USTPAC press release _NPC election_092413 In Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council vote held on Saturday, the Tamil National Alliance defeated the Sri Lanka government alliance securing firm control of the Council. Despite violence and voter intimidation with suffocating military presence, Tamils signal to chart their own destiny. WASHINGTON, Sept. 24, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — United States… Read more »
Ethirveerasingam on his Hopes for Reconciliation
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/video/2013/sep/21/sri-lanka-reconciliation-video Sri Lankan Olympian Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam on his hopes for reconciliation — video Diaspora communities can inspire peace in their country of origin, according to US resident Dr Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam, a former Olympian of Tamil heritage who coaches young athletes in Sri Lanka. Though he is sceptical of the government’s reconciliation programme, he says sport… Read more »
TNA’s Victory Statement
The democratic verdict of the people is clear. Within the framework of a united, undivided country, they want to live in security, safeguarding their self respect and dignity with adequate self-rule, to be able to fulfill their legitimate political, economic, social and cultural aspirations. The Tamil National Alliance is committed to the achievement of the… Read more »
Welcoming the Verdict of the Tamil People
Rather, the problem is more about nationalism and nationhood, about the Tamil people’s aspirations, about their need to be recognized as an equal nationality on the basis of equality and self-determination. It is a question that has to do with a deeply polarized polity, or deeply polarized polities. In broader terms, it is a question about how peoples with contrasting views about their nationhood, about their histories, can still co-exist peacefully.
Secondly, another related point that this election drives home, and one which should be openly acknowledged, is that whatever the historical facts one may adduce for or against the ‘traditional homeland’ argument of the Tamil people, the verdict of the Tamil people shows that for all practical purposes, the North, at least, is an entity which the Tamil people can consider to be their ‘traditional homeland’. There’s another phrase for that (which the TNA uses, as well as the Indo-Lanka Accord): ‘historical habitation’.
Can the TNA Scream ?
Just wanted to put down a few quick comments on the NPC election The difference in press coverage by the western media and the Indian media was in stark contrast. Indian Media was out on a limb trying to set up a different narrative than what the Tamil people were voting for Voter turn out… Read more »
Canadian Tamil Congress congratulates TNA
For Immediate Release September 22, 2013. Canadian Tamil Congress congratulates TNA and Chief Minister elect Justice C.V. Wigneswaran. The Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) congratulates the Tamil National Alliance and the Chief Minister elect Justice C.V. Wigneswaran on the impressive election victory in the Northern Provincial Council elections. Despite the intimidation by the Sri Lankan… Read more »
Anna (1909-1969)
by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 12, 2013 Book in Review Anna: The Life and Times of C.N. Annadurai, by R.Kannan, Penguin Books India Pvt.Ltd., New Delhi, 2010, 423 pp. September 15th marks the 104th birth anniversary of Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai, who was popularly known to all Tamils by the dimunitive prefix ‘Anna’. When he died… Read more »
Tamils Dominate Vote in Sri Lanka Province
But prominent opposition politicians fear those gains will evaporate without some efforts at political reconciliation with the Tamil population.
“Had we used the opportunity that came with the end of the war to reach out, one could argue the deaths were not in vain,” said Mangala Samaraweera, a member of Parliament representing the United National Party, an opposition party unaffiliated with the Tamil alliance. “But we’re back to the same old vicious circle. Are we going to kill 20,000 to 30,000 people every 25 years for the Sri Lankan state to survive? That’s what you have to ask.”
BBC: Election in 60 Seconds
On Saturday 21 September, the mainly Tamil people of the far north of Sri Lanka will get the chance to vote for an administration that was first promised to them a quarter of a century ago.The Northern Province is the only one among the island’s nine provinces that has never had its own council, and… Read more »
Tamil Voters Hope Provincial Election is Step toward Autonomy
by Associated Press in ‘The Washington Post’ Asia/Pacific section, September 20, 2013 JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — The ethnic Tamils of Sri Lanka tried to gain autonomy in their northern heartland first through three decades of protests and strikes, then through three decades of civil war. Northern cities were reduced to rubble and at least 80,000… Read more »
State Facilitated Colonization of Northern Sri Lanka
by Watchdog, ‘Groundviews.org,’ Colombo, September 19, 2013 On 25th September 2012, the Menik Farm camp in Vavuniya, which at its peak, housed close to 300,000 internally displaced persons, was officially closed down when the Government of Sri Lanka relocated the last batch of IDPs. This formally marked the closure of all post-2009 IDP camps in the… Read more »
Protracted Displacement, Urgent Solutions
by Centre for Policy Alternatives, Colombo, September 10, 2013 Significant changes have taken place in post-war Sri Lanka that have assisted the improvement in the lives of those affected by displacement and over 480,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have been able to return to their homes and communities. However, four years after the war displacement… Read more »
Assessing Local Governance in the Northern Province
While there are a few bright spots, HHR’s survey results have proven that local governance problems in the Northern Province run deep and wide; it appears that most local government bodies are failing to perform their duties.[3]
Amidst scores of charts, graphs and numbers, what comes out most clearly from this survey is the profound lack of public participation.
M Karunanidhi Bats for Referendum in Sri Lanka
M Karunanidhi bats for referendum in Sri Lanka to end woes of Tamils CHENNAI: A referendum under the aegis of the United Nations alone would give a fresh lease of life to “beleaguered” Tamils in Sri Lanka, DMK chief M Karunanidhi said here today. “Tamils all over the world earnestly expect that the UN would come forward for such… Read more »
The Northern Election And Historical Stumbling Blocks
“Why,” the monitor asked the crowd, “wouldn’t you rather vote for the party that gave you new roads and buildings, the party that could continue to develop this region?” The answer from a Tamil resident of the North was succinct. “What is the point of new roads without dignity?”
Sri Lanka Tamils Demand Army be Confined before Key Vote
The TNA said the military continued to engage in civilian activities and were clearly trying to influence the 714,000-strong mainly Tamil electorate, and support candidates of Rajapakse’s UPFA.
Establish a Syrian War Crimes Tribunal
Smith: Switch gears, Mr. President. Fight to establish Syrian war crimes court &hold both Assad and the rebels who commit egregious crimes accountable There is a non-lethal way to help ensure that Bashar al-Assad and other perpetrators of atrocities in Syria are held to account not someday far in the future but beginning now. The… Read more »
Why is Land a Fundamental Issue to the Tamils?
Image courtesy DBS Jeyaraj Introduction President Jayewardene did not like the word ‘colonisation’. Instead, he preferred the terms ‘land settlement’. But the Land Settlement Ordinance uses ‘settlement’ to mean a settlement on claims over ‘land’. Item 18 of the Provincial Councils List of the 13th Amendment, reads as follows: 18. Land, – Land, that is to say,… Read more »
TGTE: UN Rights Chief’s Visit to Sri Lanka
“The visit enabled Ms.Pillay to see militarization of Tamil civilian lives, disappearances & sexual violence against Tamil women by the army” ‘EIN PressWire’s World News,’ New York, September 7, 2013 **** Highlights of the Statement: 1) Failure of rule of law, reinforce the need for international investigation. 2) Need of the hour is international protection… Read more »
A Visual History of Guerrilla Warfare From 1775 to 2012
The Invisible Armies Insurgency Tracker presents a database of insurgencies from 1775 to 2012. It supplements the comprehensive historical narrative in Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present, by CFR Senior Fellow Max Boot. ‘Invisible Armies’ Insurgencies Tracker map & graphic http://www.cfr.org/wars-and-warfare/invisible-armies-insurgency-tracker/p29917# ————————————— … Read more »