Core Group statement on Sri Lanka by UK Mission to UN, Geneva, Switzerland, June 22, 2021 The Human Rights Council takes place in Geneva. This statement is on behalf of Canada, Germany, North Macedonia, Malawi, Montenegro and the UK, the Core Group on Sri Lanka. Council resolution 46/1 called upon the Sri Lankan Government to… Read more »
Lessons from the Murugappan Family
Does community support matter? by Niru Perera & Charishma Ratnam, Overland, Australia, June 21, 2021 Why is it that most politicians don’t say their names? They are referred to as ‘The Sri Lankan family’ or the ‘Tamil asylum seekers’. They are the Murugappans. The parents, Priya and Nades, are both asylum-seekers from Sri Lanka and… Read more »
‘Jagame Thandhiram’ Movie Review #2
by Natalia Winkleman, The New York Times, June 21, 2021 ‘Jagame Thandhiram’ Review: Scheme, Slaughter, Repeat An intrepid gangster maneuvers between rival crime lords in the glossy drama “Jagame Thandhiram.” The movie (on Netflix) follows Suruli (Dhanush), whose merciless killing sprees earn him an invitation to serve under a wealthy British megalomaniac. Seduced by a… Read more »
‘Jagame Thandhiram’ Movie Review
Guns, warfare, a pressing issue and a ricochet bullet by Srivatsan S, The Hindu, Chennai, India, June 18, 2021 Karthik Subbaraj’s latest wants to have a bit of everything: a drama with an ultra-cool gangster (Dhanush) at the centre, a serious political film dealing with a global issue, and a stylishly-shot bubblegum film with a… Read more »
Power, Performance, and Ethnicity in Sri Lanka
When Time Won’t Tell by Ahalya Satkunaratnam and Venuri Perera, Dance Studies Association, Wisconsin, USA, 2019 | Volume XXXIX On October 26, 2018, there was a constitutional coup in Sri Lanka whent he Executive President, Maithripala Sirisena, attempted to appoint the former President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, as his Prime Minister,thus ousting the current Prime Minister, Ranil… Read more »
Book Review: Karunanidhi – A Life, by A.S. Panneerselvan
by Sachi Sri Kantha, June 11, 2021 Penguin Random House India Pvt. Ltd, Gurgaon, Haryana, 2021, 450 pp. Prelude to the Review The dictionary defines realpolitik as ‘n. politics based on realities and material needs, rather than on morals or ideals’. Tiruvaroor Muthuvel Karunanidhi (1924-2018) was an unparalleled Indian master of realpolitik and pungent repartee… Read more »
Amnesty: Sri Lanka Struggles to Respond Effectively to COVID-19 Third Wave
by Amnesty International, London, June 10, 2021 Index number ASA 37/4262/2021 Amnesty Sri Lanka Struggles to Respond to Covid 3rd Wave ASA3742622021ENGLISH [pdf] As several countries with access to vaccines lift restrictions and seem to be coming out of the pandemic, Covid-19 continues to pose significant challenges in South Asia and beyond, and Sri Lanka… Read more »
ITJP: New Appointments in Sri Lanka Torpedo What Left of the Transitional Justice Mechanisms
by International Truth & Justice Project, South Africa, June 1, 2021 Final-OMP-RO-Press-Release Johannesburg: The appointment of the war-time police chief to the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) in Sri Lanka completes the militarisation of this transitional justice mechanism established under the previous government. The move obliterates any chance of truth and justice for the Families… Read more »
Remembering the Jaffna Public Library
“A city’s public library is the eye of the city by which the citizens are able to behold the realness of their heritage, and behold the still greater greatness of their future.” … Read more »
The Vaddukoddai Resolution of the Tamil Nation of Sri Lanka
An Appraisal on the Legal Dimensions of the Resolution by Dr. Sandrasegaram Paramalingam, May 21, 2021 ‘‘India’s approach was based on two fundamental considerations: One was the support to the ‘Tamils of Sri Lanka’ for equality, justice, dignity and peace. The other was ensuring unity, stability and the territorial integrity of ‘Sri Lanka’.” “We have… Read more »
Fears over Sri Lanka’s Rising Coronavirus cases and its Militarised response
‘We are bracing ourselves’ by Thusiyan Nandakumar, Tamil Guardian, London, May 4, 2021 Amidst a devastating wave of coronavirus in India, across the Palk Strait in Sri Lanka infections have also been rapidly rising, with newly diagnosed cases breaking records every day. Clusters are now appearing across the island, sparking fears not only of a… Read more »
Amnesty: Assessment of Outcomes of 46th Session of UNHRC
And recommendations for follow-up by Amnesty International, London, April 22, 2021 IOR4039142021ENGLISH.PDF (amnesty.org) SRI LANKA We welcome the adoption of landmark resolution 46/1 on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka, which is an important step forward and offers renewed hope of long-awaited justice for victims of the country’s 30-year civil conflict. The… Read more »
HRW: Reject ‘Political Victimization’ Findings
Government Seeks to Absolve Allies for Abuses, Prosecute Officials Pursuing Justice by Human Rights Watch, April 30, 2021 (New York) – Sri Lanka’s parliament should reject a resolution to exonerate officials implicated in human rights abuses and to prosecute police and prosecutors investigating them, Human Rights Watch said today. Adopting the resolution, brought before parliament on… Read more »
Sri Lankan Tamil Refugees in India
Conceptual Framework of Repatriation Success by Miriam George, Anita Vaillancourt, and s. Irudaya Rajan, Refuge, Vol. 36, No.3, 2016 Sri Lankan Refugees in India Repatriation Success 2016 Abstract Repatriation to Sri Lanka has become a primary challenge to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in Indian refugee camps, and a matter of significant public discussion in India… Read more »
‘Pirapaharan,’ Volume 1 & 2 by T. Sabaratnam Reposted
From the Editor Mr. T. Sabaratnam wrote a two-volume historical biography of Velupillai Pirapaharan and his time from 2002-2005 that was posted on the Sangam website. This history is of the period before the war began and of the early stages of the war. It dwells on the root causes and the background of those… Read more »
India Today 1986: ‘Profile of a Tiger
by India Today, 1986
Sri Lanka’s Muslims Face Backlash
Two Years After Easter Attacks Sri Lankan government ramps up restrictions on minority community. by Jumaina Siddiqui, Melissa Nosell, US Institute for Peace, Washington, DC, April 29, 2021 Two years after the Easter Sunday attacks that left 269 dead and injured more than 500, Sri Lanka’s Christian community is still waiting for justice while its… Read more »
Inside Camps, Outside Battlefields
Security and Survival for Tamil Women by Nimmi Gowrinathan, St Antony’s International Review, 9, no. 1 (2013): 11-32, Oxford, UK Gowrinathan Inside Camps Outside Battlefields 2013 Abstract In May of 2009, images of displaced Tamil people trapped behind the barbed wireof internment camps flashed across the world. “Everybody wanted to get out of those camps, but they… Read more »
From Sachi’s Files – Chapter 17
My Participation at the Madurai Tamil Research Conference (January 3-11, 1981) by Sachi Sri Kantha, May 1, 2021 Front Note Forty years ago, I made my first (and as of now, only) trip to India, as a Sri Lankan Tamil delegate to the 5th International Tamil Research Conference, held in Madurai, between Jan. 5 and… Read more »
Myanmar’s Ethnic Divisions Soften After Coup
‘Now We Are United’ Very much wishful thinking going on in this article!! — Editor by Hannah Beech, The New York Times, April 30, 2021 Amid the resistance to military rule, some are saying that democracy can’t flourish without respecting the minorities that have been persecuted for decades. The Myanmar military’s disinformation was crude but effective…. Read more »