by Charles O. (Cob) Blaha, JustSecurity, June 10, 2024 [It has been something of a mystery why the US military has been able to cooperate with the Sri Lankan military despite the Sri Lankan’s war crimes and worse since the US supposedly has laws requiring rigorous vetting before such cooperation. The article perhaps has some… Read more »
Review: Displacement among Sri Lankan Tamil Migrants
by Giorgia Donà, International Migration Review, Vol. 57, Issue 3, September 2023, pages 869-1321 Chattoraj Diotima. 2022. Displacement among Sri Lankan Tamil Migrants: The Diasporic Search for Home in the Aftermath of War. Singapore: Springer Nature. 180 pp., Hardcover, 120 USD. SpringerLink Forced displacement has resulted in the loss of homes for millions of people across the… Read more »
Reflecting on Sri Lanka in the Shadow of Palestine
A Hierarchy of Grief and the Politics of Mourning by Tania Perera & Asha L. Abeyasekera, Polity.lk, Colombo, May 20, 2024 On 18 May, Sri Lanka marked the 15th anniversary of the end of war. In 2009, many Sinhala people in the South took to the streets to spontaneously celebrate what they imagined as a… Read more »
Ranil’s Election Fright & The TNA’s Election Strategy
by Rajan Philips, Colombo Telegraph, June 8, 2024 It is tempting to ask if Ranil Wickremesinghe can electorally survive the referendum fast one that he got his cop-turned politico Party Secretary to pull on his behalf. Will Mr. Wickremesinghe even contest? Might his effervescent mind think of another pre-election ploy? Such as a special referendum to consult… Read more »
M.K. Eelavethan Dies In Canada Aged 90
by DBS Jeyaraj, Nakkeran, Canada, May 4, 2024 Colombo, May 3: The protracted struggle by Sri Lankan Tamils to achieve justice and equality in the Island has brought into prominence several colourful and controversial personalities. Among such persons was a Tamil Nationalist political activist who adopted the nom de plume“Eelaventhan”meaning King of Eelam. Eelaventhan whose… Read more »
M.K. Eelaventhan (1932-2024) – An Appreciation
Part 1 by Sachi Sri Kantha, June 14, 2024 I was saddened to hear the death of M.K. Eelaventhan, at the age of 91 on April 28, 2024 in Canada. Born on Sept 14, 1932, he was 20 years older than me. I became acquainted with him in 1976 (see below, my diary entries, from… Read more »
Tussle Over Giving Lankan Tamils Devolution
Of power under the 13th. Amendment By Veeragathy Thanabalasingham, NewsIn.Asia, Colombo, June 13, 2024 Colombo, June 13: Many amendments have been brought to the Sri Lankan constitution in more than four and a half decades which were detrimental to democratic governance. But there has been no major controversy about them. But the 13th Amendment (13… Read more »
$29 Trillion Debt
That’s how much debt emerging nations are facing A decades-long crisis is getting worse, and now dozens of nations are spending more on interest payments than on health care or education. by Patricia Cohen, The New York Times, June 14, 2024 The Vatican’s meeting on the global debt crisis last week was not quite as celebrity-studded as… Read more »
Tribunal: ‘Horrified’ by Plight of SL’s Plantation Workers
Their wages remain far below the living wage required in the context of Sri Lanka’s current costs of living, following hyperinflation during the crisis, a recent study found by Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu, Chennai, June 12, 2024 An international tribunal of former judges from the region said it was “horrified by the stark realities” of… Read more »
Like Sri Lanka Once Did, Israel has Turned ‘Safe Zones’ into Killing Fields
But there is one important difference between the two cases: The genocide in Gaza is not taking place in the dark. by Neve Gordon and Nicola Perugini, Al-Jazeera, Qatar, June 11, 2024 While our eyes were on Rafah’s “Block 2371” – the small area in south Gaza which the Israeli military designated as a “safe… Read more »
India’s Modi, Humbled by Voters, Faces Potent Economic Struggles
With his grip on political power weakened, the Indian prime minister is confronting the same formidable challenge — how to generate hundreds of millions of jobs. byPeter S. Goodman, The New York Times, June 7, 2024 Before the Indian election results emerged this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was widely viewed as a charismatic and popular strongman… Read more »
On the Tamil National Army (TNA)
RAW’s malformed Baby that lived for 9 months by Sachi Sri Kantha, June 10, 2024 As a chronicler of Eelam history of the 20th century, I had been highlighting issues and items that demands a record and focus. One such item was the brief existence of Tamil National Army (TNA), a malformed baby of India’s… Read more »
Tarzie Vittachi on Abrogation of B-C Pact
Excerpts from Emergency’58, The Story of the Ceylon Race Riots by Tarzie Vittachi, Andre Deutsch, 1958, courtesy TamilNation.org “The Prime Minister, Mr S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, continued with his year-long efforts to convince the people that the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact which he had made with the Federal Party a year ago, was a fool-proof solution of the… Read more »
TG: Nowhere to Hide
Tamil Guardian editorial, London, June 9, 2024 Britain’s Metropolitan Police made a significant announcement this week; only the second of its kind. A man accused of committing war crimes in Sri Lanka was arrested in South London. Though this is just a single person being investigated it sends a powerful message to those in Colombo… Read more »
TG: International Criminal Court and Beyond
Tamil Guardian editorial, London, June 2, 2024 Recent weeks have seen several senior politicians from the two leading opposition parties in the UK, reiterate the importance of ensuring Sri Lanka is referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Keir Starmer, the man widely tipped to become Britain’s next prime minister, called on the ruling government… Read more »
A View from the North
Presidential Elections by Groundviews, Colombo, May 27, 2024 For the first time, Sri Lanka’s presidential election in October will have three main contenders – President Ranil Wickremesinghe contesting under an independent symbol, the SJB represented by Sajith Premadasa and the NPP/JVP by Anura Kumara Dissanayake. There is speculation about a common Tamil candidate as well as rumours… Read more »
Burning of the Jaffna Public Library
43rd anniversary remembrance by British Tamils Forum, London, June 1, 2024 June 1st evokes the scar of the Burning of Jaffna Public Library in 1981, the irreplaceable asset of Tamil people. This calculated arsenic destruction was one of the major cultural genocides against Tamil people masterminded by Sri Lankan state to destroy historic evidence of Tamil… Read more »
Middle-aged Politics?
by Nillanthan Maha, Jaffna, June 1, 2024 [translated from the original Tamil by Google Translate, with improvements by the Editor.] A friend who is a medical professional recently asked, “If my child asks why he should not go abroad, is there any valid reason for me to tell him why you should stay in the… Read more »
Am I A Settler Too?
Reflections of a Sinhalese from Sri Lanka after Gaza by Nalin Jayathunga, Polity.lk, Colombo, April 29, 2024 Mapping temporal and spatial lines between the past and the present, this reflection draws parallels between the Palestinian genocide and the Tamil genocide. It is premised on my moral conundrum of protesting the genocide currently unfolding in Gaza,… Read more »
Second Arrest inn UK’s Sri Lanka War Crimes Investigation
Police appeal for information by uknip427 (UK News in Pictures, June 5, 2024 Counter Terrorism detectives investigating allegations of war crimes linked to the Sri Lankan civil war in the early 2000s are appealing for anyone who might have information that could assist their investigation to contact police. The appeal comes after a second UK-based… Read more »