Admits Past Mistakes by Voice of America, August 13, 2003 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled to Turkey’s troubled Kurdish region Friday where he pledged to address the Kurds’ long running grievances through further democracy and social reforms. As Amberin Zaman reports for VOA, Mr. Erdogan’s remarks are seen by some observers as signaling… Read more »
Monthly Archives: August 2005
Sri Lanka Tense After Sniper Kills Kadirgamar
by Tamil Guardian, London, August 13, 2005 Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was shot by a sniper outside his home in Colombo on Friday and died in hospital after emergency surgery, raising fears for the island’s increasingly shaky ceasefire. Kadirgamar, 73, died at the National Hospital in Colombo where he had been admitted in serious… Read more »
Revisiting Mervyn de Silva
For Candid Thoughts on ‘Black July 1983’ Front Note by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 13, 2005 The horrendous events of July 1983 which scarred the bodies, minds and properties of Eelam Tamils deserve to be remembered annually. I feel, however, that it is better to re-read what one of the erudite Sinhalese journalists or our… Read more »
Behind the Headlines
by V Gunaratnam, August 12, 2005 These are my comments on the news behind the headlines quoted below from various Sri Lankan sources. Less than ten percent of Sinhalese want Norway to continue as the key facilitator of Sri Lanka peace process – survey – July 22 According to the “Social Indicator” published by the… Read more »
After 29 Years, an Aceh Peace Pact
The Aceh accord, to be signed on Monday, feels like a major gamble on the part of GAM, based on what we know from Sri Lanka. In return for giving up their quest for a separate state and disarming, GAM may or may not be able to form a local party and take part in… Read more »
Tides of War IV
On ‘Tides of War’ Much of the problem with Gourevitch’s article in ‘The New Yorker’ became clear yesterday when he hosted a discussion of Sri Lanka with Dayan Jayatilleke as his guest on [US] National Public Radio. http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/08112005 Jayatilleke had come off well in Gourevitch’s article and Grourevitch had used the Jayatilleke-coined epithet ‘Sun God’ to… Read more »
Close Encounter with a Tamil Tigress
by Nachammai Raman, Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 9, 2005 When Thamilvilly walked in to meet me, I wondered if she was some big cheese’s assistant coming to tell me my interview was canceled. In neatly pinned-up pigtails, austere pants, and a belted baggy shirt, she looked more like an intern than the deputy head of the… Read more »
Report to UN ECOSOC Subcommission on Human Rights
by Liberation, UK, August 4, 2005 UNITED NATIONS Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights Fifty-seventh session 04-08-2005 Agenda item 4 – Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Liberation welcomes the preliminary report of Sub-Commission member Mr. Marc Bossuyt on the issue of non-discrimination in Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. While still early in… Read more »
Remembering a Martyr
Who Died in the Defense of Justice by Rev B.J. Alexander, August 9, 2005 THE DISAPPEARANCE of Fr. Herbert happened on August 15, 1990. As in the cases of a multitude of disappearances in the NorthEast Tamil areas, Fr. Herbert’s remains still an unsolved mystery! Eugene John Herbert, S.J. was born in Jennings, Louisiana, USA, on October… Read more »