by Maureen Clare Murphy, The Electronic Intifada, February 3, 2022 What makes Amnesty International’s new report determining that Israel practices the crime of apartheid against Palestinians any different from those that came before it? Certainly, Israel’s “hysterical” reaction – (in the words of one Haaretz headline) – to the Amnesty study is notably different from its relatively understated response to similar… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Politics
February 4 Black Day for Tamils in Sri Lanka
Independence Day for Sinhalese By: Kumarathasan Rasingam, Secretary, Tamil Canadian Elders for Human Rights, February 2, 2022 Postcolonial Sri Lanka has become worse than it was during the colonial period. The sad history of February 4th – the day of independence to the Sinhalese has turned out to be a BLACK DAY to the Tamils…. Read more »
UN Human Rights Chief Welcomes Sri Lanka Report
Urges further investigation into conduct of final stages of the war Pillay on Sri Lanka by UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, 26 April 2011 GENEVA (26 April 2011) — The High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday welcomed the public release of the report of the Secretary-General’s Panel… Read more »
Indian Ocean Strategic Studies Newsletter
by Indian Ocean Strategic Studies, New York, January 2022 Indian Ocean Strategic Studies newsletter January 2022 Mission of the IOSS Indian Ocean is at the heart of international geo-politics. Some 80% of the world’s maritime oil trade flows through three narrow passages of water, known as choke points, in the Indian Ocean. This includes the… Read more »
Providing Facilities to Tamils
President’s new panacea to solve their 72 years of ethnic problems by Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [London] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo. Sri Lanka, January 26, 2022 Sri Lankan President’s opening speech on January 18, 2022 detailing his commitments and acceptance of the current volatile situation is welcome on paper, but whether they would… Read more »
India Stays in the Game Facing a Pushy China
by Indrani Bagchi, Times of India, January 21, 2022 China will never “bully” its neighbours in the South China Sea, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi promised the Philippines this week. Instead, he preached: “Stressing only one side’s claims and imposing one’s own will on the other is not a proper way for neighbours to treat… Read more »
China’s Bare-chested Turn to Sri-Lankan Tamils is India’s New Headache
by Shrey Khanna, The Print, New Delhi, January 17, 2022 Anti-China sentiment among the Sinhalese allows China to influence the Tamil north. This time, through the fishermen crisis. The arrest of more than 60 Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy last month created a political stir in Tamil Nadu. The state’s fishermen are continuing their indefinite strike from 19 December,… Read more »
China Sits on the Sidelines of Peace Efforts
Despite High Stakes in Ethiopia by Joseph Sany, Ph.D. & Thomas P. Sheehy, US Institute for Peace, Washington, DC, January 19, 2022 Since November of 2020, Ethiopia has been suffering from a deadly internal conflict that has claimed an estimated 50,000 lives and displaced over two million. The United States, the African Union and others… Read more »
Friend or Foe? China Ventures into the Tamil Homeland
Tamil Guardian editorial, London, December 24, 2021 Last week China’s ambassador to Sri Lanka made his first visit to the North-East, in an interesting venture to the Tamil homeland. Qi Zhenhong went to great lengths to ingratiate himself with the Tamil people. The ambassador’s efforts ranged from visiting the historic Jaffna Library where he donated laptops and… Read more »
A United Voice for a Referendum for Eelam Tamils
by Kumarathasan Rasingam, Secretary, Tamil Canadian Elders for Human Rights Org., January 21, 2022 “A people who are subjugated by an alien people have the inherent right to free themselves from such alien subjugation” It is the right which is the right of self determination – A right which has today become a peremptory norm… Read more »
Did You Come with the Pongal Package, Brother?
by Nillanthan in his blog, January 16, 2022 [translated from the Tamil by Google Translate with some edits] Sajit Premadasa had arranged a meeting in Jaffna last Tuesday. The meeting was organized by the National Organization for Professionals and the Intellectuals Forum in support of the United People’s Power Alliance. Scholars from the University of… Read more »
2022 – Tamil Eelam Politics?
by Jathindra, Samakalam, January 2, 2022 [translated from the Tamil by Google Translate with some edits] There is a claim in Naladiyar (a Tamil poetic anthology written 100 CE) “All the days that pass are your lifetime.” Does this apply to our politics? Because in a political struggle – as the years go by, people… Read more »
Seven Tamil Parties Seek Modi’s Help for Implementing 13-A in Full
by DBS Jeyaraj, Daily Mirror, Colombo, January 8, 2022 In a significant political move, seven political parties mainly representing the Sri Lankan Tamils of the Northern and Eastern provinces have written a joint letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his help to fully implement the provisions of the 13th amendment to the Constitution…. Read more »
Sumanthiran Charts Way Forward
by Marianne David, The Morning, Colombo, January 8, 2022 No need to reinvent the wheel in constitution making No response on building consensus on previous processes US will take leading role on Sri Lanka at UNHRC once again ‘One Country, One Law’ opposite to promises give to world TNA still awaiting meeting with Prez on… Read more »
Tamil Timing
Coming crack-up, President’s plans and Tamil timing by Dayan Jayatilleke, Daily FT, Colombo, January 6, 2022 … Tamil talks: Last trainThe process of negotiation among the Tamil and Muslim parties over a consensus document to be addressed to India with regard to the Accord and the 13th amendment in light of the coming Constitution, has… Read more »
‘Executive Authoritarianism’ as Sri Lanka’s New Political Normal since COVID-19
by Jayadeva Uyangoda, Social Scientists Association, Colombo. October 2020 or shortly thereafter The ways in which countries from the global North to the global South have politically managed the unprecedented public health emergency situation brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has both national and global dimensions, have given rise to much anxiety among democratic… Read more »
Planning the New Year
by Nillanthan on his blog, January 1, 2022 [translated from the Tamil by Google Translate with some edits] What awaits in a new political year? Or what to do? The decision can be a continuation of the last year, so the new year can be planned based on a compiled estimate of the previous year…. Read more »
Activating the Dormant 13th Amendment of 1987
by Thambu Kanagasabai – Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, January 26, 2022 The 1987 13th Amendment, a conceived and delivered baby of India under the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987 for adoption by Sri Lanka, has been lying in the constitution of Sri Lanka partly implemented and mostly ignored by the… Read more »
The Tamils are the Original Inhabitants of Sri Lanka
by CV. Wigneswaran, Colombo Telegraph, December 16, 2021 C. V. Wigneswaran Someone asked me; We read in the press your response to a question recently. You seem to be making sweeping statements about the Sinhalese. As far as we know the Sinhalese were the original inhabitants of this Island and the Tamils came in the… Read more »
Myanmar Coup: Military Regime Seeks to Weaponize Religion
In a propaganda blitz, the military portrays itself as the guardian of Buddhism and stokes fear of a Muslim takeover. by Billy Ford, Zarchi Oo, US Institute of Peace, Washington, DC, December 16, 2021 Ten months have passed since Myanmar’s military overthrew the country’s elected government, and by now it’s apparent that arrests, executions, torture… Read more »