Pirapaharan: Vol.2, Chap.8 The Cover Up

by T. Sabaratnam, June 2004 Chapter 7 Original index to series Original Chapter 8 Finding Scapegoats  Jayewardene was disturbed by the criticism of the attacks on Tamils by many Western countries and international human rights watchers. Indira Gandhi’s telephone call on Thursday, 28 July evening upset him more. As mentioned earlier he, asked Ranil Wickremesinghe… Read more »

Pirapaharan: Vol.2, Chap.7 JR Seeks Arms

by T. Sabaratnam, June 2004 Chapter 6 Original index to series Original Chapter 7 Indian Factor President Jayewardene realized on Wednesday evening, after answering Indira Gandhi’s telephone call, that the riots had spawned unintended results. Firstly, it had, while weakening the Tamils, also weakened him and the Sinhala people, mainly by damaging their international image…. Read more »

Pirapaharan: Vol.2, Chap.6 Indira’s Telephone Call

by T. Sabaratnam, June 11, 2004 Chapter 5 Original index to series Original Chapter 6 Tamil Nadu Erupts Tamil Nadu erupted in anger on Tuesday, 26 July 1983, when news spread that atrocities had been committed on Tamils in Sri Lanka. Thousands of Tamils poured onto the streets in Chennai, Madurai and other cities denouncing… Read more »

Pirapaharan: Vol.2, Chap.5 The Second Massacre

by T. Sabaratnam, June 2004 Chapter 4 Original index to series Original Chapter 5 The prison massacre on Monday, July 25, 1983 that killed 35 of their colleagues made the 28 prisoners in C3 feel insecure. They felt that they would be the next target. Three of them – Panagoda Maheswaran, Paranthan Rajan and Douglas… Read more »

Pirapaharan: Vol.2, Chap.4 Massacre of Prisoners

by T. Sabaratnam, May 31, 2004 Chapter 3 Original index to series The Talk In the last chapter, I referred to the information that my friend in the Jathika Seva Sangamaya (JSS) gave me about the final solution. I also said that at that time I did not realize the actual meaning of that phrase…. Read more »

Pirapaharan: Vol. 2, Chap.3 The Final Solution

by T. Sabaratnam, May 20, 2004 Chapter 2 Original index to series I was upset when I saw flames leap up in the direction of Borella. I was deeply troubled when more tongues of flame rose threateningly in that vicinity. Was the information Piyadasa had given me coming true? Telephone calls further disturbed me. Tamils were… Read more »

Pirapaharan: Vol.2, Chap. 2 The Jaffna Massacre

by T. Sabaratnam, May 7, 2004 Chapter 1 Original index to series Must Put an End Shell-shocked Balthazzaar and his top men held a conference at Gurungar Camp on their return. The radio room had by this time informed Colombo about the blast and the death of 13 soldiers. Balthazaar got a call from Palaly and… Read more »

Pirapaharan: Vol 2, Chap. 1 Thirunelveli Attack

by T. Sabaratnam, published April 30, 2004 Introduction to Volume 2 Original index to series The Ambush Pirapaharan and his men alighted from the minibus which Sellakili parked along the crossroad that connected Point Pedro Road with Palaly Road. They walked up to the junction, in small groups of two or three, turned towards Jaffna and… Read more »

Pirapaharan: Vol.2, Introduction

by T. Sabaratnam, April 21, 2004 Volume One Index Original index to series Introduction In the first volume, I chronicled the birth, childhood, growth and the political environment which conditioned the thinking of Pirapaharan. His was a conservative family. His father, Velupillai, was a land development officer in the Sri Lankan government whose ambition was to… Read more »

The Many Pongals of the Tamil People

by Anuradha Srinivasan, January 12, 2021 Jewel-coloured saris and spotless white “veshtis” mingle as people bustle about in the pale grey dawn, preparing for the sunrise. Young girls and boys dressed in their best pavadais [woman’s skirt] and shirts laugh and run around gleefully. Everyone is excited to prepare a feast and welcome their honoured guest, the… Read more »

MGR Remembered – Part 59

The Risk Taker by Sachi Sri Kantha, January 4, 2021 Part 58 I provide fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan’s comments on the previous chapter Part 58, which I received by email of Nov.15, 2020. “I think the story of MGR’s angst on the insinuations is well brought out in the way the story is told… Read more »

Sri Lanka: A Nation Disintegrates

by Steven R. Weisman, The New York Times, December 13, 1987 IN AN ISLAND in a pristine lake near Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, gunmen guard the sleek new Parliament building, which a terrorist bomb ripped through last August, wounding the Prime Minister and barely missing the President. Downtown, the scattered vacant lots and… Read more »

From Sachi’s File – Chapter 15

Sexuality Studies at the Peradeniya Campus in 1980 by Sachi Sri Kantha, December 14, 2020  Presentation script for 1980 Ceylon Studies Seminar Ragging at Peredeniya 1980 Published paper Report on Sexual Aspects of Hazing at University Residence in Sri Lanka 1986 Recently while searching for details on Sri Lankan universities, I came across a Ph.D dissertation (313… Read more »

Waves Across the South

A New History of Revolution and Empire by Sujit Sivasundaram, August 2020 Sujit Sivasundaram was born and educated in Sri Lanka (in ‘Sinhala medium’ until 1992) and came to Cambridge in 1994 to study engineering and then natural sciences and history and philosophy of science. In 2012 he was awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize for… Read more »

The Disappearance of ‘Father Basketball’ in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka

Jesuit Missionaries in Post-Colonial Conflict Zones by Bernardo E. Brown, Journal of South Asian Studies, November 15, 2015 Disappearance of ‘Father Basketball’ in Batticaloa 2015 Abstract In August 1990, Father Eugene John Hebert SJ disappeared while trying to reach his home in the Sri Lankan city of Batticaloa. Caught in the midst of the turmoil… Read more »

MP Gajen Ponnambalam’s Speech in Parliament on Defence Budget

by MP Gajen Ponnambalam, Sri Lankan Parliament, December 3, 2020 2021 வரவு செலவு திட்டத்தில் பாதுகாப்பு… – கஜேந்திரகுமாரின் நண்பர்கள் (facebook.com) https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=580756212763661 https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1316233665388400&id=100010053368465&sfnsn=mo

When Big Powers Clash, the UN’s Most Powerful Body Disappears

by Thalif Deen, Inter Press Service, New York, December 4, 2020 UNITED NATIONS, Dec 4 2020 (IPS) – At the height of the Cold War back in the 1960s, a Peruvian diplomat, Dr. Victor Andres Belaunde, characterized the United Nations as a politically wobbly institution that survives only at the will– and pleasure– of the five… Read more »

Rajapaksas Seek Sinhalese Supremacy in Sri Lanka

by Salman Rafi Sheikh, Asia Times, Hong Kong, December 3, 2020 Ruling clan is pushing new form of ethnic majoritarianism to marginalize and dominate historically restive Tamil minority With Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa clan back in power, the island nation is by any measure firmly back on a path to elected authoritarianism. But the Rajapaksas aspire… Read more »

The Voice of Music – S P Balasubramanyam

by Anuradha Srinivasan, Chennai, December 6, 2020  Ezhunthu Vaa Baalu, the harmonium player called out to his friend, who was catching up on the cricket score on his radio backstage. The jovial young man took the mic with a smile and sang breezily as his friends on the harmonium and guitar wove in and out… Read more »