for Human Rights Abuses by M. Chooki, News-India Times, New York, November 26, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/655.html A [US] federal judge ruled that asylum-seekers, who suffered beatings, unsanitary conditions and humiliation at the Elizabeth detention center in New Jersey in the mid-1990s may go ahead with a lawsuit alleging human rights violations against the private company that… Read more »
Monthly Archives: November 2004
The Stories of Guru Paramarta
Seventh Story of Falling off the Horse by Fr.Costanzo Beschi [aka, Veera MaMuni] sangam.org/articles/view2/654.html Front Note by Sachi Sri Kantha The seventh story in the Guru Paramarta series describes the obstinacy of his five dummy disciples, who were short on common sense and would do only what was instructed specifically. In this story, the Guru… Read more »
Plantation Tamils – The Oppressed People of Sri Lanka
By S. Makenthiran, B.A., FCCA, November 21, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/653.html Immigration in the nineteenth century In Sri Lanka live one of the most oppressed communities in the world. They are the plantation Tamils living in the central hill country. This unfortunate community has been treated like sub-humans by the successive Sinhalese governments that have been in… Read more »
Maveerar Naal in the US
November 27th Saturday – New York December 4th Saturday – New Jersey December 4th Saturday – Los Angeles December 4th Saturday – Chicago December 4th Saturday – Florida December 4th Saturday – San Francisco December 4th Saturday – Seattle December 5th Sunday – Ohio For more information and directions please call: 718 657 9463 or… Read more »
Maya Arulpragasam’s World
Bingo in Swansea by SASHA FRERE-JONES, The New Yorker Issue of 2004-11-22, Posted 2004-11-15 sangam.org/articles/view2/651.html “World music” is a category that does nobody any favors. Entirely disparate performers, like the dapper Brazilian singer-songwriter Caetano Veloso and the African blues guitarist Ali Farka Toure, get lumped together in American record stores simply because they don’t sing… Read more »
Open Letter to the International Community
by Wakely Paul, November 20, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/650.html Re: SRI LANKA The article in the Colombo, Sri Lanka newspaper The Island entitled “ALL LANKAN EGGS IN INDIAN BASKET” on November 10, 2004 reveals India’s renewed effort to extend its military influence into Sri Lanka as it did in the 80’s and early 90’s. At that time the Indians… Read more »
A Set of Killings in the East
To The Editor, Sangam.org — The TamilNet news website of 18th November reported two killings in the East within a space of 14 hours. The first was the killing of a political worker of the LTTE at 9.45 PM on Wednesday by gunmen suspected to be paramilitary operatives working with the Sri Lanka military intelligence… Read more »
Conflict over ‘Rights’ Stalls Sri Lankan Peace Process
by P K Balachandran, Hindustan Times, November 15, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/647.html One of the basic reasons for the conflict between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the rest of the world is the difference of opinion on whether ‘group rights’ should take precedence over ‘individual rights.’ This conflict is a major factor stalling the… Read more »
Pirapaharan 2, Chapter 25: Militants Acquire Territory
by T. Sabaratnam, November 19, 2004 (Volume 2) sangam.org/articles/view2/645.html Dear Editor, This is my personal experience with Lalith Athulathmudali regarding the Jaffna violence in reference to the ongoing articles by Mr. Sabaratnam. It was 1986 and I was the vice-president of the Government Medical Officer’s Association (GMOA). Dr. Stanmore de Alwis was the President and… Read more »
General Pirabhakaran’s Critics
An Alphabetical Assembly by Sachi Sri Kantha, November 19, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/646.html I was tempted to compile this list after I read an essay penned by R. K. Narayan entitled, ‘The Enemies.’ First I quote an excerpt from this humorous essay in which Narayan introduced his motivation for a list of the ‘enemies of society’: “…I… Read more »
A Victory, But Little Is Gained
by DARYL G. PRESS and BENJAMIN VALENTINO, The New York Times op-ed, November 17, 2004 Does any of this sound familiar to Sangam readers? sangam.org/articles/view2/644.html Hanover, N.H. — The textbook urban assault on Falluja reflected well on the dedication, training and equipment of the American military. Unfortunately, it has not brought the United States appreciably… Read more »
All Lankan Eggs in Indian Basket?
The Island, Colombo, November 10, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/643.html The joint Indo- Sri Lanka statement issued after the visit of President Chandrika Kumaratunga to New Delhi and the proposed Defence Co-operation Agreement together with complementary agreements such as on Pallaly Airport are being hailed in all quarters here, except by the LTTE. There is much satisfaction because… Read more »
The Kalveddu
by Revd. BJ Alexander, November 17, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/642.html A pre-production research panel met some months ago to brainstorm ideas about a TV/Radio Documentary for Holy Week 2005 on Suffering – particularly focusing on the theme of traumatic memories among exile communities in London, England. During the process of invigorating discussions: exchanging and comparing of notes springing from… Read more »
Tigers to Part Ways for Want of Southern Consensus?
by Taraki (aka D.Sivaram), Daily Mirror, Colombo, November 17, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/641.html A military solution to Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict remains a very real option today although we are almost into three years of a fairly stable no-war atmosphere. In large measure this is due to persistent beliefs and perceptions in the Sinhala polity about the… Read more »
Peace Puzzle
by V. Gunaratnam, November 17, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/640.html The Sri Lanka government’s peace motives remain a puzzle to this day, because of the endless roadblocks and delays the peace process has been subjected to. Twenty long and bloody years have gone by since hostilities began, but the Sinhala leaders still can’t find it in their hearts… Read more »
The Sri Lankan Peace Talks and the ISGA Proposals
by M. Nadarajan, November 17, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/639.html Newspapermen and many governments continue to give their views on the peace process, spouting out nonsense without, in most instances, any knowledge of what they are speaking about or the background to the problem. In order to make any meaningful comments, one should look at the past, the… Read more »
Pirapaharan 2, Chapter 24: The Country Turns into a Killing Field
by T. Sabaratnam, November 15, 2004 (Volume 2) sangam.org/articles/view2/638.html Bus Massacre I traced in Chapter 21 the events that led Pirapaharan to switch the mode of struggle from hit and run guerrilla warfare to sustained guerrilla combat and the manner in which the country slipped into the First Eelam War. The slide began with the… Read more »
Conflict Resolution in Sri Lanka
The Mirage of Power Sharing by Sachithanandam Sathananthan,* November 10, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/637.html Conflict resolution and human rights “peaceniks” in Colombo are busy mouthing vacuous slogans about national “co-existence” and ethnic “harmony.” These Sinhala peaceniks are promoting the belief that Sinhala nationalism is capable of, and willing to, strike a compromise with Tamil nationalism. SPC and… Read more »
General Pirabhakaran in the Foot-steps of General Washington
by Sachi Sri Kantha, November 15, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/636.html Fourteen years ago, in the pages of now-defunct Asiaweek (Hong Kong) magazine, I engaged in a ‘duel’ with a spineless, anonymous correspondent on the purported ‘anti-social’ activities of the LTTE. In my letters to the magazine editor, I compared the LTTE’s performance as a peoples’ militia as nothing different… Read more »
Think Madam President, Think
And Be Aware by Wakeley Paul, Esq., November 14, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/635.html The war in Iraq will be Bush’s undoing. The present relentless attack on Fallujah is no different to what the Americans did in Vietnam time and time again, or what the SL army faced in the NorthEast. In fighting insurgents, armies have no front… Read more »