by Rajendra, August 15, 2005 Many readers will consider this poem and its sentiments in somewhat bad taste because they do not speak well of someone who has passed on. The editor is of the opinion that one must look at a life honestly and acknowledge the good and the bad. The feelings expressed in… Read more »
The Fate of Sri Lanka
by Wakeley Paul, Esq., August 15, 2005 A few teasing and troublesome questions arise from the assassination of the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister. One first wonders how a Tamil Tiger could have penetrated the highly secured area where the Foreign Minister lived, which was further secured because of the presence of a foreign embassy in… Read more »
Assassination Threatens to End Sri Lankan Cease-Fire
by Somini Sengupta, The New York Times, August 14, 2005 The government of Sri Lanka and its Tamil separatist foes traded accusations yesterday over the killing of the country’s foreign minister, with rebels denying responsibility, government officials brushing off their denials and the country’s fragile peace process falling ever deeper into crisis. The assassination late Friday… Read more »
Turkey’s Prime Minister Pledges Further Reforms for Kurds
Admits Past Mistakes by Voice of America, August 13, 2003 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled to Turkey’s troubled Kurdish region Friday where he pledged to address the Kurds’ long running grievances through further democracy and social reforms. As Amberin Zaman reports for VOA, Mr. Erdogan’s remarks are seen by some observers as signaling… Read more »
Sri Lanka Tense After Sniper Kills Kadirgamar
by Tamil Guardian, London, August 13, 2005 Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was shot by a sniper outside his home in Colombo on Friday and died in hospital after emergency surgery, raising fears for the island’s increasingly shaky ceasefire. Kadirgamar, 73, died at the National Hospital in Colombo where he had been admitted in serious… Read more »
Revisiting Mervyn de Silva
For Candid Thoughts on ‘Black July 1983’ Front Note by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 13, 2005 The horrendous events of July 1983 which scarred the bodies, minds and properties of Eelam Tamils deserve to be remembered annually. I feel, however, that it is better to re-read what one of the erudite Sinhalese journalists or our… Read more »
Behind the Headlines
by V Gunaratnam, August 12, 2005 These are my comments on the news behind the headlines quoted below from various Sri Lankan sources. Less than ten percent of Sinhalese want Norway to continue as the key facilitator of Sri Lanka peace process – survey – July 22 According to the “Social Indicator” published by the… Read more »
After 29 Years, an Aceh Peace Pact
The Aceh accord, to be signed on Monday, feels like a major gamble on the part of GAM, based on what we know from Sri Lanka. In return for giving up their quest for a separate state and disarming, GAM may or may not be able to form a local party and take part in… Read more »
Tides of War IV
On ‘Tides of War’ Much of the problem with Gourevitch’s article in ‘The New Yorker’ became clear yesterday when he hosted a discussion of Sri Lanka with Dayan Jayatilleke as his guest on [US] National Public Radio. http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/08112005 Jayatilleke had come off well in Gourevitch’s article and Grourevitch had used the Jayatilleke-coined epithet ‘Sun God’ to… Read more »
Close Encounter with a Tamil Tigress
by Nachammai Raman, Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 9, 2005 When Thamilvilly walked in to meet me, I wondered if she was some big cheese’s assistant coming to tell me my interview was canceled. In neatly pinned-up pigtails, austere pants, and a belted baggy shirt, she looked more like an intern than the deputy head of the… Read more »
Report to UN ECOSOC Subcommission on Human Rights
by Liberation, UK, August 4, 2005 UNITED NATIONS Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights Fifty-seventh session 04-08-2005 Agenda item 4 – Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Liberation welcomes the preliminary report of Sub-Commission member Mr. Marc Bossuyt on the issue of non-discrimination in Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. While still early in… Read more »
Remembering a Martyr
Who Died in the Defense of Justice by Rev B.J. Alexander, August 9, 2005 THE DISAPPEARANCE of Fr. Herbert happened on August 15, 1990. As in the cases of a multitude of disappearances in the NorthEast Tamil areas, Fr. Herbert’s remains still an unsolved mystery! Eugene John Herbert, S.J. was born in Jennings, Louisiana, USA, on October… Read more »
Sangam Members Get the Word Out
National Public Radio I listened to your coverage on Tsunami in Asia (On All Things Considered Dec 27, 2004), and about the country that was most affected by it – Sri Lanka. However, there is one big piece of the tragedy was missed by NPR. Large part of the affected are from Sri Lanka’s Tamil… Read more »
Prof. Sundaralingam Killed by Tsunami
OSU Professor, Wife Reportedly Killed By Tsunami Professor Sundaralingam received the Sangam’s Honorary Award at our Annual General Meeting this past November. — Editor Massive Waves Hit Sri Lanka’s Coast COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio State University professor and his wife were reportedly among those who died after a tsunami crashed into the coast of… Read more »
NorthEast Needs Urgent Aid
8000 Dead and 500,000 Displaced in NorthEast of the Island of Sri Lanka [TRO appeal posted on TamilNet] The Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation is engaged in rendering urgent humanitarian assistance to all those in the coastal areas of the northeast of Sri Lanka who have borne the brunt of the ‘tidal’ waves (tsunamis) caused by the strongest… Read more »
Relief Funds: Where to Contribute
All funds sent to these organizations will be used for emergency assistance for victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami in the NorthEast of Sri Lanka. Please mark your checks ‘NE Tsunami Relief.’ All are staffed by volunteers so there is no overhead taken out of the donations. All organizations are 501 (c) (3) charities registered… Read more »
Tsunami Death Toll Rises to 5000 in Sri Lanka
from TamilNet Around 5000 are dead in the Tsunami waves that hit northeastern and southern coast of Sri Lanka Sunday morning, Sri Lankan Defence Ministry sources told TamilNet. Government officials in the devastated eastern town Batticaloa said only about twenty five of more than thousand families in Navalady, a coastal suburb of Batticaloa, appear to have… Read more »
FeTNA Convention in Dallas in July
The Annual Tamil Convention 2005 of the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America Tamil Nadu Foundation North America Tamil Youth Organization will take place July 2, 3, & 4, 2005 in Dallas, Texas at the Eisemann Center Hosted by the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex Tamil Sangam Paddi Mandram, Kavi Arangam, Tamil Cinema Actors & Actresses,… Read more »
Pirapaharan 2, Chapter 30: Jaffna Police Station Attack
by T. Sabaratnam, December 24, 2004 (Volume 2) The Kokkilai attack of 13 February 1985, which Jayewardene acknowledged had changed the character of the Tamil armed struggle and had been timed to coincide with the Rajiv – Gandhi – Athulathmudali meeting, was not a total success. It failed to achieve the target Pirapaharan had set:… Read more »
All the World’s a University
by Janadas Devan, The Straits Time, Singapore, December 2004 WHEN Jawaharlal Nehru was arrested by the British in 1942, he traipsed off to prison clutching, among other things, Plato’s Republic and Marcel Proust’s A la recherche du temps perdu (in the original French, of course). This Indian freedom fighter was nothing if not inward with high European culture. He… Read more »