Posts Categorized: Military

Uprooting People from the Land

Land Grabbing: Current Status and Trends in Sri Lanka by Sri Lanka Nature Group & People’s Alliance for Right to Land – PARL, June 2012 Uprooting People from the Land Land Grabbing Current Status 2012 Abstract This study was carried out to determine the present status and trends of land grabbing in Sri Lanka. The… Read more »

Thaainilam – Land Grabbing

The Real Pandemic for the Tamils in Sri Lanka – Documentary Film Youth Panel Discussion Sept.25, 2021 on ThaaiNilam: Land Grabbing Documentary at Film  Premiere 

Right-sizing the Sri Lanka Army

by Major General Boniface Perera, Ph.D., Daily Mirror Opinion, Colombo, November 29, 2022 [Also Time to make the Sri Lanka Army leaner and meaner – Hard talk | Daily Mirror] The prime responsibility of the Army is to provide protection to the citizens and safeguard territorial Integrity and Sovereignty The veteran Indian diplomat turned security… Read more »

Remembering 2nd Lt. Maalathy

by Tamil Guardian, London, October 10, 2022 Today marks thirty-five years since the death of 2nd Lt. Maalathy, the first female fighter of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to lose her life in the Tamil armed struggle. Across the world, the day is being commemorated as Tamil Women’s Day, an opportunity to honour women’s involvement in the… Read more »

Photos of Menik Farm Detainees 2009

From the files of Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam. Ph.D. (Cornell) Do we know where all these detainees are?  Can UNHCR confirm they were all released? Photo_FemaleYouthDetainees_MenikfarmMovie6 Photo_MaleYouth Detainees_Menikfarm_Movie7 Where are the pictures of all the other detainees? From Dr. Ethirveerasingam: These photos were sent to me by a UN Refugee official monitoring the Vavuniya camp. I think… Read more »

The Military Still Runs the Show

In Sri Lanka The international community has a part to play in ending its culture of impunity. by Viruben Nandakuman, Foreign Policy, Washington, DC, August 4, 2022 Viruben Nandakumar is an editor at the Tamil Guardian. In the early hours of Friday, July 22, hundreds of Sri Lankan soldiers marched through the country’s capital. They… Read more »

Federalism: Myths and Realities

by Rohan Edrisinha – Faculty of Law, University of Colombo and Centre for Policy Alternatives, The Sunday Observer, Colombo, January 18, 2004 Excerpts of a speech delivered at the Executive Seminar on Human Rights for senior officers of armed forces on Saturday, January 10. The agreement reached between the Government of Sri Lanka and the… Read more »

Diaspora Groups Call for Singapore to Investigate ex-President

by People for Equity & Relief in Lanka, July 26, 2022 20220726 Joint Press_Release_Request_to_Investigate_Gotabaya_Rajapaksa Press Release: Global Coalition of Tamil and Human Rights Groups Urge Singapore’s Attorney General to Investigate Gotabaya Rajapaksa Washington D.C.; July 26, 2022 — Seventeen Tamil and human rights organizations from around the world issued a joint letter today, urging Singapore’s… Read more »

Sri Lanka’s Former President Must be Investigated for War Crimes

by Meenaksha Ganguly, Washington Post, July 22, 2022 (also available at Sri Lanka’s former president must be investigated for war crimes | Human Rights Watch (hrw.org) COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — There was satisfaction, and even glee, among many Sri Lankans when Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the widely unpopular president, fled the country by military jet in the dead… Read more »

Amnesty: Authorities Must Refrain from Use of Military to Police Protests

by Amnesty International, London, July 14, 2022 “The recent escalation of the authorities’ response to protests by calling in the armed forces, firing at protestors and excessive use of tear gas which resulted in the death of one person yesterday is deeply worrying,” said Yamini Mishra, Amnesty International’s South Asia Regional Director. The Sri Lankan… Read more »

Economic Crisis and Unregulated Alcohol Collide

by Vetrichelvi Chandrakala, Global Press Journal, Washington, DC, May 25, 2022 Civil war veterans, also grappling with the country’s imploding economy, fight to break their dependency on dangerous, illegal liquor. READ THIS STORY IN English தமிழ் MANNAR, SRI LANKA — Vijayakumar Velayutham fought for more than a decade in the Sri Lankan civil war. He… Read more »

Military & Poverty

A Critical Study in Sri Lanka by Selvarathinam Santhirasegaram, Developing Country Studies, Vol.3, No.8, August 2013 Abstract Main objective of this study is to show that how military expansion in Sri Lanka contributed to achieve this macroeconomic goal, reduction of unemployment and poverty. Statistical evidences show that percentage of people, living under poverty level negatively… Read more »

Sri Lanka in Crisis

Why the Past Lives on in its Collective Future by Ambika Satkunananthan, 9Dashline, Europe, June 16, 2022 Sri Lanka is in the throes of an economic and political crisis not hitherto witnessed. The crisis has created instability and resulted in protests that began in March 2022. Citizens’ protests that are not organised by political parties… Read more »

To Solve Its Economic Crisis, Sri Lanka Must Demilitarize

by Ben Andak, Jacobin, New York, May 12, 2022 Sri Lanka’s economic crisis has produced an explosion of violence on the island. That violence won’t end until the country ends its war on Tamils and Muslims and drastically scales back its military budget. Soldiers check documents of a driver at a road checkpoint in Colombo,… Read more »

TMVP Informant Spills the Beans

by Easwaran Rutnam, Daily Mirror, Colombo, June 24, 2022 Flees Sri Lanka fearing for his safety Reveals information on murders to UN Writes to key diplomatic missions Shares details on Easter Sunday attacks UN officials had recorded statements from the informant over a period of approximately 5 days An informant of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai… Read more »

All Talk & No Action on Repealing the PTA

by Kumarathasan Rasingam, Secretary, Tamil Canadian Elders for Human Rights Org. June 23, 2022 [Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister GL Pieris told the UNHRC on June 13 that the PTA has been amended & there is a moratorium on arrests.1  There is no evidence of either action being taken. — Editor] The Prevention of Terrorism Act… Read more »

13 Years Ago Today – A Massacre in Mullivaikkal

by Tamil Guardian, London, May 18, 2022 Photograph: A scene of devastation in Mullivaikkal pictured days after the Sri Lankan military had overrun the area. Marking 13 years since the Sri Lankan military onslaught that massacred tens of thousands of Tamils, we revisit the final days leading up to the 18th of May 2009 – a date remembered… Read more »

A Perpetrator State Demands Non-violence

In Sri Lanka By Vindhya Buthpitiya, Urban Violence, UK, May 3, 2022 Weeks of citizen-led protests in Sri Lanka have demanded that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ‘go home’. These protests began in early March, in response to the worst economic crisis the country has seen in decades. In this blog, Vindhya Buthpitiya (Associate Lecturer, University of St Andrews) reflects… Read more »

Sri Lanka is in an Economic Freefall

by Mark Leon Goldberg, UN Dispatch podcast, April 28, 2022 https://undispatch.com/category/podcast APPLE PODCASTS  | GOOGLE PODCASTS |  SPOTIFY  | PODCAST ADDICT  |  STITCHER  | RADIO PUBLIC  Transcript lightly edited for clarity How Has Sri Lanka’s Economic Crisis Affected Its Citizens? J.S. Tissainayagam [00:02:59] Sri Lanka’s problem today stems basically from a failure of accountability when wrong decisions are made. This has led to both… Read more »