Author Archive
July 2, 2009 at 12:35 am · Categories: English, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Peace and Conflict, Post-War, Vavuniya | by groundviews
[Editors note: The dire conditions of internment in camps that are home to well over a quarter of a million fellow citizens are unknown to many. Fears of inflammatory and inaccurate journalism, as defined and seen by the government, debar independent media from access to these camps even after the end of war.
Rohini Hensman’s exclusive article to Groundviews on the plight of the IDPs and Malinda Seneviratne’s pointed counter based on his experience in the camps, as well as the responses to both articles provide the framework of reference for this compelling eyewitness account of conditions in Menik Farm.
This is an unedited account, posted here without verification. Corroboration and competing perspectives are invited from Government, I/NGOs …
July 1, 2009 at 4:57 am · Categories: English, Media | by groundviews
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June 3, 2009 at 8:35 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Peace and Conflict, Politics, Post-War | by groundviews
For live updates / tweets of the President’s speech at the National Victory Parade today in Galle Face, Colombo, click here or follow #srilanka on Twitter.
The speech is scheduled to begin at 9.10am local time (+5.30GMT).
May 19, 2009 at 2:38 pm · Categories: Colombo, English, Media, Peace and Conflict, Religion and faith, Trincomalee, සිංහල | by groundviews
Vikalpa Video asked Ven. Prof. Bellanvila Vimalarathana Thero for his opinion on whether the LTTE was really finished and the war over in Sri Lanka. Ven. Prof. Bellanvila Vimalarathana Thero is the Chief Priest of the Bellanwila Rajamaha Viharaya.
This interview was recorded one week ago, before the dramatic events over the past few days. An English transcript of the short interview is provided below for those who can’t understand Sinhala to interrogate the Thero’s opinion on the conduct of war and plans for development and humanitarian assistance to the Vanni, which mirrors that of the Buddhist clergy writ large in Sri Lanka….
May 19, 2009 at 9:45 am · Categories: English, Media, Peace and Conflict, Politics | by groundviews
For live updates / tweets of the President’s speech in Parliament, click here or follow #srilanka on Twitter.
May 19, 2009 at 8:26 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Media, Peace and Conflict, Politics, සිංහල | by groundviews
Video shot on the streets of Colombo and its suburbs on 18th May 2009.
For related videos, please visit Is the LTTE really finished and the War over? on Vikalpa’s YouTube Channel.
For live and regular updates from the ground in Colombo and for live soundbites from the President’s speech on 19th May 2009 (Tuesday), check out our Twitter feed.
May 18, 2009 at 5:42 pm · Categories: Colombo, English, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics, Trincomalee, Vavuniya | by groundviews
From the Ministry of Defence website:
LTTE defeated; Sri Lanka liberated from terror
Sri Lankan armed force have militarily defeated the LTTE and freed the nation from three decades of terror, Army Chief Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka announced.
Meanwhile, defence sources on the battlefront said all top LTTE leaders were believed to be killed during their abortive attempt to flee from advancing troops this morning (May 18). According to the sources, troops have found a burnt body suspected to be of LTTE chief V. Prabhakaran. However, the sources said that positive identification is yet to be made.
Also, unconfirmed sources revealed that LTTE’s intelligence wing leader Pottu Amman and Sea Tiger wing leader Soosai were killed in today’s …
May 11, 2009 at 10:02 pm · Categories: English, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Peace and Conflict, Politics | by groundviews
Vikalpa Video recorded on Thursday 7th May 2009, as part of its current series on the LTTE and the end to the war in Sri Lanka, an interview with prominent Tamil politician, leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) and vocal critic of the LTTE Mr. Veerasingham Anandasangaree. Mr. Anandasangaree in these two interviews clearly points to the LTTE’s tactic of embedding itself amongst civilians, so as to draw Army fire and then claim the State is attacking innocent civilians. He also goes on to affirm the importance of an amnesty not to top LTTE leadership, but to young cadres forced to join its ranks.
Scheduling conflicts kept Vikalpa Video from …
May 7, 2009 at 7:21 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Human Rights, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics | by groundviews
Vikalpa Video asked the spokesperson of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) Nishantha Warnasinghe for his opinion on whether the LTTE was really finished and the war over in Sri Lanka. This video was viewed over 4,000 times in less than 24 hours after it was uploaded to Vikalpa’s YouTube Channel.
Nishantha’s opinion in Sinhala:
Transcript in English:
Right now we are seeing the end of the humanitarian operations initiated by the Sri Lankan Army. After Puthumathalan is completely freed, I believe they intend to finish off the LTTE leaders. After that, I believe that in the near future, we can create the …
May 6, 2009 at 11:26 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Media, Peace and Conflict | by groundviews
April 25, 2009 at 12:28 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Human Rights, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics, Vavuniya | by groundviews
For anyone concerned with the plight of innocent civilians, the reports from the North are depressing. The latest ‘avalanche (!?) is yet to be fully screened, searched, scrubbed and bleached for any LTTE connections and corralled into what the Government calls ‘welfare centers’. As to what awaits these men, women and children, thereafter and for how long is not clear at this point in time. But every one agrees that it is going to be a tough and miserable time for them.
As usual, despite knowing that there is going to be a large number of people displaced, in fact demanding such a displacement for a long time, the Government is woefully and recklessly underprepared to receive and take care of …
April 21, 2009 at 4:29 pm · Categories: Constitutional Reform, English, Politics | by groundviews
[I wrote this article in response to an "internet-project" initiated by the Sri Lankan journalist, Kusal Perera]
Vasantha Raja
20 April 2009
In countries like Sri Lanka, capitalism did not organically evolve from feudalism. In contrast, European capitalism grew within the womb of feudal society systematically challenging all aspects of feudal consciousness and institutions. Sri Lankan capitalism, on the contrary, was arbitrarily imposed by colonialists on a feudal society. Therefore, it is not surprising at all that its feudal past is still alive. The feudal consciousness continues to persist in various forms. The Sinhala politicians’ pathological failure to politically solve the Tamil Question is partly a result of that.
Sri Lanka’s capitalist economy and its state …
April 17, 2009 at 7:21 pm · Categories: Colombo, Constitutional Reform, English, Human Rights, IDPs and Refugees, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics | by groundviews
Image courtesy TransCurrents
Dr. Devanesan Nesiah in response to a question posed by Groundviews on the most important issue(s) in a ‘post-LTTE’ context and how can the State address it, writes in with a compelling critique of politics and conflict resolution in Sri Lanka.
Tamil politics will indeed have to shed any secessionist or other exclusive territorial claims to forge solidarity among Tamil speakers living all over the island as well as all residents (including Sinhalese) of the North and East. While the TNA ( as the largest Tamil party) may well take the initiative in this matter, the major initiative for all island nation building needs to be taken by the two major parties of …
April 7, 2009 at 1:51 am · Categories: Colombo, Economy, English, Politics | by groundviews
An interview with eminent economist Harsha de Silva on the context leading up to and the fall out of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bail-out package and the general state of the Sri Lankan economy.
Harsha de Silva is a development economist by training and has over the last fifteen years worked across the emerging Asia region on development finance, public policy, reform and investment in energy and water, infrastructure regulation, socioeconomic and market research and on information and communication technology [ICT] for development.
March 31, 2009 at 6:53 pm · Categories: Colombo, Constitutional Reform, Economy, English, Human Rights, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Media, Peace and Conflict, Politics, Trincomalee, Vavuniya | by groundviews
A senior government minister claimed today that the war would be over in 3 weeks. Whether we believe him or not, commentators like Ahilan Kadirgamar (writing in Himal Southasian, February 2009) have called attention to the dynamics of a ‘post-LTTE Sri Lanka’, suggesting that “Post-LTTE Tamil politics will have to move beyond ethnic and territorial concerns to forge solidarity among minorities, in order to reframe the ‘national question’ in Sri Lanka”.
This is a decisive year for Sri Lanka, whether you choose to believe in these conjectures and formulations or not. On the humanitarian and economic fronts alone and in particular, current conditions cannot be sustained. For this and a number of other …
March 30, 2009 at 7:20 am · Categories: English, Media | by groundviews
Groundviews was the first media website in Sri Lanka to have its own Twitter feed and Facebook page.
Both Twitter and Facebook make critical content on the site more easily accessible in social networks and feature the latest updates in your own Facebook page or Twitter account (and through associated mobile devices if you’ve configured them).
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March 26, 2009 at 3:31 pm · Categories: Colombo, English, Human Security, Media, Peace and Conflict, Politics | by groundviews
We reproduce in full a letter from Sonali Samarasinghe Wickremetunge to the IGP asking him to record ‘very important details’ known to the Sri Lankan President and at least one other senior government minister, based on the minister’s own admission, pertaining to the identity of her husband Lasantha Wickremetunge’s killers.
The Editor in Chief of the Sunday Leader and one of Sri Lanka’s best known journalists, Lasantha Wickremetunge was murdered on 8th January 2009 en route to work, in broad daylight and on a busy road. The murderers, whoever they are, have yet to be captured.
Groundviews was told that no newspaper in Sri Lanka was willing to carry this letter in full. Therein too lies a story of the pervasive …
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