Tamil Guardian editorial, March 24, 2019 For almost a decade, Tamil victims have looked to the UN Human Rights Council in their pursuit of justice. However, after years of resolutions followed by an extension, alongside lack of any progress on accountability, events at Geneva this week brought another deep disappointment. A day after the Sri Lankan government… Read more »
State Response to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as an Illicit Power Structure
by Thomas A. Marks and Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Tej Pratap Singh Brar, PRISM, National Defense University, Washington, DC, May 24, 2016 CHAP_9 Sri Lanka https://cco.ndu.edu/Publications/Publication-View/Article/780214/chapter-9-sri-lanka-state-response-to-the-liberation-tigers-of-tamil-eelam-as-a/ … Lessons in an Era of Illicit Power Structures It is challenging, after the short breathing space of five years, to draw lessons from this most vexing case of an… Read more »
Brother of Sri Lanka Ex-president Sued over Alleged Torture and Killings
Gotabaya Rajapaksa was defence secretary in last years of war against Tamil Tigers by Michael Safi, The Guardian, UK, April 9, 2019 The brother of the former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa is being sued in a US court over alleged extrajudicial killing and torture, by the same lawyers who successfully brought a civil suit… Read more »
ITJP: Civil Case Filed in the US against Sri Lankan Presidential Hopeful Gotabaya Rajapaksa
by International Truth & Justice Project, South Africa, 8 April 2019 Press Release: Civil case filed in the US against Sri Lankan presidential hopeful Gotabaya Rajapaksa. ITJP Gotabaya case Press Release Johannesburg: The ITJP and the US law firm Hausfeld have filed a civil damages case in Califonia against former Sri Lankan defence secretary, Gotabaya… Read more »
Col. Karuna of Pre-March 2004 Period: Where are You Now?
by Sachi Sri Kantha, April 6, 2019 Calling the then Col. Karuna (of the LTTE, pre 2004 period) – aka Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan. Where are you now? Do you remember an almost 800 word puff piece written by a BBC correspondent, in March 2004 that received world-wide currency. [See below, for a transcript of this report… Read more »
The Geopolitics of Sri Lanka’s Transitional Justice
Western countries are less interested in pressuring Sri Lanka now that Rajapaksa is no longer in charge. by Ana Pararajasingham, ‘The Diplomat,’ Tokyo, April 03, 2019 On March 21, at the 40th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Sri Lanka was granted another two-year extension to implement Resolution 30/1, “Promoting reconciliation, accountability… Read more »
The Shipping Technology of Cholas
by K V Ramakrishna Rao, Proceedings of the South Indian History Congress, Rajapalayam, India, 2007, pp.326-345. ark:/13960/t7mq2mb83 The Shipping Technology of Cholas 2007 https://archive.org/details/TheShippingTechnologyOfCholas Introduction: Of late, some researchers1 have started throwing doubt on the overseas expedition of Rajaraja Chola through Rajendra Chola on the plea that the Parasasti / Meikkirti could have been written… Read more »
Sri Lanka: The Untold Story, Chapter 2
Beginnings of British Rule [This history series by K T Rajasingham is no longer available on the Asia Times website, so the links provided at https://www.sangam.org/ANALYSIS/AsiaTimes.htm are no longer active. As time permits, we will be re-posting this series, along with that by T. Sabaratnam, which has some chapters missing. Sachi Sri Kantha’s biographical series is available… Read more »
AI: Release Lists of the Forcibly Disappeared
Sri Lanka: Release lists of the forcibly disappeared by Amnesty International , London, 18 May 2018 On the ninth anniversary of the end of the war, Amnesty International calls on the government of Sri Lanka to provide information to the families of the disappeared, with detailed lists and information of persons who surrendered to the… Read more »
SLCPJ: Another UN Human Rights Council Resolution on Sri Lanka: An Explainer
by Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace & Justice, London, March 29, 2019 Been following recent developments on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council but unsure of what it all means? In this explainer, we try to answer some of the key questions. I gather something important happened in Geneva last week. What’s it… Read more »
What Sri Lanka’s 2019 Budget Tells Us About Its Economic Health
by Umesh Moramudali, ‘The Diplomat,’ Tokyo, March 27, 2019 In the aftermath of political turmoil, Sri Lanka’s government will be hard-pressed to manage debt and growth in 2019. Following one of the most dramatic political crises in the recent history of South Asia, Sri Lanka’s government budget for 2019 was approved by the majority of the parliament… Read more »
Extending the Woes of Tamils
And evasion of accountability and justice by Sri Lanka by Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [London] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, April 1, 2019 At the much awaited 40th Session of the UNHRC, the Commissioner Her Excellency Michelle Bachelet released her Report on March 03 2019 and then made her oral statement on March… Read more »
Tanthai Chelvanayagam Remembrance
by M K Eelaventhan, March 26, 2019 M.K. Eelaventhan spoke at the Mullivaikal May 18th Remembrance Day at Queens Park, Toronto, Canada: Tamils’ freedom struggles have undergone three stages of development. First thirty years was unarmed struggle headed by Thanthai Chelvanayagam, the venerated leader of the Tamils. But the Sinhala fanatics refused to give a… Read more »
Sri Lanka:The Untold Story, Chapter 1
[This history series by K T Rajasingham is no longer available on the Asia Times website, so the links provided at https://www.sangam.org/ANALYSIS/AsiaTimes.htm are no longer active. As time permits, we will be re-posting this series, along with that by T. Sabaratnam, which has some chapters missing. Sachi Sri Kantha’s biographical series is available at https://www.sangam.org/PIRABAKARAN/index.htm… Read more »
United Nations Must Recognize Tamils’ Right To Self-Determination
By Kumarathasan Rasingam, March 29, 2019 Tamils demand the Right to Self-Determination as Tamils in Sri Lanka qualify as a People and Nation When the United Nations was created after World War II, one of the main purposes of the United Nations was spelt out in Article 1 [2] of the Charter, which states ‘To… Read more »
Losing Santhia, Part Four
Tiger power by Ben Hiller, ‘Red Flag,’ Australia, March 28, 2019 Santhia of died of kidney failure in a Jakarta hospital in October 2017. She was only 42. Years earlier, she and her infant son fled Sri Lanka to Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. They tried to reach Australia, but were stranded in… Read more »
Losing Santhia, Part Three
Exodus from Jaffna, war in the Vanni by Ben Hiller, ‘Red Flag,’ Australia, September 23, 2018 Santhia, a former high-ranking member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, died in a Jakarta hospital in October last year. She was only 42. Almost a decade earlier, she fled Sri Lanka, via Tamil Nadu, India, with her… Read more »
MGR Remembered – Part 50
Teaching with Songs by Sachi Sri Kantha, March 28, 2019 Part 49 Meaningful Songs as a Teaching Instrument Since talkies came into existence, it had been the cultural tradition in Indian movies that songs and singing became an essential component for education and entertainment. Almost all the first generation lead actors (men and women) including… Read more »
India’s Statement at UNHRC
Statement by India at the 40th Session of the Human Rights Council (25 February – 22 March 2019) under Agenda Item 2: Interactive Dialogue with the OHCHR report on Sri Lanka, delivered by Ambassador Rajiv K. Chander, Permanent Representative of India [20 March 2019, Geneva] Mr. President We thank the High Commissioner for the report… Read more »
TNA Demands Inclusion of Foreign Judges in War Crimes Investigation
by AFP in The Hindu, March 22, 2019 ‘The state of Sri Lanka cannot be an independent arbiter’ Sri Lanka’s Tamil National Alliance (TNA) demanded on Friday that foreign judges be included in a special court to investigate war crimes, a day after the UN again granted Colombo more time for a much-delayed probe. With… Read more »