Posts Categorized: History

Revolutionary Heroes

by Blake Smith, ‘Aeon,’ London, December 7, 2016 If the sultan of Mysore had had a bit more luck, George Washington might be known as the Haider Ali of North America. As the ruler of Mysore, a kingdom in what is now southwestern India, Haider fought a series of wars with Great Britain in the… Read more »

200th Anniversary of the Establishment of the American Ceylon Mission

by US Mission to Sri Lanka & Maldives, Colombo, October 31, 2016 [As prepared] Rev. Dr. James Moos, Executive Minister, Co-Executive Global Ministries Rev. Dr. Deenabandhu Manchala,  Area Executive for Southern Asia, Global Ministries Rev Devasagayam Devanesan, Chairperson Rt. Rev Bishop Duleep De Chickera, Former Anglican Bishop of Colombo Rev Asiri P. Perera, President of the Methodist Conference in Sri… Read more »

Erasing the Past: Memorialization

by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka, November 2, 2016 Erasing the Past: New Report Documents Repression of Memorialization in North-East Sri Lanka PEARL’s latest report examines government obstruction of memorialization among Tamils in the North-East (Washington, DC; November 1, 2016) PEARL’s new report, “Erasing the Past: Repression of Memorialization in North-East Sri Lanka,” documents… Read more »

Can Sri Lanka Hold On to Its Fragile Peace?

But it’s not Power or other foreign officials whom the government needs to win over. Far more crucial is the Tamil minority that feels left behind by the country’s postwar progress and embittered by the Sinhalese majority’s seeming indifference to its plight. And this is where the young woman with the tiny photograph comes in…. Read more »

Amnesty: Summary of Human Rights Concerns during 1990

Amnesty Concerns 1990 Page 1 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SRI LANKA SUMMARY OF HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS DURING 1990 February 1991 SUMMARY AI INDEX: ASA 37/02/91 DISTR: SC/CO/PO This document summarizes Amnesty International’s concerns about continuing human rights violations in Sri Lanka during 1990. It describes reports of thousands of “disappearances” and extrajudicial executions by government forces in… Read more »

Documents re the Tamil National Struggle in Sri Lanka

Compiled by our founding editor and published in Sangam.org’s original version at http://www.sangam.org/FB_HIST_DOCS/HistoricDocs_index.htm Ceylon Citizenship Act No. 18 of 1948 The Act designed to deprive over a million Tamils of recent Indian origin… “2.(1) With effect from the appointed date, there shall be a status to be known as ‘the status of a citizen of Ceylon’… Read more »

Remembering Black July

More than 3000 Tamils were killed within just 10 days, then 150,000 were rendered homeless and began a refugee flight that leaves more than 800,000 Tamils scattered all around the world today.

Testing Time for United Nations and Sri Lanka

by Thambu Kanagasabai, June 10 The armed struggle by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam which commenced in 1976 with the failure of peaceful struggles initiated in 1956 by the past Tamil political leaders, reached its climax in the Eelam war IV from 2006 – 2009. The war ended with a victory for Sri Lankan Government… Read more »

60 Years after June 5, 1956

What was common to both agreements was the recognition of regional autonomy and power sharing as a means of addressing Tamil concerns.

Official Language Act, No. 33 of 1956

Official Language Act Certified on 7 July 1956 AN ACT TO PRESCRIBE THE SINHALA LANGUAGE AS THE ONE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF CEYLON AND TO ENABLE CERTAIN TRANSITORY PROVISIONS TO BE MADE 1.This Act may be cited as the Official Language Act, No. 33 of 1956 2.The Sinhala language shall be the one official Language of… Read more »

Ex-LTTE ‘Doctor’ Reveals Horrifying Last Two Days in Mulliwaikkal

By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan, ‘Ceylon Today,’ May 8, 2016 The 30-year war and the gory events of it ended on 18 May 2009 but they are unforgettable and unforgivable. The Tamils who fled the island, the like-minded civil societies and the human rights activists started documenting each event in phases and tabled them at the… Read more »

Sri Lankan Lawmakers Brawl in Parliament over Bombing Claim

by ‘Daily Mail,’ UK, May 3, 2016 Sri Lanka’s parliament erupted in brawls between rival lawmakers Tuesday, after a former army chief said a bomb blast apparently targeting ex-president Mahinda Rajapakse’s brother 10 years ago was an “inside job”. Legislators from Sri Lanka’s ruling party traded blows with those loyal to Rajapakse who became enraged… Read more »

Buddhist Heritage of Tamil Nadu and its Links with Lanka

By Dr. Nirmala Chandrahasan, ‘The Island,’ Colombo, Novermber 12, 2013 The cultural affinities between Tamil Nadu our closest neighbour and Sri Lanka are many but little is known of the religious ties which bound the two countries between the early years of the Christian era and the 14th century AD, during which time Buddhism was… Read more »

Vaddukoddai Resolution

The Vaddukoddai resolution of May 14th 1976 is a turning point for the history of the Eelam Tamils’ struggle.  Dr A.J. Wilson, the late lamented head of the political science department, Brunswick University speaks in the following words about the turning point in the Eelam Tamils’ struggle. “In the years after the onset of the… Read more »

Sinhalisation of the North-East

http://www.sinhalisation.com/ About Since time immemorial the island of Sri Lanka has been largely divided into two linguistic regions, the Tamil North-East and the Sinhala south. The North-East region encompasses the districts of Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, Mannar, Batticaloa and the littoral areas of Trincomalee and Amparai. It is a contiguous region that has traditionally been inhabited by Tamil speakers. This… Read more »

1990 Planned Genocidal Attack on Tamils in the East

Contents Planned genocidal attack in the East Carefully planned strategy Sri Lanka ignored ICJ recommendations Concerns of UK Parliamentary Human Rights Group Tamils driven out from Pottuvil to Thenmaravadi Several reports of large scale killings Refugees in Iruthayapuram Camp compelled to act as “human mine detectors” Attack on the Tamils clearly genocidal in intent “..The… Read more »

Sri Lanka’s Icon of Colonial Rule rises from the Rubble

As an army of labourers churns out limestone bricks, archeologist Prashantha Mandawala reflects on the ambitious task of restoring Sri Lanka’s centuries-old Jaffna fort, destroyed by ethnic war. The project has so far included the dangerous task of clearing unexploded mines and shells from the seafront site and scouring the northern Jaffna peninsula for scarce… Read more »

Legacy of 1962 Coup Plot

Forty years ago on 28th January 1962, Sri Lanka awoke to the startling news that a coup d’etat by key police and military officers had been foiled. In retrospect the Sixty Two Coup was a crucial turning point in Sri Lanka’s contemporary history. Sri Lanka experienced one of the longest unbroken periods of colonial rule…. Read more »

Tamil Women: Into Public Space

The political struggle of the Eelam Tamils began even before the end of colonialism in 1948. Over the following decades, this struggle gradually unified the Eelam Tamils who were fragmented until then. There is no evidence that women took part in this struggle until after the 1970’s. Another struggle took centre stage in the Tamil… Read more »