To the Constitution in light of settlement of ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka by S. Dinesan, Jaffna, June 2016 Reflection on the 13th Amendment ABSTRACT Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic, multi-religion and multi-language country even though it is a unitary state. The ethnic conflict is a major issue in the era. As with many civil… Read more »
Monthly Archives: October 2019
Ignorance and Populism Puts Sri Lankan Muslims in the Crosshairs
by Farzana Haniffa, East Asia Forum, Australia, October 4, 2019 There is no locally-relevant social or communal cause that could explain the Easter Sunday 2019 attacks in Sri Lanka. Christian–Muslim relations are largely cordial. Mobilisation of Buddhists through anti-Muslim rhetoric after the war’s end in 2009 led to several incidents of anti-Muslim violence with large-scale… Read more »
Raghavan Plans to Distribute Uncultivatable Lands to Tamils
To compensate for loss of fertile lands ADB’s 2015 investment program description by TamilNet, October 3, 2019 SL Governor to Northern Province Suren Raghavan has come up with another deceptive offer to the uprooted Eezham Tamil land-owners in Mullaiththeevu. Raghavan is planning to release some plots of saline and brackish soil along the coast as… Read more »
Sri Lanka: The Untold Story, Chapter 59
Queries over Premadasa’s slaying by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 58 On May 1, 1993, President Ranasinghe Premadasa was near Sulaiman Hospital, in Messenger Street, Colombo, mixing with the crowds, busy organizing the ruling United National Party’s (UNP) May Day procession, which was proceeding towards Galle Face Green, where the… Read more »
Sri Lanka: The Untold Story, Chapter 58
Premadasa indicted by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 57 When President Chandrika Kumaratunga came to power, after putting an end to the UNP’s 17 years of rule in 1994, she launched a Special Commission of Inquiry into the assassination of Lalith Athulathmudali, which had been an election promise. On December… Read more »
Sri Lanka: The Untold Story, Chapter 57
Kittu: The LTTE legend by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 56 The modern history of Sri Lanka is not complete without a chapter on Satahasivam Krishnakumar, who was popularly called “Kittu”. He is considered a hero and more than a legend by Tamils all over the world. He was a… Read more »
Sri Lanka: The Untold Story, Chapter 56
The execution of Mahattya by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 55 Mahendrarajah, alias Mahattaya, joined the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 1978. He was born in 1956, but unlike most of the LTTE leaders he was not from Valvetiturai, but from Point Pedro East. He was educated at… Read more »
Sri Lanka: The Untold Story, Chapter 55
The murder of Athulathmudali by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 54 In the 1989 presidential elections, Lalith Athulathmudali, who was then the Minister for National Security, Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa and the Minister for Mahaveli Development, Gamini Dissanayake, were widely believed to be the contenders for nomination from the ruling… Read more »
Sri Lanka: The Untold Story, Chapter 54
More peace talks by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 53 In 1990, President Ranasinghe Premadasa negotiated with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for a peaceful settlement of the ethnic conflict tearing the island apart, but the Tamil militants reneged during the negotiations and launched the second Eelam war… Read more »
Sri Lanka: The Untold Story, Chapter 53
The Kilaly Massacre by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 52 General Denzil Kobbekaduwa and nine other Sri Lankan security service personnel being killed in Araly Point Kayts on August 8, 1992, prematurely halting an impending onslaught on Jaffna peninsula, burst opened the floodgates of violent activities, both by the Government… Read more »
Sri Lanka: The Untold Story, Chapter 52
President blamed for assassinations by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 51 From June 11, 1990, when the second Eelam war flared up, Sri Lanka was turned into a killing field. Death and destruction became the order of the day. On the one side, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of… Read more »
Sri Lanka: The Untold Story, Chapter 51
Commission fails to contact the LTTE by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 50 The question has been raised as to why the Presidential Commission charged with the inquiry into the assassination of Lieutenant-General Denzil Kobbekaduwa and nine others at Araly, Kayts, on August 8, 1992 failed to contact the Liberation… Read more »
Sri Lanka: The Untold Story, Chapter 50
Death of a military hero by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 49 When President Ranatunge Premadasa formed his new government in September 1989, it was expected that either Lalith Athulathmudali or Gamini Dissanayake, one of the two United National Party (UNP) stalwarts, would be made the new Prime Minister. But,… Read more »
Sri Lanka: The Untold Story, Chapter 49
No confidence in the president by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 48 The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), though they were isolated and hunted down in India, after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, they were the determining force of the political agenda in Sri Lanka. “As a consequence of… Read more »
Sri Lanka: The Untold Story, Chapter 48
Gandhi’s murder: Widespread fallout by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 47 The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi reverberated beyond the national borders of India. Brutal deaths in the Nehru family were becoming all too regular. Sanjay Gandhi had died in a plane crash, Rajiv’s mother Indira Gandhi had been gunned down…. Read more »
Sri Lanka: The Untold Story, Chapter 47
Questions over Gandhi’s killing by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 46 When Rajiv Gandhi was murdered on May 21, 1991, he was 46 years old. He was born on August 20, l944 and brought up in the Nehru Gandhi family of freedom fighters, great leaders and statesmen. Indira Gandhi, the… Read more »
ITJP: The Sri Lankan Navy
A Collective Blind Eye by International Truth and Justice Project, South Africa, October 20192019 http://www.itjpsl.com/reports/thenavy-a-collective-blind-eye ITJP_navy_reportfinal-2-SINGLES This report on the Sri Lankan Navy’s alleged involvement in torture and enforced disappearances compares documents from a decade-long police investigation inside Sri Lanka into the disappearance of 11 men in the Trincomalee naval base, with eyewitness testimony from survivors and… Read more »
ICG: After Sri Lanka’s Easter Bombings
Reducing Risks of Future Violence The devastating ISIS-inspired attacks last Easter targeting Sri Lanka’s Christians have triggered a dangerous backlash against the country’s Muslims. Colombo urgently needs to correct the intelligence failures that led to the Easter attacks and curb discriminatory practices and policies that further harm innocent Muslim communities. What’s new? Easter Sunday’s bombings produced… Read more »
Presidential Election 2019
Its relevance and worthiness for Tamils By: Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [Lond.] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka The seventh Presidential election is due to be held on November 16, 2019. The presidential system was introduced by Late J. R. Jayawardena in 1978 with the passing of a new constitution. An executive style… Read more »
1983 Slaughter of Welikada Prisoners
Slaughter of Tamil Prisoners inside High Security Jail & Genocide of Tamils in July 1983 by Kumarathasan Rasingam – Secretary, Tamil Canadian Elders for Human Rights Org. Post independence Sri Lanka brought in several official dispositions that gave preference to the Sinhalese majority. The Sinhala Only Act introduced by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)… Read more »