More pictures KEEZHPUDHUPATTU, India – The election of a new president in Sri Lanka in January ushered in renewed hopes for the return of thousands of ethnic Tamils displaced by war – and uncertainty for their children born abroad during decades of bloody conflict. Many of the children are in their twenties now and have… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Diaspora
USTPAC: Justice and Accountability Must Be Realized in Sri Lanka
Dismay on delayed Report tempered by promises for stronger outcome- says USTPAC
Hopes Rise as Rajapakse Bites the Dust
PRESIDENTIAL AMBITIONS GONE ASTRAY Rajapakse triggered the presidential election, believing he would be easily returned to power for a third term, even though he had two more years left in his 2nd term. A great believer in soothsayers, he probably relied on their advice, and the war-victory over the LTTE in 2009, to carry him… Read more »
Artful Democracy
by Nimmi Gowrinathan, ‘Outlook India,’ January 26, 2015 As the old guard in Sri Lanka was dramatically toppled in the recent presidential elections, best wishes were offered not only to the opponent, Maithripala Sirisena, but to a hopefully imminent resuscitation of a suffocated democracy. For nearly a decade, former president Rajapaksa had steadily strengthened his… Read more »
MIA: Same Government with a Different Face
New Crossroad?
If Sirisena’s promise of a new dawn is to have any meaning, this must end. The point was made yet again last week, by over a hundred war affected women and a number of women’s groups who called on the new president to prioritise demilitarisation. However, Sirisena’s assurances to the Buddhist clergy – also echoed by newly appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe – that the Tamil areas will remain under tight security, do not augur well.
The Logic of Helping the Lesser Evil
One thing is clear. For the Tamils, the upcoming elections are not about a boycott. It is about if Tamil leadership should actively endorse either of the two Sinhala nationalist candidates and campaign. The lack of strategic thinking and inability to think outside the mainstream have been the TNA leadership failures. It was evident in… Read more »
GTF Statement on Presidential Election
GTF Statement on Presidential Election – 2015 v Final Issued for immediate release PRESS STATEMENT 24 December 2014 Tamils should freely exercise their franchise at the upcoming Sri Lanka Presidential Election Global Tamil Forum (GTF) strongly urges the Tamil people in Sri Lanka to use every vote carefully during the January 8 Presidential Election. Tamil… Read more »
Honoring Father Emmanuel
Speech at event to honor Rev. Dr. Seemanpillai Joseph Emmanuel, Catholic priest and President, Global Tamil Forum, in New Jersey, USA during the Annual General Meetings of Ilankai Tamil Sangam & US Tamil Political Action Council Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen: Thank you all for coming today, to celebrate the life of service to humanity of… Read more »
Topography of Terror and Exile
Where do we carry our dead when our soil is stolen and our oceans were turned into impenetrable walls and borders? Where do we take our grief when our kovil bells are forced into silence and our mourners made illegal? Where do we sing our songs of sorrow and resilience when our lips have been… Read more »
Tamil Americans Urge Pres. Rajapaksa to Respect Sri Lanka’s Commitments to the United Nations
Today Sri Lanka’s President Rajapaksa spoke before the United Nations General Assembly on the status and future of Sri Lanka, yet overtly neglected to address the ongoing human rights abuses and limitation of democratic freedoms. USTPAC joins with others committed to human rights and calls on President Rajapaksa to honor Sri Lanka’s commitments to the United Nations and… Read more »
USTPAC Launches #getthepicture Campaign
www.ustpac.org/getthepicture USTPAC_PressRelease_092314 WASHINGTON, Sept. 23, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The US Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC) today launched a #getthepicture campaign to highlight the frequency and severity of massacres and other serious violence against the Tamil civilian population in Sri Lanka. The campaign follows on the heels of a joint letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in August by Sri Lanka’s Northern and Eastern Provincial… Read more »
Karen Parker on Self-Determination 2008
Part 1 Part 2
Witness Testimony to OISL
http://www.canadiantamilcongress.ca/article.php?lan=eng&cat=pr&id=144 URGENT Appeal from CTC: Witness Testimony from Tamil Canadians Needed in Support of UN Investigation Our Dear Community, As many of you may know, on August 5th, 2014 the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) announced it will accept submissions pursuant to the mandate… Read more »
Tamils Dream of a Land of Their Own
Seeing is Believing If seeing is believing, then what brought Sri Lanka to the attention of the world were the atrocities committed by Sri Lanka in the war and exposed by Britain’s Channel 4 videos. According to reliable sources, tens of thousands of Tamils civilians were slaughtered in the spring of 2009 by Sri Lankan… Read more »
“Trial by Battle” and the Tamil Nation
Introduction. Since the formation of the United Nations in 1945, all Member States were imposed with the duty and obligation to reach settlement of their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the principles of justice and international law. Although the Charter of UNO devised the International Court of Justice for the State parties to … Read more »
7 Ideas for Pro-Eelam Groups to Ponder On
Round 1 has gone to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the fight for justice for Eelam Tamils, as fresh battle lines were drawn after Narendra Modi came to power in India. Pro-Eelam groups have not been able to convince New Delhi to give up its pro-Colombo policy and look with favor on the… Read more »
Hundreds of Tamils Have Simply Vanished on the Perilous Sea Voyage to Australia
According to one eerie estimate, 800 asylum seekers — men, women and children — have set off for Australia in the past three years and have simply never been heard from again Antonyamma, a Tamil refugee from Sri Lanka living in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, last heard from her daughter Mary more… Read more »
Written Evidence to FASC
Written evidence from Global Tamil Forum (GTF) (HRS0020) Introduction Global Tamil Forum (GTF) was established in 2009 by a number of grass-roots Tamil groups, following the end of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka. It is the largest Tamil diaspora organisation with members drawn from across five continents. GTF is committed to non-violence and… Read more »
Hate the Game, Not the Player
As the illustration above shows the Sinhala leaders have no incentive to cater to Tamils or Muslims. And TNA or Tamils don’t gain anything by moving their position to the right of the scale. Are the Muslims also in their own distribution that is not aligned to the two above? If so, do they overlap more with the Sinhalese or with the Tamils?
There is nothing Tamils or Muslims do or say that will convince the Sinhala median voter to move to the left to meet them halfway as the median voter theorem dictates.