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 »
Posts Categorized: Politics
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 »
Sangam: US Must Stand by the Peace Process in Sri Lanka
Sangam Press Release The US must stand by the peace process in Sri Lanka On August 31, 2005 the Ilankai Tamil Sangam sent out a press release concerning the peace process in Sri Lanka and responding to a recent press release from the Sri Lankan Embassy in Washington, DC. The press release can be read… Read more »
NESOHR: Sethusamedram Project
NESOHR on the Sethusamedram Project The University of Jaffna, the Green Movement Sri Lanka, the Tamil Economic Consulting House (TECH) and the Environment Foundation together organized a public discussion at the Library Auditorium in University of Jaffna on August 30th 2005 on the “Socio-economical and environmental impacts of the Sethu Samudhram Canal Project (SSCP).” NESOHR… Read more »
NESoHR: Withdraw ER & PTA
Withdraw the Emergency Regulation and the Prevention of Terrorism Act NORTH EAST SECRETARIAT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS NESOHR A9 Road Karadippokku, Kilinochchi nesohr /A_T/ hotmail /D_O_T/ com Tel: 94 (0) 21 228 5986 NESOHR Press Release 22 August 2005 Withdraw the Emergency Regulation (ER) and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) Reintroduction of the… Read more »
NYT: Divided They Stand
By David Brooks, The New York Times, August 25, 2005 This constitution gives each group what it wants. It will create a very loose federation in which only things like fiscal and foreign policy are controlled in the center (even tax policy is decentralized). Oil revenues are supposed to be distributed on a per capita basis,… Read more »
Negotiating with ‘Illiberal’ Forces
by A.R.M. Imtiyaz, Ph.D., August 26, 2005 The assassination of Foreign Minister Mr. Kadirgamar not only deeply shocked many Sinhalese, but also vigorously spurred Southern nationalists who oppose power-sharing arrangements with the LTTE. Literally, an absence of social peace with justice in ethnically divided societies will engender social disharmony between the different ethnic groups. It… Read more »
Sri Lanka in Crisis Again
by M. Thiru, August 26, 2005 Mr. Venkatesh, Re: ‘Sri Lanka in crisis again’ in the Asian Tribune As an observer, I wonder why the Sri Lankan Police declined the help offered by the UK and US police authorities in solving the murder of Laxman Kadirgamar? This international help the Sri Lankan police do not want. … Read more »
U.S. Can Learn from Unrest in Sri Lanka
by Lloyd Chapman, Statesman Journal, Salem, Oregon, USA, August 24, 2005 Sri Lanka is again in the throes of unrest. The foreign minister and two popular radio announcers were assassinated recently, ending a week that saw half a dozen people killed on the nation’s east coast. This island nation near India has been here before. Who… Read more »