http://www.groundviews.org groundviews is an award winning Sri Lankan citizen journalism initiative Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:33:48 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Two weeks after I had interviewed Prof. Tissa Vitharana on, among other things, the full implementation of the 13th Amendment, I spoke with the Leader of the JVP Somawansa Amarasinghe for his take on constitutional reform. During the course of our interview, Mr. Amarasinghe came out strongly in favour of ... http://www.groundviews.org/2009/07/03/exclusive-video-interview-with-somawansa-amarasinghe-the-leader-of-jvp-in-english/ I began my conversation with Prof. Tissa Vitharana, Minister of Science and Technology and Chair of the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) by asking him about the state of play in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Sri Lanka, and what exactly the declaration of 2009 as the Year of ... http://www.groundviews.org/2009/07/03/interview-with-prof-tissa-vitharana-on-the-13th-amendment-constitutional-reform-it-and-english-language/ You claimed to liberate hostages, to conduct the largest rescue operation in history. In other countries people robbed of freedoms, rescued, are treated by doctors, then sent home to be greeted usually by feisty and jubilant crowds. They are welcomed as heroes. Here, 100 Tamils share one latrine, women don´t eat so they will not defecate until night covers them squatting in bush by the perimeter fence conquering fear of snakes. Here boys and girls are ... http://www.groundviews.org/2009/07/03/liberation/ Located strategically in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka was a hub in the maritime silk and spice routes for millennia. It drew traders from the east and west for both business and pleasure. Notable among the attractions were spices, whose many aromas and flavours formed an integral part of the ... http://www.groundviews.org/2009/07/03/sri-lanka-spice-island-or-bland-nation/ [Editors note: This is a detailed response to over 30 comments left on Sri Lanka: Is the war really over? and read over 2,500 times to date.] Though several comments made on my article were not directly related to the topic, I wish to respond to some of the issues that have ... http://www.groundviews.org/2009/07/03/responses-and-clarifications-on-sri-lanka-is-the-war-really-over/ [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 ... http://www.groundviews.org/2009/07/02/an-eye-witness-account-of-idp-camp-conditions-in-sri-lanka/ Accessing content from Groundviews on Facebook is now as simple as typing www.facebook.com/groundviews. Join over 300 fans already part of our Facebook network. http://www.groundviews.org/2009/07/01/groundviews-page-on-facebook/ The island belongs to centipede, rat, butterfly, lots of species each with their own habitats, and supervising all arable and fallow land the president king. Minorities may enjoy clean living in freshly cleared forest patches, welfare villages with amenities such as latrines and tents, gated communities. June 28, 2009 Part of the Writers Under Siege collection on Groundviews. For more information, click here. http://www.groundviews.org/2009/06/30/belonging/ We have a once –in-generations chance to re-found Sri Lanka, to build Sri Lanka anew. To do so, we must be both hard and soft; and vigilant as hawks and as conciliatory as doves. We must be hard enough to obliterate what is left of the LTTE as an organization ... http://www.groundviews.org/2009/06/30/re-founding-sri-lanka-reform-and-renovation/ [Editors note: This article was published in The Sunday Island on 28 June 2009. Groundviews does not usually reproduce content first published elsewhere in print or online. In this case however, given that the Island's website has no mechanism to feature reader generated comments and because Rohini Hensman's article was ... http://www.groundviews.org/2009/06/29/the-idp-situation-in-sri-lanka-let%e2%80%99s-keep-things-real-and-a-response-to-rohini-hensman/