edby Commission for Justice and Peace of Catholic Diocese of Jaffna, August 30, 2018 Mahaveli Development 180830 Condemnation of the Land grabbing by the Mahaveli-Development Authority and some other related issues The Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Diocese of Jaffna strongly condemn all the measures taken by the Mahaveli-Development Authority to acquire the… Read more »
Monthly Archives: August 2018
Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on its isit to Sri Lanka
by Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, July 23, 2018 http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/39/45/Add.2 [Statement at end of Working Group visit] VI. Conclusions 73. The Working Group appreciates the willingness of the Government to submit itself to scrutiny through the visit, and considers that the findings in the present report offer an opportunity to support the Government in addressing… Read more »
The Outbreak of ‘Hell’ by the Portuguese on Jaffna
by G. Pathmanathan (Dept of Anthropology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India) and Raghavan Pathmanathan (School of Archaeology & Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia), ‘Nalluran.com,’ January 14, 2014 OUR CHERISHED MEMORIES OF TWO LORD SRI KARTHIKEYA TEMPLES AT MAVETTAPURAM & NALLUR, JAFFNA PENNINSULA, SRI LANKA [Not sure why the section on the Portuguese is in this article, but it… Read more »
Buddhism in Sri Lanka
A brief history by Barbara O’Brien, ‘Thoughtco,’ July 23, 2018 When Buddhism spread beyond India, the first nations in which it took root were Gandhara and Ceylon, now called Sri Lanka. Since Buddhism eventually died out in India and Gandhara, it can be argued that the oldest living Buddhist tradition today is found in Sri Lanka. Today about… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Population
by World Population Review, accessed August 23, 2018 Sri Lanka Population by Year (Projections) Year Population % Male % Female Density (km²) Growth Rate 2020 21,084,042 47.94% 52.06% 321.35 x 0.00% 2025 21,349,942 47.75% 52.25% 325.41 0.25% 2030 21,474,701 47.56% 52.44% 327.31 0.12% 2035 21,491,895 47.40% 52.60% 327.57 0.02% 2040 21,397,716 47.27% 52.73% 326.13 -0.09% 2045… Read more »
Behind the Skeletal Excavations in Mannar
Grave secrets by Indunil Usgoda Arachchi & Vimukthi Fernando, ‘The Sunday Observer,’ Colombo, August 19, 2018 Sunday Observer journalists visit a grave excavation in Mannar, where forensic investigators are hard at work, painstakingly unearthing human skeleton after skeleton, determined that this time, the investigation into the suspected mass grave site will not be compromised- politically… Read more »
What Do ‘Human Rights’ Mean for Politicians in the South…?
By S. V. KIRUPAharan, France, ‘LankaENews,’ August 21, 2018 (Lanka e News – 20.Aug.2018, 5.45AM) ‘Human rights’ may be a new phenomenon for many Sinhala Buddhists – SB and for some Tamils including a few members of the diaspora. I have seen many participants in UN human rights forums in Geneva without any basic knowledge… Read more »
A (Tamil) Reading of Albert Camus’ The Plague
by Charles Sarvan, August 17, 2018 Colombo Telegraph (14 October 2017) reported that in Mullaitivu there’s one Sinhalese soldier for every two Tamil civilians. It added that this ratio does not include personnel belonging to the navy and air-force. Elsewhere too, demographic realities are being systematically and forcibly changed. (I gather that soon, if not… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Tamils at Crossroads
By: Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM {Lond.] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, August 15, 2018 Tamils in Sri Lanka, being the original inhabitants even before BC 500 according to legend, have ruled Sri Lanka before the arrival of Buddhism in BC 247 and formation of Sinhalese language during the 6th century AD, which… Read more »
The Dravidian Sun Sets
by A Kalaiyarasan & Karthick Ram Manoharan, ‘Economic & Political Weekly,’ Mumbai, India, August 8, 2018 When Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief and five-time Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Muthuvel Karunanidhi passed away on 7 August 2018, he had outlived most of his friends and all of his rivals. “Kalaignar,” as he was popularly known among… Read more »
Karunanidhi’s Politics from Cartoons – Part 2
by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 13, 2018 Part 1 I provide seven additional cartoons from Thinamani daily’s cartoonist Mathi (b. 1968), compiled in his 2010 book. These cartoons cover M. Karunanidhi’s political deeds from 1998 to 2009. In 1998 (at the age of 74), he was out of power. In 2009 (at the age of… Read more »
Karunanidhi’s Politics from Cartoons – Part 1
by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 9, 2018 The expected death of Muthuvel Karunanidhi (1924-2018), at the age of 94, saddened me. Make no doubt about this. I have been a strong critic of Karunanidhi’s politics, since 1972, when he expelled MGR from the DMK party. Nevertheless, I have always appreciated his contributions to Tamil literary… Read more »
The Man Who was Muthuvel Karunanidhi
DMK patriarch Muthuvel Karunanidhi, a champion of federalism, showed how a regional party leader can become indispensible in the national political sphere by Dharani Thangavelu, ‘LiveMint,’ India, August 7, 2018 Chennai: It was the morning of July 15, 1953. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) members had launched a protest against the renaming of Kallakudi to Dalmiyapuram, near… Read more »
MGR Remembered – Part 46
Nadodi Mannan and Adimai Penn by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 6, 2018 Part 45 In his cinematic career, MGR produced three movies, namely Nadodi Mannan (1958; Vagabond King), Adimai Penn (1969; The Slave Woman) and Ulagam Sutrum Vaaliban (1973; Globe-trotting Youngster). The first two movies were released while he was a ranking member of the… Read more »
UN SR Ben Emmerson’s Report on Sri Lanka
by UN Special Rapporteur Ben Emmerson, July 24, 2018 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism on his mission to Sri Lanka Sri_LankaReportJuly2018.PDF A. Conclusions 59. In 2015, Sri Lanka seemed to have turned a corner. New elections brought to power a coalition government and with it the… Read more »
Water Resources and Agriculture Development Strategy North East Province
Volume 1 & 2 Special Emphasis on Irrigation Project in North by Saravanamuttu Subramaniam Sivakumar, Faculty of Engineering, University of Jaffna, February 2015, 2nd edition, 10.13140/2.1.3996.4961 Go to publication Download Abstract 2. Status of Water Resources With the increase in population, industrialization and urbanization, demand for water has increased. Population has increased from 1.9 million in… Read more »
Losing Santhia, Part One
The death of a Tiger and the fate of a nation by Ben Hiller, ‘Red Flag,’ Australia, July 5, 2018 In October 2017, Santhia, a former high ranking cadre of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (“Homelands”), died in a Jakarta hospital. She was only 42. Almost a decade earlier, she had fled Sri Lanka, via… Read more »
Losing Santhia, Part Two
From cubs to Tigers by Ben Hiller, ‘Red Flag,’ Australia, July 20, 2018 In October 2017, Santhia, a former high ranking cadre of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (“Homelands”), died in a Jakarta hospital. She was only 42. Almost a decade earlier, she had fled Sri Lanka, via Tamil Nadu, India, with her young son…. Read more »
Sumathiran’s April Speech re Constitution
by M.A. Sumanthiran, University of Peredeniya, April 18, 2018 posted on TNA Politics.org in July 2018 Sumanthiran-SPEECH-PGIHS Keynote speech by M.A. Sumanthiran, 3rd April 2018, Research Congress, Inaugural session of the Post Graduate Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Peradeniya The Vice Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya, Dean of Faculty of Arts, Director,… Read more »
Tackling Sri Lanka’s ‘Torturers’
From Point Pedro to Dondra Head by [no author noted], ‘The Sunday Times,’ Colombo, July 29, 2018 There is little doubt that the findings of United Nations Special Rapportuer on Countering Terrorism, Ben Emmerson on the sorry fate of Sri Lanka’s justice system, particularly in regard to the continuance of a ‘culture of impunity’ are… Read more »