by A.Nillanthan, March 25, 2023 In the North, more than three statues have been opened in the last one week alone. Along with Nataraja statue, Valluvar statue, Sangliyan statue, there is a bell obelisk in Tirunelveli market. We looked at the politics behind these idols in last week’s article.The religious politics behind these idols should… Read more »
Monthly Archives: March 2023
Analyzing Patterns of Violence in Colombia Using More than 100 Databases
by Valentina Rozo Ángel, Human Rights Data Analysis Group, California, US, September 20, 2022 In 2016, the Colombian Government and the guerrilla group “Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP)” arrived at a peace agreement, which included the creation of the Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence and Non-repetition (Truth Commission;… Read more »
Interview with Shankari Chandran
“‘Song of the Sun God’ is a novel that interrogates the injustices faced by the Tamil people” by Krishna Selvaseelan, Tamil Guardian, London, March 20, 2023 I will begin this piece with a confession. In times of emotional distress and crisis, I often watch YouTube clips of the 1991 film ‘Thalapathi’, a film which is… Read more »
IMF-supported EFF program Press Briefing for Sri Lanka
by International Monetary Fund, Washington, DC, March 21, 2023 Video of press briefing at IMF Videos – Press Briefing on the IMF Executive Board Approval of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) Arrangement for Sri Lanka Staff country report, March 20, 2023 T R A N S C R I P T MS. YAN: Thank you… Read more »
Canadian MP Gary Anandasangaree on IMF Bailout of Sri Lanka
by Liberal MP Gary Anandasangaree, Ottawa, Canada, March 21, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/live/bVp5wnT83mo?feature=share On Parliament Hill, Liberal MP Gary Anandasangaree discusses the International Monetary Fund’s bailout program for Sri Lanka to help bolster the country’s struggling economy. He is joined by Ahrabi Rajkumar (advocacy lead for People for Equality and Relief in Sri Lanka), Madura Rasaratnam (associate… Read more »
British Mercenary’s £4M Fortune Revealed
A former SAS commander whose mercenary business in Sri Lanka is under investigation for war crimes has left millions of pounds in his will. by Phil Miller, Declassified UK, March 14, 2023 One of Britain’s most rapacious mercenaries amassed a fortune worth £4m before his death in 2008, an investigation by Declassified UK has found. The soldier… Read more »
Defeat in Ananthapuram Battle Denoted the LTTE’s End
by DBS Jeyaraj, Daily Mirror, Colombo, March 11, 2023 Defeat in Ananthapuram Battle 2009 Many battles were fought during the long war between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Among these was the five-day battle fought at Ananthapuram in the Mullaitheevu District from March 31 to April 4,… Read more »
Civil Society: Stop Intimidating the Judiciary
by Civil Society in Colombo, March 202, 2023 Stop Intimidating Judiciary by Civil Society March 20 2023
Sinhala-Buddhism & The Nation State Of Sri Lanka
by Lucian Arulpragasam, Colombo Telegraph, March 15, 2023 Lucian Arulpragasam Our Genetic Commonalities It has been proved by DNA studies conducted by Professor Kamani Thennekoon and others (cited in her article dated Feb. 2019 in The Island) that: “Most DNA studies comparing both the Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamils show no large genetic difference, suggesting that both populations… Read more »
MGR Remembered – Part 70
On Kalai Arasi (1963; Queen of Arts): an experimental and space fiction movie by Sachi Sri Kantha, March 18, 2023 Fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan’s observations, on Part 69, received on Jan 13th , was as follows: “Read part 69. My humble thanks for mentioning my reaching and befriending you among the notable events. These sentiments, as… Read more »
IMF Approves Sri Lanka’s $2.9bn Bailout
by Agence-France Press in The Guardian, UK, March 20, 2023 President vows to get economy back on track through ‘prudent fiscal management and ambitious reform agenda’ The International Monetary Fund has approved Sri Lanka’s request for a $2.9bn bailout, raising hopes for an easing of its economic crisis. The IMF’s board confirmed it had signed… Read more »
The Politics Behind the CIA Controversy in Sri Lanka
by A. Jathindra, Eurasia Review, USA, March 16, 2023 Blaming foreign conspiracies engineered by the CIA, RAW and MI6 is commonplace in local politics. The nationalists in the Sinhala and Tamil camps invoke this trite trick when they find themselves with something of a hot potato. On Feb 22, former SLPP mouthpiece and leader of… Read more »
The Elusive Political Solution in Sri Lanka
by Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu, Chennai, India, March 9, 2023, undated March 10 Early February, a group of saffron-clad Buddhist monks gathered near the Sri Lankan Parliament and burnt a copy of the 13th Amendment. They were registering their rage and protest after President Ranil Wickremesinghe vowed to implement the law in full. He had… Read more »
HRW: Recurring Nightmare – State Responsibility for “Disappearances” and Abductions in Sri Lanka 2008
by Human Rights Watch, New York, March 8, 2008 HRW Recurring Nightmare-Full_Report srilanka0308cases This report was originally posted with links to HRW, but those links are being moved, so the report is being reposted here. The current link is Recurring Nightmare: State Responsibility for “Disappearances” and Abductions in Sri Lanka | HRW See HRW statement… Read more »
Overseas Temples & Tamil Migratory Space
by Pierre-Yves Trouillet, South Asia Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 2012 Abstract Temples have been places of major importance for Tamil societies for more than fifteen centuries. Following the migration of Tamilians from South India, the perpetuation overseas of their tradition as temple builders and the creation of a Tamil diaspora, they can now be found on the… Read more »
Author A. Muttulingam
by Tamil Wiki, accessed March 7, 2023 A. Muttulingam (January 19, 1937) is one of the pre-eminent writers in modern Tamil literature. His contributions, which include short stories, essays, interviews and novels, are characterized by humour, aesthetic appeal and perfection in form. Born in Sri Lanka, he is a storyteller who travelled the world on… Read more »
HCHR on Sri Lanka
by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, UN Human Rights Council, Geneva, March 7, 2023 Global update: High Commissioner outlines concerns in over 40 countries In Sri Lanka, debilitating debt, and economic crisis, have sharply restricted people’s access to fundamental economic and social rights. Recovery policies will need to redress inequalities, and invest in social… Read more »
Court Orders Army to Produce Three Former LTTE Cadres who Surrendered in Mullaitivu
by Sunday Times, Colombo, March 5, 2023 The Sri Lanka Army has been ordered to produce in court before March 22 three former LTTE cadres who had surrendered to the Mullaitivu army camp in the last stages of the war in May 2009. The order was delivered by the High Court of Vavuniya following three… Read more »
Army Bigwigs Have Made Shameful Attempts to Bury the Truth
by Vellupillai Thangavelu, Colombo Telegraph, March 1, 2023 The quote “Wheels of justice grind slow but grind fine” is credited to Sun Tzu, the author of The Art of War, an influential work of military strategy, But in Sri Lanka this quote should be taken with a pinch of salt. Cases filed in courts gets… Read more »
A Soldier’s Dream
by A. Nillanthan, March 4, 2023 [translated from the original Tamil by Google Translate, with some improvement by the Editor.] The soldier said on the last day that Buddha had appeared in a dream to him in a army camp in Nilavara on the island of Sri Lanka. As Rauf Hakeem once said, the statues… Read more »