by Sachi Sri Kantha, November 1, 2013 Part 11 One Dilemma of Biographers Few biographers begin the biography of their subjects, immediately from the date of birth. Here are some examples: Ernest Jones began his ‘Sigmund Freud: Life and Work (vol.1, 1953) with, “Sigmund Freud was born at 6:30 pm on the six of May,… Read more »
New Delhi Experiments Eezham Model ‘Counterinsurgency’ on Its Own People
Indian State now consolidates a policy that extraordinary political movements of mass basis, coming from peoples long exposed to social oppression, material deprivation, un-freedom and stark poverty in India, have to be eliminated with the deployment of an increasing number of armed forces. The more the forces are special and armed-to-the-teeth with impunity, the more… Read more »
LTTE: A Revolution in Military Affairs
LTTE: A Revolution in Military Affairs
Transnational Security and Postinsurgency Issues
From from “Issues for Engagement: Asian Perspectives in Transnational Security Challenges,” published by Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, 2010 Posted on Academia.org & only available for online reading at http://www.academia.edu/4740547/Sri_Lanka_Transnational_Security_and_Postinsurgency_Issues Key Findings • sri lanka’s quarter-century civil war may be over, but many of the underlying causes of the war continue to linger. • the international network of… Read more »
Women and Children in the North
by Watchdog, ‘Groundviews.org,’ Colombo, October 31, 2013 In September 2013, Watchdog travelled to the Vanni[1] and met with survivors of sexual violence, women’s rights activists and representatives of women’s groups. This report is based on information provided during interviews conducted with them, Human Rights organisations based in the North and Colombo and Government sources. During our… Read more »
‘Cover-up’ over Phosphorus Attack Haunts Sri Lanka Talks
A Sri Lankan army photograph taken after the last battle of the civil war in 2009 Sri Lankan Government/Reuters When Kannaki was hit by a phosphorus shell, she was six months pregnant, lying huddled in a bunker with 15 other Tamils while an artillery bombardment raged around them for hour after hour. As… Read more »
Sri Lanka: COIN or Civil War?
Ambassador (Ret.) Edward Marks, a veteran of 40 years in the Foreign Service and currently a Distinguished Senior Fellow at George Mason University, contacted Joint Force Quarterly with comments about “Understanding Sri Lanka’s Defeat of the Tamil Tigers” by Niel A. Smith, which appeared in issue 59 (4th Quarter, 2010). Ambassador Marks believes that MAJ Smith misreads the context… Read more »
A Violent Non-State Actors Reading List
About Daveed Gartenstein-Ross Visiting research fellow at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT)–The Hague; senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies; Ph.D. candidate in world politics at the Catholic University of America; etc. In the introduction to her edited volume Violent Non-State Actors in World Politics, Klejda Mulaj notes that, while political science scholarship has… Read more »
When Counterinsurgency Wins
by Ahmed S. Hashim, University of Pennsylvania Press, May, 2013 280 pages | 6 x 9 | 7 illus. Cloth 2013 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4452-6 | $59.95s | £39.00 | Add to cart Ebook Jul 2013 | ISBN 978-0-8122-0648-7 | $59.95s | £39.00 | About | Add to cart View table of contents “An in-depth, timely, and nuanced study of the… Read more »
Understanding Sri Lanka’s Defeat of the Tamil Tigers
After three decades of conflict, Sri Lanka’s government defeated the ethnic separatist insurgent group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), popularly known as the Tamil Tigers, in May 2009. The violence and brutality employed by both sides in the final years of the conflict drew significant interest from the global civilian and military communities, especially… Read more »
An Uncommon Disrespect for Human Rights
by Jack Healey, ‘The Huffington Post,’ October 31, 2013 Founder, Human Rights Actions Center The Commonwealth of Nations was established in 1949 during the decolonization process of the British Empire. Meeting biennially in various of the fifty four member states, the Commonwealth is a voluntary and equal association of nations that is theoretically bound by… Read more »
Credible Sri Lankan War Crimes Investigation on the Horizon
At the United Nations General Assembly’s (UNGA) 68th session in late September, a major stipulation was laid out by UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, Navi Pillay, in reference to the shocking slaughtering of tens of thousands of Sri Lankan Tamil civilians in the spring of 2009. Given strong evidence that Tamil civilians were killed primarily by… Read more »
General Giap and Prabhakaran
by Sachi Sri Kantha, October 28, 2013 Vo Nguyen Giap NYT article 1964 Aug 16 by Max Clos Mr. Villa Anandaram, currently residing in Canada, is a good friend of mine. Our friendship goes back to our classmate days at the Colombo Hindu College, Ratmalana, in mid 1960s. Though we disagreed (and still disagree) on… Read more »
Tamils: Need for Change
The prime consideration of the Tamils is security, which determines their very existence. Now that the conflict is ended by the war, there will be an extended period to recast relationships between the state and Tamils, the Sinhalese and Tamils, to overcome past iniquities and focus on the future.
The Tamils must have the assurance that their security won’t be compromised again on any account. While the international community is there to afford relief, it takes time to assemble and implement their directives. It needs an effective local mechanism to prevent such a development.
One clear and unambiguous way of ensuring this would be to embed a self-determination clause in the Sri Lanka constitution as a clear safeguard against any excesses or discriminatory action by the state. At the same time, there must also be safeguards to prevent it being invoked frivolously.
Tamil Nadu Assembly Passes Resolution
by Julie Mariappan, TNN, from ‘Times of India,’ October 24, 2013 video report at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Tamil-Nadu-assembly-passes-resolution-demanding-India-boycott-Commonwealth-meeting/articleshow/24650700.cms CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu legislative assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution urging the Union government to boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting slated to be held in Colombo in November. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had reportedly informed the DMK leadership recently that a decision on India’s… Read more »
Major Losses in Apparel Sector from Loss of GSP Plus
By Ashwin Hemmathagama, ‘Daily FT,’ Colombo, October 24, 2013 Our Lobby Correspondent Losing the General Scheme of Preference (GSP) Plus benefits in August 2010 has caused closure of 25 apparel factories, forcing almost 10,000 people out of work, with the total loss to the country exceeding Rs. 782 million from apparel exports, the Government revealed… Read more »
Sorry, Dr. Seermaran
by Sachi Sri Kantha, October 18, 2013 ‘Better late than never’ is one of my favorite English proverbs. Early this year, when I published my thoughts on T.L.B. Bastianpillai (1941-1978), the sadistic Tamil cop, in April, I remembered Dr. P.R. Seermaran again. He was my freshman student at the Medical Faculty, University of Peradeniya, in… Read more »
CPA: Report on Election Violence
As elaborated in the attached situation and incidents reports,militarization was and continues to be the major impediment to the enjoyment of civil, political and socio-economic rights in the province.The exercise of the franchise is no exception to this. CMEV as well asother monitors recorded a number of complaints of threat and intimidation allegedly by members of the security forces including the Civil Defence Force, Their involvement in the campaigns of ruling party candidates – four in particular were mentioned in this regard- and even intimidating presence on election day. Militarization was underscored in the remarks made by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at the end of her visit to Sri Lanka just under a month before the election – 25-31 August 2013- and as required by the March 2013 resolution on Sri Lanka in the Council, in her oral remarks to the Council just after the election. The High Commissioner expressed her grave concern that civilians who had met with her had been questioned by the military before and after their meeting with her.The extent of militarization in the daily lives of the civilian population and the political objectives it serves, attests to its embedding and institutionalization in the context in which the election campaign andpolling was held. In this respect militarization clearly undermined the integrity of the electoral process, with the overall voter turnout figure and result representing a popular backlash in defiance against it.
External Development cannot Substitute the Settling of the Basic Unresolved Issues
by the Commission of Justice and Peace of the Catholic Diocese of Jaffna, October 18, 2013, courtesy TamilNet.com, October 21, 2013 Fr_Mangalam_JPC_131018 To: His Excellency Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Spiteri, Apostolic Nuncio Apostolic Nunciature 220 Bauddhaloka Mawatha Colombo 7 Your Excellency, Greetings to your Excellency from the Commission for Justice and Peace of the Catholic… Read more »
The Good Men of India
Let me introduce the Common Indian Male, a category that deserves taxonomic recognition: committed, concerned, cautious; intellectually curious, linguistically witty; socially gregarious, endearingly awkward; quick to laugh, slow to anger. Frequently spotted in domestic circles, traveling in a family herd.