There is a lesson for Tamils in the Syrian “great game”. Until recently Syrian regime was tolerated by the west and the Israel. Assad was seen as a known devil and in the name of stability, confrontation was avoided. If there was no public protests, they may have been content to maintain the status quo.
How did that policy change?
Recent weeks have once again seen the Sri Lankan military enjoying cordial ties with several members of the international community, including states that have led the call for accountability and justice, as well as been at the forefront of criticising the present militarisation that pervades the North-East and the island as a whole. The US… Read more »
Sources for the situation, now and in the past — 1.) TamilNet Almost daily reports on enroachment, such as “Border Division of Mannar Sinhalicized” at http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=36552 and “Amparai GA, DS Officials Step Up Sinhalicization of Batticalow” at http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36567 2.) International Crisis Group “Sri Lanka’ North II: Rebuilding Under the Military,” 16 March, 2012 at http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/asia/south-asia/sri-lanka/220-sri-lankas-north-ii-rebuilding-under-the-military.pdf 3.) TNA MP R…. Read more »
Tamil asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat are in many cases the lucky ones – many who suffer cannot leave, as these photographs from Shelley Morris show. Warning: graphic images Despite the armed conflict finishing in 2009, the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka remains grim, and human rights abuses continue. The government of… Read more »
History bears witness to the fact that no community can be kept in subjugation for long. India has rightly taken the stand that the amendment needs to be strengthened to instill greater confidence in the minds of Tamils that their interest lay in a united, peaceful Sri Lanka.
…The concept of tiyakam, abandonment (of life), i.e. a rather specific Indian form of martyrdom, is cultivated by both male and female fighters. A martyr of the LTTE has not chosen like the Christian martyr to suffer in the mind the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. He has taken up arms against the sea of troubles trying to end them by opposing them. The concept of tiyäkam that has its roots in the last section of the Bhagavadgitä was revived in the struggle for independence of India…
by Peter Schalk, TamilNation.org, UK, 1997 Professor Peter Schalk has written extensively on subjects related to the struggle for Tamil Eelam. This essay is excerpted from* Martyrdom and Political Resistance : Essays from Asia and Europe (Comparative Asian Studies, 18) edited by Joyce Pettigrew published by VU University Press for Centre Asian Studies, Amsterdam. The book is essential reading for… Read more »
Attached is a report of a project started a year ago to lower malnutrition in IDPs in the Northern Province by 10%, paid for by Japan through the World Bank for US$2.7 million. A year ago the malnutrition figures were: Prevalence of anemia (Hb < 11.0g/dL) among children 0-23 months = 61.60% Prevalence of anemia… Read more »
The ethnic divide in Sri Lanka is ingrained in all aspects of life, even mourning the dead. The conflict between Tamils and the Sri Lankan state has cost over 100,000 lives, the vast majority of which are Tamil. The 18th of May, the day the armed conflict ended, has become one of the most important… Read more »
Why Tamil Nadu is Right to Call Sri Lanka ‘War’ a Genocide A part of the national debate on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue in the wake of the second US resolution at the UNHRC in another two days is increasingly disturbing because it’s not only dismissive of the tenets of human rights, but is… Read more »
Letter to UN Human Rights Council Call for a strong and action oriented resolution on Sri Lanka at the 22nd session of the UN Human Rights Council Letter to UNHRC by NorthEast clergy with annexes 18Feb2013 We had also witnessed continuing ignorance and violations of the key LLRC recommendations, related to political solution to the ethnic conflict, release… Read more »
4 Years After End of Civil War, Photo of Dead Boy Ups Pressure on Sri Lanka Over War Crimes Saurabh Das/Associated Press – …Zoe Sale, producer of the documentary “No Fire Zone” which shows the last violent days of the Sri Lankan civil war, watches a screening of the film in New Delhi, India…. Read more »
Fact Sheet U.S.-SRI LANKA RELATIONS Relations between the United States and Sri Lanka are based on mutual interests and a shared commitment to the ideals of democratic governance. U.S. policy toward Sri Lanka is characterized by respect for its independence, sovereignty, and moderate nonaligned foreign policy; support for the country’s unity, territorial integrity, and democratic… Read more »
What some have framed as a battle for power between the judiciary and executive is in fact a one-sided assault on an already weakened legal system, which has for decades, but particularly under President Rajapaksa, routinely done the executive’s bidding.
Hinduism Today Oct 2012 Keerimalai The Pancha (Five) Ishwarams of Eelam by TamilNation Courtesy: Shruthi Laya Shangam, London and Shri S. Arumugam, from the presentation of the Kalakshetra dance drama “Pancha Ishwaram of Lanka” at the University of London on 16 October 1999 Introduction There were temples, dedicated to the Supreme Lord Ishwaran,… Read more »
Chavakachcheri gets a Free Computer Training Center as TITA and SKTATT of London once again join hands A third joint Free Computer Training Center by TITA and SKTATT (London Sri Kanaga Thurkai Amman Temple Trust), will be opened on, Sunday, the 08th of Aug 2004, in Chavakachcheri in the Jaffna district, following their joint center… Read more »
Vanni Institute of Technology Convocation Fifty two students, who have completed a one-year course at the Vanni Institute of Technology since its inauguration in 2003, had their convocation today, 8th of August 2004, in a well-attended ceremony presided over by Siva Gobal, President of the Vanni Institute of Technology. Mr.S.P. Tamilselvan, Head of the LTTE… Read more »
THE WELIKADE PRISON MASSACRES OF 1983 by S.A. David, President of the Gandhiyam Movement, July 25, 2004 An Eye-Witness The Sri Lanka government rounded up hundreds of Tamil Activists resisting the government attempt to establish a mono-ethnic-mono-religious [Sinhala-Buddhist] state in Sri Lanka. Most of them were engaged in non-violent programs to provide alternate opportunities to… Read more »
by Dr. Victor Rajakulendran; published April 26, 2004 What the International Community cannot ignore Re: The stalled Sri Lankan peace process Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Bandaranayake Kumarathunga (CBK) has now invited the Norwegian facilitators to restart facilitation of the negotiations between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The Norwegians, who… Read more »
by Anne Henry; Daily Mirror, Colombo, November 18, 2003 A report released by UNICEF last week on catch-up education for children in the North and East makes for uncomfortable reading. While the Board of Investment trumpets Sri Lanka’s achievements in “lead[ing] the South Asian region… with its high literacy rate of 91% placing it way ahead… Read more »