Just like the US State Dept.’s annual Human Rights Report, the Report on International Religious Freedom is a summary of events this government department has heard about from its embassy in Sri Lanka and other sources. Sri Lanka has been put on the list because of concern by Christians in the US for the well-being… Read more »
Monthly Archives: September 2004
Warped Aryans against Peace
The Warped Aryans against Peace in Sri Lanka (WAPS) flopped in Oslo by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 17, 2004 Last month there was quite a bit of publicity in the Colombo press and websites (including those handled by some demented Tamils who work against the Tamil interests), about a freak show which was scheduled for… Read more »
Sri Lanka Scene: Stabilizing the Ceasefire Agreement
Weekly Review by T. Sabaratnam, September 15, 2004 Norwegian special peace envoy Erik Solheim is back in Colombo. “I’m here mainly to stabilize the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA),” he told media in Colombo. Stabilizing the CFA was the main subject Solheim discussed in Colombo and Jaffna since his arrival on Monday night. That will be the… Read more »
Mishandling Suicide ‘Terrorism’
Aside from an amusing ignorance about Sri Lanka, Scott Atran gives a level headed look at ‘suicide terrorism’ in an article in the Summer 2004 issue of The Washington Quarterly put out by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The gist of his argument is that, in order for community support for suicide attacks… Read more »
US Assistance to Lanka Against ‘Terrorism’
A Second Look by Taraki [aka D. Sivaram], The Daily Mirror, Colombo, September 15, 2004 Sinhala Buddhist nationalists do not count their blessings. They keep complaining that the world is not helping them in any concrete way to crush the LTTE. One of them recently asked the US, “Where’s the beef?” (Though it is unbecoming… Read more »
ISGA : Dead-end or Historic Opportunity?
No author given, The Sunday Observer, Colombo, September 12, 2004 The Interim Self-Governing Authority – ISGA – proposals of the LTTE present a challenge as well as a historic opportunity to advance towards a genuine democratic settlement to the national crisis. They represent the first and only proposals the LTTE has officially presented as a… Read more »
Build a State First, a Nation comes Later
This review of Fukuyama’s book shows the distinction between the concepts of state and nation. What Fukuyama does not deal with are the problems of imposing a state on top of two existing nations as in the case of Sri Lanka. — Editor by Janadas Devan, The Straits Times, Singapore, September 8, 2004 A nation… Read more »
Arumugam Thondaman Supports the Government
Ever since parliament was suspended this summer ordinary people on the island had no doubt that Thondaman’s Ceylon Workers’ Congress would throw their support behind the UPFA to give them a working majority. The questions seemed to be only when and what the price would be. Now we know one version of the story. Thondaman… Read more »
Children’s Computer Centre Opens in Kilinochchi
The Tamil Information Technology Association opened a Children’s Computer Centre in Kilinochchi on September 12. The press release about the event can be viewed at www.sangam.org/articles/view2/KidsCentreOpening_9_04.pdf
Random Thoughts on the Political Tovil
by Sachi Sri Kantha For Sinhalese, the word ‘tovil’ symbolizes something very intimate. Some are too ashamed to openly discuss it. Others consider it as a panacea for the ills afflicting them. For foreign tourists, it is a ‘burlesque show of the male natives.’ For foreign anthropologists, it is a ‘notable cultural tradition which is… Read more »
The Sinhala Nation and Foreign Military Involvement
by Taraki [aka D. Sivaram], Virakesari and TamilNatham, Sri Lanka, September 5, 2004 An important question arises when we look at the military balance in SriLanka. Though the LTTE maintains its military strength on par with Sri Lankan Army (SLA), any military intervention by a foreign country which does not sympathise with the Tamils, can… Read more »
The International Community Sharpens its Knives Against Tamils
by Sachithanandam Sathananthan*, New Delhi, September 3, 2004 Sri Lankan Tamils took note of a newspaper article titled “Ending the regional drift,” published in India recently. Its author, Dr Raja Mohan, is a foreign policy analyst who is close to the Indian establishment, and he accurately reflects its thinking. He lauded “the muscular message” New… Read more »
Working in Post-war Northern Sri Lanka
Below are pictures taken by Dr. Shiamala Suntharalingam during her time volunteering as a doctor in the Vanni last year. You can read about her experiences at http://www.sangam.org/articles/view2/index.php?uid=530 [Now at Working in Post-conflict Northern Sri Lanka – Ilankai Tamil Sangam] … Read more »
Pirapaharan 2, Chapter 15: JR Visits China and the US
by T. Sabaratnam, September 10, 2004 (Volume 2) The Chunnakam Massacre Trade and Shipping Minister Lalith Athulathmudali was appointed Minister of National Security and Deputy Defence Minister on 23 March 1984. An Oxford educated lawyer-politician with an unbridled ambition to succeed Jayewardene as the president of Sri Lanka, Athulathmudali took the appointment as the gateway… Read more »
Give the Chechens a Land of Their Own
by Richard Pipes, The New York Times op-ed, September 9, 2004 Does this call to give Chechens independence and America’s appeal to consider what is happening in the Darfur region of Sudan genocide – which legally obligates the international community to intervene – have anything to do with the actual situation in these countries or… Read more »
LTTE Critics Argue Against Continuing with Ceasefire
by Taraki, [aka D. Sivaram], Daily Mirror, Colombo, September 9, 2004 Heckles and jeers are sure to greet one if one were to say that the Tigers too face criticism and political pressure from a cross section of their supporters here and abroad for “futilely sticking to the peace process”. The hecklers and jeerers on… Read more »
Sri Lanka Scene: Global Pressure on the LTTE
Sri Lanka Scene Weekly Review By T. Sabaratnam, 8 September 2004 US Accusation International pressure is currently on the LTTE. It was patent from the remarks made by a top US official on counterterrorism who was in Colombo the last two days. US Ambassador-at-large J. Cofer Black told senior journalists in Colombo today (Wednesday) that the… Read more »
Pongu Tamil in Toronto Sept. 25
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Top-aide Says LTTE May Not Have Killed President Premadasa
by P K Balachandran, Hindustan Times, September 8, 2004 Bradman Weerakoon, International Affairs Advisor to former Sri Lankan President, R Premadasa, has cast doubts on the popular notion that it was the LTTE which assassinated the President In his racy book entitled “Rendering Unto Caesar” (Sterling Publishers, New Delhi, 2004) Weerakoon says that there are… Read more »
Twenty-Five Types of Government in the World
by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 8, 2004 In early 1999, I read a humorous syndicated commentary by Gary Borders (then the editor and publisher of the Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel, Texas). It was so thought-provoking for its humor and simplicity, that I put it away safely in my file of notable collections for reference. My last month’s… Read more »