by United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif, UN Human Rights Council, Geneva, June 21, 2023 Sri Lanka: promoting reconciliation, accountability and rights 53rd session of the Human Rights Council Oral update on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka Statement by Nada Al-Nashif United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Politics
Kurundi: A Runway To ’56?
by Tissaranee Gunaratne, Colombo Telegraph, June 18, 2023 “Already the snow falls…” ~ Karl Kraus words in verses III In his fifth labour, Heracles cleans the Augean Stables by rerouting the rivers Alpheus and Peneus through the filthy abode of King Augeas’ divine cattle. Many believed that the Aragalaya would have a similarly cleansing effect on… Read more »
The Politics of Archaeology Spreads Discord in the North and East
by Maatram, courtesy Groundviews, Colombo, May 23, 2023 Media personnel and activists are reporting several cases of Hindu religious sites being damaged, relics removed and Buddhist statues erected in their place with the collaboration of the Department of Archaeology. Hindu kovils are being re-named as Buddhist temples. There are reports of land grabs from Tamil villagers by the military and monks… Read more »
Batalanda Commission Report
by Commission of Inquiry into the Establishment and Maintenance of Places of Unlawful Detention and Torture Chambers at the Batalanda Housing Scheme, Colombo, 2000 Batalanda Commission Report – Book English From an introduction written by Nandana Weerarathne in March 2023 During the 1988/89 era, government forces and police were running torture camps. Also, there were… Read more »
What Happened at Maruthangeni and Its Consequences
by A. Nillanthan, June 13, 2023 [translated from the original Tamil by Google Translate with minor changes by the Editor.] The fact that the intelligence department is monitoring the political activities of the Tamil people has been a reality for the past several decades. Especially for the last 14 years, the intelligence department has been… Read more »
UNP Leaders Who Set Jaffna on Fire in 1981
by Nandana Weerarathne, Facebook& Substack May 27, 2023 Why is it important for the present and future generations to know what happened in Jaffna from the end of May to June 8th, 1981? That is the question we asked ourselves prior to writing this book. The concealment of these atrocities from history is a significant… Read more »
Amirthalingam Speech in Parliament re 1981 Burning of Jaffna Library
by Sri Lanka Parliamentary Debates, June 9, 1981, vol.15, no.1, columns 67-92, posted on Facebook by Sivakumar Subramaniam, May 30, 2023 The speech made by then Leader of the opposition Mr A. Amirthalingam in Parliament. A verbatim transcript is provided below. Honorifics of participants have been omitted for convenience. A.Amirthalingam: Sir, I wish to place… Read more »
Sri Lanka Police Arrest Tamil Legislator Ponnambalam
by Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu, Chennai, June 7, 2023 The development comes days after two men dressed in plain clothes turned up at a meeting of Mr. Ponnambalam and members of a local sports club in Jaffna Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam being released on bail. Photo: Twitter/@TnpfOrg Sri Lanka police arrested Tamil legislator and Tamil National People’s… Read more »
Police Threaten & Assault TNPF Leader at Meeting in Maruthankerny
Sri Lankan police intelligence officer wields gun at TNPF leader following commotion at meeting in Maruthankerny by Tamil Guardian, London, June 2, 2023 A Sri Lankan police intelligence officer pointed his gun to Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam after he was attacked during a meeting in Maruthankerny. Ponnambalam was at a meeting… Read more »
Defence Sector Claims Nearly Half of State Salaries
by PublicFinance.lk, June 2, 2023 According to the 2023 Budget Estimates, 15% of total recurrent expenditure of the government will be spent on salaries for government employees for the year 2023. As of 2023, the defence sector is estimated to claim nearly half (48%) of state salaries. Here is a breakdown of the estimated sector-wise… Read more »
Deja Vu ‘Truth and Reconciliation’ in Sri Lanka?
by Kishali Pinto-Jayawardene, Sunday Times, Colombo, June 3, 2023 Truth and Reconciliation is now again in the air, we are sublimely told by the Government of Sri Lanka. President Ranil Wickremesinghe, along with his merry men and women in Parliament in the Pohottuwa ranks are singing to the eminently hypocritical refrain of truth and reconciliation commissions… Read more »
‘Politics of Hate’ Review
Two thoughtful contributions by Sri Lankan academics Neil DeVotta and Gehan Gunatilleke show how majoritarianism’s relentless othering is less about the majority’s imagined ideal minority-free state, and more about the satisfaction derived from blaming, punishing and depriving the “others” — the Sinhala Buddhist majority’s first target was the Indian Tamils. by Nirupama Subramaniam, Indian Express,… Read more »
Kilinochchi Maveerar Thuyilum Illum, February 2023
by N. Ethirveerasingam, May 17, 2023 I took these pictures in Kilinochchi Maveerar Thuyilum Illum during a visit in February 2023. * When Kilinochchi fell in 2008 the army bulldozed about 4 acres of gravestones – a war crime. Other LTTE graveyards in the North met the same fate. * I was there at the… Read more »
The Current Financial & Political Crisis and Possibilities for Fundamental Change
by Fr. Emmanuel Sebamalai, US Congressional Caucus briefing on Sri Lanka, May 11, 2023 First of all, I sincerely thank Congressman Bill Johnson and Congressman Danny Davis for organizing this event. I am privileged to air my grievances on behalf of the Tamils living in Sri Lanka and abroad. For Tamils, May 18 is the… Read more »
MP Charles: Mahaweli Project J Zone
by Sri Lanka MP Charles Nirmalanathan, TrendReport.lk, May 29, 2023 [Translated from Tamil by Google Translate with minor edits — Editor] “The Mahavali Project is a long-term strategy to destroy the ethnic heritage of the Tamils, settle the Sinhalese population, and make the Tamils ethnically non-existent,” Charles MP charged. He also warned about Sinhalese immigration… Read more »
Prez gives N-E Land Release Orders to Forest Dept.
Prez-Tamil MPs talks Forest Dept. to release N-E lands taken beyond limits demarcated in 1985 maps, Archaeology Dept. to rectify land acquisition errors by Buddhika Samaraweera, The Morning.lk, Colombo, May 24, 2023 President and National Policies Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has issued an order to release the lands in the Northern and Eastern Provinces that have… Read more »
CSST: Interview with Prof. Mark Cogan
Sri Lanka has been seen as one of China’s string of pearls by Centre for Strategic Studies – Trincomalee, May 24, 2023 China is turning its attention to the Tamils in the north, using some of the same tactics previously employed during the Rajapaksa era to slowly win the trust of the Tamil minority. That,… Read more »
Rep. Nickel’s Statement for the Record May 18
by US Rep. Wiley Nickel, May 18, 2023 Video address on twitter
HRW: Still No Justice on Sri Lanka War Anniversary
UN Pursues Accountability in Response to Government Inaction by Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director, Human Rights Watch, New York, May 16, 2023 On May 18, Tamils in Sri Lanka will mark Mullivaikkal Memorial Day, in remembrance of those who died in the final stages of the country’s brutal civil war that ended in 2009. Thousands… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s New Anti-terrorism Law is Old Wine in New Bottle
If torture is to be eradicated in Sri Lanka the institutions of the magistrate and police need to be reformed. by J.S. Tissaiyanagam, The Diplomat, Washington, DC, May 5, 2023 Sri Lanka’s government is desperate to quash dissent. It faces opposition on multiple fronts – people protesting onerous austerity measures to combat an economic crisis,… Read more »