Archive for August, 2007
August 31, 2007 at 10:03 pm · Categories: Advocacy, English, Human Rights | by Nishan
The Daily Mirror on 29 August 2007 reports a high-level meeting at Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) between state and business leaders of Sri Lanka and a state delegation representing trade interests in Myanmar. The vice chairman of the CCC is reported to have addressed the visitors with the words, âThis is an opportunity to extend our friendship for a fruitful partnershipâ. I wondered if those attending realized who they were befriending, and the possible consequences of this attempted friendship.
Myanmar is the new name for the country that has been better known as Burma. It is a country of about 47 million people who are predominantly Buddhist and, along with Sri Lanka, an important centre …
August 31, 2007 at 4:42 pm · Categories: Colombo, English, Media, Peace and Conflict | by sam
Exhausted after reading too many verbose analysisez of Sri Lanka’s conflict?
Ashamed of having to recite “Namo tassa, bhagavato arahato, samma sambuddhasa” over and over again?
Bored with the mediocrity of your surroundings?
Then, open your ears and eyes to some tunes and video clips from Maya Arulpragasam aka MIA.
I am no reviewer or critic - so this is not a review or critique.
I stumbled across MIA’s music at the start of 2005 when a friend was interviewing her for an article. Back then, she was about to launch her first album Arular - the alias name of her PLOTE activist father.
There was something very exciting about discovering music that sounds completely different to what I had been listening to. It stands out …
August 31, 2007 at 2:55 pm · Categories: Batticaloa, Human Rights, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Media, Peace and Conflict, Politics | by groundviews
Shanthi Sachithanandam
âNation, is the geo-social entity
providing maximum security for the survival of a community,
Nationalism, is that fundamental desire
For the assurance of a Nation
Nations uniting and dividing
Of their own volition, is the
Expression of their urge for that assurance
Alas, as usual, this time too
Our Nation lost the basis of its existence
V.I.S Jeyapalan
Bathed in the glare of the media and a high-pitched war rhetoric, the military operations in the East were the visible war efforts to most of us in this country and abroad during the past few months. But simultaneously, elsewhere in the East, the government had stealthily opened up another war front away from all the publicity and …
August 31, 2007 at 7:41 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Media, Peace and Conflict, Politics | by groundviews
Monks of War is Al Jazeera’s second news feature on Sri Lanka aired in August. As noted on their site:
To many of us, Buddhism, with the sacred principle of non-violence, is the most peaceful religion of all. But in Sri Lanka a group of radical monks who say they represent the Singhalese majority are urging the government to take a hard-line, pro-war stance against the Tamil Tiger rebels.
To make their voices heard in the political arena the monks have even set up their own political party - the JHU - which participated in the 2004 elections and secured nine seats in parliament.
They are monks, they are political and they are not shy of controversy. Their belief that only a …
August 30, 2007 at 5:00 pm · Categories: English, Peace and Conflict, Politics, Trincomalee | by groundviews
By Air Vice Marshal Harry Gunetilleke (Rtd)
Come around mid-July this year, there were victory celebrations with much euphoria, if not in the North and North East of Sri Lanka, with some enthusiasm certainly in the rest of the country, at the behest of the State which gave the lead with a colourful military parade at Independence Square, reminiscent of the yearly Independence day celebrations, on the occasion of the conquest of Thoppigala, even before the powder ran dry.
Here, it must be noted that the military hierarchy desired another week or two for mopping up operations but the power that be would have none of it perhaps, wanting to put up a great show before the other big event of the …
August 29, 2007 at 8:48 pm · Categories: Colombo, English, Peace and Conflict, Politics | by Sumanasiri Liyanage
In his Mahaweera Day speech in 2005, Vellupillai Pirapaharan, the LTTE leader, depicted Ranil Wickremesinghe as a calculating fox who tried to deceive everyone by entering into a ceasefire agreement with the LTTE. Ranil Wickremesinghe has once again shown his foxy behaviour in his comments on the capture of Thoppigala by the security forces of the Government of Sri Lanka. His initial position was that capturing Thoppigala would be a useless exercise as it is worthy only for collectors of fire-wood.
However, at the signing of a MoU with the SLFP (M), Ranil Wickremesinghe claimed that under the Wijetunga-Wickremesinghe regime, Thoppigala was captured by the security forces. Did he mean that Thoppigala was strategically important then but not now? As I …
August 29, 2007 at 9:06 am · Categories: Ampara, Batticaloa, English, IDPs and Refugees, Peace and Conflict, Politics, Puttlam, Trincomalee, Vavuniya | by Sanjana
“If humanitarian intervention is indeed an unacceptable assault on sovereignty, how should we respond to a Rwanda, to a Srebrenica - to gross and systematic violations of human rights that affect every precept of our common humanity?”
Kofi Anan, former UN Secretary General
At the time of writing, news of the liberation of the East and the resulting celebrations have captured headlines and the public imagination in Sri Lanka. Not much analysis though as to what it all means and answers to questions such as what now, and whether the fall of Thoppigala is any guarantee of animating a hitherto non-existent capacity of this government to articulate an enlightened approach to the ethnic question. Careful to not arouse the wrath of those …
August 28, 2007 at 7:37 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Human Rights, Media | by groundviews
By Bellanvila Sudaththa Thero and Cecil J. Dunne
Before we discuss what Theravada Buddhism says about homosexuality, it is important to understand that in Buddhism people are encouraged to look inwardly when seeking guidance or a solution to a problem. In the words of the Lord Buddha himself âbe a lamp to yourselfâ which simple means do not search for wisdom outside of yourself, rather you should let your conscience be your guide and it is here that the teachings and scripts of Lord Buddha can be of assistance.
Generally speaking Lord Buddha did not anything specifically about homosexuality because it has never been an issue, however this is not to say that that there was no homosexual activity in the time …
August 27, 2007 at 6:48 pm · Categories: English, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Peace and Conflict, Trincomalee | by CHA
I am originally from Trincomalee. Now I am living in a Tsunami, temporary shelter, in Alayadivembu which is in the Ampara District. My home town is Thoppur, Munampodivattai. We initially became internally displaced in 1990 and continue to be displaced. The present displacement was due to the recent conflict in the East. My family is displaced and I have lost one of my children.
In June 2005, following dinner, my husband, four of my children and I were at home in our village. I was asleep with two of my children and my husband was in conversation with the other two. Suddenly we heard the unmistakable sounds of the aircraft followed by aerial bombardment. My husband and I grabbed the children …
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