by International Commission of Jurists, Geneva, January 19, 2017 The Sri Lankan government must deliver on the clear demand for justice from Sri Lankans nationwide by implementing the Consultation Task Force recommendations without further delay, the ICJ said today. Among these recommendations, the calls for a special court with international judges and a bar against… Read more »
GTF Calls on the SLG to Implement Recommendations of the CTF
by Global Tamil Forum, January 11, 2017 PRESS STATEMENT 11 January 2017, London Global Tamil Forum calls on the Sri Lankan Government to faithfully implement the recommendations of the Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) welcomes the recommendations of the Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms (CTF) released on January… Read more »
Amnesty: Refusing to Disappear
Tens of thousands missing, families demand answers by Amnesty International, London, January 23, 2017 Index number: ASA 37/5497/2017 As any family member searching for a missing loved one can tell you, enforced disappearance is a crime without end. Until parents, wives, siblings, and children know the truth about the fate of a missing family member,… Read more »
GSP+ forSri Lanka – Testing the EU’s Commitments
by Thambu Kanagasabai, Toronto, Canada, January 21, 2017 Under this scheme EU [European Union] grants additional tariff reductions to developing countries for imports eligible to qualify for these duty concessions. This scheme which was enjoyed by Sri Lanka until 2010 was suspended due to the ‘failure of Mahinda’s Government to address reported human rights violations… Read more »
Art Buchwald Humor Awards for 2016
by Sachi Sri Kantha, January 15, 2017 This year marks the tenth death anniversary of humorist Art Buchwald (1925-2007), which falls on January 17th. And for this occasion, I also release the list of news-making individuals in South Asia for the year 2016. Ten awards have been chosen. Unfortunately, I could choose only ten humor… Read more »
The Enlightened Theology of a Tamil Saivite
by Karthick Ram Manoharan, ‘The Wire,’ India, December 22, 2016 In Religion, Caste and Nation in South India, V. Ravi Vaithees focuses on the works of the Tamil Saivite saint Maraimalai Adigal and explores the religious roots of the Dravidian movement and its impact on the political discourse. This year has been a calamitous one… Read more »
HRW: Adopt Task Force’s Justice Proposals
Consultations Highlight Broad Accountability Concerns by Human Rights Watch, New York, January 11, 2016 Sri Lanka’s government should promptly implement recommendations on transitional justice proposed by the Consultation Task Force (CTF) in a report released on January 3, 2017, Human Rights Watch said today. The report reflects the first broad survey of Sri Lankan citizens… Read more »
UN System Owes Sri Lankan Tamils Remedial Justice
For its failures in delivering justice and to protect them during the genocidal war from 2004 to 2009 by Kumarathasan Rasingam, January 10, 2017 “In the end, it comes down to values, as was said so many times today. We want the world our children inherit to be defined by the values enshrined in the… Read more »
Germany Sued for Damages of ‘Forgotten Genocide’ in Namibia
by Reuters, New York, January 5, 2017 Descendants of the Herero and Nama people brought lawsuit for what they called a campaign of genocide by German colonial troops in the early 1900s Germany has been sued for damages in the United States by descendants of the Herero and Nama people of Namibia, for what they… Read more »
Time for a Political Solution
by Meera Srinivasan, ‘The Hindu,’ Madras, January 9, 2016 Two years after the national unity government took power on the promise of reform and change, the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe combine needs to recover the earlier momentum Two years after Sri Lankans made an emphatic point by voting for change, which President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil… Read more »
Memoriam: Dr. Alvapillai Vijayaragavan (1932-2016)
by Sachi Sri Kantha, January 6, 2017 ‘Better late than never’ has been one of my working mantras. So, I pen this memoriam to one of one of my benefactors and big fans of my writing, Dr. Alvapillai Vijayaragavan, a neurosurgeon of repute among Eelam Tamil doctors. Though a kin and living in Colombo, as… Read more »
Consultation Task Force Final Report
Final Report of the Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms Executive Summary and Recommendations Colombo, Completed November 17, 2016, Released January 4, 2017 Download at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bzl_GkvmvUNzRVBkcmh3Rnoyc2c/view Full report at http://www.scrm.gov.lk/documents-reports
What Nutmeg Can Tell Us About Nafta
by Amitav Ghosh, ‘The New York Times,’ December 30, 2016 GOA, India — For many years the word “globalization” was used as shorthand for a promised utopia of free trade powered by the world’s great centers of technological and financial innovation. But the celebratory note has worn thin. The word is now increasingly invoked to… Read more »
The Proposed Constitution
… Will It Accomodate the Just Demands of the Tamils or Abandon Them to Choose Their Own Destiny? By: Thambu Kanagasabai, January 2, 2016 Sri Lanka, the tear shaped island, according to researchers, came into existence about 7000 years ago when the island separated from the Indian sub continent while the narrow strip of shallow… Read more »
Tribute to Dr. V.C. Kulandaiswamy
Sovereignty can be Bought and Sold like a Commodity
by Stephen Presser, Aeon.co, January 2, 2017 Though it is not often thought of as a commodity, sovereignty resembles one in that it can be bought and sold. Indeed, the purchase of sovereignty was a primary vehicle of American expansion. In a series of treaties that helped create the United States of today, governments operated… Read more »
Narendra Modi’s Year of Living Dangerously
by Sanand Dhume, ‘The Wall Street Journal,’ December 29, 2016 When Narendra Modi stormed to power two-and-a-half years ago with India single-party majority in a generation, much of the world expected a vigorous economic reformer When Narendra Modi stormed to power two-and-a-half years ago with India single-party majority in a generation, much of the world… Read more »
Federalism Addresses Minority Rights: Prof. R. Sivachandran
by Kelum Bandara, ‘The Daily News,’ Colombo, December 30, 2016 Prof. R. Sivachandran, a Central Committee member of Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), in an interview with the Dailymirror by email, advocates the Federal structure of government for the North and East. The ITAK is the dominant ally of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) at… Read more »
Letter to Amb. Power
by S. Kanesathasan, February 15, 2016 This short submission highlights some unprecedented aspects of the Sri Lankan experience and makes a plea for a strong personal and early initiative by President Obama and Secretary Kerry to finally end the pernicious practice of Sri Lankan governments, including the current one, of unmet commitments made at its… Read more »
Verdict on Raviraj Murder Case
Another Travesty of Justice by M.K. Eelaventhan, December 27, 2016 The recent acquittal of six accused in the political murder trial of late MP Raviraj is not surprising. It is yet another expected verdict from the Sri Lankan judiciary. It would have been a real surprise if the accused were convicted, as in the Sri… Read more »