Posts Categorized: Politics

Shouldering of Responsibility to Save Desperate Tamils in Sri Lanka

by Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [Lond.] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, January 11, 2020 There is no denying of the fact that Tamils in Sri Lanka  have been at the receiving end since 1949, when power was transferred to the majority Sinhala Government. Successive Sinhala Governments continued and still continue the marginalisation… Read more »

Media under Fire

Tamil Guardian editorial, London, January 6, 2020 Several weeks into Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidency, journalists on the island are coming under increasing threat. Whilst the island has always been a dangerous place for the press, and for Tamil journalists in particular, over the last month there has been a worrying rise in intimidation, harassment and even… Read more »

13A Just a Cudgel in India’s Hand

by MSM Ayub, Daily Mirror, Colombo, December 13, 2019 It was India that first sent its External Affairs Minister to Sri Lanka within 24 hours after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s President on November 18. It was also India that became the first diplomatic destination for President Rajapaksa. Indian External Affairs… Read more »

High Time to Act on Sri Lanka

By United Nations & international community by Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [Lond]. Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has been in the limelight of UN and International Community for the last thirty years and more intensively during and after the genocidal war launched against the Tamil civilians and Liberation Tigers of… Read more »

Thirteenth Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution

This article is generally agreed to be the best discussion of the weakness of the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution, instituted after the 1987 Indo-Lanka Accord to provide the ‘devolution’ the Tamils have requested to allow them to manage some of their own affairs within Sri Lanka. by Nadesan Satyendra, ‘TamilNation.org,’ March 1988,… Read more »

Speech by Nadesan Satyendra at Thimpu Talks 1985

posted by Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), February 12, 2012 Satyendra was the TELO representative at the Thimbu Talks We recognise that the Tamil national struggle is not taking place in some Himalayan stratosphere… At the outset, we would like to emphasise something which all of us amongst the Tamil delegation present here today, recognise… Read more »

Devolution of Powers under the 13th Amendment in Sri Lanka

Fact or Fiction? by MCM Iqbal, ‘Groundviews,’ Colombo, July 19, 2009 (The writer was one of the secretaries of the first Provincial Council of the Western Province) 1. Introduction In the aftermath of the defeat of the LTTE in Sri Lanka, many expected the government to put forward the promised political solution to the problems of… Read more »

Will the New President of Sri Lanka Guide the Country on the Correct Path?

by Kumarathasan Rasingam – Secretary, The Tamil Canadian Elders for Human Rights Org., December 16, 2019 The Singapore success is attributed to their leader LEE KUAN YEW developing a society where each race appreciate and respect that of others, encouraged to preserve its unique culture and traditions, let alone that of the majority. It’s fostering… Read more »

Sri Lanka Fast Becoming a Failed State

by Thambu Kanagasabai – LLM [Lond] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, December 9, 2019 A Failed state is one which is failing to function properly regarding its responsibilities, including an inability to interact with other states as a full member of the international community. Ethnic conflicts and tension, violation of human… Read more »

Will Tamils Overcome Politics of Fear to Find New Leadership?

by JS Tissainayagam, Asian Correspondent, UK, November 24, 2019 THE overwhelming turnout by Tamil voters in North and East Sri Lanka to vote for Sajith Premadasa at the presidential election epitomised the admonition they had heard for over five years: “Don’t rock the political boat lest the Rajapaksas return to power.” Hence, the politics of… Read more »

The Rajapaksas Will Ruin Sri Lanka’s Economy

Virulent ethnic nationalism and hateful rhetoric toward minorities might win votes, but it will lead the country to economic ruin. by Amita Arudpragasam, Foreign Policy, Washington, DC, November 27, 2019 On Nov. 18, Gotabaya Rajapaksa took his oath as Sri Lanka’s seventh executive president, at the sacred Buddhist temple Ruwanwelisaya in Anuradhapura. Three days later, his brother,… Read more »

The Fate of Sri Lanka’s Tamil National Anthem

What the past (and future) of the Tamil version of the national anthem tells us about minority rights in Sri Lanka. by Dishani Senaratne, ‘The Diplomat,’ Washington, DC,  November 22, 2019 Gotabaya Rajapaksa, former defense secretary and brother of ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa, emerged victorious in Sri Lanka’s presidential election last Sunday. Gotabaya was largely backed… Read more »

US Press Statements on Sri Lanka Elections

On Sri Lanka’s Elections: Press Statement by Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State November 18, 2019 The United States congratulates the people of Sri Lanka on their democratic election and stands ready to work with Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the new President of Sri Lanka.  We call on President Rajapaksa to uphold Sri Lanka’s commitments to… Read more »

Deep Divisions Confront Sri Lanka’s New President

by Amy Kazmin, Financial Times, London, November 19, 2019 The ancient Buddhist stupa where Gotabaya Rajapaksa was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s president on Monday is rich in symbolism: the structure was built by the first Sinhalese king to unify the island under his rule after the defeat of a Tamil dynasty. But Mr Rajapaksa’s choice of… Read more »

What’s Behind a Flurry of Legal Bids to Prosecute Myanmar for Genocide?

‘The net is tightening around the Myanmar military and civilian leadership.’ by Emmanuel Stoakes, The New Humanitarian (formerly IRIN News), UN, November 21, 2019 CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand A burst of legal action across the globe this month has provided fresh impetus for efforts to examine atrocity crimes allegedly committed by Myanmar against its Rohingya minority…. Read more »

Victory of Rajapaksa- What It Means to Tamil Polity?

Paper No. 6515                   by Prof. Ramu Manivannan, South Asia Analysis Group, Delhi, November 24, 2019 http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/node/2540 The victory of Gotabaya Rajapaksa was much anticipated in the recently held 16th November presidential elections in Sri Lanka given the course of national politics after the evaporation of false euphoria over… Read more »

Sri Lankan Critics Fear a Crackdown Is Underway, and Some Flee

A Swiss Embassy employee was abducted and asked about asylum applications and investigators were banned from leaving just days after Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected. by Maria Abi-Habib & Sameer Yasir, The New York Times, November 27, 2019 Fears of a potential crackdown on critics of the newly returned Rajapaksa political dynasty in Sri Lanka are… Read more »

‘We Needed a Modi After the Easter Attacks’

by Kapil Komireddi, The New York Times opinion page, November 25, 2019 COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka was among the first democracies to defy the tide of populism. In January 2015, when India was seven months into Narendra Modi’s sectarian reign and the United States was two years from falling to Donald Trump, voters in this… Read more »

In Sri Lanka’s Ethnocracy, Tamils Will Always Lose

by Brannavy Jeyasundaram, Jacobin, Brooklyn, USA, November 25, 2019 Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the architect of Sri Lanka’s genocide against Tamils in 2009. He was also just elected president of the country. It’s the culmination of a decade of impunity following the end of the Sri Lankan civil war that has enabled genocidaires to be feted… Read more »