Are administrative authorities in slumber while nature is at stake? Controversially, the deforestation accusations are aimed at State agencies and the issue is further ethno-politicized due to the accusations made at Muslim communities engaging in forest clearing and illegal land settlement, particularly aimed at the Minister of Trade and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen’s alleged patronage for… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Politics
JR: I was Forced into a Deal with India
Jayewardene told U.S. envoy by Amit Baruah, ‘The Hindu,’ Chennai, February 5, 2017 Former Sri Lanka President claimed his troops refused to take Jaffna, reveal declassified papers Sri Lanka was forced into making a deal with India as its own armed forces had twice refused to “take Jaffna”, then President J.R. Jayewardene has been quoted… Read more »
Sri Lanka Keeps Accountability & Justice at Bay
In the UPR sessions in Geneva By Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [Lond.], December 3, 2017 Sri Lanka has scored yet another diplomatic success at the UN Human Rights Council UPR Sessions in Geneva which conducted the Universal Periodic Review for Sri Lanka on November 15, 2017. “Universal Periodic Review [UPR] is a unique process which involves a… Read more »
Selective Memory
Erasure & memorialisation in Sri Lanka’s North by Centre for Policy Analysis, Colombo, November 23, 2017 Viewable on picture rich Sway at https://sway.com/tErHAnhIQWtGz43d Prehistory; the kings of old and all the tanks, temples and kingdoms to their name; Dutch, Portuguese, British colonization; the struggles for freedom; Independence; the achievements of the first Presidents and Prime Ministers… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Proposed Constitution Comes Under Attack
International interest, not international laws, will deliver autonomy to Sri Lanka’s Tamils. by Ana Pararajasingham, ‘The Diplomat,’ Washington, DC, November 7, 2017 The interim report on Sri Lanka’s proposed constitution released on September 21 has come under a spate of attacks. On October 24, a retired Sri Lankan army officer, Major General Kamal Gunaratne, insisted that those seeking to… Read more »
An Ineffective & Fragmented Political Opposition
By: Thambu Kanagasabai LLM [Lond.], November 6, 2017 Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo President, Tamil Canadian Elders for Human Rights Organization. In the last Parliamentary and Presidential elections in 2015, majority of Tamils and Muslims voted for the ‘good governance’ promised by the UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe and SLFP led by Maithiripala Sirisena… Read more »
What Does It Take to Form a Country?
by ‘The Economist’ Facebook, November 9, 2017 https://www.facebook.com/TheEconomist/videos/10156002993029060/
Sri Lanka’s Military Aren’t Ready to be Peacekeepers
Given Sri Lanka’s history in Haiti, its treatment of Tamils on the island, and its history of impunity, its soldiers should not be allowed to wear the blue helmet, writes Liberal MP Gary Anandasangaree. By Gary Anandasangaree, ‘The Star,’ Toronto, Nov. 3, 2017 The recent appointment of Robert Mugabe as the World Health Organization (WHO)… Read more »
Second U.S.-Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue
Joint Statement From the U.S. Department of State and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka on the Second U.S.-Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue 11/06/2017 10:56 AM EST Media Note Office of the Spokesperson Washington, DC November 6, 2017 The text of the following statement was released by the Governments of the United States of… Read more »
Brazil Cannot be a Safe Haven for War Crimes Suspects
by Juana Kweitel and Sylvia Helena Steiner, Nexo Journal, Sao Paulo, Brazil, October 24, 2017 (translated from the original Portugese by Google Translate) Sri Lanka’s ambassador is suspected of having participated in the deaths of more than 70,000 people in his country. Itamaraty, however, gave him diplomatic immunity and did not publicly pronounce on denunciations… Read more »
On Sri Lanka’s National Question – Part 2
By P. Sivakumar, October 27, 2017 In the first part of this article (http://sangam.org/sri-lankas-national-question/) I discussed about a section of the Sinhalese who are unable to differentiate between Federalism and Separatism. However, there are also enough of well-educated Sinhalese who know the difference very well but still oppose it. Their argument is that Ethno-federalism (federalism… Read more »
Comments on Articles on New Constitution
by Veluppilai Thangavelu, October 23, 2017 from Thamilvaddam discussion group # 4708 COMMENT on ‘Battling for a New Constitution’ In the first place Jayampathy Wickremaratne is not a Minister. He is an appointed MP. So why quote Jayampathy Wickremaratne and why not quote Mahinda Rajapaksa, former President, has said about the current constitutional process? That… Read more »
On Sri Lanka’s National Question
by P. Sivakumar, October 20, 2017 One of the tragedies of Sri Lanka is that the Sinhalese have never understood the meaning of federalism or they pretend not to understand. Most of them think a federal state means a separate country where the Sinhalese will be sent out. Federalism is not separation and it is the… Read more »
Battling for a New Constitution
And dashing the hopes of the Tamils by Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [Lond.], Former Lecturer in Law , University of Colombo, President, Tamil Canadian Elders for Human Rights Organization The Steering Committee consisting of twenty members of Parliament chaired by the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe has finally submitted its report for consideration by the Constituent Assembly on… Read more »
Joint Civil Society Submission to the UN UPR
by Joint Civil Society, posted on Centre for Policy Analysis, March 2017 Final-Sri-Lanka-JCS-UPR-submission-March-2017 Introduction …The years 2012-2014 witnessed continued authoritarianism, weakening of the rule of law, shrinking of space for human rights and dissent and the exacerbation of the culture of impunity. With the regime change of January 2015 and the formation of a government… Read more »
Is Sri Lanka’s Tamil party Selling Out the Tamil People?
By JS Tissainayagam, ‘Asian Correspondent,’ UK, Malaysia, Australia, October 4, 2017 SRI LANKA’s government since 2015 was elected on a promise of a new constitution that would find a solution to the country’s national problems. On Sept 21, 2017, the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly presented its reporton the new constitution to Parliament proposing the devolution… Read more »
On Sri Lanka’s Constitutional Reform
Hopes and fears ‘The Hindu’ editorial, September 23, 2017 The interim report on a new constitution should set off an informed debate in Sri Lanka It is only with a great degree of caution and circumspection that the interim report of the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly of Sri Lanka can be welcomed. The… Read more »
The Militarisation of Mullaitivu District
Normalising the Abnormal by Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research (ACPR) and People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL), October 4, 2017 Clicking on each pin will open up more information about the structure in question. Locations of structures were determined based on six months of desk research and field research, and only pins that were… Read more »
War Crimes & Command Responsibility
by Thambu Kanagasabai,, LLM [Lond.] Former Lecturer in Law – University of Colombo Sri Lanka President, The Tamil Canadian Elders for Human Rights Organization, Toronto, Canada, September 26, 2017 The current hot topic which has generated fire and heat among the military’s high ups and dragging the Sri Lankan government also to answerability is the war… Read more »
Catalans Are Not Alone. Across the World, People Yearn to Govern Themselves
by Neal Ascherson, ‘The Guardian,’ UK, September 23, 2017 Globalisation was supposed to bring widespread uniformity and benefit. But it hasn’t addressed old grievances Comments 831 It could end really badly in Catalonia. Running out of their own ideas, the Spanish government in Madrid seems to be begging advice from ancestral Castilian spirits. And the ancestors… Read more »