by Kate Ferguson, World Policy Review, New York, September 7, 2021 There is extensive evidence that the Chinese government is violating the human rights of ethnic Uyghurs, and that these violations include crimes against humanity and genocide. Satellite imagery, testimonials, demographic data and photographs substantiate the extensive allegations against China, which include the use of mass surveillance… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Politics
SR TJ: Follow-up on 2017 visit to Sri Lanka
by UN Special Rapporteur on Transitional Justice, Geneva, September 2021 Follow-up on the visits to Burundi, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Fabián Salvioli Summary The Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth,… Read more »
Letter from Association of Relatives of Enforced Disappearances
by Association for Relatives of Enforced Disappearances, North & East Provinces, Kilinochchi, August 30, 2021 (letter courtesy tweet by Tamil Americans United) * * xxx
An Exclusive Interview with India’s Commodore R. S. Vasan
by A. Jathindra, Centre for Strategic Studies, Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, August 24, 2021 Commodore (Ret) R. S. Vasan, Former Regional Commander Coast Guard Region East, Indian Navy is currently, Director Chennai Centre for China Studies and Regional Director National Maritime Foundation Tamil Nadu. China’s influence in Sri Lanka has grown remarkably in recent years. It… Read more »
Ellusive Unity & Eroding Aspirations
Of the Tamils of Sri Lanka by Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM – London, Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, August 25, 2021 There is no doubt that unity is the most uttered and much used and abused word by the Tamil politicians and leaders who took control of the political destiny of Tamils… Read more »
Letter by FeTA-UK to Aid Agencies in 1996
by Federation of Tamil Associations in the UK, March 31, 1996 Fed Tamil Assoc UK 1996 Letter SL military budget 1996
2nd Vaddukkodai Resolution
by DMK’s Minister of Fisheries A. Radhakrisnan, August 9, 2021 Report on ‘2nd Vaddukoddai Resolution’ video conference held on 1-8-2021 with the participation of Tamil Leaders from Tamil Eelam (North and East of Sri Lanka) and Tamil Nadu, India. —— Second Vaddukkodai Resolution 1 August 2021 2nd Vaddukoddai Resolution video conference seeking India’s immediate and… Read more »
The Taliban Has Seized More Cities, Despite U.S. Efforts to Build a Strong Afghan Military
What happened? Persuading partners to emulate the U.S. military approach doesn’t necessarily work, new research finds by Rachel Tecott, The Washington Post, August 9, 2021 On Sunday, the Taliban claimed the northern city of Kunduz, freeing dozens of Taliban fighters from the city prison. As U.S. troops continue to withdraw from Afghanistan, the Taliban is seizing regional… Read more »
US Continues to Vet Sri Lankan Soldiers
– But are war criminals being let in? by Tamil Guardian, London, August 2, 2021 The United States says that all Sri Lankan soldiers continue to be fully vetted for involvement in human rights abuses before being allowed to train in the country. Recent appointments however point to holes in the vetting process and raise… Read more »
Reading the Southern Mothers’ Front with Malathi de Alwis
30 years later The report of the Commission of Inquiry for the Western, Southern and Sabargamuwa Provinces (CoI-WSS), the most detailed of all the reports, described the violence of 1988-1991 as a systemic and orchestrated phenomenon, in which those in political power and the law were deeply complicit. It is also unequivocal in concluding that… Read more »
Sri Lanka Sliding Down a Dark and Slippery Slope
Daily Mirror editorial, Colombo, July 14, 2021 Somewhere after defeating separatist terrorism in 2009, Sri Lanka missed a glorious chance of turning a destructive era on its head. In the aftermath of the near 3-decade-long separatist war, instead of pursuing a cherished dream of reconcilliation, our political leaders acted like Don Quixote who went tilting… Read more »
Racial Prejudice Rears Its Head in Singapore
Imperfect harmony The city state is less racially harmonious than its government likes to think by The Economist, London, July 31, 2021 DAVE PARKASH and his girlfriend were strolling down the street one evening in June when an irate man accosted them. Tan Boon Lee accused Mr Parkash of “preying” on his girlfriend, whom Mr Tan,… Read more »
In Sri Lanka, The COVID Response is Exacerbating Religious & Ethnic Tensions
by Mark Leon Goldberg, UN Dispatch in cooperation with Stanley Center for Peace & Security, June 22, 2021 Podcast interview with J.S. Tissainayagam at In Sri Lanka, The COVID Response is Exacerbating Religious and Ethnic Tensions | UN Dispatch In May 2009, the long running civil war in Sri Lanka ended with the defeat of… Read more »
Atrocities Cast Shadow on Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 Response
by J.S. Tissainayagam, Stanley Center for Peace & Security, Iowa, USA, May 17, 2021 Ranjini,* a housewife, lives in Kilinochchi, a town in Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority Northern Province. Earlier this year, the government began vaccinating the public against COVID-19. But this has made her fearful: she is not sure if she will be injected with… Read more »
TG: Echoes of the Past
by Tamil Guardian, London, July 23, 2021 This year marks 38 years since Black July: the anti-Tamil pogrom where thousands of Tamils were killed by brutal state-supported Sinhala mobs. It was a week of violence that saw Tamils murdered, tortured and displaced. It remains a premeditated and meticulously coordinated act of genocide. The remnants of… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa Dynasty is Not as Secure as It Appears
by Banyan, The Economist, London, July 17, 2021 The family that runs everything is running out of cash Since winning the presidency in a landslide nearly two years ago, Gotabaya Rajapaksa has worried not that he has too many relatives in government, but that he has too few. One of the 72-year-old’s elder brothers, Mahinda, himself… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Falling Economy & Failing Good Governance
by Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [London] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 21, 2021 President Gotabaya acclaimed as un uncrowned king of Sri Lanka after defeating the Liberation of Tigers in the genocidal war with the assistance of 22 countries particularly from India, Pakistan and China as confirmed by his brother Mahinda… Read more »
The Myth of Security and the Prevention of Terrorism Act
False Promises by Ambika Satkunanathan, ‘Groundviews,’ Colombo, July 14, 2021 For decades human rights activists have highlighted the draconian nature of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), which promises safety and security, yet in practice makes each citizen vulnerable to being arbitrarily arrested, detained, tortured and even convicted of an offence the person did not… Read more »
In Sri Lanka, the Government Looks Increasingly Like a Family Firm
Three brothers of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa now hold top posts in his government. Two of his nephews have official positions, too. by Muib Mashal, The New York Times, July 11, 2021 The first attempt by a Rajapaksa to return to power in Sri Lanka was brief. In 2018, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn in as… Read more »
One Island, Two Nations
by Kumarathasan Rasingam, July 9, 2021 Sri Lanka formerly known as CEYLON is an island country in South Asia. Sri Lanka was historically comprised of two distinctive nations; the country’s history has been written or represented as if it were one nation. However, the two nations, namely Sinhalese and Tamils, have existed in Sri Lanka… Read more »