Yearly Archives: 2015

Is Sri Lanka Ready Yet For Postwar Reconciliation?

Sri Lanka’s January 8 presidential election shocked the world. The removal of strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa from office and peaceful transfer of power have triggered an outpouring of optimism about Sri Lanka’s democratic future. But on one key set of issues it’s not clear that regime change heralds progress: post-war reconciliation and accountability for international crimes… Read more »

Mangala Promises Demilitarisation of North, Domestic War Crimes Probe

by S. Venkat Narayan, ‘The Island,’ Colombo, January 20, 2015 NEW DELHI, January 20: Sri Lankan Minister of External Affairs Mangala Samaraweera has outlined a series of steps President Maithripala Sirisena’s Government will undertake to achieve national reconciliation in the civil war-ravaged island-nation. Talking to a select group of journalists here on Monday, he said… Read more »

CJP Calls for Release of Prisoners, Accountability and Resettlement

The Commission for Justice & Peace of the Catholic Diocese of Jaffna has called for the release of political prisoners, accountability for those killed or disappeared during the war and for the resettlement of people back in their land, in an open letter to Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena. Writing to the newly elected president,… Read more »

Thirteenth Amendment to Sri Lanka Constitution

Posted on TamilNation.org [also in PDF] Nadesan Satyendra, March 1988 [see also Text of 13th Amendment to Sri Lanka Constitution, 1987] The writer acknowledges with gratitude his indebtedness to the reflections of Sri Aurobindo in an article entitled ‘Comic Opera Reforms’ in the Bande Mataram – written in 1907, some eighty years ago. In August… Read more »

Tamil Nation Library

Alagappan, M.V.M. Tears in Teardrop Island, Sterling Publishers Private Limited, New Delhi, 1985 Anderson, Jon Lee and Scott Anderson:* War Zones, (Dodd, Mead & Co, New York, 1988), pp.173-233. Book Note by Sachi Sri Kantha – Journalist brothers had covered the Sri Lankan civil war (in the form of oral histories) and between the covers… Read more »

Legal Case of Tamil Genocide

Legal-Case-of-the-Tamil-Genocide_30-December-2014 The Legal Case of the Tamil Genocide January 6, 2015 by UNROW Human Rights Impact Litigation Clinic Leave a Comment Full PDF version available here By UNROW Human Rights Impact Litigation Clinic The UNROW Human Rights Impact Litigation Clinic, an impact litigation clinic of American University Washington College of Law, has advocated and litigated… Read more »

Helping Sri Lanka’s New Democracy

Sri Lanka’s voters shocked themselves and the world this month by tossing out their president, who crushed the Tamil insurgency in 2009 and then led the country, along with his brother as defense secretary, to the brink of authoritarianism. The new president has promised to restore freedom of the press, independence of judges, and the… Read more »

US Foreign Assistance

http://www.foreignassistance.gov/web/OU.aspx?FromRGA=true&OUID=229&FY=2015&AgencyID=0&budTab=tab_Bud_Overview State and USAID: It has been nearly five years since the end of Sri Lankas 26 year civil war, and circumstances are more challenging than they were a year ago. Although Northern Provincial Council elections were held in September 2013, there has been little movement on reconciliation or accountability by the Government of Sri… Read more »

World Bank Data Indicators

http://data.worldbank.org/country/sri-lanka World Development Indicators School enrollment, primary (% gross) 98% 2012 Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines (% of population) 6.7% 2013 8.9% 2010 15.2% 2007 22.7% 2002 28.8% 1996 Improved water source, rural (% of rural population with access) 93% 2012 92% 2011 90% 2010 89% 2009 87% 2008 Life expectancy at birth, total (years) 74 2012 GNI per capita, Atlas method (current… Read more »

Hopes Rise as Rajapakse Bites the Dust

PRESIDENTIAL AMBITIONS GONE ASTRAY Rajapakse triggered the presidential election, believing he would be easily returned to power for a third term, even though he had two more years left in his 2nd term. A great believer in soothsayers, he probably relied on their advice, and the war-victory over the LTTE in 2009, to carry him… Read more »

Art Buchwald Humor Awards for 2014

The eighth death anniversary of humorist Art Buchwald (1925-2007) falls on January 17th. And for this occasion, I also release the 6th consecutive list of news-making individuals in South Asia for 2014. This year, for realistic reasons, I have extended the chronological frame up to Jan.10, 2015. This is because, the recent Presidential election was… Read more »

Artful Democracy

by Nimmi Gowrinathan, ‘Outlook India,’ January 26, 2015 As the old guard in Sri Lanka was dramatically toppled in the recent presidential elections, best wishes were offered not only to the opponent, Maithripala Sirisena, but to a hopefully imminent resuscitation of a suffocated democracy. For nearly a decade, former president Rajapaksa had steadily strengthened his… Read more »

Presidential Election in Maps

Full article at http://indi.ca/2015/01/the-sri-lanka-presidential-election-2015-in-maps/ http://www.indi.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/sri-lanka-electoral-maps.pdf   District Area #My3 #MR Other Total #My3 % MR% MS Margin MR Margin MS Kalutara District Non N&E 349,404 395,890 6,690 751,984 46% 53% -4% 3% Galle District Non N&E 293,994 377,126 6,691 677,811 43% 56% -7% 6% Matara District Non N&E 212,435 297,823 4,892 515,150 41% 58% -9% 8%… Read more »

A Step Forward for Sri Lanka

It’s being called the most significant election in Sri Lanka in decades. On Jan. 8, voters gave a surprise victory to the opposition candidate for president, Maithripala Sirisena, and rejected the authoritarianism, corruption and dynastic ambitions of the incumbent, Mahinda Rajapaksa. It is to Mr. Rajapaksa’s great credit that, as soon as the people’s verdict… Read more »

An Unexpected Change of Power in Sri Lanka

‘Washington Post’ editorial, January 14, 2014 http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/an-unexpected-change-of-power-in-sri-lanka-is-good-news-for-democracy/2015/01/14/d3b698f2-9b4a-11e4-96cc-e858eba91ced_story.html SRI LANKAN President Mahinda Rajapaksa considered himself a shoo-in to win an unprecedented third term when he called an early election in November, and with some reason: He had presided over both victory in a 26-year-long civil war with Tamil insurgents and surging economic growth of 7 percent a… Read more »

Look Back to Move Forward

by Jared Genser, ‘The Diplomat,’ January 15, 2015 http://thediplomat.com/2015/01/look-back-to-move-forward-advice-to-the-new-sri-lanka-president/ This week, Sri Lankans welcome their first new president in a decade. In an election called two years ahead of schedule, surprise incumbent challenger and former Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena narrowly, albeit impressively, defeated outgoing President Mahinda Rajapaksa. But while the face of Sri Lankan politics… Read more »

Can the ‘Unknown Angel’ Deliver?

by Eric Solheim, ‘The Hindu,’ Chennai, January 15, 2015 http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/can-the-unknown-angel-deliver/article6789564.ece Anyone who two months back bet on Maithripala Sirisena winning the presidential election in Sri Lanka would be a millionaire. Most international experts expected former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to win and strengthen his family rule. He controlled the resources of the state to fund his… Read more »

Pongalo Pongal 2015

பொங்கலோ பொங்கல்         பாடு வோம் பாடு வோம் பாட்டுப் பாடு வோம் ஆடு வோம் ஆடு வோம் ஆட்டம் ஆடு வோம்   புதுப் பொங்கலோ பொங்கல் தமிழ்ப் பொங்கலோ பொங்கல் தைப் பொங்கலோ பொங்கல் தைதைப் பொங்கலோ பொங்கல்   சக்திதரும் சூரியனின் பொங்கலோ பொங்கல் பச்சரிசி அச்சுவெல்லம் பொங்கலோ பொங்கல் மஞ்சள்கொத்துப் பானையிலே பொங்கலோ பொங்கல் இஞ்சிக்கொத்துப் பானையிலே பொங்கலோ பொங்கல் புதுப் பொங்கலோ பொங்கல்……. பாடு வோம் பாடு… Read more »