Yearly Archives: 2017

Audacity of Hope in a Broken City

by Devin Jayasundera, ‘Echelon,’ Colombo, June 28, 2017 THE NORTHERN PROVINCE IS IN A STATE OF ECONOMIC ISOLATION. WHILE THE STATE IS IN A POLITICAL DREADLOCK, ORDINARY PEOPLE HAVE TAKEN CHARGE For the last three months, Kamalnath*, 26, has been arriving to work in Chunnakam two hours late, leaving two hours early and spending his free… Read more »

An Uphill Battle Ahead for India

to Sustain Strategic Ties With US by Constantino Xavier, ‘TheWire.in,’ July 3, 2017 The failure to address the clash between ‘Make in India’ and ‘America First’ policies, and any changes in the narrow business interests of the US in China could prove problematic for India. Contrasting with the optimism with which US President Donald Trump’s election… Read more »

A Birth Centenary Biography on MGR

by Sachi Sri Kantha, June 28, 2017   Book Review: R. Kannan, MGR – A Life, Penguin Random House India Pvt. Ltd, Gurgaon, Haryana, 2017, 495 pages, 599 Indian rupees.  The influence of movie stars as popular heroes has been a theme of academic study in America since the second half of last century. For… Read more »

Northern Provincial Council – A Boiling Pot

by Thambu Kanagasabai, Toronto, June 27, 2017 Northern Provincial Council is [NPC] a creation under the Indo-Ceylon Accord of 1987 and the 13th Amendment to the constitution, all of which are of Indian and Sri Lankan Government’s making without the backing  and endorsement of the large majority of Tamils and the leadership of the Liberation Tigers… Read more »

TNA – Is It Taking the Tamils for a Ride?

by Kumarathasan Rasingam, June 25, 2017 Tamil National Alliance [TNA], a loose group of four parties, Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi [ITAK] Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization [TELO], People’s Liberation of Tamil Eelam [PLOTE] and Eelam People’s Liberation Front [EPRLF] was formed in 2001 with the blessings of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam [LTTE} leadership.  TNA… Read more »

Rajendra Theagarajah’s Canada speech

Need access to markets, not handouts from expatriates by LankaReporter, Colombo, June 9, 2017 Rajendra Theagarajah, Vice Chairman of Cargills Bank who was the guest of honour at the Canadian Tamils’ Chamber of Commerce gala and awards ceremony with CTCC President Ajith Sabaratnam. (Picture by Gnane Gananedran)  Partner with us in Sri Lanka, not to… Read more »

‘The Barrier’

by Shankari Chandran Also author of ‘Song of the Sun God’ From the author’s website: The Barrier is a fast-paced literary thriller, set in a world destroyed by a virulent strain of Ebola and religious wars. It is 2040 and the surviving nations have been reorganized into the Western and Eastern Alliance. One side subjugates… Read more »

Netherlands-Funded CEPA Project Wages Political ‘Counter-Insurgency’

On Diaspora, elected NPC Colombo Establishment and its global backers are trying to isolate the Northern and Eastern provincial councils by intervening through Colombo-based authorities, ministries and departments coming under the Central Government. Certain NGOs operating in Colombo also operate in the same manner. There is also a hidden agenda of diverting ‘post-war development assistance’,… Read more »

HRW: Minister Threatens Defender of Minority Rights

by Human Rights Watch, New York, June 19, 2017 Investigate, Prosecute Attacks on Muslims, Christians (New York) – The Sri Lankan government should immediately repudiate statements by the country’s justice minister threatening to disbar a prominent lawyer for speaking out against attacks on religious minorities, Human Rights Watch said today. The incident highlights the government’s… Read more »

A Betrayal, Repugnant & Lethal

There was a prehistory to Black July, consisting of the teaching of contempt and the spreading of fear. It was that seeding which enabled Black July. Today we are living through the pre-history of an anti-Muslim riot. The demonising of all Muslims as fanatics hell-bent on taking over our land, our economy and our women… Read more »

Normalising the Abnormalcy

Reflections on Self-Determination, Justice and Peace in Post-War Sri Lanka by Prof. K. Guruparan, Melbourne, Australia, June 12, 2017 Text of the Mamanithar Late Prof C.J. Eliezer AM Memorial Lecture delivered on 12 June 2016 at the Monash University, Clayton Campus, Melbourne  I am deeply honoured by this invitation to deliver the Maamanithar Prof Christopher Jeyaratnam… Read more »

What the Families of the Disappeared Want

by K. Guruparan tweet, June 12, 2017 Demands put forward by the reps of the families of the disappeared to Pres. Sirisena during his visit to Jaffna on June 11, 2017 1. Release a list of all those who surrendered or were detained by the Sri Lankan Armed forces during and after the war, and… Read more »

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers

On her mission to Sri Lanka Put into general distribution on March 23, 2017 Available online at http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/35/31/Add.1 Report of the SR Independence Judges Lawyers Mar 2017 Website of the Special Rapporteur Prevention of Terrorism Act 70. At the time of writing, the Prevention of Terrorism Act had not yet been repealed, despite repeated calls for… Read more »

We Eelam Tamils Embrace the 150th Birthday Celebrations of Canada

By Eelaventhan Manickavasakar, June 6, 2017 Canada’s concept of unity and diversity has a special appeal to the Eelam Tamils.  Sri Lanka should learn lessons from Canada for it to survive in dignity and self honour. – Canada is also a classic example of how a multi lingual, multi national, multi religious state can preserve… Read more »

Sri Lanka’s Missing People

This is one set of numbers re casualties from Sri Lanka’s war.  The 65,000 missing number comes from those reported to various official Sri Lankan commissions & officially accepted by Pres. Sirisena’s government in 2016.  Accurate figures of casualties are one of the biggest challenges of the war.  The numbers for civilian casualties in this… Read more »

Why I Write? – A Sequel

by Sachi Sri Kantha, June 2, 2017 Two weeks ago, when I visited Tokyo, I bought an old copy of ‘The Journals of Sylvia Plath’, originally published 35 years ago in 1982.  Due to her suicide death in 1963, at the age of 30, the short life of poet Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) has fascinated me…. Read more »

Remembering Sivaram

by Amna Jatoi, ‘Groundviews,’ Colombo May 25,2017 His biographer speaks of the unimaginable cultural consequences of living continually under the gun. Although this comment was made about Tamil communities living in Sri Lanka more widely, it provides the basis for understanding Dharmaretnam Sivaram’s core beliefs about the role of intellectuals, or those with knowledge (and… Read more »