Unitary State, Federation, Confederation and Union
The first glimpse of such an alarming title may arouse the direst apprehensions in the approaching reader that a load of constitutional jargon is about to descend upon him or her. Have no fear...

Jaffna Medicine at the Cross Roads Quite a number of readers of sangam website would have served in the hospitals of the Jaffna peninsula. Another segment of readers would have passed as graduates of the Medical Faculty of the University of Jaffna.

Tamil Interests Ignored Ian Martin, former secretary general of Amnesty International, who headed human rights missions to conflict zones across the globe - East Timor, Bosnia and Haiti among others - was in Sri Lanka from March 26 to April 3 commissioned by the London-based International Working Group (IWG).

India looking for alternatives It has been drilled into the ears of the public that the party best equipped to root out ‘LTTE terrorism’ is the PA. The PA was out-manoeuvred by the Tigers on the battlefield and left with a lot of egg on its face as the rebels stole a march over it on beginning negotiations through Norwegian mediation.

Missing Dimension in the Peace Process  - by Jehan Perera The centre stage of public attention over the past several weeks has been the deficiencies of the ceasefire agreement and the violations taking place despite and because of it. These have included media reports of arms smuggling, near clashes at sea, forcible recruitment of child soldiers and extortion by the LTTE. On the other side, the LTTE have been protesting that the armed forces continue to remain in schools and other public institutions.

Prabha, Rauff on Road to Harmony Recent developments concerning Tamil-Muslim relations in the island are extremely satisfying to this column having argued consistently in the past for rapprochement and better understanding between both communities.

The Pontifications of Washington Poo-Bahs In Washington DC, the Orwellian-sounding Office of Strategic Influence has been buried, at least officially. But who knows whether that information itself was a lie?

On the Highway of Peace and Amity For a two and half year period during 1997-99 the former government tried to re-open the A-9 highway that connects the last government held town of Vavuniya in the south with the city of Jaffna in the north.

State Terrorism What is the difference between State terrorism and individual terrorist acts? If we understand this difference we’ll understand also the evilness of the US policies in the Middle East and the forthcoming disasters...

Blunting the Political Edge  - By J. S. Tissainayagam 
The LTTE has taken swift steps to set up offices in the government controlled areas after signing the ceasefire agreement, which demonstrates its hopes of functioning as a visible political entity in contrast to its sojourn underground that was forced upon it by war, law and government paranoia.
Though conventional wisdom in the south regards the Tigers entering the political mainstream with an exaggerated show of disdain, it has been nothing but the LTTE’s hardheaded and unromantic approach to politics that has kept it intact as an organisation.

The Question of Core Issues
a mutually agreed settlement would require the accommodating a militarily successful secessionist movement in the structure of the Sri Lankan state. It cannot be the old, pre-existing state. There is no return to old politics. It should be a joint march towards new politics. That demands a great measure of flexibility and creativity in the way the Sinhalese polity and its ruling elites as well as the political class look at the state, its constitutional foundations and power structures.

War or Peace: De-proscription A Must
It is important that the Sri Lanka public is told categorically that the LTTE represents Tamils at the talks. The ambiguity over this matter in the last round of negotiations caused a grave problem.

A Brief Encounter
Mr. Pirabhakaran takes questions from the international media.

Bernard Shaw’s Homage to Jaffna
What is common with the names Dr.Blenkinsop, Sir Bemrose Hotspot, Sir Dexter Rightside, Eliza Doolittle, EpiphaniaFitzfazzen, Prof. Henry Higgins, Mrs.Kitty Warren and Sir Jafna Pandranath? All these are fictional characters created by that inimitable wit, iconoclast and distinguished dramatist George Bernard Shaw

The Need for Rational Thinking
  - Adrian Wijemanne

False Alarm Over the Ceasefire that backfired
Her Excellency, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, executive president of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is at her alarmist activities again. The first lady has been firing salvo after salvo

An Open Letter To Lakshman Kadirgamar
From S. Sivanayagam (London)

For Nirupama Subramanian of The Hindu
Serving as a ‘foreign correspondent’ in Colombo is a taxing job. This appears to be so to Nirupama Subramanian, your correspondent with lurid imaginations.

‘WAR ON TERROR’ AND THE  SRI LANKA CEASEFIRE  
A Response to Barbara Crossette of New York Times

National Identity, Content of Education and Ethnic Perceptions
It should be apparent that when writers in the English language press idealized the happy ethnic harmony of their schooldays, they were unwarrantedly assuming that what was true for them was true for the entire nation.

Pitfalls in Peacemaking: Guatemala & Sri Lanka
Certain of the current internal conflicts around the world cannot be won through military means alone and must be ended by negotiation between the warring sides...

UTHR(J) Reports - Malicious Propaganda 
A persistent theme in the UTHR (JB) reports has been an anti-LTTE bias. The bias, evident right from the start, has grown in intensity to a point of being an obsession.

Guatemala Peace Process: Lessons for Sri Lanka
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The Proscription Problematique  - by DBS Jeyaraj. "The main issue for the commencement of talks with the LTTE is the international and local ban on the LTTE...

Oslo and Peace Process "Five" - The dawn of a New Year [2002] has ushered in further hope that the island nation is once again back on track towards its peace destination.

The Evolution of the Conflict  - A Tutorial in History for the Foreigners. The enduring search for restoration of rights by the Tamils of Sri Lanka has undergone several phases over the past century. The evolution and growth of the Tamil struggle for equality is a heroic saga of a resilient people striving defiantly against overwhelming odds to regain their rightful place under the sun.

Dear Mr. Rubasinghe...
Thank you for your Press Release (# 475) of 26^th May 2001, which your embassy was kind enough to send to me. I am impressed by the thoughtfulness of your embassy staff for taking the trouble to send this to someone who has long relinquished the citizenship of your country.
                          - A Rejoinder  

Can Sri Lanka come out of the quagmire it has plunged into?  
President Chandrika’s government lost it parliamentary majority on the 20^th day of June 2001, when 7 members of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) with their leader Rauf Hakeem crossed the floor and sat with the opposition in parliament. President herself triggered this episode...

End of Peace Process Four
for all practical purposes the Norwegian facilitatory role is over. Peace process - Four has ended inconclusively. One can only hope that future fighting does not escalate to unacceptable levels that would irretrievably damage prospects for peace.

Peace Deception all over again 
Chandrika Government is apparently trying the same trick that Jayewardene tried successfully during Rajiv Gandhi’s “peace” efforts, as it tries to remove ambassador Erik Solheim from the peace process.

Hopes for Peace Dim - With CBK in Power - DBS Jeyaraj.
The Oslo inspired peace process is virtually dead. Any post-mortem held on its demise would reveal that two persons have to bear the greater part of blame for it. One is Her Excellency the Honourable Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka; the other is her sycophantic Foreign Affairs Minister the Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar. A comprehensive analysis of the decline and fall of peace process four would demonstrate clearly how Kadirgamar under the guise of strengthening it worked diligently and systematically to undermine, erode and finally negate the peace process...

Propaganda, LTTE and Now Religion Enterprising journalists both in India, Sri Lanka and abroad miss no chance to vilify the LTTE. This is nothing new; it has been going on for a considerable period of time... Walter Jayawardene ascribes some innocuous comments by someone who wrote about Sai Baba to the LTTE... Then there is the recent outburst against the TamilNet by Arundhati Rajasingham...

A Tragedy of Errors   - DBS Jeyaraj Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga is proving herself to be the political successor of Junius Richard Jayewardene in the art of crafty politics. As in the case of Jayewardene many of these manoeuvers are dictated through expediency than principle where long term interests are sacrificed for short term gains. The latest exercise by CBK to marginalise Erik Solheim...

Peace Process Landmined!  D.B.S. JeyarajThe fragile peace process facilitated by Norway appears to be on the verge of an inevitable breakdown with the Sri Lankan government demanding unilaterally that Oslo remove special peace envoy Erik Solheim as the mutually accredited facilitator and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam objecting vehemently to such action.

US Ambassador's Visit to Jaffna - 7 March 2001

Hindu Deities in Eelam in the Portuguese Era  “The Pandaram took these statues and a few remaining pooja utensils (as they were the articles demanded by Portuguese) to Thambalakamam Lake for safety. In the morning, the ultimatum expired and the Thirukoneswaram temple, worshipped by more than five hundred generations was blasted to destruction. The hill on which the temple stood was called Swami Malai. There was no worship at Thirukonamalai for nearly 180 years...

International Efforts & Tamil Perceptions   - D.B.S. Jeyaraj If the international community, particularly the USA, Britain, India, Japan and the European Nations want to correct this impression then they must prove through deeds that they are indeed fair and impartial. Meaningful and concrete action is required to convince Tamils that the dice is not loaded and the cards not stacked against them in the sphere of internationally backed peace processes.

Burning of the Jaffna Public Library - An Anniversary Remembrance On the 2^nd of June every year, Tamils all over the world wake-up with sorrow and grief - over an event that took place twenty-one years ago. It started with the citizens of Jaffna waking up, that many years ago on this fateful morning, to an absolute horror.

Preaching Peace and Waging War  You keep talking to the people in Jaffna without listening to what they or a substantial number of Tamils around the world are saying.

The Follies of War  It is with much sadness that I write, on this day when we celebrate the birth of the Buddha, who preached unconditional love and compassion for all beings. Absolute Ahimsa or non-violence was his message. But on this day when we recall his preaching and when we should be committing our selves to live his message, I am compelled to write of war – representing mans hatred for man.

Tamil Information Centre [PRESS RELEASE 28 April 2000]
Fall of Elephant Pass underscores again the importance of a negotiated settlement. The capture of the strategic military complex - Iyakachchi and Elephant Pass bases - in Jaffna by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 22 April has generated widespread debate within and outside Sri Lanka on the current peace initiatives and the future of the island.

Agni Kheela - What Next?  The Peoples’ Alliance Government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga has proved once again that it epitomises misgovernance at its worst. Any other regime would have acted speedily and positively to the overtures for peace made by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

States, Dissidents and the British Terrorism Law  The government of the United Kingdom, which has now designated the LTTE as terrorists, had also smeared George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Francis Marion, with the same brush. In fact, back in 1776, all fifty-six leaders of the American Revolution were branded, and Britain wanted them ‘dead or alive.’ Their crime: they signed the American Declaration of Independence.

Taliban and the the Sinhala Buddhists The climate of denial under which Sri Lankans are living is truly remarkable. As far as most Sri Lankans are concerned, the horror of the war in the northeast of that island simply doesn’t exist. The effects of wars in other far-away places, which they see on their televisions, are far more real and hideous

The inevitability of Thamileelam The principles behind the Tamil quest for freedom from the Sri Lankan state – and the call for international assistance to help them secure it – are gaining general recognition in open discussions.

An Agnostic's View  Agnostics are well aware of the harm and injustices that religious ideologies can cause to a large number of people. Let us consider religious hypocrisy among Sinhalese and Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Western Mediation - How Effective? ... The bottom line here is that everyone as always seems to be perennially missing the point that the LTTE will keep going as long as the Tamils feel aggrieved – west or no west.

An Open Letter to President Kumaratunge I am sure you are aware that you and your armed forces have violated the Geneva Protocols I and II.  Also, the restrictions on food, medicines, destruction of educational facilities, houses, rape, mass graves, extrajudicial killings and disappearances of detainees caused by your armed forces to coerce the Tamil people to accept your views on their rights is state terrorism...               
                 

Conflict Resolution in Sri Lanka PROBLEMS & PROSPECTS  - By S Sathananthan The most recent twist in the meandering, much-flogged conflict resolution process is the entry of the Government of Norway as a facilitator, to initiate talks between the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The Governments of some countries in the west, including Norway, are said to have maintained contact with the two protagonists over the past few years and, on several occasions, offered their good offices to help resolve the armed conflict between the GSL and the LTTE. But the former steadfastly rejected the offers on grounds that the conflict is an internal affair

An Open Letter to Tamil Political Parties  I am writing this letter, on behalf of hundreds of thousands of expatriate Tamils, to thank the leaders of all the Tamil political parties, who have come together with a steadfast consensus to expose to the world the arrogant but suicidal policy of the Sri Lankan government

Murder of a Journalist - Tamil Information Centre Press Release The Tamil Information Centre condemns the killing of Journalist Mylvaganam Nirmalarajan at his Jaffna home on 19 October and calls for swift action by the government to investigate the killing, publicise its findings, bring to justice those responsible for the killing, curb the powers of armed groups and refrain from interference with the media’s right to inform the public.

February Fourth - Freedom and Serfdom  Congratulations, Sinhala Nation of Sri Lanka, on your 53rd Anniversary of freedom today from British subjugation. If one great achievement of mankind over the past 2000 years that towers over others, historians claim, is: “The arduous, painstaking process of wresting liberty from tyranny’s fist.” (Jim Powell)

International Tamil Conference (1974) Remembered  It is twenty-seven years today since the 4th International Conference Seminar of Tamil Studies took place in Jaffna, on 10 Jan 1974. The whole of Jaffna peninsula was in a festival mood throughout the period during the conference.

Growing togetherness... - A Speech by Fr. Emmanuel in London (16 Dec 2000) ...the humanitarian tragedies created by the policies of the Sri Lankan governments have pushed the Tamils to become more conscious of their togetherness, to become more eloquent of their solidarity and to become more generous in sharing what they have with the unfortunate ones.