by Maatram, March 30, 2024 Memories of relationships…! உறவுகளின் நினைவுகள்…! நாளை மாலை 6.00 மணியிலிருந்து 7.30 வரைhttps://t.co/mzGQTR9iZX pic.twitter.com/izm2Rjk34X — Maatram (@MaatramSL) March 29, 2024 Maatram is a citizens journalism website in Tamil, based in Sri Lanka. Established in 2014. Curated by @SRajasegar
Monthly Archives: March 2024
Letter to Sec. Blinken re Eelam Tamils
by Nine members of US House of Representatives, Washington, DC, March 28, 2024 Letter to Sec. Blinken re Eelam Tamils
The Hindu Religious Heritage in Sri Lanka
Revived and Remembered by Prof. A. Sathasivam [source: Religiousness in Sri Lanka, edited by John Ross Carter, Marga Institute, Colombo, 1979, pp. 161-173.] Front Note by Sachi Sri Kantha When I was a 3rd year undergraduate at the University of Colombo, in 1974, I had the opportunity to associate with Prof. A. Sathasivam, then… Read more »
Amnesty: Digital Space Launched to Highlight Enforced Disappearances in South Asia
by Amnesty International, London, March 27, 2024 Enforced disappearance in South Asia – Amnesty International Amnesty International, along with over 20 partner organisations from South Asia, launches the first phase of an interactive digital space titled, “Footprints – Virtual Museum on Enforced Disappearances in South Asia,” today to highlight stories of those who have been… Read more »
CPA: Understanding Interconnections between Human Rights and Economic Crimes
in Sri Lanka: Exploring Issues and Potential Ways Forward by Centre for Policy Alternatives, Colombo, March 2024 Economic-Crimes-Advocacy-Report.pdf (cpalanka.org) Summary In Sri Lanka, economic crimes perpetrated by Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) have received critical attention at present, where there have been discussions on plausible interventions to address the culture of impunity and the human rights… Read more »
CPA: 32 Viharas for Kuchchaveli
by Centre for Policy Alternatives, Colombo, March 29, 2024 Over 2,500 acres of private land in Kuchchaveli allegedly seized for building 32 Buddhist temples in the region. #LandRights pic.twitter.com/h3BQ7oU5qf — Centre for Policy Alternatives Sri Lanka (@CPASL) March 29, 2024
The India Factor in Sri Lanka’s Renewable Energy Sector
by Rathindra Kuruwita, The Island, Colombo, March 7, 2024 A recent India-Sri Lanka agreement for constructing renewable energy systems in three islands off the Jaffna coast reaffirms India’s domination of the sector. On March 1, the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority, the Government of Sri Lanka, and U-Solar Clean Energy Solutions from India signed an… Read more »
Caste System in Medieval Tamil Nadu
Not Manusmriti, British—caste system in medieval Tamil Nadu solidified after Cholas fell by Anirudh Kanisetti, ThePrint.in, March 24, 2024 Middle castes reveal a complicated social history. Caste is rooted in politics, not just religion Illustration of the castes and tribes of South India | Representational image | Commons As always with India’s historical debates, the… Read more »
The Logic Behind Sri Lanka’s Arrests
Tamil Guardian editorial, London, March 24, 2024 Illustration by Keera Ratnam / @wavesofcolour After more than a week of detention, a group of eight Tamils who had been assaulted, arrested and detained without bail finally had a trumped-up case against them dismissed. The Sri Lankan police never did have any basis to hold them, a fact that even… Read more »
Enforced Disappearance Legal Database
by European Human Rights Advocacy Centre, London, March 24, 2024 Enforced Disappearance Legal Database – Enforced Disappearance Legal Database (ehrac.org.uk) The Enforced Disappearance Legal Database (EDLD) contains the leading jurisprudence, legislation and soft law on the autonomous offence of enforced disappearance as developed by human rights mechanisms around the world. The EDLD seeks to promote… Read more »
‘Transitional justice’ Which Brings No Relief to Victims Insults the Rule of Law
by Kishali Pinto-Jayawardene, The Sunday Times, Colombo, March 17, 2024 As familiar wrangling in Geneva takes place over the review of Sri Lanka by the United Nations Human Rights Council, there is an eminently sound argument to be made, (ad nauseam until the point is acknowledged) that the country’s many ineffective bodies on transitional justice… Read more »
MGR Remembered – Part 75
Chief Minister – Tangling with the Cerberus dog of the Center by Sachi Sri Kantha, March 25, 2024 Kannan’s critical comments and my response I provide MGR scholar and my pal Kannan’s critical comments on the content of Part 74 (received on Jan 20, 2024) below: “Many thanks indeed for part 74 and the three… Read more »
Modi’s Party Doesn’t Control All of India. But He’s Working on It
As an election nears, political strife between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and opposition-held states is straining the federal formula that holds India together. by Mujib Mashal and Hari Kumar, The New York Times, March 23, 2024 Reporting from Chennai and New Delhi in India Published March 23, 2024Updated March 25, 2024, 12:09 p.m. ET It is the final frontier for… Read more »
Roots of Ethnic Contestation in the Eastern Province
As in the past, the contestation is over title to the land by PK Balachandran, Daily Mirror, Colombo, October 10, 2023 Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province is again becoming a contested region between ethnic groups. This time round it is more between the Tamils and Sinhalese, with the Muslims in the periphery. This is because of the… Read more »
Stamp of Defiance and Aspiration
by Tamil Guardian, London, August 29, 2012 Stamps such as the one above were produced by Tamil protestors during the mass civil disobedience movement of February to April 1961 when Tamils across the North-East united to oppose the Sri Lankan government’s rapidly escalating ‘Sinhala Only’ policies. The protests brought the civil administration in the Tamil… Read more »
TG: Sinhala Buddhism Unleashed
Tamil Guardian editorial, London, March 17, 2024 The Sri Lankan state is on a concerted mission. Following a long history of killings and massacres, it is fervently pursuing a more insidious endeavour across the North-East, attempting to erase Eelam Tamil existence. Buddhist monuments are being purposefully constructed, whilst attempts to seize Tamil-owned land have persevered… Read more »
Tamil Tiger Fighters Killed in Sri Lanka War Buried ‘Chaotically’ in Secret Mass Grave
by Kithsiri Wijesignhe, Journalists for a Democratic Society, Europe, March 16, 2024 Latest findings from a secret burial site in Sri Lanka reveal that bodies of male and female Tamil Tiger combatants who died in war with state security forces have neither been handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for… Read more »
Thinking as a Nation in the Time of YouTubers
by Nillanthan Maha, March 16, 2024 Published by Uthayan, Jaffna, March 17, 2024 [Translated from the original Tamil, with some improvement by the Editor.] On the 9th, the police raided the Shiva shrine on Vedukunari hill. Eight people were arrested. The day after they were imprisoned, on the 10th, on the last day of the… Read more »
“Col” Karuna’s Eastern Tiger Revolt
Against LTTE 20 years ago by DBS Jeyaraj, Daily Mirror, Colombo, March 16, 2024 Karuna projected himself as the “Eastern national leader”, second only to Prabhakaran in the Tiger hierarchy Karuna kept LTTE resistance alive during the days of the IPKF. He and his former deputy Reagan led the counter offensive against the ill-fated Tamil… Read more »
Vedukkunari Hill Aathi Lingeswarar Temple
by Centre for Policy Initiatives, Colombo, accessed March 19, 2024 High atop Vedukkunaari Hill in Sri Lanka’s Vavuniya district, an ancient temple stands at the precipice of a religious and legal storm. Revered by the local Tamil community as the Vedukkunaari Aathi Lingeswarar Temple for over 3,000 years, it now finds itself embroiled in a… Read more »