Just as much as Perry does not have a guide in Kilinochchi to tell him that tipping is not expected, so the international system has painted the world so black and white between the system of nation-states and the ‘terrorists,’ that they cannot understand a place that is somewhere in the middle – a territory… Read more »
Monthly Archives: September 2005
Nirvana in Reverse
by V Gunaratnam, September 28, 2005 That is what is happening in Sri Lanka today. Everything is moving backwards. It is as if the country is being sucked into a black hole by racial and religious intolerance, lawlessness, and political deception, dragging it through a tenuous ceasefire to confront the perils of war again. Jayantha… Read more »
A Vitiated Moderation
by Chandi Sinnathurai, September 28, 2005 THERE are shared historical events in Sri LANKA between the predominant Sinhalese and the Tamil-speaking communities. However, these events of violence and violations circulate for the most part as oral history with diverse interpretations. Perceptions of the history of ‘origins and ownership’ of the predominant community seem to establish… Read more »
Mr. Doolittle and the Tamil Diaspora Seek Help
by Satheesh Thadchanamoorthy, September 26, 2005 My generation never had the luxury of time that my father’s generation had. I did not get the chance to read A Tale of Two Cities that my father said he had to read as part of his curriculum. I have not had the chance to read Tolstoy, Trotsky, Marx, Lenin… Read more »
Development Alone Won’t End Sri Lanka’s War
by Jana Nayagam and Suren Manoharan, Tamil Guardian, September, 21 2005 The strategy being advocated by President Chandrika Kumaratunga today is a derivative of her ‘war for peace.’ President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s address to the Asia Society last week provided analysts of Sri Lanka’s conflict with insight into her government’s policy on the ethnic question and its… Read more »
TNA Press Release
by Tamil National Alliance, Colombo, September 23, 2005 Press Release September 22, 2005 The first step in the peace process in Sri Lanka, in what was agreed to be a step by step process, commenced with the signing of a ceasefire agreement (CFA) between the then United National Front (UNF) government of Sri Lanka (GOSL)… Read more »
Rising Challenge
by Tamil Guardian editorial, September 21 2005 The major international players in Sri Lanka – the United States, European Union, Japan and Norway – this week issued a stark assessment of prospects for peace in the island. Describing the Norwegian peace process as facing its “most serious challenge” since the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) came into force in… Read more »
2005 World Summit Outcome
A large meeting of world leaders at the UN summit September 14-16 agreed on the following points, many of which are of interest to Sri Lankan Tamils, especially those on development, terrorism, peacebuilding, human rights and the responsiblity to protect populations from genocide and war crimes: 2005 World Summit Outcome fact sheet
U.S. on Front Lines and in Backwaters
by Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times, September 23, 2005 Rather, he writes, “these men saw their charge in terms of developing a cadre of Westernized officers and useful contacts in both the Christian and Muslim communities who could be influential even in the event that the state broke up…Colonel Wilhelm does everything from overseeing new… Read more »
Democracy Dance in Diapers
by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 20, 2005 This September 11, the editor of the Sangam website directed an appreciative Tamil reader’s query to me. The query posed by reader Elango was on the dilemma faced by the current Election Chief Dayananda Dissanayake on scheduling the next Presidential election in the island and the plight of… Read more »
TamilNation’s Commentary on Dhanapala’s Speech to SL Caucus
Briefing by Jayantha Dhanapala, Secretary General, Secretariat for Coordinating Peace Process & Senior Adviser to the President of Sri Lanka, to the US Congressional Sri Lanka Caucus, 8 September 2005 “A Sri Lanka caucus was formed in the House of Representatives in 1998. The caucus seems to be a cheerleader for the Sri Lankan government,… Read more »
Dhanapala: Defending the Indefensible
by Ana Pararajasingham, September 20, 2005 Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala is no novice when it comes to diplomacy. But even he cannot defend the indefensible. Sent to Washington to defend the Sinhala regime’s appalling failure to implement the Cease-Fire, its abject indifference to the survivors of the tsunami in the Tamil Homeland and its blatant use… Read more »
Role of Tamil Diaspora Vital for Peace Process Says Dhanapala
by Ananther Boopathy, September 16, 2005 Ladies and Gentlemen, From being a Ceylon Tamil, I became a Sri Lankan Tamil, then a Tamil Paraiya for most Sinhalese, then a Tamil refugee inside the country, then a Tamil terrorist, then a Tamil refugee in at least three different countries from India to Europe to North America. All this… Read more »
Recognizing the Sri Lankan Peace Process?
The Role of the International Community The LTTE Peace Secretariat released the attached statement today concerning the state of the peace process: Recognizing the Sri Lankan Peace Process Note: The statement is in PDF format, and, therefore, requires Adobe Acrobat to be read. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat, click on the following image to… Read more »
Speech by Australian MP After Visit to NE
MP for Strathfield (Sydney) Hon. Virginia Judge, who recently returned from a visit to NorthEastern Sri Lanka, gave a speech today about her visit in the New South Wales State Parliament: Speech by Australian MP Virginia Judge after visit to Sri Lanka Sept. 15 2005.. The Hon. Judge calls for “a genuine federal structure that… Read more »
Security Imbalance, Not Violence, Threatens Truce
by Jana Nayagam, Tamil Guardian, September 14, 2005 The actual risk to the ceasefire is not violence per se, but the continuing non-implementation of crucial aspects of the CeaseFire Agreement, resulting in declining benefits from it. Observers of Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict have watched the ongoing shadow war in the island’s east between the Liberation Tigers… Read more »
Ethnicity, Aid and Peace in Fragile States
A Sri Lankan Case Study by Luckshmi Sivalingam, September 2005 A thesis for a Masters of Science (MSc) degree at the London School of Economics and Political Science Abstract This study examines the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict through a multi-layered analytical lens of ethnic, socio-economic, and political considerations. Residual colonial tensions, intensified by market liberalization… Read more »
An Open Letter to Dr. Jayantha Dhanapala
Dr. Jayantha Dhanapala, Secretary General Secretariat for Co-ordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) Level 10, West Tower World Trade Centre Bank of Ceylon Mawatha Colombo 01, Sri Lanka Dear Dr. Dhanapala, Re: Your briefing on the Sri Lankan Peace process: the Role of the International Community I am writing this open letter in order to bring… Read more »
Violations of International Covenants by the Sri Lankan Government
by M. Nadarajan, September 13, 2005 Successive Sinhalese majority Sri Lankan Governments have ruled the country under Emergency Regulations for 39 of the over 57 years since independence. Of these, 29 years under Emergency have related to the ethnic problems with Tamils, according to the Tamil Center for Human Rights based in France with branches… Read more »
TCHR: 34 Years of Emergency, 29 to Suppress Tamil Rights
TAMIL CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS – TCHR/CTDH (Established in 1990) www.tchr.net Ref: GO7ER/PR/2005, 7 September 2005 Out of 34 years of state of Emergency in Sri Lanka, 29 years have been used for suppressing the rights of Tamils “So long as governments set the example of killing their enemies, private individuals will occasionally kill theirs.” – Elbert… Read more »