by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, Families of the Disappeared, Centre for Human Rights & Development and International Truth & Justice Project, June 13, 2023 ITJP Mass Graves and Failed Exhumations June 2023 This joint report examines Sri Lanka’s record of dealing with mass graves from multiple periods of conflict. All over the island,… Read more »
Monthly Archives: June 2023
Map of Buddhist Sites in NE by Cyril Mathew in 1970
Posted on Facebook by Sarawanan Komathi Nadarasa, June 10, 2023 [Translated from Tamil by Google Translate with some changes by the Editor.] Under the guise of Buddhist archaelology, a map of places to be occupied in the North and East was prepared in 1970. I don’t know how many of us know that Cyril… Read more »
Israeli Complicity in Sri Lanka War Crimes
Must be investigated by Eitay Mack, Al Jazeera, June 27, 2023 It has been more than 14 years since the civil war in Sri Lanka came to an end. Although a semblance of peace has returned to the parts of the country devastated by the 29-year conflict, its victims are yet to see justice delivered…. Read more »
Unearthing the Truth about Sri Lanka’s Mass Graves
by Groundviews, Colombo, June 25, 2023 Sri Lanka’s bloody and brutal 26 year war, which ended 14 years ago, has left many questions unanswered; one of the most important is where are the many thousands of the missing? The answer could lie in the numerous mass graves dotted across the country that hold the remains… Read more »
UN HRC53: Core Group Statement on Sri Lanka
Delivered by Rita French, UK Human Rights Ambassador, UN Human Rights Council, Geneva, June 20, 2023 Thank you, Mr President, This statement is by the Sri Lanka Core Group comprising Canada, Malawi, Montenegro, North Macedonia, the UK and the United States. We welcome Sri Lanka’s initial steps towards addressing concerns around land returns, long-term detentions… Read more »
UNHCHR Oral Update on Sri Lanka
by United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif, UN Human Rights Council, Geneva, June 21, 2023 Sri Lanka: promoting reconciliation, accountability and rights 53rd session of the Human Rights Council Oral update on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka Statement by Nada Al-Nashif United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for… Read more »
The Gospel According to the Sri Lankan (Sinhalese) Army
2022 version by Sachi Sri Kantha, June 21, 2023 This is my review of a book with a very long title -34 words! It is, ‘Prabhakaran’s Ruthless Terrorism in the guise of Liberation – Are the Sri Lankan Security Forces guilty of Genocide? – How the LTTE violated Human Rights by intentionally committing genocide –… Read more »
Kurundi: A Runway To ’56?
by Tissaranee Gunaratne, Colombo Telegraph, June 18, 2023 “Already the snow falls…” ~ Karl Kraus words in verses III In his fifth labour, Heracles cleans the Augean Stables by rerouting the rivers Alpheus and Peneus through the filthy abode of King Augeas’ divine cattle. Many believed that the Aragalaya would have a similarly cleansing effect on… Read more »
The Politics of Archaeology Spreads Discord in the North and East
by Maatram, courtesy Groundviews, Colombo, May 23, 2023 Media personnel and activists are reporting several cases of Hindu religious sites being damaged, relics removed and Buddhist statues erected in their place with the collaboration of the Department of Archaeology. Hindu kovils are being re-named as Buddhist temples. There are reports of land grabs from Tamil villagers by the military and monks… Read more »
Report of the Presidential Truth Commission on Ethnic Violence 1981-1984
by Presidential Truth Commission on Ethnic Violence 1981-1984, September 2002 Report of the Presidential Truth Commission on Ethnic Violence 1981-1984 – Report Report of the Presidential Truth Commission on Ethnic Violence 1981-1984 – Documents – A summary of the Nature and Extent of Damage suffered by Victims of Violence, PART 1 Report of the Presidential… Read more »
Batalanda Commission Report
by Commission of Inquiry into the Establishment and Maintenance of Places of Unlawful Detention and Torture Chambers at the Batalanda Housing Scheme, Colombo, 2000 Batalanda Commission Report – Book English From an introduction written by Nandana Weerarathne in March 2023 During the 1988/89 era, government forces and police were running torture camps. Also, there were… Read more »
What Happened at Maruthangeni and Its Consequences
by A. Nillanthan, June 13, 2023 [translated from the original Tamil by Google Translate with minor changes by the Editor.] The fact that the intelligence department is monitoring the political activities of the Tamil people has been a reality for the past several decades. Especially for the last 14 years, the intelligence department has been… Read more »
Pirapaharan’s First Interview
by Anita Pratap, Sunday, Calcutta, India, March 11-17, 1984 [archived at TamilNation, accessed 6/17/2023] Velupillai Pirabakaran, leader of the Liberation Tigers ofTamil Eelam, tells Anita Pratap. Q: What made you opt out of a conventional system and spearhead a liberation movement which you knew would be outlawed? A: The democratic parliamentary system, or what you refer… Read more »
Mass Graves & Failed Exhumations in Sri Lanka
by Center for Human Rights and Development (CHRD), Families of the Disappeared (FoD), Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), Colombo, International Truth & Justice Project – Sri Lanka (ITJP), South Africa, June 13, 2023 This joint report examines Sri Lanka’s record of dealing with mass graves from multiple periods of conflict. All over the… Read more »
‘Kilinochchi’
by Himali Innis, Granta, May 11, 2023 When Nisha performs the burial ceremony for AJ, her 26-year-old son, she has to imagine his body lowering into the earth. Without a body, cremation is impossible. This ceremony, instead, is a commingling of the Christian traditions practiced by Nisha’s husband Sam, and the ancient Hindu rites of… Read more »
‘Kilinochchi’: A Story of Trauma and Resilience
by Groundviews, Colombo, June 4, 2023 In Himali McInnes’ story, Kilinochchi, which is short listed to win the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for 2023, the protagonist is Nisha, a Tamil tea plucker with a turbulent past who moves to New Zealand with her white husband. Her only son AJ, whose father is Sinhalese, goes back… Read more »
65th Anniversary of May 1958 Anti-Tamil Riots in Ceylon
by Sachi Sri Kantha, June 7, 2023 [N.B. Anti-Tamil ‘riots’ in Sri Lanka are more properly called ‘pogroms,’ since they have been ‘an organized massacre of or attempt to exterminate a particular ethnic, racial or religious group.’ — Editor] In 2018, I covered the May 1958 anti-Tamil riots in Sri Lanka (then, known as Ceylon)… Read more »
UNP Leaders Who Set Jaffna on Fire in 1981
by Nandana Weerarathne, Facebook& Substack May 27, 2023 Why is it important for the present and future generations to know what happened in Jaffna from the end of May to June 8th, 1981? That is the question we asked ourselves prior to writing this book. The concealment of these atrocities from history is a significant… Read more »
Amirthalingam Speech in Parliament re 1981 Burning of Jaffna Library
by Sri Lanka Parliamentary Debates, June 9, 1981, vol.15, no.1, columns 67-92, posted on Facebook by Sivakumar Subramaniam, May 30, 2023 The speech made by then Leader of the opposition Mr A. Amirthalingam in Parliament. A verbatim transcript is provided below. Honorifics of participants have been omitted for convenience. A.Amirthalingam: Sir, I wish to place… Read more »
Sri Lanka Police Arrest Tamil Legislator Ponnambalam
by Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu, Chennai, June 7, 2023 The development comes days after two men dressed in plain clothes turned up at a meeting of Mr. Ponnambalam and members of a local sports club in Jaffna Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam being released on bail. Photo: Twitter/@TnpfOrg Sri Lanka police arrested Tamil legislator and Tamil National People’s… Read more »