by Ambika Satkunanathan, Daily FT, Colombo, March 15, 2021 In Sri Lanka, historical acts of commission and omission by successive governments have led the Tamil population to believe there is little possibility they will be treated as equal citizens and included as full members of a multi-ethnic polity. Here, a poverty-stricken young mother in Jaffna… Read more »
ITJP: Death Toll in Sri Lanka’s 2009 War
by International Truth & Justice Project, South Africa, February, 2021 ITJP Death Toll in Sri Lanka‘s 2009 War NOT INCLUDING THE REPORTED DEATHS OF TENS OF THOUSANDS OF SOLDIERS, LTTE CADRES AND CIVILIANS BEFORE 2009 Tamil https://itjpsl.com/assets/press/Tamil-translation-of-ITJP_death_toll-Amended.pdf Sinhala https://itjpsl.com/assets/press/Sinhala_translation_of_ITJP_death_toll.pdf
ITJP: Geneva Briefing Notes
by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa, February 2021 TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE WORK GENEVA BRIEFING NOTES With Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, the ITJP has jointly authored 6 BRIEFING NOTES to frame the discsussion on Sri Lanka for the March 2021 session of the UN Human Rights Council. They are in English and… Read more »
Why Does India Not Have a Geneva Game-Plan?
by Kumar David, Colombo Telegraph, March 10, 2021 Why is there uncertainty, even at this late stage, about the stand India will take on the UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka’s long ended civil war and overlapping allegations that the current regime harbours authoritarian ambitions? India’s silence is both curious and significant. There are three substantive players in the… Read more »
Endless War
by Anuradha Mittal, Oakland Institute, California, March 2021 Endless War Oakland Institute March 2021 *** The Destroyed Land, Life, and Identity of the Tamil People in Sri Lanka —FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE— March 7, 2021; 10:00PM PT Media Contact: Anuradha Mittal, amittal /A_T/ oaklandinstitute /D_O_T/ org” data-extlink=””>amittal /A_T/ oaklandinstitute /D_O_T/ org(link sends e-mail); +1 510-530-5126 As the 46th… Read more »
1985 Thimpu Talks
Sinhala-Tamil conflict and the India factor by S Sivanayagam, Tamil Information Centre, London, 2000 Thimpu Talks 1985 by Sivanayagam *** zfinal_Thimbu_080900_final (sangam.org)
Keep the Promise
by Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace & Justice, London, March 2021 The promise Following a landmark international investigation, in September 2015 the United Nations released a major report on serious human rights violations committed during the final stages of the civil war and the surrounding period (2002-2011). The document, known as the ‘OISL Report’ was clear in… Read more »
Upholding or Upending Accountability & Justice
byThambu Kanagasabai LLM [London] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, March 4, 2021. The 46th Session of UNHRC now in progress has generated heated comments and discussions in Sri Lanka and elsewhere among Tamils as well as the Council is readying to pass a final Resolution against Sri Lanka after five tiring… Read more »
A Bloodied Accord
After 16 days of bloody battle, IPKF finally captures LTTE stronghold Jaffna After 16 days of bloody battle, the Indians finally captured Jaffna, the stronghold of the Tigers. But the losses have been heavy and could mount further. A report on the conflict and its implications plus exclusive eyewitness account and action pictures from Jaffna…. Read more »
In the Tiger’s Den
‘Any one of our Tiger cubs can take on the IPKF in man-to-man combat and defeat them’ India Today’s Shyam Tekwani was the only photographer present in the combat zone at the height of the battle for Jaffna. Having been taken into Jaffna, skirting the advancing IPKF columns, by the LTTE, Tekwani was witness to… Read more »
There are Constraints
Our immediate stress is on relief, renovation, and rehabilitation: Lt Gen Depinder Singh The overall commander of the IPKF in Sri Lanka is Lt-General Depinder Singh, 58, Masterminding Operation Pawan between Madras and Palaly, the General has so far avoided the press. by S.H. Venkatramani, India Today, November 15, 1987 UPDATED: December 13, 2013 16:29… Read more »
Sowing the Seeds of Conflict
Letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, February 18, 2021 Letter to HCHR Sowing-the-Seeds-of-Conflict Feb 18 2021 Signed by Chair of the ‘Elders’ Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland Juan Manuel Santos, the Nobel Peace Prize winning former president of Colombia All the former UN Human Rights High Commissioners since the Human… Read more »
Dr. Manorani Saravanamuttu
A dossier by Sachi Sri Kantha, February 21, 2021 The dictionary defines a dossier as ‘set of documents, esp. record of information about a person or event.’ Here, I have compiled a brief dossier on Dr. Manorani Saravanamuttu, based on materials in my files and internet search. The prime reason being, as of now, there… Read more »
Weaver 1988: The Gods & the Stars
by Mary Anne Weaver, The New York, March 21, 1988 Weaver The New Yorker 1988
Experts Dismayed by Regressive Steps
Call for renewed UN scrutiny and efforts to ensure accountability by Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, February 5, 2021 UN human rights experts have expressed their deep concern on 5 February 2021 about the reversal of important democratic gains achieved since 2015 and roll back on limited progress made on accountability,… Read more »
From Sachi’s File – Chapter 16
Usage of Slang at the Peradeniya Campus in 1980 by Sachi Sri Kantha, February 5, 2021 A Presentation at the 36th Annual Sessions of SLAAS in 1980 Forty years have passed since I made a presentation on the usage of slang by the Peradeniya University undergraduates. The occasion was at the 36th Annual Sessions of… Read more »
OHCHR: Sri Lanka on Alarming Path
Towards recurrence of grave human rights violations – UN report by UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, January 21, 2021 OHCHR Report on Sri Lanka 27 January 2021 GENEVA (27 January 2021) – A new UN report published on Wednesday warns that the failure of Sri Lanka to address past violations… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol.2, Chap.44 The Massacres Continue
by T. Sabaratnam, April 23, 2005 Chapter 43 Original index to series Original Chapter 44 [renumbered from Chapter 42] In 1985 the Jayewardene – Athulathmudali regime continued its strategy of mass arrests, torture, massacres and forced evacuations, thus strengthening the Tamil will to fight back and widening and deepening the Tamil militant groups’ recruitment base. … Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol.2, Chap.43 The Massacres
by T. Sabaratnam, April 18, 2005 Chapter 42 Original index to series Original Chapter 43 [renumbered from Chapter 41] The LTTE attacks on Kent and Dollar farms and Kokkilai and Nayaru fishing villages shook the Jayewardene government. The attacks upset its plan to establish large-scale Israeli-type militarized Sinhala settlements within the border of the Northern… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol.2, Chap.42 Operation Green Arrow
by T. Sabaratnam, April 8, 2005 Chapter 41 Original index to series Original Chapter 42 [renumbered from Chapter 40] In mid- September 1985, the ENLF told the media in Chennai that Sri Lanka had launched a military onslaught code-named Operation Green Arrow in the Trincomalee district in total violation of the ceasefire then in operation. … Read more »