Photo: TamilNet, 26 December 2004 Photo: TamilNet, 26 December 2004 Photo: TamilNet, 26 December 2004 On this day, ten years ago, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake struck beneath the Indian Ocean near Indonesia, generating a massive tsunami that claimed more than 230,000 lives in fourteen different countries, one of the deadliest natural disasters ever… Read more »
Monthly Archives: December 2016
HRW: UN GA Adopts Resolution on War Crimes Investigations
by Human Rights Watch, New York, December 21, 2016 On December 21, 2016, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution establishing a mechanism to assist in the investigation of serious crimes committed in Syria since 2011. “The General Assembly today demonstrated that it can take the reins on questions of justice in the face of Security Council deadlock. The countries that voted for this unprecedented… Read more »
Window for Economic Take-off Narrowing
by Economy Next, December 21, 2016 Sri Lanka is in a period of dangerous policy drift with mediocre governance which is inherently unstable with the danger of falling back to a ‘big man illiberal’ politics is getting nearer, a top economist and policy analyst has said. It is two years since the Rajapaksa regime was… Read more »
Yahapalanaya in Sri Lanka: Remains of the Day
by Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda, ‘Groundviews,’ Colombo, December 5, 2016 Groundviews is celebrating its tenth anniversary at a time when there is little else to celebrate in Sri Lanka. Particularly sad is the ways in which President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe are ruining whatever little that remains in the political potential of their… Read more »
Sri Lanka At A Crossroads – A Tamil Perspective
by Suren Surendiran, ‘Colombo Telegraph,’ December 18, 2016 Suren Surendiran January 2015 saw one of the worst tyrannies in the history of Sri Lanka come to an abrupt end. The unexpected was realised through the ballot and not through bullet. President Maithripala Sirisena swept to power with 51.2% of the vote compared with his rival… Read more »
Jayalalitha Leveled by an LTTE Fan
by Sachi Sri Kantha, December 17, 2016 Recent death of Jayalalitha Jayaram (1948-2016), the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, generated quite a quota of elegies for her services to the cause of Eelam Tamils. These elegies noticeably hid one ugliest contribution of what Jayalalitha and her coterie did in April 2002. This was, after the… Read more »
How To Enjoy Your Vacation To A Country
By Gowri Koneswaran, Split this Rock, Washington, DC, December 14, 2016 ★ While planning your journey, accept that ethics are not included in the price of your ticket; ★ Tell yourself your currency is helping the country; ★ Do not question government control of the tourism industry; ★ When researching… Read more »
When Travel Writing Becomes Propaganda
by Taylor Dibbert, ‘The Diplomat,’ Tokyo, December 14, 2016 A recent travel piece on the war-torn nation misses the mark badly. I was disappointed to read a recent Condé Nast article about Sri Lanka. Various parts of the piece read like the propaganda that comes straight from the Sri Lankan government. Let’s take a closer… Read more »
The History of the Kingdom of Jaffna
Jaffna – Yalpanavaiyaka Maalai Translated from the Tamil by C. Brito, 1879 Also available at Noolaham
Autonomy to North East under Federalism is our Demand
by Kelum Bandara, ‘Daily Mirror,’ Colombo, December 15, 2016 Q How do you analyse the current political situation of the North? Our people are worried today because both the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), as the two main parties, talk about a political solution within a unitary State. We,… Read more »
CM Jayalalitha & Federalism
by Garga Chatterjee, ‘First Post,’ India, December 10, 2016 Does Jayalalithaa’s death signal the fall of federalism in Indian democracy? The death of J Jayalalithaa, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and supremo of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), calls for an assessment of her and the party’s political role in her… Read more »
Fidel Castro and Prabhakaran
by Sachi Sri Kantha, December 4, 2016 Cuba’s leader Fidel Castro bid adieu to millions of his fans, supporters and adversaries on November 25, 2016. Castro had thousands of fans, even in Sri Lanka. Certainly, I was one of them. He had charisma, which many of his political contemporaries (like Richard Nixon or Junius Jayewardene)… Read more »
Remembering Bala Anna 10 years On
by Tamil Guardian, London, December 14, 2016 Today marks 10 years since the passing of Anton Balasingham, the chief negotiator and political strategist of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Mr Balasingham – or Bala Anna as he was fondly known – was deeply adored by the Tamil people. His charismatic addresses drew tens… Read more »
Mission Impossible?
by MCM Iqbal, ‘Groundviews,’ Colombo, December 11, 2016 During the past few years much has been spoken and written about the need for reconciliation between the different communities in Sri Lanka. The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) was appointed by President Mahinda Rajapakse to hear what was needed to be done to bring about… Read more »
Only 5.2% of Sri Lankan Military Occupied Land has been Released to Tamils
by P.K. Balachandran, The New Indian Express, December 11, 2016 COLOMBO: The Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province, C.V.Wigneswaran, has said that out of the 67,000 acres of private lands of the Tamils seized by the Sri Lankan armed forces during the war, only 3,500 acres have been returned so far. Since the war… Read more »
Clinton & the IMF
Clinton pressured IMF to not give loans to Sri Lanka: Min. Amunugama by LankaBusinessOnline, Colombo, December 7, 2016 Dec 07, 2016 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Special Assignments Minister Sarath Amunugama today revealed that Hillary Clinton forced IMF not to approve a loan facility to Sri Lanka when she was working as the US secretary of… Read more »
How to Achieve a Ceasefire
by Daniel Spector, ‘Simon-Evertt.com,’ July 22, 2016 For nearly two years, Simon Everett has been designing and coordinating area studies courses at the Department of State for diplomats who are heading to their next assignments overseas. We’re fortunate to have an exceptional cadre of regional experts leading those courses. They have lived and traveled all… Read more »
‘Pride of the Pacific’ Trains New Sri Lankan Marine Corps
By: Matthew L. Shehl, ‘Marine Corps Times,’ December 4, 2016 Video at https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/articles/pride-of-the-pacific-trains-new-sri-lankan-marine-corps Camp Pendleton Marines wrapped up the first official training mission with the newly created Sri Lankan marine corps last week, the latest sign of the U.S. military stepping up engagement in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. Sri Lanka stood up its new naval infantry this year… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s War Cost US$ 200 Billion
by News.in Asia, Colombo, December 12, 2016 Colombo, December 13 (The New Indian Express): Sri Lanka’s internal war which ended in May 2009, had cost the country around US$ 200 billion according to India’s former National Security Adviser and Foreign Secretary, Shivshankar Menon. In his book Choices: Inside the Making of India’s Foreign Policy ,… Read more »
CPA: A Review for Human Rights Day
by Centre for Policy Analysis, December 10, 2016 View with pictures: https://spark.adobe.com/page/j9tM5Cc2knO5c/ Sri Lanka: A Review for Human Rights Day 2016 Human Rights Day (December 10th) gives us an opportunity to reflect on the successes and more importantly, the failures in addressing human rights-related issues in Sri Lanka, and to hopefully use this evaluation as a… Read more »