Archive for June, 2007
June 29, 2007 at 11:02 am · Categories: Colombo, Constitutional Reform, Politics and Governance | by Sumanasiri Liyanage
I begin my article with some quips and observations from friends and colleagues on Mangala’s new political party and his political vision as articulated by him to the media recently. Clearly, the field is not united in their appreciation of Mangala – some see him as a bold new visionary, others see old wine in new bottles. What is clear however is that his dramatic statements of late have created a stir in polity and society and people are talking about what this all means to the future of government in Sri Lanka as we know it today.
What is the true direction of Mangala’s aspirations? Is it possible, as reported in today’s Daily Mirror, that one can really expect …
June 29, 2007 at 7:42 am · Categories: Colombo, Human Rights, Human Security, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance | by Sanjana Hattotuwa
âIgnorance and prejudice are the handmaidens of propaganda, and in most modern conflict, the men of war prey on the ignorance of the populace to install fears and arouse hatreds.â
Sashi Tharoor, Bookless in Baghdad
Mark Whitaker captures well the perversity of Sri Lanka today in a compelling biography of murdered Tamil journalist Sivaram Dharmeratnam (Taraki) published recently. He writes that â…it is one of the peculiarities of Sri Lanka that a nation so lacking in effective political solutions has been, nevertheless, so replete with subtle, heartfelt and often accurate analyses of its own failuresâ. There is something terribly wrong when the politics of hate have and war have erased a wider appreciation of democracy and the vital cross-currents of …
June 28, 2007 at 7:36 am · Categories: Colombo, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance | by Publius
Unveiling his political vision for a ânew Sri Lankan orderâ this week, Mangala Samaraweera challenged Sri Lankans to envision a better future. Dare, he said, to dream which, as a rallying cry in these miasmic times, has an even more piquant ring to it in the Sinhalese âSihinaye Abhiyogayaâ.
The SLFP-Mahajana Wingâs discussion document is remarkable, both for its length, breadth and depth, and the fact that it has been produced by a Sri Lankan political party. Ideological conviction, articulacy, ideas, and policy debate â in short the pith and substance of democratic political leadership â are not things usually associated with the Sri Lankan political culture, and certainly not with its political parties. Yet this is …
June 26, 2007 at 11:55 am · Categories: Colombo, Peace and Conflict | by niacharpentier
Last weekâs revelation that Tamilnet had been blocked to Sri Lankan citizens took the country yet another step further away from media freedom, posing the question: How much worse must the situation become before things start to improve? It was against this bleak backdrop that journalists, academics and human rights activists and colleagues gathered at a memorial lecture which drew lessons from the life, as well as the death, of journalist Dharmaratnam Sivaram.
On the 28th April 2005, the 46 year old was abducted in broad daylight outside Bambalapitiya police station and his abandoned body was discovered the following day. Sri Lankan media and international journalists’ organizations condemned the murder as an attack on press freedom but one year later, the …
June 25, 2007 at 9:32 pm · Categories: Batticaloa, Human Security, Peace and Conflict, Trincomalee | by CRep
To recap what has happened recently, 15 LTTE bodies were recovered on 22nd June in Toppigala while the government forces and LTTE both launched heavy artillery and mortar strikes at the front line. Kumburumoolai, Kinnayadi, Meeravodai in Valaichchenai and Chenkaladi army camp were also targeted by LTTE mortar strikes, according to military officials and residents in the area.
At the same time the TMVP landed cadres through the Pulipanchchakal Bridge in to the LTTE controlled area. There were confrontations between LTTE and TMVP. A TMVP cadre was injured and the LTTE withdrew from Pulipanchchakal, Ponduwalchenai, and Saaraweli and part of Vahanery south, according to the TMVP.
Government forces also landed through the Pullumalai area toward Toppigala LTTE base. Over 65% of LTTE-controlled …
June 25, 2007 at 7:30 pm · Categories: Peace and Conflict | by rajeev sreetharan
âThere will be a political vacuum in the ethnic relations of this country as long as devolution is a non-starter, a mere word in the south. Despite the balance of forces, the cease-fire cannot survive for long in this political vacuum.â- Dharmeratnam Sivaram, 25.8.2004, ISGA Bashing: Much Ado about Nothing
Almost three years later, allâs manifest. Optics vis-Ã -vis the humanitarian dimension, are nothing short of egregious. The 2002 cease-fire agreement, as legit today as Eelam IV is undeclared, has taken shrapnel in every clause but 4.4, as the SLA pushes North, violence of the Tigers remaining silent, docile, implying guerilla strategy, weakness, or both.
In the contemporary context, thereâs no trust between the parties or mutually recognized platform for talks, thus no …
June 25, 2007 at 10:14 am · Categories: Colombo, Human Rights, Media and Communications, Peace and Conflict | by Sasha Ekanayake
War, Abductions, killings, human rights violations, and evictions are synonyms widely used to describe the current situation in Sri Lanka especially in the international area. Are we facing the gravest period of Sri Lanka history? One would say the accusations lodged against country are accurate and the situation demands immediate intervention and another would argue that the situation in Sri Lanka is over played by Diplomats, NGOâs and the so called civil society activists who fill their coffers with dollars and euros showcasing a dire situation in the county.
As a Sri Lankan, then a Sinhalese and a Buddhist what ideology should I represent is a question that has been tormenting me for a while. To clarify my stand I referred …
June 24, 2007 at 5:53 pm · Categories: Colombo, Human Rights, Human Security, Peace and Conflict | by raja
R.M.B Senanayake
Photo credit: Dinidu De Alwis
Hundreds of Tamils temporarily resident in Colombo in lodges were summarily bundled into buses and forcibly taken to the towns in the North & East. The Supreme Court has however issued a stay order on such evictions as they are a violation of the Fundamental Rights of the victims. The IGP tried to make out that the victims had gone of their own volition. But the Prime Minister has denied it and accepted the governmentâs responsibility for this gross violation of human rights. We commend the government for owning up and apologizing to our fellow citizens.
They cannot be looked upon as LTTE supporters merely …
June 24, 2007 at 5:17 pm · Categories: Nuwara Eliya, Poverty | by Groundviews
June 22, 2007 at 9:27 pm · Categories: Colombo, Media and Communications | by Prasanna Ratnayake
The Sri Lankan film director and writer, Tissa Abeysekara, is one of our greatest storytellers in both Sinhala and English. Two of the best examples are his short novel, Bringing Tony Home, published in 1998; and In My Kingdom of the Sun and the Holy Peak of 2004. These are landmarks in Sri Lankan literature. His latest work, Ayalea Giya Sithaka Satahan (Notes of a Vagabond Mind), this time in Sinhala, is a new genre in itself; part autobiographical memoir, part cultural commentary, an exploration of history through myths, folklore, archaeology and written documentation.
On reading this new book, I was immediately reminded of R. A. Brohier’s books Seeing Ceylon (1965) and Discovering Ceylon (1973) and of Martin Wickramasinghe’s Kalunkla Seveema …
June 20, 2007 at 6:13 am · Categories: Colombo, Human Rights, Peace and Conflict | by Dr. P. Saravanamuttu
The last column suggested that the tide of popular opinion may well be turning against the Rajapakse regime on account of the human rights and humanitarian situation, international censure and the rising cost of living.
The brutal slaying of the Red Cross workers was followed by the lodge evictions and the Supreme Court decision halting them.
The Independent International Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) who had been invited in by the President to observe the workings of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry submitted its first Interim Report to him and released two press statements.
The latter confirmed all the challenges and obstacles they face in the fulfillment of their mandate that local human rights groups had warned about when the idea of such …
June 19, 2007 at 10:07 pm · Categories: Colombo, Media and Communications, Peace and Conflict | by Groundviews
Follow up to Tamilnet banned? – How to continue to access the site from Sri Lanka
Original story available from here.
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 June 2007, 15:32 GMT]
TamilNet has completed 10th year of its web publication on 7th June 2007. TamilNet is a globally based news agency, run by an independent group of persons, to cover news and views related especially to the North and East of Sri Lanka. TamilNet has earned its credibility for news reporting and has become an indispensable news source to opinion makers worldwide. Not surprisingly, the Government of Sri Lanka has thought of rewarding the TamilNet on its 10th anniversary by clandestinely blocking it to the public of Sri Lanka.
Readers from Sri Lanka have informed …
June 19, 2007 at 9:59 pm · Categories: Colombo, Media and Communications, Peace and Conflict | by Groundviews
Reports received by Groundviews indicate that Tamilnet is inaccessible from many major Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Sri Lanka. At the time of writing, the site is confirmed to be inaccessible from:
SLT (ADSL and dial-up)
Lankacom (leased line)
Lankabell (dial-up)
Suntel (dial-up)
Only Tamilnet seems to be affected.
There is a workaround. Click here to access all the content on the site through Google. It’s not pretty, but all the content is there.
We will be keeping tabs on this issue and post information and updates as we receive them.
June 16, 2007 at 6:36 am · Categories: Colombo, Peace and Conflict | by Publius
On 27th June 2007, Tony Blair leaves office after a little over a decade as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He leaves office a reviled figure, largely due to the widespread unpopularity of his decision to support the United States in the invasion of Iraq, and its continuing disastrous consequences. Nothing could be further from the aura of almost angelic invincibility that he exuded in May 1997 when he swept into office on a historic landslide and the worst post-war electoral reversal for the Tory party. It is ironic that Iraq should be Blairâs nemesis, given that it was in fact an extension of an interventionist foreign policy, a willingness to use armed force against gross human rights …
June 14, 2007 at 10:39 am · Categories: Peace and Conflict | by sam
It seems that students from the Sri Lankan diaspora are getting activated. An email is doing the roungs urging people to participate in an email campaign. I have pasted this email message below.
————
URGENT! MAIL CAMPAIGN TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Sri Lanka has reached a cross-roads between two very different paths,
destruction or hope. We can be the voices needed to begin change. We can
make a difference.
The campaign asks you now to email the following people.
President of GOSL
Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process
Editor of Island newspaper
Editor of The Nation newspaper
Editor of the Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)
Asia tribune
UNP and Gov’t Opposition Leader
International Correspondent Columnist NYT (Nicholas Kristof)
Sri Lanka Pro-Peace (to gauge response)
CC:
gosl@presidentsl.org
info@scopp.gov.lk
prabath@unl.upali.lk
info@unp.lk
kristof@nytimes.com
editor@nation.lk
editor@sundaytimes.wnl.lk
webmaster@asiantribune.com
sri.lanka.pro.peace@gmail.com
Re: Peace in Sri Lanka
To:
His Excellency the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic …
June 14, 2007 at 8:21 am · Categories: Colombo, Human Rights, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Media and Communications, Peace and Conflict | by Sunanda Deshapriya
A Tragi-Comedy in Three Parts
Act I
“& Co.” is a political satire on Swarnavahini that’s quite hilarious, until of course we realise we are essentially laughing at the tragedy that is Sri Lanka today. Comedy flourishes as a form of political commentary precisely when political repression is the greatest. For example, one SMS I received after the eviction of the Tamils in Colombo last week read:
“Limited offer! Stay in a Colombo lodge and win a free to Vavuniya and back! Courtesy, Ministry of National Security. Call Gota on XXXXXX”
Soon after however, I got another SMS:
“A one time offer! Those who forwarded the previous message to more than 10 people will be picked up from the Fort Railway Station and transported, one …
June 13, 2007 at 6:07 pm · Categories: Advocacy, Colombo, Human Rights, Human Security, Peace and Conflict | by Nishan
What place is home for Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala Sri Lankans?
Home is the place where, when you have to go there,
They have to take you in.
— Robert Frost, “The Death of the Hired Man”
The recent fiasco of trying to evict Tamil people from the city of Colombo, saw them being transported by the SLFP government to the North-East of the Country. In different circumstances, in 1983, when Tamil people were being killed and their houses burnt in Southern cities by Sinhala mobs, the UNP government, while encouraging the rampaging mobs, also sent Tamil people living in the South to the North-East.
The much loved poet Robert Frost has a definition of home that is as incisive and accurate …
June 13, 2007 at 9:21 am · Categories: Colombo, Peace and Conflict | by niacharpentier
Photo credit: CDD
This government does not represent me. Itâs been said time and time again by the dissatisfied, the outraged and the incredulous community of Sri Lanka that is rapidly running out of patience with its leaders. Amongst cries against the warfare and racial tensions that continue to unsettle the island, the cost of living that is spiralling out of control and deplorable public services, it is difficult to see exactly who this Government does represent. Certainly not these angry people; nor the apathetic portion of society that has well and truly given up hope; and most certainly not women.
Women make up of 52% of Sri Lanka’s population but in parliament women’s representation is a mere …
June 12, 2007 at 7:42 pm · Categories: Colombo, Human Rights, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Peace and Conflict | by Sanjana Hattotuwa
In a chilling and frank admission of the true mentality of this repugnant government, Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa (not known for his tact) admits in an interview to Reuters that the eviction of Tamils last week was better than what, in his opinion, it could have been:
“So you can tell them, if you don’t have any legal business in Colombo … we don’t want to detain you, you go back to your homes. In fact this operation was much better. We could have put all of them in detention.”
Gothabaya bandies tired arguments against the US & UK in an interview that clearly exposes why this Government does not, as I noted in my last article, give …
Next entries »
