And failing Tamil political leaders by Thambu Kanagasabai: LLM [London] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, September 21, 2020 There is no denying of the fact that the Tamils in Sri Lanka have been at the receiving end by the successive Governments in power and targeted in the agenda of GENOCIDE including structural GENOCIDE… Read more »
Joint Statement by United Nations Secretary-General, Government of Sri Lanka May 2009
by UN Department of Public Information, News and Media Division, New York, May 26, 2009 SG/2151 Following is the joint statement by the Government of Sri Lanka and the United Nations at the conclusion of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s visit to Sri Lanka on 23 May: At the invitation of Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of Sri… Read more »
UNHRC Session 45
High Commissioner for Human Rights opening statement, September 14, 2020 In Sri Lanka, I am troubled that the new Government is swiftly reneging on its commitments to the Human Rights Council since it withdrew its support for resolution 30/1. Among other developments, the proposed 20th amendment to the Constitution may negatively impact on the independence… Read more »
Lyricist Maruthakasi’s Autobiographical Notes
An English translation by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 15, 2020 Front Note by Sachi Last year, I contributed a short memorial item on Aiyamperumal Maruthakasi (1920-1989), famed Tamil lyricist. on his 30th death anniversary. I had provided my English translations to three of his immortal movie lyrics. https://sangam.org/remembering-aiyamperumal-maruthakasi-1920-1989/ This year marks Maruthakasi’s birth centenary…. Read more »
Return of Executive Presidency
Threatens to undermine Sri Lanka’s pact with minorities The Tamil people opposed the Executive Presidency both for its centralisation of power and also for its corrupting influence on democracy. by M A Sumanthiran , Indian Express, New Delhi, September 14, 2020 9:04:46 am There is no doubt that the 20th Amendment to the Constitution Bill… Read more »
Tale of a Tiger
Facets of LTTE Chief Prabhakaran’s life by DBS Jeyaraj, Daily FT, Colombo, May 13, 2020 The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed 11 years ago in combat with the armed forces of Sri Lanka on 19 May 2009. The longest war in South Asia came to an end after the… Read more »
MGR Remembered – Part 57
Expulsion from DMK by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 27, 2020 Part 56 I provide the exchange I had with friend and fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan. In his email of June 24th, he had noted, “Dear Sachi, Read chapter 56 with interest and could imagine why this must have been difficult without all the source… Read more »
A Trilingual Slab Installed in Sri Lanka by Admiral Zheng He
by R Shanmugananthan, August 28, 2020 TRILINGUAL-INSCRIPTION Admiral Zheng He made seven expeditions in the Indian Ocean. In Sri Lanka he set up a Trilingual slab (stele) with inscriptions in Devinuwara in circa 1409 CE. It was found in Galle in 1911 by a British Engineer. The Asian Voyage: In the Wake of… Read more »
Pres. Gotabaya’s Forward March towards an Exclusive Sinhala-Buddhist State
by Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [London] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, September 3, 2020 President Gotabaya’s throne speech on August 20, 2020 as expected does not spring any surprise or disappointments to the minorities particularly Tamils as it is a frank and forthright speech which is crowning Buddhism and Sinhalese and expressing… Read more »
Tamils Have Not Abandoned Human Rights for Economic Development
Sri Lanka’s ethnic minority remains committed to both, but not one at the expense of the other by By J. S. Tissainayagam, The Diplomat, Washington, DC, August 24, 2020 Sri Lanka’s August 5 parliamentary election results are being interpreted by some as an indication that the Tamils of the country are moving away from regional Tamil-nationalist parties… Read more »
Statements re International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances
Association for Relatives of the Enforced Disappearance North & Eastern Province Date 30.08.2020 Hon Ms. Michelle Bachelet Jeria, The High Commissioner Human Rights commission, Geneva Justice for the families that are suffering from enforced disappearance in the North and East of Sri Lanka. Today 30 August is the International Day of the Victims of Enforced… Read more »
The Challenges Facing Sambanthan and the TNA
by Harim Pieris, The Island, Colombo, August 26, 2020 The recent election results reveal interesting changes in Tamil politics in Sri Lanka. The predominant representative of the Tamil people, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which contest elections under its largest constituent party, the Illankai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), saw its share of the national vote… Read more »
Space & Movement in the Sri Lankan Conflict
by Oivind Fuglerud, 2004 Space_and_movement_in_the_Sri_Lankan_conflict Concluding Remarks In approaching the different responses to the engulfing violence above I avoided framing this question in terms of ‘migration choice’. From an anthropologist’s point of view the application of choice models in migration research has provided limited insights. We should, I believe, in analyses of displacement and migration… Read more »
First Speeches in Parliament
Mr. CV Wigneswaran delivers his maiden speech in parliament. Gajan Ponnambalam gives his introductory speech.
In Sri Lanka, a People Living Off Borrowed Money
by Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu, Chennai, August 22, 2020 As Sri Lanka struggles with outstanding foreign debt, rural households across the country have been living off borrowings after exhausting their savings. Meera Srinivasan reports on how those already struggling with severe economic hardships are now grappling with a pandemic-induced crisis After doing seven jobs in the last three years in and around Colombo,… Read more »
The Centrality of Devolution in Development
by Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu, Chennai, August 17, 2020 In Sri Lanka, the Tamil people’s political and economic aspirations must not be separated The outcome of Sri Lanka’s August 5 general election had few surprises. The Rajapaksa family is decisively at the country’s helm for the next five years. The fragmented political opposition is struggling to come… Read more »
State-Sponsored Pogroms Against Tamils in Sri Lanka
And the need for a referendum in Tamils’ homeland [North & East of Sri Lanka] by Kumarathasan Rasingam, August 23, 2020 It is high time and urgent need for the United Nations, UNHRC, ICC and the International Community to find remedial justice to the oppressed Tamils in Sri Lanka. The following facts prove beyond doubt… Read more »
Why India Must ‘Win Back’ Sri Lanka Before China Casts Its Spell
Will Sri Lanka follow an ‘India First’ policy with regard to its strategic security? by Ashok K Mehta, The Quint, Mumbai, August 19, 2020 The stunning results of the parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka on 5 August are likely to break the prophecy of President Junius Jayewardene – in whose term, his party United National… Read more »
Struggling Tamil Nationalism
And Tamil aspirations in Sri Lanka by Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [London] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, August 18, 2020 For the recognition of nationalism, the prerequisite are the existence of a nation, defined by J. Stalin as follows: “A nation is a historically constituted, stable community of people formed on the… Read more »
Black Tiger Day Remembrance – Part 2
Devotion of Black Tigers by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 13, 2020 Part 1 Front Note Twenty five years ago, Prof. Michael Roberts [a Sri Lankan historian cum anthropologist of Sinhalese-Burgher descent, who is currently managing the informative tuppahi blog https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/about/ in his current domicile in Australia] published a short commentary on Black Tigers, in the… Read more »