Archive for Batticaloa
July 18, 2010 at 6:30 am · Categories: Ampara, Batticaloa, Foreign Relations, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Post-War, Trincomalee, Vavuniya, War Crimes | by Dayan Jayatilleka
When faced with challenging human rights and humanitarian law issues who should we seek out for advice but a celebrated former Vice President of the International Court of Justice? Faced with the task of peace building after a Thirty Years war, to whom should we turn to spearhead a state-aided national effort, or at the very least, for ideas and guidance, but the sole Sri Lankan to win the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education? If the Sri Lankan state and society have done neither, what does that say about us, where we are at and where we are headed?
One of the more refined gratifications in my life is the friendship of a few renowned intellectuals like Richard Falk, Emeritus Professor …
May 20, 2010 at 11:30 am · Categories: Ampara, Batticaloa, Colombo, End of war special edition, Fiction / Creative Writing, IDPs and Refugees, Jaffna, Mannar, Peace and Conflict, Post-War, Puttalam, Reconciliation, Trincomalee, Vavuniya | by V.V. Ganeshananthan
We regret to inform you that your condolences cannot be accepted at this time. At present, both our pain and our hope defy that word, which has been offered and denied us, which we need and do not need, and which in any case we cannot accept, because they (your condolences) will not reach from what has happened to what will come.
We find the word condolences stunning in its insufficiency for past and future.
We evacuated our homes in the light; we vanished from our homes in the dark; we walked away from our families, toward the weapons, and wished that we could turn around. Our bodies entered the earth in places we cannot now identify, and so we are everywhere, …
May 20, 2010 at 6:30 am · Categories: Batticaloa, Colombo, End of war special edition, Human Rights, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Identity, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Post-War, Reconciliation, Trincomalee, Vavuniya | by Deshan Tennekoon
[Editors note: Deshan Tennekoon is one of Sri Lanka's best, young photographers. We are ardent fans, and requested Deshan to send photos that amongst the hundreds taken by him, resonated most with the end of war and the enduring challenges for peace in Sri Lanka.]
December 01, 2006. A response to the failed attempt by the LTTE to assassinate Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse. The Ministry of Defence commissioned Triad Advertising to create the graffiti. It was removed in early January 2007 once the owners of the house repaired their wall.
Feb 21, 2009. Tracers over Colombo. Two LTTE Air Tiger …
May 17, 2010 at 7:52 pm · Categories: Batticaloa, Elections, Human Rights, Human Security, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Polls, Post-War | by Sanjana Hattotuwa
Shanthi Sachithananthan, the Chairperson of Viluthu, has been featured several times on Groundviews in the past, including an interview two months ago looking at significant developments in Sri Lanka after the demise of the LTTE and her views on the July 1983 pogrom against Tamils.
In this recent interview, Shanthi, who recently campaigned for political office in the parliamentary elections in April 2010 after forming an independent political party, speaks about her experiences interacting with voters from the Batticaloa district – the issues they confront, their aspirations and the extremely poor awareness of governance, representative democracy and electoral processes. Shanthi’s …
April 3, 2010 at 7:06 am · Categories: Batticaloa, Disaster Management | by Dushi
“There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in” ~Henry Graham Greene (October 2,1904- April 3,1991). Novelist, Playwright and short story writer
Abhilash Jeyaraj who is usually very shy to meet visitors waits with his mother Junita Jeyaraj at their gate. He wears a pair of jeans and long sleeve tshirt with stripe and neatly combed hair. His big smile invites me immediately, while he holds my hands and directs me through the main entrance of the house. He calls his cousin Thulanika Uthayaramesh and they begin to play cricket in the courtyard at dusk. His mother joins them. Abhilash is excited and begins to bat as quickly as possible.
“My favourite subject is English. …
March 31, 2010 at 7:00 am · Categories: Ampara, Batticaloa, Elections, Jaffna, Politics and Governance, Post-War, Trincomalee, Vavuniya | by Devanesan Nesiah
I remember visiting Jaffna in 1997. Local government elections were due. Several leading political figures had been assassinated in the preceding years, some by the LTTE, others by anti-LTTE groups. In the prevailing climate of fear, the Federal Party had reluctantly submitted nominations for elections for the Jaffna Municipal Council and one or two other local bodies. The LTTE was against the whole exercise, but the anti-LTTE gun carrying groups were contesting the elections. The Federal Party candidates showed great courage in contesting but minimized their risk by avoiding public meetings and house-to-house campaigning.
Many Federal Party supporters faulted the candidates for avoiding public visibility. They asked: how can we vote for those who are reluctant to publicly or privately ask …
March 20, 2010 at 7:00 am · Categories: Batticaloa, Development, Environment, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Post-War | by Devanesan Nesiah
[Editor's note: Devanesan Nesiah provides a rejoinder to Tissa Devendra's vehement response to his article 'Rebuilding Sri Lanka' that was published first on Groundviews and then later in the Island.]
The venomous response of Devendra in the Island of 16th March does not merit a reply but I need to set the record straight. As I said in my original entry, “The primary fault is with neither the visitors nor the locals” which is very different to what Devendra seeks to imply. He takes offence over my citing the critical observations of a very distinguished Sinhalese. Rebuilding Sri Lanka requires self-critical acknowledgement of the damage done to the Sri Lankan nation over the decades by the racist policies of Sinhalese, Tamil …
March 3, 2010 at 11:30 am · Categories: Batticaloa, Development, Environment, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Post-War, Trincomalee | by Devanesan Nesiah
A perceptive and sensitive Sri Lankan has noted;
“It is reported that the people of the North, especially in the Jaffna district, have developed a feeling of dissatisfaction, disaffection and contempt towards the people of the South, who post the end of the war are now engaging in pilgrimage and sightseeing related visits to the North in large numbers, and in the process totally disregarding the need for privacy, encroaching on meagre infrastructure resources and services of the district, causing significant negative impact on the environment/cleanliness and pollution in the area, and behaving in a manner unacceptable by the cultural and religious values of the Northerners.
These negative feelings are expressed in relation to the following issues highlighted in support of the …
January 29, 2010 at 4:05 pm · Categories: Batticaloa, Colombo, Elections, IDPs and Refugees, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Trincomalee, Vavuniya | by Aachcharya
Aachcharya writing from Jaffna
I wrote on the 30th of December in a post to Groundviews (and republished in the Daily Mirror) that the assertion that the Tamil people would be deciders in the Presidential election would be a myth. There was nothing brilliant or extraordinary about what I said at that time, but it was contrary to public perception that was prevalent all over the country and in international media circles. What I suggested was that for the Tamil people to be deciders two conditions have to be fulfilled. I wrote:
“For the Tamils to be the deciders in the election (like they could have been in the last) they have to vote as a whole, to one candidate …
November 6, 2009 at 7:00 am · Categories: Advocacy, Ampara, Anuradhapura, Batticaloa, Colombo, Districts, Galle, Gampaha, Hambantota, Human Rights, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Jaffna, Kalutara, Kandy, Kegalle, Kurunegala, Mannar, Matale, Matara, Media and Communications, Moneragala, Nuwara Eliya, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Polonnaruwa, Post-War, Puttalam, Reconciliation, Trincomalee, Vavuniya, War Crimes | by Dr. P. Saravanamuttu
Whilst it is not clear as to whether we would be voting in both the presidential and general elections on the same day, it is clear that we will be voting in at least one of them in the next three months, followed soon thereafter by the other. Most likely it will be the presidential elections since it is the president who has to decide and since he is much more popular than his party. Moreover, we have been told that he is willing to sacrifice, if necessary, two years of his first term in order to secure a second and a parliamentary majority nearest to the heart’s desire.
All elections are important and these will be no exception. It is worth …
September 17, 2009 at 7:00 am · Categories: Batticaloa, Peace and Conflict | by A Little Batti
If you look at Batticaloa District on a map, you’ll see that in a sense there are two Districts.
The first is the coastal strip, where you find Batti, Kattankudy, Valachchenai, and other towns and villages. I’m only guessing, but it seems to me that some 90% of the Districts’ population lives in this narrow band of land.
As you will see on your map, a long sinuous lagoon separates most of the coastal strip from the interior, which makes up the bulk of the District. The interior is sparsely populated and there are no real towns to speak of; at best you could call them small villages or hamlets.
I am most familiar with Mamunai West Division, which is located directly opposite …
September 16, 2009 at 7:00 am · Categories: Batticaloa, Disaster Management, Environment | by A Little Batti
The following is an except from a letter I wrote about the recent Tsunami Early Warning Test last week. I hope the readers of Groundviews find it interesting. I have to preface this by saying I am a Westerner, one of the few, living in Batticaloa, where I have been since shortly after the 2004 tsunami.
The excerpt:
The second exciting and panic-inducing event was the botched Tsunami Early Warning Test last Thursday, the 10th. The papers had announced that the new warning towers would be tested on the 19th, so you can see the first problem. Second, no one I talked to knew where these towers were. Turns out that there are three in the District: one in Kallady, about a …
August 14, 2009 at 7:00 am · Categories: Batticaloa, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Post-War | by Duckie
I settle into my seat for the ride from Kalmunai to Colombo. There is a fifty rupee premium for reserving it. I always want window seats, be it flying or riding along. In my head, I can hear Daniel Powter’s Bad Day, or She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5 being played when the scenery is just a blur. Ever since I first heard them, it’s always those two songs. Nothing else.
This time, I’ve got an aisle seat.
The person next to me says hello. I say hello back. In my head, this seems a lot like a late night flight to nowhere. Most of the passengers came to the bus stop alone. It was cold outside, and it’s colder inside. …
August 1, 2009 at 12:51 am · Categories: Batticaloa, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Peace and Conflict, Post-War | by Ruki
“We can’t send them back to a place where there are just jungles.” (President Mahinda Rajapakse, in an interview to the Hindu, 6th July 2009, referring to resettlement of people displaced from the North)
Perhaps the President is unaware that even as he cites the above as reason for delays in resettling people displaced from the Vanni, his government has started to dump displaced people in the East into remote jungle areas infested with wild elephants, against the wishes of the concerned people.
Savukady
Savukady is a small village near Chenkalady, a few kilometers inside from the A4 main road to Batticaloa from Chenkalady. Most of displaced people in Savukady have been displaced several times.
On 18th June …
May 11, 2009 at 6:40 am · Categories: Batticaloa, Colombo, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Trincomalee, Vavuniya | by Citizen
We are reading about war crimes and ethnic cleansing on an unimaginable scale. I wonder when these artillery shells will stop raining upon our people and whether there will be justice for the victims.
April 17, 2009 at 4:47 pm · Categories: Batticaloa, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Trincomalee, Vavuniya | by Somapala Gunadheera
It is hard for those who have no access to the camps in the North to form a realistic opinion on the plight of the over 65,000 refugees who are supposed to bestuck in an ‘event horizon’ inside them. While the authorities paint quite a rosy picture of it, their detractors seek to discredit the claim. Assuming that the truth is half way between them, I wish to offer a few suggestions on how to improve the ground situation, depending on my past experience of working for the displaced in the North.
The main complaint is about the conditions in the camp. The tents in which the refugees are housed are reported to be too small, too low and uncomfortable. The …
March 9, 2009 at 11:54 pm · Categories: Batticaloa, Human Rights, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance | by Groundviews
English transcript of an exclusive interview with the Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (alias Pillayan) conducted by Vikalpa.
Have all the powers in the 13th amendment been given to the Provincial Councils?
It is not possible to say that. It should have been implemented fully as soon as it was enacted. Unfortunately, the North Eastern PC stopped functioning and the PCs in the other parts of the country didn’t care- this could be the reason why PCs did not work. The current govt has established the Eastern PC and is going to est the Northern PC. The govt needs to …
March 9, 2009 at 2:50 pm · Categories: Batticaloa, Peace and Conflict | by Groundviews
Exclusive video footage taken by Vikalpa YouTube Channel team on the handing over of weapons by the TMVP in Batticaloa on 7th March 2009, including footage from the press conference.
A related story on Vikalpa in Sinhala can be read here.
January 20, 2009 at 7:00 am · Categories: Batticaloa, Human Rights, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Trincomalee | by valkyrie
With the position of spokesperson for, and sole representative of the Tamil community set to become vacant upon the projected defeat of the LTTE, one would hope that space would be created for the emergence of democratic, plural and dissenting Tamil voices within the community and the polity at large. However, the vacuum is most likely to be filled by Tamil politico-armed groups battling each other to be the ‘sole alternative’ to the LTTE and gain the favoured position of the ‘authentic’ Tamil voice that is accepted and supported by the government. The escalation of internecine violence in the Eastern Province is illustrative of the failure of non-LTTE Tamil leadership and political groups to provide a viable alternative to the …
June 17, 2008 at 4:19 am · Categories: Batticaloa, Human Rights, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance | by CRep
The Kattankudi Jamiyyathul Ulama had requested all the newly elected Muslim members of the Eastern Provincial Council to boycott its inaugural session to highlight the demand of strengthening security of the Muslim community in the east. Ethnic violence has flared in the east between the Tamil and Muslim communities since the EPC polls were conducted and tense situation prevails in the east putting into question the government claim of having liberated the east from the clutches of the LTTE. Political analysts indicate several possible reasons for the above situation.
- An LTTE attempt to regain control of the eastern province through inciting ethnic violence.
- Karuna cadres’ plan to capture power authority in the east.
- Opposition politics drive to gain political benefits.
- Government security systems.
The LTTE …
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