by A. Jathindra, Groundviews, Colombo, February 14, 2024 Amid the buzz surrounding the presidential race this year, the visit of the JVP-led National People’s Party (NPP) to India has raised much attention. As Sri Lanka plunged into a historic economic crisis, its political stability deteriorated. People’s hopes in terms of mainstream political parties have plummeted…. Read more »
Posts Categorized: Politics
HRW: Under Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lanka is Going Fast – In Reverse
Administration Has Moved to Stifle Criticism with a Raft of New, Repressive Laws by Meenakshi Ganguly, Human Rights Watch, February 14, 2024 Published in:Scroll.in Sri Lanka is still reeling from an economic crisis largely caused by misgovernance and lack of accountability. Public protests in 2022 forced the president and the prime minister, brothers Gotabaya and Mahinda Rajapaksa, to step down…. Read more »
How to Capture Birds of Freedom
Picturing Tamil Women at War by Vindhya Buthpitiya, Trans Asia Photography, Vol. 13, Issue 1, May 1, 2023 https://doi.org/10.1215/21582025-10365016 Abstract This article examines the uses of images of women fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam during and after the Sri Lankan civil war (1983–2009) to explore the contrasting mobilizations of visual representations of… Read more »
The Birthrate Blues
by Joseph Charnie, Inter-Press Service, February 2, 2024 PORTLAND, USA, Jan 22 2024 (IPS) – Increasing numbers of countries are experiencing a spreading demographic condition, below replacement fertility, with many governments bemoaning the birthrate blues. Without compensating international migration, a fertility rate below the replacement level, which in most instances is approximately 2.1 births per woman, leads to population… Read more »
EU Resolution on Sri Lanka
European Parliament Joint motion for a resolution on Sri Lanka (Doc.: B5-0490/2003, B5-0492/2003, B5-0495/2003, B5-0498/2003, B5-0505/2003, B5-0510/2003 – Debate: 20.11.2003 – Vote: 20.11.2003) Vote MEPs adopted a joint resolution acknowledging the bold steps taken by the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) to create the conditions in which negotiations… Read more »
Dragon in the Maldives
Red alert for India’s regional leadership The Maldives case is a vivid example that Beijing is not going to stop its power play in India’s neighboring countries. China’s aim is crystal clear: to question India’s bid for regional leadership. By A. Jathindra, South Asia Monitor, New Delhi, February 8, 2024 The Maldives, a small country,… Read more »
Reply to Hon’ Milinda Moragoda
Regarding his utterance on 16.01.2024 re Provincial Councils by C.V. Wigneswaran, January 31, 2024 Erstwhile Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner in India and the presently activated Founder of the Pathfinder Foundation has recently called for the abolition of the Provincial Councils system and has advocated direct devolution of powers to strengthen and reconfigure Local, Urban and… Read more »
S. Shritharan’s Interview with Tamil Guardian
Tamil nationalism must begin from graves of Eelam fighters – Shritharan’s exclusive interview by Tamil Guardian, London, January 23, 2024 The newly elected leader of the Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), Sivagnanam Shritharan spoke to the Tamil Guardian for an exclusive interview on how he hopes to further Tamil aspirations. Below are excerpts from the interview. –… Read more »
HRW: New Transitional Justice Process Lacks Credibility
UN Human Rights Council Engagement Remains Vital to Ensure Justice for Atrocity Crimes by Human Rights Watch, New York, January 29, 2022 (Geneva) – The Sri Lankan government’s proposed law to create another body to investigate wartime abuses replicates previous failed efforts, ignores the needs of victims, and falls far short of meeting Sri Lanka’s international legal… Read more »
US Senate Res. 493 & House Res. 926
by US Congress, December 12, 2024 Resolutions are identical. Co-sponsored by Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) & James Risch (R-ID) and Representatives Bill Johnson (R-OH) & Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) BILLS -118 senate res. 493 is 118th CONGRESS 1st Session S. RES. 493 Expressing the sense of the Senate in support of the peaceful, democratic, and… Read more »
Ganguly 2018: Ending the Sri Lankan Civil War
by Sumit Ganguly, Daedulus 147 (1): 78–89., January 1. 2018 PDF Abstract The Sri Lankan Civil War erupted in 1983 and dragged on until 2009. The origins of the conflict can be traced to Sri Lanka’s colonial era and subsequent postcolonial policies that had significantly constrained the social and economic rights of the minority Tamil… Read more »
Wigneswaran Points Out the Root Cause of Sri Lanka’s Ethnic Conflict
Many Sinhalese consider Wigneswaran a racist and tend to ignore his views. But no matter how problematic it is, he points to the viewpoint prevailing in the Tamil society in general about the history of Sri Lanka. by P. Harshani Dias, Sri Lanka Guardian, Colombo, May 20, 2023 Colonial Architecture, Jaffna, Northern Province, Sri Lanka,… Read more »
Prof. Singer 1992: Sri Lanka’s Tamil-Sinhalese Ethnic Conflict
Alternative Solutions by Marshall Singer, Asian Survey, Vol. XXXII, No.6, (University of California Press), August 1992 Marshall R. Singer is Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh. This article is a version of a paper presented at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Meeting, April 1992, Washington, D.C. Warfare… Read more »
The Sri Lankan Civil War: Notes for UPSC Exam
by Byju’s Exam Prep, accessed January 22, 2024 UPSC is the arm of the Indian civil service which administers the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) exam. The war in Sri Lanka between the separatist Tamil forces and the government was a heavy one with a death toll of over 150000 from both sides including civilians. Starting… Read more »
President in the North, Governor in the East
by A. Nillanthan, January 13, 2024 [Translated from the original Tamil by Google Translate with improvements by the Sangam editor.] At the same time as the President visited the North to celebrate the New Year, his Governor in the East staged a huge cultural festival. The President met various people in the North: entrepreneurs, university… Read more »
Elections Cast a Shadow of Uncertainty
Over Sri Lanka’s economic recovery by Dushni Weerakoon, IPS posted in East Asia Forum, January 16, 2024 Nearly two years after announcing a debt default in the middle of a severe social and political crisis, the Sri Lankan economy is showing the first signs of recovery. Year-on-year inflation dropped sharply to a low of 1.5… Read more »
How to Evade Justice: Reconciliation without Accountability
by Ambika Satkunanathan, Financial Times, Colombo, January 2, 2024Inter-faith initiatives avoid addressing impact of Sinhala Buddhist majoritarianism on inter-community relations The lack of outcomes in previous processes is not due to the lack of truth, as there is plenty of truth in the reports of the past commissions, but due to the lack of… Read more »
The Fearlessness of Kanji
by Pallavi Pundir, Eater, New York, January 2, 2024 How a simple rice dish became a Tamil symbol of resistance in Sri Lanka Photography by Steephan Sansigan; Interpreter: Gowthami Thillainathan The plan for a surreptitious meeting had been in the works for weeks. On the morning of November 7, Mariyasuresh Eswari got in touch with a… Read more »
How Ideology Shapes Indian Politics
by Nicholas Haas & Rajeshwari Majumdar, Hindustani Times, December 25, 2023 The lack of attention to political ideology contrasts strongly with the recent ubiquity of ideological debates in Indian politics In the 2014 general elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) notched a historic victory, becoming the first party to win an outright majority in the… Read more »
Why Stand-up Comedy has had a Slow Start in Tamil Nadu
This could be because satire is already deeply ingrained in the State’s popular culture. by Siddarth Muralidharan, Saatvika Radhakrishna, Frontline of The Hindu, Chennai, November 16, 2023 In May 2019, the BBC published an article titled “Nesamani: Who is he and why is the world praying for him?” The reason the #PrayForNesamani hashtag had become… Read more »