by Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace & Justice, London, October 27 & 28, 2018 Situation updates: 28 October 2018 Last night Sri Lanka’s president, Maithripala Sirisena, attempted to replace Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa – a man against whom there are credible allegations of complicity in the murder of tens of… Read more »
Monthly Archives: October 2018
Sri Lanka’s Tamils are at Imminent Risk after Rajapaksa’s Return
Following the former president’s return to power, international community needs to take urgent action to protect Tamils by Mario Arulthas, AlJazeera, Qatar, October 29, 2018 On October 26, Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, and replaced him with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. This sudden challenge to Sri Lanka’s regime blindsided some political observers and members… Read more »
HRW: Political Turmoil Puts Rights At Risk
Failure to Address Past Abuses Underlies Crisis by Human Rights Watch, New York, October 27, 2018 (New York) – Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena’s decision on October 26, 2018, to appoint former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as prime minister has raised fears about a return to past abusive practices in the country, Human Rights Watch said today. The… Read more »
Amnesty: GoSL Cannot Afford to Fail the Office on Missing Persons
Sri Lanka: The government cannot afford to fail the Office on Missing Persons by Biraj Patnaik, South Asia Director, Amnesty International, 21 October 2018 https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/10/sri-lanka-the-government-cannot-afford-to-fail-the-office-on-missing-persons/ Amid the furore around the Joint Opposition’s political mobilisation last month, a key event was overlooked. The Office on Missing Persons (OMP), a key body, empowered to search for and trace… Read more »
UN asks Sri Lanka to Repatriate Commander in Mali
By Edith M. Lederer | AP in ‘The Washington Post,’ New York October 19, 2018 https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/un-asks-sri-lanka-to-repatriate-commander-in-mali/2018/10/19/6ae66914-d413-11e8-a4db-184311d27129_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.5980d2323174 UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations asked the government of Sri Lanka on Friday to immediately repatriate the commander of its 200-strong contingent assigned to the U.N. peacekeeping force in Mali following a review of his human rights background. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric… Read more »
ITJP: UN Repatriates Sri Lankan Peacekeeper for His Role in 2009 War
by International Truth & Justice Project, South Africa, October 20, 2018 ITJP UN repatriates Sri Lankan peacekeeper for his role in 2009 war …During the final phase of Sri Lanka’s civil war in 2009 Amunupure was second in command of the 11th Sri Lanka Light Infantry which operated under the 58th Division. A UN Investigation… Read more »
MCC: Sri Lanka Constraints Analysis
by US Millenium Challenge Corporation, Washington, DC, 2017 https://assets.mcc.gov/content/uploads/constraints-analysis-sri-lanka.pdf We argue in this report that Sri Lanka faces the following three binding constraints to private sector investment and economic growth: (1) policy uncertainty (especially tax and tariff policy); (2) inadequate access to land; and (3) poor transportation and logistics… The state reportedly owns approximately 80… Read more »
Enforced & Involuntary Disappearances in Sri Lanka
by Kumarathasan Rasingam, October 14, 2018 Tamil families of disappeared have been engaged in continuous and indefinite protests in five locations in the North and East for about 550 days. Mothers, wives, sons, daughters and relatives are on the streets in day and night in the hot sun, dust and rain demanding to know the whereabouts… Read more »
Mollycoddling Sri Lanka Doesn’t Work
by Taylor Dibbert, ‘Financial Times,’ Colombo, October 18, 2018 Mark Field, Britain’s Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, recently penned a terrible op-ed in The Daily Mirror. The piece coincided with a visit to the country. “First, it is important to recognise the positives,” Field writes. He… Read more »
Tamil Women’s Day
Honoring Strength & Resistance in the Face of Oppression by PEARL, Washington, DC, October 10, 2018 PEARL_Press_Release_Women_s_Day_2018 On Tamil Women’s Day, PEARL remembers the women who participated in the Tamil struggle for rights and self-determination, and honors the ongoing fight against oppression. October 10, 1987 marked the death of 2nd Lt. Malathy, the first LTTE… Read more »
Tamil Women Freedom Fighters
by Usha Sriskandarajah, October 10, 2018 Remembering Malati and Celebrating Women’s Day of Awakening Today is a solemn day as well as a day that ought to inspire all Tamil women and men – to take the ideals of our freedom fighters and continue the struggle for the emancipation and restoration of Tamil Eelam. We… Read more »
‘One Part Woman’
A Novel That Roiled India Is Now Translated Into English by Parul Sehgal, ‘The New York Times,’ October 16, 2018 In 2015, the Tamil writer Perumal Murugan committed literary suicide. “Perumal Murugan the writer is dead,” he posted on his Facebook page. “Leave him alone.” He instructed his publishers to stop selling his work and readers… Read more »
Websites for Tamil Books
List compiled by A.K. Shanmuganathan, Point Pedro, Sri Lanka 1. Project Madurai Complete list of Project Madurai works: http://www.infitt.org/pmadurai/pmworks.html ** 2. Tamil Virtual Academy (formerly Tamil Virtual University) An autonomous Institution, established by the Government of Tamilnadu தமிழ்இணையக் கல்விக் கழகம் தமிழக அரசால் நிறுவப் பெற்ற தன்னாட்சி நிறுவனம். நூலகம் / Library http://www.tamilvu.org/library/libindexen.htm அகராதிகள் Pal’s Dictionary (Eng-Tamil) தமிழ் – தமிழ்… Read more »
The Failed Promise of Reconciliation in Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan governments have proven unwilling to acknowledge, let alone address, the root cause of conflict on the island. by Mario Arulthas, ‘The Diplomat,’ Tokyo, October 11, 2018 In the run-up to his recent address at the UN General Assembly, Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena struck a defiant note, blatantly rejecting commitments made to the… Read more »
King Poet’ Kannadasan at 91
Random Thoughts, Part 4 by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 18, 2018 One of my favorite books in my Kannadasan collection is, ‘Santhithaen Cinthithaen’ – translated as ‘[I] Met and [I] Thought’. It was a collection of thumb nail sketches Kannadasan wrote to the Kumudam weekly magazine in 1979 and 1980. Only 55 individuals were featured… Read more »
M.I.A.’s Critique of Wokeness
by Spencer Kornhaber, ‘The Atlantic,’ New York, October 5, 2018 CINEREACH M.I.A. wants to talk foreign policy. I called up the 43-year-old pop star Maya Arulpragasam last Friday to talk about Matangi/Maya/M.I.A., Stephen Loveridge’s fascinating documentary about her life. But she immediately brought up the latest news about her birth nation, Sri Lanka, which her family of ethnic… Read more »
Mamma M.I.A.: Influence of an Icon
Comedian Jack Rooke profiles his idol, Sri Lankan-British rapper M.I.A. by BBC Radio 4, October 9, 2018 https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/play/m0000np5 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000np5
Believing Women, and the Gaslighting of M.I.A.
by Mallika Rao, ‘Vulture,’ New York, October 2, 2018 The big revelation of the documentary titled MAYA / MATANGI / MIA, which hit U.S. theaters last weekend, is how it vindicates the singer at its heart. At The Guardian, Laura Snapes draws a connection between Christine Blasey Ford and Maya Arulpragasam — nom de guerre, M.I.A. — two… Read more »
Film Review of “Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.”
My personal take on this documentary film. by Lorenzo Fiorito, ‘Tamil Culture,’ September 21, 2018 The London autumn evening is winding down. After dinner, my sweetheart and I sit together on the sofa in front of the TV, and patch in the laptop video feed. I click on the link to an advance viewing of… Read more »
TG: Veering Backwards
‘Tamil Guardian’ editorial, September 28, 2018 At the end of the UN Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) 39th session, there can be no more illusions as to whether Sri Lanka will deliver for the Tamils. Although the government queued up its customary showpiece to coincide with this session – this time a revamped counter terrorism bill – all evidence points to… Read more »