Posts Categorized: Military

Island of Racial & Religious Extremism

With culture of impunity by Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [Lond. Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka], May 28, 2019 April 21st attacks on three Churches and three star Hotels by radicalized Muslims surprised Sri Lanka’s Government, its citizens and the world. They were well pre-planned and co-ordinated to unleash the killings on worshippers… Read more »

U.S. Should Not Repeat its Post 9/11 Counter-terrorism Mistakes in Sri Lanka

by Ronnate Asirwatham, ‘Medium,’ May 28, 2019 The U.S. government’s hurried moves to expand military-to-military cooperation with Sri Lanka to fight terrorism after Easter Sunday’s bomb blasts is ill-advised because, Colombo’s counter-terrorism policies are shambles. Sri Lanka targets ethnic communities for acts of terrorist groups, and its military, enjoying impunity, uses torture as the main… Read more »

The Men Now Patrolling Sri Lanka

by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, Europe & International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa, May 2019 http://www.jdslanka.org/images/documents/2019_may_the_men_%20now_patrolling_sri_lanka_itjp__jds.pdf On Easter Sunday 2019, a series of coordinated bomb blasts struck hotels and churches in Sri Lanka killing more than 250 people, including many tourists. The targets were churches in Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa… Read more »

A State of Disorientation

Dispatch from Sri Lanka after the Easter Bombings by Anuk Arukpragasam, TIME, May 22, 2019 Anuk Arudpragasam is a novelist from Colombo and is the author of The Story of a Brief Marriage. In Colombo, as though there is war once more, the ominous presence of heavily armed soldiers is everywhere. Ever since the Easter Sunday bombings,… Read more »

Deep Fractures in Sri Lanka’s Leadership

The fallout of the Easter Sunday bombings has exposed deep fractures in Sri Lanka’s leadership by Thusiyan Nandakumar, The National, UAE, April 28, 2019 Politicians are playing the blame game and there are fears a security crackdown will create an environment of impunity once again Sri Lanka is in crisis. A week on from the horrific bomb… Read more »

Unholy Tension in Lanka’s Muslim East

Different interpretations of Islam by Thawheed and traditional school divide the community by Chris Kamalendran, Asif Fuard and cameraman Saman Kariyawasam in Kattankudy, The Sunday Times, Colombo, August 9, 2009 The tiny coastal village of Kattankudy, a ten minutes drive from the eastern capital of Batticaloa, lies in a picturesque setting. Its boundaries hug the… Read more »

What Sri Lanka Needs Now

by  Kitana Ananda and Mythri Jegathesan, CNN, USA, April 28, 2019 Since multiple blasts killed at least 253 people and injured hundreds more in Sri Lanka last Sunday, the government has declared a state of emergency, bringing back draconian anti-terrorism laws that will curtail civil liberties and increase militarization. Officials have begun to investigate, and though… Read more »

Cases Against Gotabaya Rajapakshe

Fighting for delayed accountability and justice by Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [Lond.] Former Lecturer in Law University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Gotabaya Rajapakshe, who is a dual citizen of Sri Lanka and USA, flew back to Sri Lanka after the victory of Mahinda Rajapakshe as the President in 2005. He was appointed as the Defence Secretary… Read more »

What Happened in Sri Lanka? Here’s What You Need to Know

These attacks come at a precarious political moment. by Kate Cronin-Furman, The Washington Post’s Monkey Cage, April 23, 2019 Bombs ripped through three churches and four hotels in a series of attacks in Sri Lanka on Sunday morning. The casualty count currently stands at more than 300 dead and more than 500 injured. What do we know about the… Read more »

Sri Lanka’s Bloody Easter Puts Spotlight on a New Terror Threat

by Ishan Tharoor, Washington Post, April 22, 2019 A shocking, coordinated series of bombings on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka marked one of the world’s bloodiest terrorist attacks over the past half-decade. At least 290 people were killed and more than 450 others injured after suicide bombers exploded devices in three churches in the cities… Read more »

Sri Lankans Accuse Him of Wartime Atrocities

California May Decide. by Mike Ives and Dharisha Bastians, The New York Times, April 19, 2019 In the decade since Sri Lanka’s civil war ended, a former wartime defense chief has successfully dodged accusations of crimes against humanity. He may soon run for president. But the accusations, which are supported by United Nations inquiries, recently caught up… Read more »

Channel 4: Sri Lanka – the Search for Justice 10 Years On

Dear Friend, We are pleased to share with you a powerful new short film, from the makers of the award-winning ‘No Fire Zone’ documentary, which re-visits the final stages of Sri Lanka’s civil war and considers the ongoing need for justice a decade on. The film, which the Sri Lanka Campaign helped to screen at a recent meeting… Read more »

Alternative Avenues

Tamil Guardian editorial, March 24, 2019 For almost a decade, Tamil victims have looked to the UN Human Rights Council in their pursuit of justice. However, after years of resolutions followed by an extension, alongside lack of any progress on accountability, events at Geneva this week brought another deep disappointment. A day after the Sri Lankan government… Read more »

State Response to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as an Illicit Power Structure

by Thomas A. Marks and Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Tej Pratap Singh Brar, PRISM, National Defense University, Washington, DC, May 24, 2016 CHAP_9 Sri Lanka https://cco.ndu.edu/Publications/Publication-View/Article/780214/chapter-9-sri-lanka-state-response-to-the-liberation-tigers-of-tamil-eelam-as-a/ … Lessons in an Era of Illicit Power Structures It is challenging, after the short breathing space of five years, to draw lessons from this most vexing case of an… Read more »

Losing Santhia, Part Four

Tiger power by Ben Hiller, ‘Red Flag,’ Australia, March 28, 2019 Santhia of died of kidney failure in a Jakarta hospital in October 2017. She was only 42. Years earlier, she and her infant son fled Sri Lanka to Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. They tried to reach Australia, but were stranded in… Read more »

Losing Santhia, Part Three

Exodus from Jaffna, war in the Vanni by Ben Hiller, ‘Red Flag,’ Australia, September 23, 2018 Santhia, a former high-ranking member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, died in a Jakarta hospital in October last year. She was only 42. Almost a decade earlier, she fled Sri Lanka, via Tamil Nadu, India, with her… Read more »

Another Admiral in Abduction Racket

Another Admiral to be docked as CID busts spin-off Navy abduction racket by Maneshka Borham, Sunday Observer, Colombo, March 24, 2019 News Features The now famous CID investigation into the abduction and murder of 11 youth by a Navy extortion gang, helped sleuths to break open a secondary racket involving a separate group of naval… Read more »

Sri Lanka Refuses to Hand Back Military Occupied Land

By Athula Vithanage, Journalists for a Democratic Sri Lanka, Europe, March 22, 2019 UN WebTV  Thousands of acres of land occupied by the military in northern Sri Lanka will not be released to their rightful owners despite ongoing protests. Scores of war displaced Tamil families have been protesting for more than two years by the… Read more »

Using Technology to Support Transitional Justice in Sri Lanka

by Public Interest Advocacy Centre, Sydney, Australia, February 19, 2019 “Information Overload: How Technology Can Help Convert Raw Data into Rich Information for Transitional Justice Processes” written by PIAC staff members Daniela Gavshon and Erol Gorur, was recently published in of the International Journal of Transitional Justice. The article draws on their experience working on PIAC’s… Read more »