I am variously labeled in the media and was most recently called a traitor. Not the first time I’ve heard it and won’t be the last, but this time, it was because it was noted by some in the State media that those who made representations at the UN’s Human Rights Council in March were engaged in a vast, NGO driven conspiracy to tarnish the good name of the Government and the Sri Lankan State.

I go back to 1990, and an interview with Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was then the Secretary of a Parliamentary Committee on Fundamental and Human Rights, followed by the response of the self-proclaimed doyen of human rights today, Ranil Wickremesinghe.

After going back …

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Mr Prabhakaran has managed yet again to shock and even awe with the air strike on the Katunayake air base, even though the talk about a Tiger air capability has been around for some time.  According to a former Indian intelligence chief, the LTTE has had this capability for some nine years.   The question is as to whether this air strike alters the balance of power, militarily, politically and psychologically.

That the LTTE pulled off the attack begs a host of questions regarding the detection of the aircraft and as to why they were not pursued and destroyed before the attack or after it.  There is to be yet another commission to look into this and its findings may well go …

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Since the devastating tsunami struck the coastal areas of Sri Lanka just over two years ago, there have been mixed reviews about the rehabilitation process reported in the media. On the one hand, it has been said that Sri Lanka experienced two tsunamis, the second being the wave of money that flowed in and allowed people to rebuild their lives and look to the future. But on the other hand, and far more frequently, these stories go untold or are overshadowed by reports of corruption, unfair aid distribution and incompetent international relief organisations.

Far too rarely do we hear of stories that reflect the support and participation of various stakeholders including local level collaborations across ethnic and caste divides, NGOs, INGOs …

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Regrettably, the continuing tragedy of violent conflict in Sri Lanka is further compounded by the increasing emergence of all manner of conspiracy theories. Because of their risqué sensationalism with scant regard for verifiable facts and a marked disdain for accountability, those who promote such conspiracy theories are out to get media attention and through it, further a parochial agenda that otherwise, in their perception, lacks the gravitas to command public attention and support. The most recent cause célèbre are allegations of a secret deal between the President and the LTTE during the Presidential Elections in 2005 that guaranteed through nefarious means Mahinda Rajapaksa’s ascendancy to power. There have also been conspiracy theories regarding the recent spate of abductions and disappearances …

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Photo credit: Tamilnation

In my article to Groundviews, I ask what I believe is an extremely pertinent question from my erstwhile colleague, Victor Ivan, the Editor of Ravaya.

I ask him to explain his stance regarding the blanket censorship on news and information on “Mawbima” and Managala Samaraweera. My article uses the philosophy of Bertrand Russell, a favourite of Victor, to attempt to convince him that the current editorial bent of Ravaya is hugely detrimental to the perception of the newspaper as a progressive and alternative media voice.

Read my article in full here.

-நாரதர்-

இலங்கை ஜனநாயக சோசலிச குடியரசு என்ற இலங்கையில் இன்று எந்தளவு அது நிலைத்துள்ளது என்பதனை கேட்குமளவிற்கு அப்பதம் கேள்விக்குறியாகியுள்ளது.அதற்கு ஒரு எடுத்துக்காட்டாகவே திருகோணமலை இன்று திகழ்கிறது.

இனந்தெரியாத ஆயுத குழுக்கல் என்ற பெயரில் படுகொலைகள்,மக்களின் அன்றாட வாழக்கையின் ஓர் அங்கமாக கலந்துள்ள பாதுகாப்பு சோதனைகள்,நித்தமும் நகரில் குவிந்து கிடக்கும் பாதுகாப்பு படையினர்,எவ்வேளையிலும் எதுவும் நடக்கலாம் என்ற அச்சத்தில் உறைந்துபோயுள்ள பொதுமக்கள் என இவ்வாறு அவற்றை பட்டியலிட்டுக் கொண்டே போகலாம்.

அந்த வகையில் கடந்த வருடங்களில் விடுதலைப்புலிகளின் அலுவலகங்கள் நகரத்தில் அமைக்கப்பட்டிருந்தன.இன்று அவற்றுக்கு பதிலாக கருணா குழுவினர் அலுவலகங்களை அமைத்துக் கொண்டுள்ளனர்.அவர்கள் வழக்கு விசாரணைகளையும் மேற்கொண்டு வருகின்றனர்.அதற்கு பொலிஸ் அதிகாரிகளும் ஒத்துழைப்பும் வழங்கி வருகின்றனர்.இதனை நாம் அங்கு சென்று போது நேரில் காணக்கூடியதாயிருந்தது.’நாம் இங்கு பொதுமக்களின் முறைப்பாடுகளை விசாரணைகள் செய்து வருகின்றோம்.அத்துடன் பொது மக்களுக்கு எதிராக இடம்பெறும் வீதிகளில் இடம்பெறும் துன்புறுத்தல்கள் மற்றும் இடைஞ்சலுக்கெதிரான நடவடிக்கைகளையுமே நாம் மேற்கொண்டு வருகின்றோம்.” என அலுவலகத்தின் அதிகாரியொருவர் தமது கருத்துக்களை தெரிவித்தார்.ஆனால் கருணா குழுவினர் நகரில் பிரபல வர்த்தகர்களிடம் கப்பம் பெற்று வருவதாக பொதுமக்கள் குற்றம் சாட்டுகின்றனர்.

ஒரு ஜனநாயக நாட்டின் இறைமையுள்ள அரசாங்கத்திற்கு மட்டுமே ஆயுதப்படையை வைத்திருக்க …

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From Australia:

This image occupies almost half a page in the World section of today’s Age - the leading paper in Melbourne. I am sure it has also been printed in the Sydney Morning Herald and in many papers around the world.

I wonder if it made it on to Sri Lanka’s papers… Of course, it’s not clear when this photo was taken, and if it represents the type of aircraft that dropped the explosives over the air force base - but nevertheless - it’s no doubt doing the rounds in newspapers and websites throughout the world …
And where’s the discussion speculating the type of aircraft? Perhaps CNN / Fox / BBC are all running panels, …

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A conversation with a friend over SMS when I was at a book launch recently:

Sanjana: “At Sumane’s book launch. Peace and federalism are supposedly nigh”
MR (Friend): “That sounds fun. So u chose that over the poet rapper. I think that’s the critical problem. We don’t have a song about federalism so people can’t relate to it”
Sanjana: “But we do right? Remember that YA*TV rap song on peace?”
MR: “Yes, but would it not be meaningful if Shehan and Anarkali sang Mege Pemwathage Pedral Wadaya?”
Sanjana: “Quite. But form would overwhelm content in your example”
MR: “Yes, but that is most peace agreements. I think I am so inspired I will write the lyrics 4 Sha FM. Soon 2 b most requested”

I …

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Several stories related to the conflict in Sri Lanka remain untold by the Indian media, including the situation of the embattled media in Sri Lanka.

Ammu Joseph

The renewed conflict in Sri Lanka has been making some news in India over the past few months - though not quite as much as the continuing violence in Iraq, despite the proximity, as well as the historical and cultural connections, which render the former particularly significant for this country.

However, the scanty and sporadic reports on the Sri Lankan conflict in the Indian media remain largely event-based, with little depth and even less analysis, as Sri Lankan journalist Dilrukshi Handunnetti, Editor-Investigations and Political Correspondent of The Sunday Leader, Colombo, pointed out recently.

Her brief presentation …

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From CommonDreams.org

The United States is a major donor in Sri Lanka and funds projects and initiatives ranging from infrastructure development to governance and research. The question on aid conditionalities and parochial donor agendas is one never fully resolved, but is important to discuss in order to alert beneficiaries and the larger polity and society on the essential nature of aid disbursed by bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors. Clearly, this is not to support the simplistic assertion that such aid invariably contributes to the vast conspiracy of Western powers hell-bent on undermining our sovereignty, but is aimed at stimulating intelligent debate on how aid and development often closely tied to the foreign policies of donor countries, and …

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