Posts Categorized: History

Amirthalingam eliminated by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 38 Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi arranged to deliver his final letter, dated July 11, 1989, to Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa through his Principal Secretary, B G Deshmukh. In the concluding paragraph, he brought to the notice of the president, the… Read more »

Badgering for Indian Withdrawal by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 37 Shanmuganathan Sivasankaran was the head of the “Aiyanna group” – the dreaded intelligence network of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Sivasankaran was popularly called “Pottu Amman”. . He joined the LTTE in 1981 and enjoyed enormous power… Read more »

Talking Peace by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 36 On December 20, 1988, the eighth parliament was dissolved and nominations for the ninth were fixed for between December 30 and January 6. The polling date was set for February 15, with the new parliament scheduled to be summoned on March… Read more »

Indians rule the roost by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 35 The Tamils of Sri Lanka, for the first time, experienced the full might of the Indian Army. Indians, who for many years had played the role of saviors, suddenly turned their guns against the very Tamils they had come… Read more »

Accord turns to discord by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 34 Subsequent to the token surrender of arms by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to the Sri Lankan Army, in the presence of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), ceremonies connected with the surrender took place throughout North… Read more »

Accord and its Ramifications by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 33 India began to a show keen interest in evolving an acceptable political package to bring an end to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. There were many compulsions behind the desire, none the least of which was the need… Read more »

India Shows its Hand by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 32 The second round of peace talks, in August 1985, between Tamil groups and the Sri Lankan Government, in Thimpu, the capital of Bhutan, ended suddenly in failure when the Tamil militants and TULF leaders walked out. The militant leaders… Read more »

Limbo between war and peace by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 31 The year 1985 was to be an excruciating one. The ethnic crisis worsened as the Tamil militants and the government security forces laid stress on military options, with terror, violence and destruction becoming the order of the day…. Read more »

Indira Gandhi – a casualty of terror  By K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 30 In January 1984, the leadership of the Tamil United Liberation Front called for a unity conference in Madras, Tamil Nadu, in India. The invitations were signed by A Amirthalingham, the Secretary General of TULF, and sent… Read more »

Whirlpool of violence  By K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 29 The July 1983 holocaust opened the floodgates for Tamil youths looking to join various Tamil militant organizations. Until 1983, the Tamil militants had not received any proper training. The LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) managed to have a couple… Read more »

Prisoners massacred  By K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 28 The ethnic holocaust of 1983 was the last of the anti-Tamil program ingeniously devised, applied and implemented by the Sinhalese political leaders in the government for a “Final Solution” before embarking on full scale state-sponsored terrorism through military-adventurism. President Jayewardene said… Read more »

Prelude to eruption  By K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 27 The British Governor, Sir Herbert Stanley (1927-1931), opened the parliament building fronting the ocean at Galle Face, Colombo, on January 29, 1930. It was designed for meetings of the Legislative Council, and subsequently the State Council (1931-1947). Initially, it seated… Read more »

Horsewhip Amirthalingham  By KT Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 26 Sri Lankan President JR Jayewardene, outlined his plans to appoint district ministers for all the 24 districts. It is believed that earlier in August 1978, in the course of a conversation with Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) leader S Thondaman, Jayewardene outlined his… Read more »

When conflict turns to terror  By K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Times,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 25  The most important order of business for the new government headed by J R Jayewardene was the drawing up of a new Constitution. During the opening of Parliament in August 1977, Jayewardene repeated his earlier promise, “an All-Party… Read more »

War or peace?  by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Time,’ Singapore, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 24 The general election for the eighth parliament of Sri Lanka was a turning point in the post-independence history of the country. It brought about marked ethnic polarization. Up to this point, it was distinctly a domestic issue, but after 1977… Read more »

Tamil militancy – a manifestation by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Tribune,’ Singapore, January 26, 2002 Chapter 1 Chapter 23 The United Front government faced grave economic difficulties in 1973. It needed economic growth for its rampant nationalization programs. The government took over several business and industrial organizations from the private sector, employing over 100 people,… Read more »

Srimavo’s constitutional promiscuity  by K T Rajasingham, ‘Asian Tribune,’ Singapore, accessed October 17, 2017 Chapter 1 Chapter 22 “The Tamil-speaking people of Ceylon believe that only a federal type constitution would enable them to look after their own affairs alone and would safeguard them from total extinction. Only under such a constitution, the Tamil-speaking people… Read more »