Briefing by Jayantha Dhanapala, Secretary General, Secretariat for Coordinating Peace Process & Senior Adviser to the President of Sri Lanka, to the US Congressional Sri Lanka Caucus, 8 September 2005 “A Sri Lanka caucus was formed in the House of Representatives in 1998. The caucus seems to be a cheerleader for the Sri Lankan government,… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Politics
Dhanapala: Defending the Indefensible
by Ana Pararajasingham, September 20, 2005 Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala is no novice when it comes to diplomacy. But even he cannot defend the indefensible. Sent to Washington to defend the Sinhala regime’s appalling failure to implement the Cease-Fire, its abject indifference to the survivors of the tsunami in the Tamil Homeland and its blatant use… Read more »
Role of Tamil Diaspora Vital for Peace Process Says Dhanapala
by Ananther Boopathy, September 16, 2005 Ladies and Gentlemen, From being a Ceylon Tamil, I became a Sri Lankan Tamil, then a Tamil Paraiya for most Sinhalese, then a Tamil refugee inside the country, then a Tamil terrorist, then a Tamil refugee in at least three different countries from India to Europe to North America. All this… Read more »
Recognizing the Sri Lankan Peace Process?
The Role of the International Community The LTTE Peace Secretariat released the attached statement today concerning the state of the peace process: Recognizing the Sri Lankan Peace Process Note: The statement is in PDF format, and, therefore, requires Adobe Acrobat to be read. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat, click on the following image to… Read more »
Speech by Australian MP After Visit to NE
MP for Strathfield (Sydney) Hon. Virginia Judge, who recently returned from a visit to NorthEastern Sri Lanka, gave a speech today about her visit in the New South Wales State Parliament: Speech by Australian MP Virginia Judge after visit to Sri Lanka Sept. 15 2005.. The Hon. Judge calls for “a genuine federal structure that… Read more »
Security Imbalance, Not Violence, Threatens Truce
by Jana Nayagam, Tamil Guardian, September 14, 2005 The actual risk to the ceasefire is not violence per se, but the continuing non-implementation of crucial aspects of the CeaseFire Agreement, resulting in declining benefits from it. Observers of Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict have watched the ongoing shadow war in the island’s east between the Liberation Tigers… Read more »
Ethnicity, Aid and Peace in Fragile States
A Sri Lankan Case Study by Luckshmi Sivalingam, September 2005 A thesis for a Masters of Science (MSc) degree at the London School of Economics and Political Science Abstract This study examines the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict through a multi-layered analytical lens of ethnic, socio-economic, and political considerations. Residual colonial tensions, intensified by market liberalization… Read more »
An Open Letter to Dr. Jayantha Dhanapala
Dr. Jayantha Dhanapala, Secretary General Secretariat for Co-ordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) Level 10, West Tower World Trade Centre Bank of Ceylon Mawatha Colombo 01, Sri Lanka Dear Dr. Dhanapala, Re: Your briefing on the Sri Lankan Peace process: the Role of the International Community I am writing this open letter in order to bring… Read more »
Violations of International Covenants by the Sri Lankan Government
by M. Nadarajan, September 13, 2005 Successive Sinhalese majority Sri Lankan Governments have ruled the country under Emergency Regulations for 39 of the over 57 years since independence. Of these, 29 years under Emergency have related to the ethnic problems with Tamils, according to the Tamil Center for Human Rights based in France with branches… Read more »
TCHR: 34 Years of Emergency, 29 to Suppress Tamil Rights
TAMIL CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS – TCHR/CTDH (Established in 1990) www.tchr.net Ref: GO7ER/PR/2005, 7 September 2005 Out of 34 years of state of Emergency in Sri Lanka, 29 years have been used for suppressing the rights of Tamils “So long as governments set the example of killing their enemies, private individuals will occasionally kill theirs.” – Elbert… Read more »
Forum on Upcoming New Zealand Elections
The Consortium of Tamil Associations in New Zealand (COTANZ) organised a political forum for the forthcoming New Zealand 2005 Election, which is going to be held on 17 September 2005. The name of the forum is: Election – 2005: Which Policy is for You ???. The main parties’ representatives were invited to present their party… Read more »
Report 9 on Relief from the Tsunami
Report on Relief and Rehabilitation from the Tsunami Tidal Wave 2004 (9) John’s Church Uranee Batticaloa Srilanka Sept. 9, 2005 Dear Friends, Greetings from St John’s Mission. With your very valuable support, financial and otherwise, we are able to sustain the relief programmes that we set out to do. The Tsunami-affected people in some areas… Read more »
Will the Tamils Be Deceived Yet Again?
by M. Nadarajan, September 9, 2005 Action In a recent address to the business community Prime Minister Rajapakse said, “All sections of our society are sick and tired of theories and verbose statements, sick of visionary statements of our leaders, which have been largely confined to words, words. Like you, the captains of business, I… Read more »
Terrorists and the National Guard
by Kopi Annan, September 6, 2005 In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, the world witnessed a complete breakdown of law and order in Louisiana that required the presence of the National Guard to safeguard property. The chaos is best described by Rossie Diamnno of The Toronto Star (September 2, 2005) as follows: “It is disgraceful that countless… Read more »
India May Pull Troops From Kashmir
After New Talks by Somini Sengupta, The New York Times, September 6, 2005 NEW DELHI, Sept. 5 – India will pull back troops from the disputed territory of Kashmir if militant infiltration and violence ends, the prime minister’s office announced Monday evening after a rare meeting with Kashmiri separatists. The meeting, between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh… Read more »
Is It Crisis Management or Conflict Resolution?
by Chandi Sinnathurai THE FIVE-DAY visit to Sri Lanka by the UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has caused many speculations. Is the intent of the UN to study the progress of the peace process genuine enough to win peace while bringing justice to the marginalised Tamils? Such fear is always palpable in the Sinhala mind-set…. Read more »
Deja Vu? Sri Lanka’s Tamils Fear Return to Civil War
by Simon Gardner, Boston Globe, August 27, 2005 JAFFNA, Sri Lanka (Reuters) – Displaced four times by Sri Lanka’s two-decade civil war with the Tamil Tigers, 22-year-old Nirmalashanthi Vijayakanth is ecstatic to finally settle into the first home she can call her own. The ramshackle shelter in the artillery-ravaged northern town of Jaffna has no running… Read more »
A Man of Straw
by V Gunaratnam, September 6, 2005 “All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field.” – Albert Einstein on Peace 1879-1955 Death comes to most of us without warning, but… Read more »
The Construction of Kadirgamar
Lakshman Kadirgamar: How the South Constructed Him, the Tamils Saw Him by J. S. Tissainayagam, Northeastern Monthly, September 1, 2005 “The LTTE has wreaked havoc so many times and now killed the best foreign minister this country ever had. It was he who changed the international opinion of this Island, which was hitherto referred to… Read more »
Pride and Prejudice
by Chandi Sinnathurai, September 3, 2005 THE LATE Mr. Kadirgamar prided himself solely as a Sri Lankan while distancing himself as a Tamil. The harsh reality of it all is that the Tamils around the world have refused to mourn the death of this prodigal son who with style and finesse betrayed his own roots. Many… Read more »