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 »
Pirapaharan: Vol.2, Chap.41 Pirapa Meets Rajiv
Feedback re 1986 killing of TULF MPs Alalasuntharam and Dharmalingam from a reader: March 29, 2005 Dear Editor, In Chapter 38 the writer mentioned that the TULF MPs’ murder had been carried out by Das. This is totally untrue. Sri Sabaratnam gave the order to kill all former TULF MPs who lived in Jaffna at… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol.2, Chap.40 Deportation Emboldens JR
by T. Sabaratnam, March 24, 2005 Chapter 39 Original index to series Original Chapter 40 [renumbered from Chapter 38] India was annoyed with the Tamil groups, particularly with Balasingham. RAW, which listened to the conversations carried through the ‘hot line,’ told Bhandari and other officials that the decision to walk out was taken at the… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol.2, Chap.39 Thimpu Talks Collapse
by T. Sabaratnam, March 18, 2005 Chapter 38 Original index to series Original Chapter 39 [renumbered from Chapter 37] On 16 August 1985, the day on which Hector Jayewardene disappointed the Tamil delegation and India with his ‘new proposals’ at Thimpu, Tamil militants exploded a land mine to blow up an air force jeep speeding… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol.2, Chap.38 Thimpu – the Second Round Contd
by T. Sabaratnam, March 11, 2005 Chapter 37 Original index to series Original Chapter 38 [renumbered from Chapter 36, Part II] – The Tamil delegation did not permit the government representatives to present their proposals. The Tamils told the government delegation they wanted to raise two matters that flowed from the opening statement of Hector… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol.2, Chap.37 Thimpu – the Second Round
by T. Sabaratnam, March 4, 2005 Chapter 36 Original index to series Original Chapter 37 [renumbered from Chapter 36, Part 1] I covered the press conference at the Indian High Commission at Colombo Fort on 14 July 1985, the day after the collapse of the First Round of the Thimpu talks. That was the first… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol.2, Chap.36 Thimpu – the First Round Cont’d
by T. Sabaratnam, February 25, 2005 Chapter 35 Original index to series Original Chapter 36 [renumbered from Chapter 35, Part II] The First Round (Continued) As indicated in the previous chapter, the first day of the Thimpu Talks was devoted to the inauguration. Talks commenced on the second day, 9 July 1985. The entire morning… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol.2, Chap.35 Thimpu – the First Round
by T. Sabaratnam, February 18, 2005 Chapter 34 Original index to series Original Chapter 35 On 3 July 1985 the ENLF leaders – Pirapaharan, Sri Sabaratnam, Pathmanabha and Balakumar – and their assistants were flown in an airforce plane to Delhi and were accommodated in the five-star Hotel Ashok. RAW officials accompanied them and kept… Read more »