Tamils Should Realise They Stand Alone in a Hostile World An Editorial from Northeastern Monthly Every few months or so, accusations of human rights violations are flung at the LTTE by various local and international actors whose concern for human suffering knows no bounds when it gives them an opportunity to cause the Tiger rebels discomfiture…. Read more »
Monthly Archives: August 2004
Won’t the Sri Lankan Leadership Reform?
Centre for Peace and Human Rights Culture Director Rev.Fr. A.I. Bernard has underlined an urgent and necessary remedy for the ailment Sri Lanka is undergoing on account of the ethnic conflict that grips the island state. On behalf of the Jaffna-based Centre Rev.Fr. A.I. Bernard says, in a letter addressed to the Sri Lanka’s Peace… Read more »
Good Government: You Can Put a Value to It
By Janadas Devan, Straits Times, Singapore, August 2004 WHY did Singapore succeed and so many other post-colonial states didn’t? The answer to that question often takes the form of a litany: Singapore got the fundamentals right – political stability, meritocracy, an incorruptible administration. It instituted the rule of law, ensuring the sanctity of contracts and… Read more »
Pathirana Group helps Tamil Students in 1983 Pogrom
Dear Editor, I am reading The Pirapaharan Biography very keenly. Please convey the attached message to Sabaratnam. Thanks Bala M. ———————————————————————————————————— Dear Mr. Sabaratnam, Thank you for writing Tamils’ History. As you have mentioned in your introduction I feel you are writing this biography without any bias. I also think you are the right person to write… Read more »
Pirapaharan 2, Chapter 13: The Love Story
By: T. Sabaratnam, (Volume 2) Adele’s Influence The third and fourth matters on which Pirapaharan’s attention was focused during the closing months of 1983 were interestingly intertwined. They involved the theoretical issue of the role of women in the freedom struggle and Pirapaharan’s personal life. The general issue of women’s emancipation and the freedom struggle was… Read more »
Sri Lanka Scene: Ceasefire Under Severe Strain
Weekly Review Sri Lanka Scene 25 August 2004 Ceasefir Under Severe Strain by: T. Sabaratnam
ISGA Bashing: Much Ado About Nothing
by Taraki (aka D. Sivaram), The Daily Mirror, Colombo, August 25, 2004 “Myself when young did eagerly frequent Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument About it and about: but evermore Came out by the same door as in I went” – Omar Khayyam (Rubaiyat. Edward Fitzgerald translation) Reams have been written against the Interim… Read more »
Letter to RSF on Nimalarajan’s Killer
Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations, Inc. P O Box 215 Enfield NSW 2136 Email: tamand /A_T/ ozemail.com /D_O_T/ au 24 August 2004 International Secretariat : Reporters sans frontières 5, rue Geoffroy-Marie 75009 Paris – France Dear Sir, We are alarmed and dismayed that the main suspect in the murder of the journalist and BBC correspondent… Read more »
Review of ‘The Road from Elephant Pass’
Nihal de Silva’s novel The Road From Elephant Pass follows Sri Lankan Army Captain Wasantha Ratnayake and ‘defecting’ woman LTTE cadre Kamala Velaithan on their journey from Elephant Pass to Colombo. When Ratnayake’s assignment to detain, protect, and transfer a Tiger informant turns haywire because the Tigers launch their 2000 attack on Elephant Pass, Ratnayake and Velaithan… Read more »
Vaiko Reiterates Support to LTTE, Not to Seek Bail
by NewIndPress.com, August 4, 2004 CHENNAI: MDMK general secretary Vaiko on Wednesday reiterated his support to LTTE’s activities in Sri Lanka, stating that the Tigers were only fighting for a genuine cause in that country. Speaking to mediapersons outside the POTA Special Court at Poonamallee, he said, “The LTTE is the only organisation which has… Read more »
Thoughts on the Creation of a Federal State
Some Concrete Thoughts on the Creation of a Federal State by Wakeley Paul, August 21, 2004 The ISGA sets out the interim structures for an ultimate Federal Constitution. This must first be given the chance to work in order to determine what further restructuring is necessary. Both main ethnic groups must acknowledge that the whole… Read more »
Pirapaharan 2, Chapter 12: Conflicting Objectives
Pirapaharan, Chapter 12 By: T. Sabaratnam (Volume 2) 12. Conflicting Objectives The Training In September, 1983 Chennai was full of Sri Lankan Tamil boys. They were taken to Delhi in batches in luxury buses by RAW officers. “It was a tiring, long journey,” Nirupan (not his real name), a youth from my village, Ariyalai in Jaffna,… Read more »
Topless Dance of a Transmuted Karuna
by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 20, 2004 A week ago, the voice of Karuna – the sacked LTTE colonel – was heard again, in the Bangkok-based blog sheet Asian Tribune [dated Aug.10, 11 and 12]. One reader requested me to comment on these interviews. My one sentence answer is nothing but: “Karuna shows some flare for a… Read more »
Sri Lankan Attack on Norway’s Peace Effort
by Brian Senewiratne, MA (Camb),MD(Lond),FRCP(Lond),FRACP(Lond), Consultant Physician, Brisbane, Australia , August 16, 2004 A group calling itself “The World Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka” is meeting on 20 August 2004 in Oslo to attack the Norwegian peace initiative in Sri Lanka. The behind-the-scenes hand of the Sri Lankan Government is clearly visible. If the flyer is anything… Read more »
Why ISGA is LTTE’s Irreducible Minimum
COLOMBO DIARY | PK Balachanddran Hindustan Times, August 16, 2004 The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have now made it abundantly clear that they will not entertain any alternative to their proposal for an Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) for the predominantly Tamil, North Eastern Province (NEP) of Sri Lanka. In the immediate context… Read more »
Sri Lanka Scene: Southern Conflicts Hinder Talks
Weekly Review Sri Lanka Scene 18 August 2004 Southern conflicts hinder talks by: T. Sabaratnam The latest: JVP says there is no government proposal for the establishment of an interim body for the northeast! It says as far as it is concerned alternate proposals do not exist. The JVP’s propaganda secretary Wimal Weerawansa told a seminar… Read more »
What is All This Fuss About?
by M. Nadarajan, August 19, 2004 Rudyard Kipling wrote “East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet.” A modern day poet would be tempted to write a Tamil is a Tamil and a Sinhalese is a Sinhalese and never the twain shall meet (except perhaps on a battlefield). The goings on… Read more »
WAPS’ Activities Expose Sri Lankan Government’s Duplicity
Vis-à-vis the peace process by Dr. Victor Rajakulendran, Sydney, Australia, August 18, 2004 After the Sri Lankan Security Forces (SLSF) experienced major setbacks in their efforts to crush the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)in the ‘War for Peace’ strategy of President Chandrika Kumaratunge, both the President and the LTTE realised that the 20-year long conflict… Read more »
Vignettes on Three Black Tiger Heroes
In the Battlefield by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 17, 2004 After the posting of my review of the Sooriya Puthalvargal 2003 Memorial Souvenir in the Sangam website [June 23, 2004], I received two appreciatory emails for the details I had provided on Black Tigers. One was from American academic Dr. Robert Pape, Associate Professor in Political Science,… Read more »
Third Batch of TSVP Interns
Press Communiqué FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 14, 2004 Mississauga, ON Third Batch of Interns Deployed ——————————- Mississauga, Aug. 14, 2004 – The Student Volunteer Program (TSVP) is a Toronto-based sustainable development organisation that participates in rehabilitation and redevelopment activities in various developing countries. It serves as a forum for students, and recent graduates to discover,… Read more »