Posts Categorized: History

Prabakaran’s Suthumalai Speech 1987

Speech by V. Prabakaran at the Suthumalai Amman temple, Jaffna, Sri Lanka, on August 4, 1987. Translation by Anton Balasingham in the second chapter of his book ‘War and Peace.’ ‘My Beloved and Esteemed People of Tamil Eelam, ‘Today, a turning point of immense significance has taken place in the history of our struggle. This… Read more »

Mass Graves & Failed Exhumations in Sri Lanka

by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, Families of the Disappeared, Centre for Human Rights & Development and International Truth & Justice Project, June 13, 2023 ITJP Mass Graves and Failed Exhumations June 2023 This joint report examines Sri Lanka’s record of dealing with mass graves from multiple periods of conflict. All over the island,… Read more »

Map of Buddhist Sites in NE by Cyril Mathew in 1970

Posted on Facebook by Sarawanan Komathi Nadarasa, June 10, 2023 [Translated from Tamil by Google Translate with some changes by the Editor.]   Under the guise of Buddhist archaelology, a map of places to be occupied in the North and East was prepared in 1970. I don’t know how many of us know that Cyril… Read more »

Israeli Complicity in Sri Lanka War Crimes

Must be investigated by Eitay Mack, Al Jazeera, June 27, 2023 It has been more than 14 years since the civil war in Sri Lanka came to an end. Although a semblance of peace has returned to the parts of the country devastated by the 29-year conflict, its victims are yet to see justice delivered…. Read more »

Report of the Presidential Truth Commission on Ethnic Violence 1981-1984

by Presidential Truth Commission on Ethnic Violence 1981-1984, September 2002 Report of the Presidential Truth Commission on Ethnic Violence 1981-1984 – Report Report of the Presidential Truth Commission on Ethnic Violence 1981-1984 – Documents – A summary of the Nature and Extent of Damage suffered by Victims of Violence, PART 1 Report of the Presidential… Read more »

Batalanda Commission Report

by Commission of Inquiry into the Establishment and Maintenance of Places of Unlawful Detention and Torture Chambers at the Batalanda Housing Scheme, Colombo, 2000 Batalanda Commission Report – Book English From an introduction written by Nandana Weerarathne in March 2023 During the 1988/89 era, government forces and police were running torture camps. Also, there were… Read more »

Pirapaharan’s First Interview

by Anita Pratap, Sunday, Calcutta, India, March 11-17, 1984 [archived at TamilNation, accessed 6/17/2023] Velupillai Pirabakaran, leader of the Liberation Tigers ofTamil Eelam, tells Anita Pratap. Q: What made you opt out of a conventional system and spearhead a liberation movement which you knew would be outlawed? A: The democratic parliamentary system, or what you refer… Read more »

UNP Leaders Who Set Jaffna on Fire in 1981

by Nandana Weerarathne, Facebook& Substack May 27, 2023 Why is it important for the present and future generations to know what happened in Jaffna from the end of May to June 8th, 1981? That is the question we asked ourselves prior to writing this book. The concealment of these atrocities from history is a significant… Read more »

Amirthalingam Speech in Parliament re 1981 Burning of Jaffna Library

by Sri Lanka Parliamentary Debates, June 9, 1981, vol.15, no.1, columns 67-92, posted on Facebook by Sivakumar Subramaniam, May 30, 2023 The speech made by then Leader of the opposition Mr A. Amirthalingam in Parliament. A verbatim transcript is provided below. Honorifics of participants have been omitted for convenience. A.Amirthalingam: Sir, I wish to place… Read more »

Civilian Killings and Disappearances during Civil War in El Salvador

by Amelia Hoover Green and Patrick Ball, Demographic Research, Vol. 41, Article 27, pps. 781-814, October 1, 2019 DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2019.41.27 ABSTRACT Background: Debate over the civilian toll of El Salvador’s civil war (1980–1992) raged throughout the conflict and its aftermath. Apologists for the Salvadoran regime claimed no more than 20,000 had died, while some activists… Read more »

‘Prisoner #1056’ by Roy Ratnavel

From the publisher, Penguin Random House, April 18, 2023 ABOUT PRISONER #1056 An incredible immigrant story from a prominent Canadian Tamil who fled torture and imprisonment, arrived in Canada with $50 in his pocket, then rose from the mailroom to the executive suite of the country’s largest independent asset management company. Roy Ratnavel’s astonishing journey began… Read more »

Idol Politics: Knowledge and Action

by A.Nillanthan, March 25, 2023 In the North, more than three statues have been opened in the last one week alone. Along with Nataraja statue, Valluvar statue, Sangliyan statue, there is a bell obelisk in Tirunelveli market. We looked at the politics behind these idols in last week’s article.The religious politics behind these idols should… Read more »

Defeat in Ananthapuram Battle Denoted the LTTE’s End

by DBS Jeyaraj, Daily Mirror, Colombo, March 11, 2023 Defeat in Ananthapuram Battle 2009 Many battles were fought during the long war between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Among these was the five-day battle fought at Ananthapuram in the Mullaitheevu District from March 31 to April 4,… Read more »

Sinhala-Buddhism & The Nation State Of Sri Lanka

by Lucian Arulpragasam, Colombo Telegraph, March 15, 2023 Lucian Arulpragasam Our Genetic Commonalities It has been proved by DNA studies conducted by Professor Kamani Thennekoon and others (cited in her article dated Feb. 2019 in The Island) that: “Most DNA studies comparing both the Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamils show no large genetic difference, suggesting that both populations… Read more »

An Archive for the Dispossessed

Creating spaces for multiple truths by Shankari Chandran  The Griffith Review, Australia, May 2022 Shankari Chandran is a Tamil-Australian lawyer and the author of three books: Song of the Sun God (Perera-Hussein Publishing, 2017), The Barrier (Pan Macmillan Australia, 2017) and Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens (Ultimo Press, 2022).  She is the deputy chair of Writing NSW and a member of the Sweatshop Literacy Movement…. Read more »

Journey of a Civilization – Study Program

by Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America (FeTNA) We would like to welcome you all for the final week of our Journey of a civilization study program Concluding remarks: Mr. Balakrishnan R IAS (Retired) Time: 9:00 PM to 10:30 PM EST Zoom Link You are Invited to attend the Grand Finale of the 10… Read more »

India: The Last Battle of the American Revolutionary War

by John L. Smith, Jr. ‘Journal of the American Revolution,’ July 8, 2015 The next time you’re in a trivia contest and the question comes up, “What was the last battle of the American Revolutionary War?” the judges will probably be looking for the predictable answer of “Yorktown.”[1] That’s the neat and tidy answer, but… Read more »