Posts Categorized: Politics

Break in Siege Is Little Relief to Syrian City

The agreement, announced by the Syrian government last week, called for a three-day cease-fire to allow women, children and older men to leave a rebel-held part of the city while food was distributed to those who remained inside.

But the cease-fire was shaky from the start. Some residents refused to leave, fearing their departure would prompt the killing of the remaining rebels. Pro-government Facebook pages also criticized the deal and began a campaign called “No to feeding the gunmen.”

March Madness: Is it USA Vs India?

In the case of Burma, India and America’s good cop, bad cop routine worked to ultimately undo the military junta.

But will India and America reenact the same play in Sri Lanka or are their objectives diverging? …

Tamil Nadu activists have chosen to protest against the American resolution because it does not include charges of Genocide. While that is reasonable request, protesting it misses the tree for the wood. Tamil Nadu’s immediate focus should be in getting Delhi to take a public position within the next few weeks. Letting Delhi wait until the voting time, is a strategic mistake by the Tamil Nadu brethren. Tamil Nadu activists should first mobilize towards getting Delhi to openly support an International Investigation mechanism. Without that, protesting the resolution for what it does not include is premature and above all not prudent. It only helps Delhi’s agenda of deflection.

New Inquiry on Sri Lanka Points to Possible War Crimes

William Schabas, professor of international law at Middlesex University in London who is an authority on war crimes and was among the experts enlisted to examine the Australian inquiry’s evidence, said it was the first to focus on issues that are relevant to a criminal prosecution.

“What it demonstrates is there is clear evidence that a prosecutor can go on,” he said in an interview.

Holding Sri Lanka to Account

Washington is once again trying to put pressure on the government of Sri Lanka to commission a credible independent investigation of crimes and human rights abuses committed during the end of that country’s bloody civil war in 2009. It was a good move to send a senior American diplomat to the island nation last weekend… Read more »

US Asst Secretary Press Conference in Colombo

U.S. Department of State Nisha Desai Biswal Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Colombo, Sri Lanka February 2, 2014 Press Conference With Assistant Secretary Nisha Biswal in Colombo, Sri Lanka AMBASSADOR SISON: I am so pleased to be with you all this evening in order to introduce you to our new Assistant… Read more »

London Conference Explores Nature of Land Grabs in Tamil Homeland

Academics, legal experts, activists, journalists, and Eezham Tamil politicians gathered in London to discuss Sri Lankan state facilitated land grabs in the Eezham Tamils homeland, its nature, its effects, and possible solutions, at a conference on Saturday. While all of the presenters were in consensus that land grabs in the Tamil homeland was a phenomena… Read more »

“Tamil People Are Gravely Harmed”

by TNAPolitics.org, January 30, 2014 The Central Committee meeting of the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi was held on January 26, 2014 at the Town Hall, Trincomalee. The meeting was attended by representatives from all districts in the Northern and Eastern provinces.  The meeting which commenced at 10.30 a.m. under the chairmanship of R. Sampanthan M.P…. Read more »

U.S. Envoy to Visit Sri Lanka as Pressure Builds for War Crimes Inquiry

“There is no way he can allow an investigation because an international probe that asks chain-of-command type of questions will lead directly to the Rajapaksas themselves,” Mr. Saravanamuttu said in an interview. “Literally and figuratively, President Rajapaksa must live and die in power.”

Whether the country’s restive north will remain peaceful without further reconciliation efforts is a crucial question. The army continues to occupy thousands of homes and administer its own farms, factories and resorts on appropriated land, for which the government has paid little or no compensation.

Text of NPC Resolution

Deliberation of the Northern Provincial Council – https://soundcloud.com/tamilnet/tamil-deliberations-in-npc-on *** The following resolution was proposed by the Council Member Hon Mahalingam Kanagalingam Shivajilingam and adopted by the Northern Provincial Council on January 27, 2014:   1.      We bring to the notice of the International Community that the Tamil Nation has been, and continued to be subjected to ethnic cleansing… Read more »

Tamil Leaders Vow to Prove ‘Genocide’ in Civil War

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s ethnic Tamil-run provincial administration said Monday it wants to prove that the central government carried out an operation “akin to genocide” to win a long civil war against Tamil rebels. The Northern Provincial Council wants to conduct its own internationally supervised count of the dead and missing civilians to… Read more »

Verdict of Permanent People’s Tribunal

PPT judgement upholds Eelam Tamil identity and nomenclature The full report of the judgement of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lanka (Bremen Session), released on Wednesday, came out with a discussion on the choice of nomenclature to identify the victims of genocide and has decided on the use of the term “Eelam Tamils as… Read more »

Why International Pressure Has Become Necessary

There is a belief that a presidential or general election will be held later this year or early next year, following on the provincial elections. The government’s reluctance to accommodate a political solution to minority ethnic grievances at this time would seem to come from its calculation that it cannot afford to lose its hold over the Sinhalese majority electorate in the context of impending elections. This is an electorate that can give the government a permanent majority and the prospect of long term rule so long as it does not fracture. The issue on which the Sinhalese electorate is most likely to get divided on is that of a political solution to the ethnic conflict. Therefore the government is unwilling to change its policy with regard to the ethnic minorities or implement the devolution of powers to the North.

Does Diplomacy Stand a Chance in Sri Lanka?

Sri Lanka’s civil war ended in 2009, but the cessation of war has not resulted in the peace that many had hoped for. Notwithstanding some notable progress when it comes to reconstruction and development, authoritarianism, ethnic tension, and majoritarian triumphalism are on the rise. These trends will come under increased scrutiny at the 25th session… Read more »

NPC Chief Minister Wigneswaran on Good Governance

by ‘Colombo Telegraph,’ January 20, 2014 New Year 2014 is starting well for us. The War had got us into a cocoon in which we  managed howsoever we could, not really appreciating the changes taking place locally and globally all around us. We failed to appreciate the nuances of political or administrative terminology too. We… Read more »

The Irrelevancy of the 13th Amendment

by Kumaravadivel Guruparan, ‘Junior Bar Law Review,’ October, 2013 Article_on_13A_for_Junior_Bar_Law_Review_(Oct_2013) 4. Conclusion I have tried to demonstrate in this article that given the structural deficiencies of the 13th!Amendment that it fails to even perform the role of a reference point to a discourse on a political solution. This article calls for and tries to provide the… Read more »

Colonization Schemes

by Hon.R.Sampanthan-MP, TNAPolitics.org, December 15, 2013 I am happy to follow the Minister, the Hon. Janaka Bandara Tennakoon, who, I think, in the course of his statement referred to the multifarious problems that exist in the North and the East pertaining to State land. I will be dealing with some of these issues in the course… Read more »

The Military, The Minorities, And Neo-Fascism

So, President MR could go down in history for enabling the defeat of the LTTE and also for preventing the military coming to power, but the second achievement – as I pointed out in my first paragraph above – is of an ambiguous and provisional order. …

Perhaps all this is a consequence of the dilemma facing the Government: what peacetime role should be assigned to a conquering army?

An Open Letter to DBS Jeyaraj

Re your article ‘Tussle in North between Governor and Chief Minister’ In your 10 page essay you have given copious criticisms of the elected Tamil Justice Wigneswaran, but none for the ex military Singhalese  governor. Don’t you think Chandrasri and Rajapakse also  need your  wisdom?  You seem to presume that Chandrsri and  Rajapakse are infallible and can do no wrong,… Read more »

Tamil Tragedy

by Bhekuzulu Khumalo, ‘Washington Times’ Communities blog, December 12, 2013 WASHINGTON, December 12, 2013 — Congress recently created the Congressional Caucus on Ethnic and Religious Freedom in Sri Lanka. The Caucus was initiated by efforts of Congressmen Bill Johnson (R-OH) and Danny Davis (D-IL). The objective of the Caucus is to bring the attention of the… Read more »