by Cherylann Mollan, BBC, London, July 27, 2025 ASI A view of an excavated site in Keeladi where archaeologists have found evidence of industrial activity The Keeladi village in India’s southern Tamil Nadu state has unearthed archeological finds that have sparked a political and historical battle. Amid coconut groves, a series of 15ft (4.5m) deep… Read more »
Monthly Archives: July 2025
How Unearthing Keeladi Became a Row over India’s Past
by Kavita Muralidharan, India Today, July 22, 2025 Divergence from the dominant north-centred history of Indian civilisation is alleged to be the reason for marginalisation of the archaeologist who led initial excavations at the Tamil Nadu site. Share In Short Archaeologist K. Amarnath Ramakrishna led key Keeladi excavations revealing early urban Tamil civilisation. His 2023… Read more »
Amnesty: Submission to the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances
by Amnesty International, London, July 21, 2025 Index Number: ASA 37/0125/2025 Amnesty Submission to the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances July 2025 INTRODUCTION Sixteen years since the war ended, thousands of victims of enforced disappearances continue to suffer as they await truth, justice, and reparation. During its nearly three-decade long internal armed conflict between 1983-2009, Sri Lankan… Read more »
Is Sri Lanka Turning the Page on Its Violent Past?
The new president has the opportunity to help the nation come to terms with its brutal civil war. by Ruth Pollard, Bloomberg News, New York, July 22, 2025 Delve into the recent crop of prize-winning Sri Lankan literature and you will find a country mired in grief. From Shehan Karunatilaka’s 2022 Booker prize-winning The Seven Moons of… Read more »
Chelliah Rajadurai Reminisces on MGR and B. Saroja Devi Visit to Ceylon in 1965
by Sachi Sri Kantha, July 19, 2025 Front Note Chelliah Rajadurai (born July 27, 1927) has been a household name since 1956, as a Federal Party MP for Batticaloa, from 1956 to 1979, and subsequently as the Minister of Regional Affairs during President J.R. Jayewardene’s tenure from 1979 till 1988. If I’m not mistaken, Mr… Read more »
The Rise and Collapse of Sri Lanka’s Right-Wing Dynasty
by The Morning Telegraph, originally in the Sri Lanka Guardian with some edits, Colombo, June 30, 2025 From D.S. Senanayake’s careful grooming of leaders to Ranil Wickremesinghe’s failure to build a new generation, this is the story of how the United National Party (UNP) went from unrivaled dominance to irrelevance. Discover how lost succession planning… Read more »
Fonseka’s Statement Puts Foreign Minister in Difficulty
by LankaWeb, Colombo, July 18, 2009 Fonseka statement July 2009 Lanka News Web A senior Foreign Ministry official told Lanka News Web that irresponsible comments made by former Army Chief General Sarath Fonseka in the past few days put Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama in a difficult spot during his visit to the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)… Read more »
Sarath Fonseka Post-War
TIME US Wants to Talk to Sri Lanka Tiger Tamer Nov 2 2009 http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1934060,00.html by Amantha Perera, TIME, November 2, 2009 To many Sri Lankans, Lieut. General Sarath Fonseka is a bit of a hero. Now the equivalent of the U.S. military’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Fonseka was the former army commander… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Quiet Reckoning with Its Past
Sixteen Years On In a world currently embroiled in multiple conflicts from Gaza to Ukraine Sri Lanka’s experience stands as a stark reminder of the consequences when power eclipses principle…When military triumph is achieved through the disregard of civilian protection, and when the shield of sovereignty is used to justify systemic abuse, the credibility of… Read more »
An Epochal Episode in the Tamil Freedom Struggle
Black July 1983 Reposting from July 10, 2006 by Dharakan, Brisbane, Australia J.R. Jayawardene said, “The more you put pressure in the north, the happier the Sinhala people will be here. Really, if I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhala people will be happy.” Early Ground Work for Genocide Burning Tamil houses, July 1983. Source:… Read more »
ATC Remembers Black July
by Australian Tamil Congress, July 2025
Explainer: Another Mass Grave and the 1990 Sampur Massacres
by Tamil Guardian, London, July 25, 2025 Tamils pay tribute to victims of the massacres earlier this year. Following the discovery of another set of human remains in Sampur this week, just metres from where at least 57 Tamil civilians were murdered by Sri Lankan government forces in July 1990, we re-examine the massacres. ‘We… Read more »
Reflections on Arrival of First Batch of July 1983 Riot Refugees
from Colombo to Jaffna by Ananth Palakidnar, Jaffna Post, July 25, 2025 From the time the land mine explosion took place on July 23, 1983, the Eelanadu regional newspaper, where I was a sub editor, became active on covering every incident in Jaffna and Colombo, as well as India’s stance with regard to the July… Read more »
42 Years Since Black July
by Veeragathy Thanabalasingham, Jaffna Post, July 2025 The fact that there is still no political solution to the ethnic problem is even more shameful than the worst ethnic violence. Forty two years have passed since the July 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom that marked a watershed in inter-ethnic relations in Sri Lanka. Beyond the horrors of more than… Read more »
From Srebrenica to Mullivaikkal
The Long Road from Grief to Justice by GEO LENS Substack, July 20, 2025 This July, the world marked the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, where over 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were massacred in July 1995. It remains Europe’s most horrifying atrocity since the Holocaust, recognised by international tribunals as genocide. But for the Tamil people of… Read more »
SSA: July 1983
by Civil Society Movement in Social Scientists Association’s ‘Polity,’ Colombo, July/August 2003 polity-vol-1.3-july-1983 Also: polity-vol-1.3-july-1983.pdf
Maison: Mass Graves of Silence
by Maison du Tamil Eelam, Paris, June 17, 2025 Maison du Tamil Eelam Mass Graves of Silence June 17 2025 Press release Sri Lanka: Mass Graves of Silence Since gaining independence, Sri Lanka has been the scene of serious, systematic human rights violations, particularly targeting a segment of its population. These abuses have left deep… Read more »
The Alfred Duraiappah Dossier – Part 3
by Sachi Sri Kantha, July 9, 2025 Prologue While in his thirties, Alfred Duraiappah (1926-1975) served as an Independent elected MP for Jaffna, from March 1960 to December 1964. A Christian Tamil by birth, in a majority Hindu constituency, Duraiappah was able to squeak through with victory margins of less than 900 votes, in multi-pronged… Read more »
From Chemmani to Geneva
Will Sri Lanka Face Its Truth? by Wimal Navaratnam, Canada, June 30, 2025 From Chemmani to Geneva Next Steps and Future Outlook With Volker Türk’s mission now completed, attention shifts to what comes next. All parties – the UN, the Sri Lankan government, Tamil representatives, and international actors – are looking ahead to ensure that… Read more »
Justice for Sri Lanka’s Genocide Against Tamils
by [unclear, although some analysis is provided by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) and the document is supported by the Ottawa Tamil Association. the Tamil Genocide Memorial, Tamil American United PAC, the Federation of Global Tamil Organizations, the Ilankai Tamil Sangam, and the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America (FeTNA)], 2024 Justice… Read more »