by The Sunday Times, Colombo, February 22, 2019 The ‘Framework for an Economic Development Master Plan’ aiming to be a tool to create a ‘blueprint’ for long-term growth and development of the Northern Province was launched today at the Finance Ministry. Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera, addressing a gathering at the launch said during the last four… Read more »
Monthly Archives: February 2019
Government and Politics in Sri Lanka
Biopolitics and security by A. R. Sriskanda Rajah, Routledge Studies in South Asian Politics, 2017 167 pages TCIN: 53075469 UPC: 9781138290976 Item Number (DPCI): 248-54-2218 The island of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) was one of the few Asian colonies in which the British Empire experimented liberal state-building in the nineteenth century, and where many British colonial officials predicted that… Read more »
Tribute to Chelliah Kodeeswaran
by MK Eelaventhan, February 24, 2019 See also https://www.sangam.org/articles/view/?id=66 Mr. Chelliah Kodeeswaran is not an ordinary individual but a unique personality. He challenged the atrocious Sri Lankan government against the Sinhala Only Act. By his legal action he has become part and parcel of history. Kodeeswaran passed away on February 15th 2019 at the age of… Read more »
ITJP: High Time for Sri Lanka to Investigate Well-known Alleged Perpetrators of Torture
by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa, February 25, 2019 Original as a Word document under Press Releases at http://www.itjpsl.com/ Johannesburg: If Sri Lanka is serious about tackling ongoing torture it needs to suspend and investigate a number of well known security officials named in United Nations reports in connection with torture. Vague… Read more »
ITJP: Ongoing Torture
by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, February 22, 2019 http://www.itjpsl.com/reports/ongoing-torture-update The ITJP has taken statements from 76 Tamils who say they were tortured – and in many cases sexually violated as well – in illegal detention from 2015-17 in Sri Lanka. More than fifty of these victims have been granted asylum now in the… Read more »
Freedom from Torture: Too Little Change
Ongoing Torture in Security Operations in Sri Lanka by Freedom from TortPosture, London, February 20, 2019 Ten years on from the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war, Freedom from Torture has documented evidence of torture of its Tamil citizens in the context of ongoing security operations. This is despite the Sri Lankan government’s stated ‘zero… Read more »
Lanka’s Tamil-dominated North Observes Shut Down over Justice for Disappeared Persons
by PTI via The New Indian Express, February 25, 2019 At a well-attended gathering in Kilinochchi, the former LTTE stronghold, the protestors said they had no faith in any local probe and wanted the internationally-supervised process of accountability. COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Tamil-dominated northern province observed a complete shut down on Monday with protestors demanding justice… Read more »
ICJ: Written Statement to HRC
by International Commission of Jurists, Geneva, February 7, 2019 Full statement The ICJ has submitted a written statement on Sri Lanka to the Human Rights Council ahead of its 40th Session in Geneva. Almost ten years after Sri Lanka emerged from a period of conflict and massive human rights violations, the Government of Sri Lanka still… Read more »
NE Civil Society Letter to HCHR
by North East civil society, January 30, 2019 2019_january_tamil_mothers_to_michelle_bachelet Your Excellency, Re: Your Report to the UNHRC in March 2019 on Sri Lanka We the undersigned civil society groups, in particular from the North and East of Sri Lanka, members of war victims’ associations, other likeminded organisations and individuals concerned about the current state of… Read more »
MGR Remembered – Part 49
A Vibrant ‘Vaathiyar’ to the Illiterates by Sachi Sri Kantha, February 19, 2019 Part 48 Thomas Edison (1847-1931) was one of the pioneers in contributing to the origin of motion pictures. One of his quotes pertaining to this invention was, ‘I consider that the first mission of the motion picture is to make people happy,… Read more »
Reluctance Towards BJP Will Prevail In South
BJP’s simple majoritarian plank doesn’t work in the complex of southern India by Ramu Manivannan, ‘Outlook India,’ New Delhi, January 31, 2019 The BJP and its allies are in control of 22 states in India. This is a staggering proposition to boast vis-à-vis the Congress, notwithstanding the recent setbacks in assembly elections. Though the BJP’s… Read more »
Sri Lankan Poetry in English
Getting Beyond the Colonial Heritage by D. C. R. A. Goonetilleke, ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature, 21 : 3 , July 1990 THE CONTINUING AND growing vitality during the last three decades of Sri Lankan literature in English seems to be disproving the prophecies of gloom and doom made periodically about it. In 1964,… Read more »
ITJP: Shavendra Silva Dossier
by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa, January 29, 2019 http://www.itjpsl.com/reports/shavendra-silva Full dossier (Sangam mirror) ENGLISH தமிழ் සිංහල This is a dossier on Major General Shavendra Silva – appointed Chief of Army Staff of the Sri Lankan Army in January 2019. Shavendra Silva was arguably the most important frontline ground commander in the 2008-9… Read more »
Amnesty: Flickering Hope
Truth, Justice, Reparations & Guarantees of Non-recurrence by Amnesty International, London, January 24, 2019, Index number: ASA 37/9715/2019 In 2015, Sri Lanka co-sponsored Resolution 30/1 at the UN Human Rights Council to demonstrate the newly elected government’s commitment to break with impunity for a past marked by serious human rights violations. While the Resolution was welcomed… Read more »
HRW: “Why Can’t We Go Home?”
Military Occupation of Land in Sri Lanka by Human Rights Watch, New York, October 9, 2018 https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/10/09/why-cant-we-go-home/military-occupation-land-sri-lanka Summary On April 29, 2017, the Sri Lankan navy high command announced it would release 100 acres of land that security forces had been occupying in the Mullikulam area since 2007 to the original owners. For the displaced… Read more »
George Fernandes (1930-2019) – A Requiem
by Sachi Sri Kantha, February 1, 2019 Indian politician George Fernandes, variously tagged as ‘a socialist firebrand’, ‘fighter of lost causes’ passed into history on January 29, 2019. Many Eelam Tamils and sympathizers of the demand of Eelam Tamils were undoubtedly saddened by this news. He was a rarity among Indian politicians, and his public… Read more »
Time to Deliver Justice
For War Victims in Sri Lanka UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL’S MARCH 2019 SESSIONS By: Thambu Kanagasabai – LLM [Lond.] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The 40th Sessions of Human Rights Council is scheduled to be held in Geneva from February 22nd to March 22, 2019. This Session assumes greater importance… Read more »