sources, tens of thousands of Tamils civilians were slaughtered in the spring of 2009 by Sri Lankan… Read more »
India’s Sri Lanka Policy Must Include Caution
New Delhi’s foreign policy towards Sri Lanka so far has been characterized by oscillation and inconsistency. It had been unduly defined by Tamil Nadu in the 1980s and is now being increasingly influenced by hazy notions of South Asian integration and “Hindu Buddhist unity”, the latter fuelled by ill-informed sections of the RSS. The latter… Read more »
“Trial by Battle” and the Tamil Nation
Introduction. Since the formation of the United Nations in 1945, all Member States were imposed with the duty and obligation to reach settlement of their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the principles of justice and international law. Although the Charter of UNO devised the International Court of Justice for the State parties to … Read more »
Hundred Hindu Temples of Sri Lanka
This book is a combined revised reprint of two books by the late Sanmugam Arumugam. The two books are Ancient Hindu Temples of Sri Lanka, Second Edition 1982, and More Hindu Temples of Sri Lanka, 1991. These two books have long been out of print. Ancient Hindu Temples describes 52 Temples, including the oldest Hindu… Read more »
“Exorcising the Past and Holding the Vision”
In the context of the strife which has engulfed this country in the last three decades, this book is essential reading. It offers the personal point of view of a man, who was a protagonist in events in the North during a critical stage in the evolution of Sinhala/Tamil relations, events which were accurate precursors of the nightmare to follow 20 years later.
“More than the power it derives from an overwhelming superiority in numbers, what exalts any majority community, and endows it with a true greatness and moral authority, is its willingness to accord to all those other communities who lack the advantage of numbers, a status and dignity equal to its own, and never let them feel marginalized or disadvantaged because they are fewer in number, or because they are different in colour or beliefs.
Sri Lanka’s NGO Clampdown
The shrinking space for NGOs can be viewed as a microcosm of broader trends on the island. Peoples’ freedom of movement and freedom of association are consistently curtailed, especially in the north. A restrictive media environment illustrates the fact that the freedom of expression is limited. The government’s unwillingness to promote human rights, reconciliation, or accountability has made a complex post-war environment even more unsustainable. And continued (and unnecessary) militarization has only made things worse. The regime’s recent crackdown on NGOs is another example of the government’s relentless effort to further centralize power and stifle dissent.
7 Ideas for Pro-Eelam Groups to Ponder On
Round 1 has gone to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the fight for justice for Eelam Tamils, as fresh battle lines were drawn after Narendra Modi came to power in India. Pro-Eelam groups have not been able to convince New Delhi to give up its pro-Colombo policy and look with favor on the… Read more »
Britain’s Dirty War Against the Tamil People 1979-2009
Britain’s_Dirty_War by Phil Miller This document, published by the International Human Rights Association Bremen, is an updated version of the evidence Phil gave to the Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lanka… 1. Introduction When Prime Minister David Cameron travelled to Sri Lanka in November 2013, his visit to the northern city of Jaffna was widely seen as British… Read more »
Give Me Permission, Our Country
‘Vidai Kodu Naade’ by Jessica on the Super Singer Junior TV program in Chennai from the film 2002 “Kannathil Muthamittal” with music written by A.R. Rahman This is a song sung by an Eelam Tamil teenager Jessica living with her parents in Tamil Nadu for her grandmother, who is currently living in Canada. Jessica’s song… Read more »
Rebutting the Baloney of Subramanian Swamy
“Last year, even the prestigious New York Times in its editorial entitled, ‘Preventing Genocide in Liberia (Sept.13, 1990) referred to the current situation in Sri Lanka as follows, without naming the culprits: ‘From Sri Lanka to the Balkans, political opportunists have exploited ethnic rivalries in the quest for short-term advantage. Too often, their efforts have drowned their countries in blood.’ ”
Re-check the date of this particular New York Times editorial. It was before Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. Who were the political opportunists, who have exploited ethnic rivalries in the quest for short-term advantage? In Sri Lanka, the tradition was started by SLFP’s founder S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike. And how about, Rajiv Gandhi in 1987? He was also a political opportunist exploiting Sinhalese-Tamil ethnic rivalry for short-term electoral advantage.
Proxy War Can Have Dangerous Consequences
In fact, notwithstanding states’ incredible material and power advantage relative to their proxy allies, states have often found themselves unable to control their proxies or drawn into unwanted conflict escalation. Rajiv Gandhi’s administration in India had to intervene in the civil war in Sri Lanka to forcibly suppress its proxy, the Tamil Tigers, because the latter had become too powerful and refused to accept Indian attempts to achieve a negotiated settlement to the conflict.