by T. Sabaratnam, June 2004 Chapter 4 Original index to series Original Chapter 5 The prison massacre on Monday, July 25, 1983 that killed 35 of their colleagues made the 28 prisoners in C3 feel insecure. They felt that they would be the next target. Three of them – Panagoda Maheswaran, Paranthan Rajan and Douglas… Read more »
Monthly Archives: January 2021
Pirapaharan: Vol.2, Chap.4 Massacre of Prisoners
by T. Sabaratnam, May 31, 2004 Chapter 3 Original index to series The Talk In the last chapter, I referred to the information that my friend in the Jathika Seva Sangamaya (JSS) gave me about the final solution. I also said that at that time I did not realize the actual meaning of that phrase…. Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol. 2, Chap.3 The Final Solution
by T. Sabaratnam, May 20, 2004 Chapter 2 Original index to series I was upset when I saw flames leap up in the direction of Borella. I was deeply troubled when more tongues of flame rose threateningly in that vicinity. Was the information Piyadasa had given me coming true? Telephone calls further disturbed me. Tamils were… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol.2, Chap. 2 The Jaffna Massacre
by T. Sabaratnam, May 7, 2004 Chapter 1 Original index to series Must Put an End Shell-shocked Balthazzaar and his top men held a conference at Gurungar Camp on their return. The radio room had by this time informed Colombo about the blast and the death of 13 soldiers. Balthazaar got a call from Palaly and… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol 2, Chap. 1 Thirunelveli Attack
by T. Sabaratnam, published April 30, 2004 Introduction to Volume 2 Original index to series The Ambush Pirapaharan and his men alighted from the minibus which Sellakili parked along the crossroad that connected Point Pedro Road with Palaly Road. They walked up to the junction, in small groups of two or three, turned towards Jaffna and… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol.2, Introduction
by T. Sabaratnam, April 21, 2004 Volume One Index Original index to series Introduction In the first volume, I chronicled the birth, childhood, growth and the political environment which conditioned the thinking of Pirapaharan. His was a conservative family. His father, Velupillai, was a land development officer in the Sri Lankan government whose ambition was to… Read more »
The Many Pongals of the Tamil People
by Anuradha Srinivasan, January 12, 2021 Jewel-coloured saris and spotless white “veshtis” mingle as people bustle about in the pale grey dawn, preparing for the sunrise. Young girls and boys dressed in their best pavadais [woman’s skirt] and shirts laugh and run around gleefully. Everyone is excited to prepare a feast and welcome their honoured guest, the… Read more »
MGR Remembered – Part 59
The Risk Taker by Sachi Sri Kantha, January 4, 2021 Part 58 I provide fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan’s comments on the previous chapter Part 58, which I received by email of Nov.15, 2020. “I think the story of MGR’s angst on the insinuations is well brought out in the way the story is told… Read more »
Sri Lanka: A Nation Disintegrates
by Steven R. Weisman, The New York Times, December 13, 1987 IN AN ISLAND in a pristine lake near Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, gunmen guard the sleek new Parliament building, which a terrorist bomb ripped through last August, wounding the Prime Minister and barely missing the President. Downtown, the scattered vacant lots and… Read more »