Posts Categorized: Diaspora

Response to President Kumaratunga’s UN Address

by M. Nadarajan, October 4, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/576.html The headline in the Daily News reporting the President’s speech quoted her as saying “My government has got a clear mandate for peace.”  She said that at numerous elections her government had obtained that mandate.  She did not say whether that included the last elections of April 2004, when her… Read more »

Political Chaos in Sri Lanka

by V Gunaratnam, September 30, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/571.html There are new imperatives driving Sri Lankan politics at this time, as it struggles to move the peace process forward and around the corner. But it is difficult to make out anything, because the political scene is like a huge iceberg: only the tip is visible but there… Read more »

THO Healthcare Projects in Vanni

September 29, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/569.html and THOsummer2004.pdf (sangam.org) Several doctors from Australia worked in Vanni this past summer and describe their experiences within the framework of requirements for successful short term visits. THO summer 2004

Elagupillai’s Pongu Tamil Speech

Full Script of Speech By Prof. Elagu . V. Elagupillai at Pongu Thamil in Queen’s Park, Toronto, September 25, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/566.html Members of the Tamil Students Association, Vicar General Fr. Emmanuel, Special Guests, Federal Provincial and Local Government authorities, Ladies and Gentlemen: I am honoured to be with you this evening at this historic Pongu… Read more »

American Policy of Disengagement from Sri Lanka

The American Policy of Ostensible Disengagement from Sri Lanka by Wakeley Paul, Esq., September 24, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/565.html American leaders and the American media have a tendency to distance themselves from ‘third world’ concerns. America’s daily worries probably sound like trivial squabbles to third world occupants. The heated debates over abortion and the right to life;… Read more »

International Community Can Help Forge Peace

by Ana Pararajasingham, September 23, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/562.html According to Satchithananthan Sathananthan (“International community sharpens its knives against Tamils“ published in sangam. org-), the primary aim of the international community is ‘to undercut the Tamils’ political support for the LTTE and emasculate the military power of the Tamil national movement’. In support of this argument he cites several… Read more »

ISGA: Legitimate, Practical & with Precedence

by Arvalan, September 23, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/561.html On October 31, 2003 the LTTE, on behalf of the Tamil people, announced their proposal for an Interim Self-Governing Administration (ISGA) of the Northeast of the island called Sri Lanka. This proposed ISGA is a significant step toward a peaceful resolution of the decades-long conflict between the Tamil and… Read more »

Peace in Sri Lanka: Power Sharing

Peace in Sri Lanka – Some Thoughts Part III – Power Sharing by R. Cholan, September 22, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/558.html In Part II, I had shown how the federal constitutions in the three examples confer the powers to regional governments by default. Powers of the central governments are defined, and those of the regional governments are… Read more »

Peace in Sri Lanka: Fear of Secession

Peace in Sri Lanka – Some Thoughts Part II – Fear of Secession by R. Cholan, September 21, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/557.html The Sinhala opposition to the ISGA proposal is not a new phenomenon. The views being expressed currently about the ISGA are exactly the same as what has been said about ‘federalism’ for the last fifty… Read more »

Peace in Sri Lanka: Equality

Peace in Sri Lanka – Some Thoughts Part I – Equality. by R. Cholan, September 20, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/556.html No one expected the peace talks in Sri Lanka to progress without a hitch. But, the manner in which the process has stalled, without a single concrete step beyond the December 2002 Oslo accord, and with a… Read more »

Children’s Computer Centre Opens in Kilinochchi

The Tamil Information Technology Association opened a Children’s Computer Centre in Kilinochchi on September 12. The press release about the event can be viewed at www.sangam.org/articles/view2/KidsCentreOpening_9_04.pdf  

Working in Post-war Northern Sri Lanka

Below are pictures taken by Dr. Shiamala Suntharalingam during her time volunteering as a doctor in the Vanni last year.  You can read about her experiences at http://www.sangam.org/articles/view2/index.php?uid=530 [Now at Working in Post-conflict Northern Sri Lanka – Ilankai Tamil Sangam]                                … Read more »

Working in Post-conflict Northern Sri Lanka

by Dr. Shiamala Suntharalingam MB BS, BSc (Hons), DFFP, DRCOG, MRCGP May to November 2003 20 years of war has taken its toll on all aspects of society in Sri Lanka, but the NorthEast of the island has been most affected. Homes destroyed, farmland mined, schools, temples, churches & hospitals have been damaged in varying… Read more »

Diaspora Circulation and Transnationalism

As Agents for Change in the Post-Conflict Zones of Sri Lanka R. Cheran of the Dept. of Sociology and Refugee Studies of York University, Toronto has written a paper entitled “Diaspora Circulation and Transnationalism as Agents for Change in the Post Conflict Zones of Sri Lanka” which does exactly what sociology is supposed to: observe… Read more »

Is the XIII Amendment the Roadblock to Peace?

Sinhalese Myths and Fallacies Challenged by Wakeley Paul, Esq., September 1, 2004 Several recent articles reveal once more the cherished myths under which the Sinhala press continues to delude itself. These Sinhalese myths need to be punctured once and for all, since they are founded on three fundamental misconceptions. 1. That Sinhalese supremacy is the… Read more »

Pathirana Group helps Tamil Students in 1983 Pogrom

Dear Editor, I am reading The Pirapaharan Biography very keenly. Please convey the attached message to Sabaratnam. Thanks Bala M. ———————————————————————————————————— Dear Mr. Sabaratnam, Thank you for writing Tamils’ History.  As you have mentioned in your introduction I feel you are writing this biography without any bias.  I also think you are the right person to write… Read more »

Letter to RSF on Nimalarajan’s Killer

Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations, Inc. P O Box 215 Enfield NSW 2136 Email: tamand /A_T/ ozemail.com /D_O_T/ au 24 August 2004 International Secretariat : Reporters sans frontières 5, rue Geoffroy-Marie 75009 Paris – France Dear Sir, We are alarmed and dismayed that the main suspect in the murder of the journalist and BBC correspondent… Read more »

Thoughts on the Creation of a Federal State

Some Concrete Thoughts on the Creation of a Federal State by Wakeley Paul, August 21, 2004 The ISGA sets out the interim structures for an ultimate Federal Constitution. This must first be given the chance to work in order to determine what further restructuring is necessary. Both main ethnic groups must acknowledge that the whole… Read more »