Constitutional changes in Sri Lanka: Cabaret Dance by Burqua-Clad!

By: Dr.Rajasingham Narendran

We have glimpses of the unimportant among the constitutional changes contemplated. However, what has been revealed is not what we need. [TC]

Addressing needs of stressed children

MULLAITIVU, 31 August 2010 (IRIN) - Few studies of children in Sri Lanka have examined the daily stress they continue to face since the tsunami and civil war, focusing instead on the direct impact of both, according to two studies in the latest Child Development journal. [TC]

We knew my father would be found guilty until proven innocent

by Apsara Fonseka

Almost two weeks ago, after six whole months of illegal detention and many court cases, my father’s first court martial case convicted him of doing politics while in uniform. [TC]

Outline of submission made to commission on lessons learnt and reconciliation-by Jayantha Dhanapala

I have been surprised and disappointed by the many distortions of my presentation appearing in the Sri Lanka media and the commentaries based on these erroneous and selective reporting. [TC]

Mannar - Tamil misery continues

By a special correspondent
Exclusive to BBC Sinhala service

The alert and watchful eyes of weary soldiers scanned every vehicle passing through the checkpoints. [TC]

Mahinda Rajapakse means to be President for life

by Tisaranee Gunasekara

“Tomorrow, perhaps the future” - WH Auden (Spain 1937)

The charade is finally over. President Rajapakse has informed Sri Lanka’s Micawberian Opposition that he intends to remove presidential term-limits and run for a third (and, the Grim Reaper permitting, a fourth and a fifth…) term. [TC]

20,000 Workers from India will Arrive Soon to build houses in northern Province

By Chris Kamalendran

A 20,000-strong Indian workforce will arrive in Sri Lanka to carry out mega housing projects in northern districts.

Garment factories exploiting Northern girls, union charges

By Chris Kamalendran

A garment sector trade union leader charged yesterday that some garment manufacturers were seeking cheap female labour from the one time battle areas of the north.“Factory workers were leaving due to poor wages, work and living conditions [TC]

TNA willing to work with government on resolving key issues: An Interview with TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran

By Arthur Wamanan

Q. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has not been vocal in recent times. Has the party changed its stance on the solution for the ethnic issue after the end of the war?

Well, the TNA has a manifesto on which we contested the election. In that, we have specifically stated that we are looking for meaningful devolution of powers in terms of constitutional reforms.[TC]

If the UNP is to preserve itself and survive it has to change

by Dayan Jayatilleka

Was Opposition firebrand, lawyer, karateka and pop vocalist Dayasiri Jayasekara right when he warned several weeks back that the UNP stood in danger of electoral extinction, like the Old Left in general and the LSSP in particular? [TC]

Sri Lankans must thank for JVP and ex-Chief Jutice for saving us from PTOMS

by Dayan Jayatilleka

The Lessons Learnt process is turning into quite an exercise in public pedagogy and performance, though it could be better.[TC]

So called court martial of Sarath Fonseka is contrary to natural justice principles and Article 25 of ICCPR

By Ranil Wickremesinghe

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) guarantees to every citizen the right and the opportunity to be elected at periodic elections to ensure the free expression of the will of the electors (Article 25).[TC]

Fonseka's Perils of Playing Politics and its Implications

By Col R Hariharan

For General Sarath Fonseka who revamped a demoralised Sri Lanka army and led it to final victory in the nearly three-decade long campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009, its aftermath had not been peaceful.[TC]

Can India build a meaningful military relationship with China?

By Kalana Senaratne

Numerous reports suggest that Dr. Jayantha Dhanapala had some interesting things to say when he appeared before the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) recently; about aspects relating to the interference of certain States in the internal affairs of other States; about the R2P concept; about the Sri Lankan Armed Forces carrying out a daunting humanitarian operation, saving 300,000 innocent civilians kept as a human shield by the LTTE and thereby preventing a certain ‘holocaust’ (The Daily News, 26 August 2010; The Ministry of Defence (defence.lk), 25 August 2010) [TC]

The Defence Secretary and Myself: KP speaks out - 4

by D.B.S. Jeyaraj

QUESTION: Thank you for relating these details about these important events of the recent past. Your input provides fresh insight into these matters. But now I want to ask you about the present. [dbsj]

Spectacular Street Parade of a Sparkling Silver Cart

by Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai

“You are invited to the festival of this world and your life is blessed” ~ Rabindranath Tagore, (1861-1941), (Indian Poet, Playwright and Essaiyist.Won the Noble Prize for Literature in 1913)

The Silver Vel cart decorated with fresh flower garlands, lines of electrical bulbs in Yellow and traditional cloth hanging paraded through the main streets of Colombo. [HA]

UN official calls on donors to ‘stay the course’ to help displaced

by UN News Centre

The top United Nations humanitarian official in Sri Lanka is appealing to the international community to “stay the course” in helping displaced persons return to their former communities in the wake of last year’s end to the country’s protracted civil war. [TC]

Gordon Weiss: "Who wants to portray the boat people as a security threat?"

Tamils of a different stripe

by Gordon Weiss

The Tigers are history and Sri Lanka’s ethnic minority remains under the government’s thumb. Think about it – who wants to portray the boat people as a security threat? [TC]

Not a crime to seek asylum - Mennonite Central Committee, Canada

by Swati Parashar

Counter terror experts and security analysts are back in action and what do they fear this time? [TC]

Sri Lankan who crewed Tamil Tiger boat free to seek refugee status

By Lincoln Tan

A Sri Lankan citizen who was a crewman on a gun-running boat for the Tamil Tigers has been given the right by the Supreme Court to apply for refugee status in New Zealand. [TC]

Permalink TamilWeek: Digest of Week's Top News & Views

Keep dignity of Tamil refugees in mind during immigration debate - Archbishop J. Michael Miller, Vancouver

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver
Statement by Archbishop J. Michael Miller

The arrival of 492 Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka has generated much discussion about Canada’s immigration policy and the appropriate means of dealing with the men, women and children who recently came by ship. [TC]

Allow Sri Lankans to seek the protection of Canada while overseas - B’nai Brith Canada

As public debate regarding the plight of the 492 Tamil refugee claimants intensifies, B’nai Brith Canada has warned against allowing racism to creep into public discourse on the issue and recommended three proactive solutions. [TC]

My trip to Jaffna: "That somewhere life was taking root again…"

Sri Lanka’s Andi Schubert finds hope amid ruins

I was traveling to the North with my uncle, to visit his home – a home he was rebuilding for the second time. [TC]

Tamil politics and Tiger strategy in perspective

by Dayan Jayatilleka

by Amarnath Amarasingam

In 2007, the Tamil Tigers approached Sabalingam Kumarasamy and asked him to work for them.

When he refused, the Tigers arrested him — he was released six days later only after agreeing to collaborate with them. To escape this enforced recruitment and fearing further trouble, he approached a smuggler who offered to take him to Canada. [TC]

Video: Reaction to the Tamil boat: Curious comparisons

by No One Is Illegal.org

Myth 1: They are illegals who are jumping the queue.

There is no ‘queue’ for refugee claimants. Refugees are forced from their homes in emergency situations due to human rights abuses committed during wars, military occupations, or persecution against a minority group. [TC]

Hambantota and the Delhi-Beijing-Colombo triangle

by Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka

It is not that Sri Lanka’s foreign relations are not in need of repair, especially after five dismal years between Lakshman Kadirgamar and GL Pieris, but it is ironic in the extreme when the criticism comes from the UNP or its sympathisers. [TC]

'Sri Lanka has become my home' - Gill Westaway, Director, British Council

by Steve A. Morrell

Country Director, The British Council, Gill Westaway is an unavoidable adjunct to the British Council. [TC]

Sinhalese, Tamils, and Muslims remember Fr Jim Brown, who disappeared during the war

by Melani Manel Perera

Colombo (AsiaNews) - Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims together to remember Fr Nihal Jim Brown, an ethnic Tamil Catholic priest, who disappeared on Aug. 20, 2006. [TC]

It is very hard to imagine a Tamil diaspora minus Toronto: "Thank you Canada, Thank you Brian Mulroney"

by K.T. Kumaran

Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand - William Butler Yeats, Irish Poet (1865 – 1939)

Tamils fleeing their homeland amidst continuing ethnic pogroms of the Sinhala State remember with certainty, the gracious manner in which Canada’s 18th Prime Minister Hon. Martin Brian Mulroney touched their lives, twenty years ago in August, 1986. [TC]

Two tales of Sri Lankans: 'Loss of humanitarian aspect and Canada's own historic benevolence towards the world's less-fortunate'

from the Opinion columns of The Ottawa Citizen

by Mohan Samarasinghe

A ship arrived in B.C. and tempers flared around dinner tables in suburban Ottawa.

Spurred by radio talk show hosts, many Canadians shed their benevolent skins and began bellowing that the 492 Tamil men, women and children who arrived on the smuggler-operated ship MV Sun Sea should be sent packing, back to sea. [TC]

How Prabhakaran met his death: KP speaks out - 3

By D.B.S. Jeyaraj (CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK)

Question: What happened finally to your plan of rescuing Prabhakaran and his family by helicopter? Why did the plan not take off?

Answer:

It’s a very sad story………

After Prabhakaran’s son Charles Anthony asked me to rescue his family members by air I devised a plan and made preliminary arrangements. I arranged for a ship to be kept waiting at a far –off port beyond the reach of the Sri Lanka navy. I also made arrangements to buy a second-hand helicopter from an Ukrainian contact. [dbsj]

Religion and Ethnicity among Sri Lankan Tamil Youth in Ontario

By: Amarnath Amarasingam

The Sri Lankan Tamil population in Canada has been increasing in size since the first refugees arrived in the early 1980s. [TC]

Saravanabava Enum: by Seyvita Sooriakumar

Karnatic Keerthanams by Seyvita Sooriakumar (13) of Toronto, Ontario, Canada: [TW]

Permalink TamilWeek: Digest of Week's Top News & Views

Four years later, Sri Lankan families have still not received justice in the ACF case

On World Humanitarian Day (19August) Amnesty International recalls the many humanitarian workers who have fallen victim to human rights violations in Sri Lanka and the families of victims who have been frustrated in their pursuit of justice. [TC]

Sri Lanka is developing again. But not all can celebrate

from The Economist

Rebuilding, but at a cost

Aug 19th 2010 | Trincomalee

WEARING a crisp blue shirt, Kumaraswamy Nageswaran gestures dejectedly to a towering fence that keeps him from his village and his three acres of farmland on the Trincomalee coast. [TC]

Collective trauma in the Vanni

A qualitative inquiry into the mental health of the internally displaced due to the civil war in Sri Lanka

by Dr Daya Somasundaram
Department of Psychiatry, University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka [TC]

New comers to Toronto: 'I think what we owe those people is fairness' - Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty

Comments made by the Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty today, when asked by about Immigration in Toronto [TC]

Tamil Boat Refugees and Canada: How soon we forget

By John Moore, Special to the National Post

You're shivering in the sharp cold of a winter's night outside of the hottest club in town. [TC]

Majority of Sri Lankan Tamil Refugees in India reluctant to return home

By Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka

by enna da

I'm a stain, or so they claim
because they are so White clean- exceptionally supreme
And I'm not allowed here because I'm dirty [TC]

An ex-Sri Lankan on migrants' flight

by Vasuhi (Balachandran) Collins

I was surprised to read that, according to the 2006 census, there are no Sri Lankan families living in the Victoria area and none who list Tamil as their mother tongue (Aug. 14). [TC]

UNHCR encouraged by Canada's handling of Tamil boat people case

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 17 August 2010, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. [TC]

None of the Passengers on MV"Sun Sea" are ex-LTTE combatants

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Contrary to reports, none of the Sri Lankan Tamils who paid $ 40,000 to $ 50,000 each for passage to Canada are ex-LTTE combatants involved in Eelam war IV. [TC]

'I’m less inclined to take Sri Lanka govt conclusions about who’s on the boat and why they’re there' - Bob Rae

Send Them Back an Old, and Awful, Refrain

by Bob Rae

Canadians have been caught up in the drama of the arrival of a small boat with 500 people aboard. They have travelled for several months on the Pacific Ocean, turned away in Thailand, Australia, and given the cold shoulder everywhere else until they reached the western shore of Vancouver Island, escorted by the Canadian navy.[TC]

The Battle to Define Again the Soul of Canada

by Bob Russell

Working at my desk early yesterday I watched the arrival of the ship of Sri Lankan refugees just as dawn broke. [TC]

Sinhala nationalist mind set seems incapable of comprehending what Tamils are articulating

Revisiting Jaffna

by Dushy Ranetunge

Jaffna remains one of Sri Lanka’s most beautiful cities with the lagoons, the long roads across the sea connecting its many islands, stunning beaches, the calm lagoon like sea, many beautiful Hindu temples, the many excellent centres of education, the Portuguese fort and its gentle peoples who are to a great extent bilingual and perhaps the most hardworking and productive in Sri Lanka. [TC]

KP speaks out ~ 2 – An interview with the former LTTE chief

By D.B.S. Jeyaraj

(continued from last week)

Question: So how did the return occur? How and why did you re-join the movement?What was your role during the last days of the war?

Answer: That’s another long story.

I was now out of the movement and leading a quiet life in Thailand with my family.I had no idea of returning to the movement though my wife felt that I would always go back if asked by Prabhakaran himself. [click here to read in full ~ dbsjeyaraj.com]

Apart from punishing the Rajapakses want to humilate Sarath Fonseka to the maximum

by Tisaranee Gunasekara

Some months ago, Defence Secretary and Presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapakse threatened to send the former Army Commander, Gen. Sarath Fonseka, to the gallows. [TC]

Rajapaksa onslaught on basic rights is a common threat to all our citizens

by Tisaranee Gunasekara

The Samurdhi officials have shown that there is still a way. By refusing to tolerate the barbaric injustice done to a colleague and by using their collective strength to resist the über-power of the power-wielders, they compelled the Rajapaksa regime to digress, however temporarily, from its habit of impunity. [TC]

If leadership change remains deadlocked the UNP will decay at its centre and disintegrate at its base

by Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka

He who says A, must say B”. Those who, with good reason, lament the prospect of a new constitution reflective of the dominant ideology and power relations, must also admit and criticise the factor that makes this possible. [TC]

Migrants will get support from Tamil community: advocate

The Tamil migrants who braved a cargo ship to make their way to Canada will be given all the support they need to start the next chapter of their lives, says an advocate who believes they will be successful in their transition. [CTV]

Permalink TamilWeek: Digest of Week's Top News & Views

Fate of ship steered by two forces – Ottawa and Tamil diaspora

By: Siva Sivapragasam

When Mahatma Gandhi visited Sri Lanka, one of his requests was for the Tamils to start a Tamil Newspaper in Sri Lanka. [MJ]

Permalink TamilWeek: Digest of Week's Top News & Views

End times theology in the age of Obama 

By Amarnath Amarasingam

Kenneth Alex Randolf is a fifty-six year old former lawyer living in Seattle. When Barack Obama announced his presidential aspirations in 2008, Randolf got to work on a blog that soon attracted some attention, and was later featured on CNN. [WashingtonPost]

Amnesty says Sri Lanka emergency rule must end

The decades-long civil war in Sri Lanka ended more than a year ago, but emergency powers are still in place, sending the wrong message, Amnesty International says. [TC]

Prageeth's Disappearance 200 days ! Sathyagraha and seminar  on August 10th [TC]

Report of the visit of Members of Parliament of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to Santhapuram and Vavuniya on 29th July 2010

On 29th July 2010 Members of Parliament of the TNA, Suresh Premachandran, M A Sumanthiran and S Shritharan visited Santhapuram and met with the original inhabitants now living in a transit camp at Santhapuram [TC]

A post-war challenge for Sri Lanka: Dismantling the LTTE overseas and rebuilding a Sri Lankan identity

by Dr.Rohan Gunaratne

It is my distinct privilege to deliver the 13th Deshamanya Professor Nandadasa Kodagoda Oration this evening. Professor Kodagoda was an intellectual giant of our times. [TC]

U.N. Forms Review Panel for Israeli Raid on Flotilla [TC]

Govt goons flout road rules on Colombo - Kandy Raod

by Dushy Ranetunge

Three vehicles carrying goons of the regime were spotted speeding to Kandy with scant regard to the road rules last Thursday. [TC]

New dress code for Dalada Maligawa entry 

by Dushy Ranetunge

According to police officers controlling entry at the Maligawa in Kandy, a new dress code is in place from Thursday [TC]

Sri Lanka’s disturbing actions met by ‘deafening global silence’

By The Elders

The Sri Lankan government’s clampdown on domestic critics and its disdain for human rights deserves a far tougher response according to The Elders. [TC]

Peace and Reconciliation in Sri Lanka: A Tamil Perspective 

by Dravidan

A recent seminar that was hosted by the Eelam Tamil Association of Victoria, has created a media frenzy sprouted with various sections choosing to quote and misquote what was said. [TC]

The Nallur Hotel project controversy

By M.Sooriasegaram

The proposed Nallur Hotel in Jaffna by the Mercantile Bank of Sri Lanka has sparked off a public debate. [TC]

Police and Fire Brigade did not Respond Quickly  when  "Siyatha" TV/Radio station  was attacked by armed gang

By Damith Wickremasekara

The Police and the Fire Brigade did not respond on time when Siyatha TV was attacked, its owning company Voice of Asia Network Chairman Roshantha Kariyapperuma said yesterday. [TC]

Northern Muslims: Where do they go from here?

by Anushka Fernando

On our way to the first scheduled hearing of Northern Muslims who were expelled by the LTTE in 1990, we spotted a group of men working hard out in the open, under the midday sun, and we stopped to have a conversation with them. [TC]

US Government Support Creates 10,000 jobs in Northern Sri Lanka

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)/Colombo, the development office of the U.S. Embassy, has recently forged four new business alliances with Sri Lankan private companies, under USAID’s Public/Private Alliance (PPA) Program. These partnerships are expected to create 10,000 full-time jobs in northern Sri Lanka. [TC]

What is happening to the Ex-LTTE cadre surrendees? 

by D.B.S. Jeyaraj

The Conclusion of the long drawn out war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organization has been welcomed by all sections of Sri Lankan society in particular and the international community in general.

Even as war ravaged Sri Lankans breathe a collective sigh of relief and attempt to get on with their lives in a post-war scenario ,it is important to note that the armed conflict's end does not necessarily mean that the national question generally referred to as the "Tamil problem" has been satisfactorily resolved. [dbsj]

In Pictures: An Enchanting Annual Aadi Vel Festival in Colombo

by Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai

The 136th Annual Aadi Vel festival was held in Colombo with colour and glamour. Beautifully decorated wooden carved cart left the Colombo Sammaankodu Sri Kathirvelaayuthaswamy temple in Sea Street left in the morning on July 23rd 2010 and reached the Sammaankodu Sri Maanikka Vinayagar temple at night. [HA]

Displacing Northern Tamils to set up Sinhala military cantonments would increase resentment

by Tisaranee Gunasekara

Last week the villagers of Ragamwela in Ampara, engaged in a protest demonstration, accusing the police of occupying their lands. Ragamwela is strategically located close to several tourist hotspots; at midnight, July 17, an armed gang descended on the village, assaulting inhabitants and burning houses. [TC]

World court on Kosovo: Lessons for Sri Lanka

by Sam Jones

A Tamil refugee who went on a 23-day hunger strike in Parliament Square last year has received an apology and almost £80,000 in damages from the Daily Mail and the Sun over false allegations that he secretly sustained himself with hamburgers. [TC]

Proposals made by the All Party Representatives Committee to form the basis of a new constitution

by R. Yogarajan and Nizam Kariapper

His Excellency The President Mahinda Rajapaksa on 11th July, 2006 at the All Party Conference (APC) decided to appoint a committee of representatives of the parties at APC called the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) and mandated it to formulate a draft proposal for Constitutional reform. [TC]

Rights of Tamils on boat need to be respected

The Canadian Council for Refugees, Amnesty International Canada and the Canadian Tamil Congress today called on Canadians to be mindful of the need to honour international human rights obligations, in responding to the Tamils believed to be on board a boat approaching North America.[TC]

Deadly Symbols, Vibrant Electoral Politics and War Crimes in Sri Lanka

By Dr.A.R.M.Imtiyaz

Symbols are emotional and they play significant role in all aspect of human communities, including electoral politics. Symbols are deadly in nature because they can provoke deadly violence and war crimes. In Sri Lanka, Sinhala politician and elites often resort to symbols in order to win political power. [TC]

ACT NOW launches global day of action to boycott GAP Stores

As you may recall a key part of our strategy, to get Sri Lanka to the negotiating table to obtain a long lasting political settlement, a fair deal for the Tamils, involves a successful boycott campaign. [TC]

Protect Wilpattu Park and The Right of Movement of Expelled Northern Muslims

We, the undersigned organizations call on the Government to take immediate action to prevent the destruction of the Wilpattu National Park, while continuing to provide access through the road from Puttalama to Mannar via the park. [TC]

Citizens of this country must apply increasing pressure on the government and opposition

by Dr. A. C. Visvalingam

The Citizens’ Movement for Good Governance (CIMOGG) is gratified by the recent decision of the Government not to press on with unilateral constitutional changes. [TC]

UNP is not sinking due to disunity but because of its leader

By Athiyan Silva

Further evidence has emerged in recent weeks of the continuing political disintegration of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which was militarily crushed in May 2009 by the Sri Lankan military. [TC]

In Pictures: Women Artists’ Colloquium Exhibition 2009/2010: “Omnipresence of the Prick”

by Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai

Women Artists’ Colloquium Exhibition 2009/2010: “Omnipresence of the Prick” was inaugurated at Theertha Red Dot Gallery in Pitakotte on July 24th 2010. [HA]

Black July 1983: Dedicate ourselves not to repeat the mistakes of the past

by National Peace Council

On July 23, 1983 an anti-Tamil pogrom took place in various parts of the country in which innocent Tamil persons, their homes and businesses were attacked and destroyed. [TC]

The resistance to Ban-Ki-moon by Wimal Weerawansa

Permalink TamilWeek: Digest of Week's Top News & Views

In Pictures: Toronto Sri Varasiththi Vinaayagar Chariot Festival

by Steve Russell

The 11th annual Vinaayagar Chariot Festival at the Sri Varasiththi Vinaayagar Hindu Temple on Kennedy Road attracted thousands and transported me out of the GTA. [TS]

British Tamils conduct midnight vigil to commemorate Black July 83 and inaugurate London - Geneva Walk for Justice

British Tamils once again embarked on a rally through London on Friday, 23rd July 2010 calling for justice for victims of war crimes in Sri Lanka. In a symbolic yet solemn show of unity and hope, a “midnight vigil” was held from 9pm commencing from opposite Westminster Abbey to Downing Street. [TC]

Horror of a pogrom: Remembering “Black July” 1983

by D.B.S. Jeyaraj 

The tragic history of post – independence Sri Lanka records that the Tamils of Sri Lanka have been subjected to mass –scale mob violence in the years 1956, 1958, 1977, 1981 and 1983. The anti-Tamil violence of July 1983 was the most terrible and horrible of them all. It remains etched in memory even after 27 years. [dbsj]

Vigil” and Other Works:An exhibition of installations,drawings and paintings

by Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai

“Vigil” and Other Works by Chandraguptha Thenuwara is currently being held at the Lionel Wendt Gallery in Colombo. It was inaugurated today for special invitees. The exhibition will remain open from July 24th 2010 to July 29th 2010 from 10am to 7pm except the Poya Day on Sunday-July 25th 2010.

There are 15 exhibits including installations, drawings and paintings displayed. He holds an annual exhibition in July to commemorate the Black July [HA]

How Mrs. Bandaranaike became Prime Minister in 1960

by D.B.S. Jeyaraj 

Fifty years ago on 21 July 1960, Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike was sworn in as Prime Minister of Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was known then). The 44-year-old widow of Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike made history on that day as the world’s first woman Prime Minister. [dbsj]

Devolution will strengthen and uphold democracy and national unity

In Sri Lanka majoritarianism is divisive

By Dr. S. Narapalasingam

The object of this article is to explore viable means of uniting the ethnically divided Sri Lankan society and promoting democracy, real peace and development, neglected earlier and later damaged severely by the protracted internal conflict that is rooted in the inapt political system. [TC]

From President Ltd to Executive PM unlimited

by Rajan Philips

Constitutional impatience is the name of the game. Three weeks ago the move was to rescind Article 31 (2) to allow the incumbent president to go beyond two terms in office. That plan seems to have gone astray just like other best-laid plans of mice and men. [TC]

Tamil anxiety over Army camps changing demography in N-E

By Ranga Jayasuriya

Bitterness over High Security Zones continues to poison post war reconciliation. Especially, since Keheliya Rambukwella, the Defence Affairs Spokesman rhetorically responded to a media question that High Security Zones were going to stay, faint hope among the displaced Tamils for the magnanimity of the victor evaporated into thin air. [TC]

The Tiger Vanquished: LTTE's Story y M.R. Narayan Swamy

Reviewed by Dayan Jayatilleka

There are books that are a ‘must read‘, and others that are a ‘cracking good read’. MR Narayan Swamy’s latest book on Sri Lanka, The Tiger Vanquished: LTTE’s Story (Sage Publications, 2010), is both.

Rajapaksa must not be allowed to "bury" the APRC final report

By Tisaranee Gunasekara

Twenty Seven years ago, “Black July” burst upon Sri Lanka with the sudden ferocity of a flash flood. The omens of this bloody deluge was evident in the ‘language of contempt’ and the ‘dismissive atitude’ vis-à-vis Tamils which was de règale in Sinhala polity and society. [TC]

Executive President Old Wine in Executive Prime Minister New Bottle

By Namini Wijedasa

When the president invited the opposition leader for talks on constitutional change, there was cheer that the debate on this vital national issue was finally broadening. [TC]

The UNP needs to wake up and take the fight to this regime

by Karu Jayasuriya

As the UNP faces one of the worst crises of its glorious 60 year history, it bears heavily on our spirits as responsible representatives, to appeal to party colleagues for caution, decorum and a united approach in the face of our trouble. [TC]

Will the USA endorse a second term for Ban-Ki-moon as UN Secy-Gen?

By James Traub

In May 2006, Ban Ki-moon made his public debut as a candidate for U.N. secretary-general at a Q-and-A session at the Council on Foreign Relations. [TC]

Running with the UN rabbits and hunting with govt hounds

By Kusal Perera

On 11 July 2010, the Sinhala edition of Sunday “Lakbima” reported that minister of Heritage and Cultural Affairs, Ms. Pavithra Wanniarachchi appointed the Public Performance Board (PPB), better known as the "Censor Board" and advised them to be “honest and independent”. [TC]

International Court of Justice rules in favour of Kosovo independence

VUK JEREMIC, Serbia's foreign minister, looked ashen. He knew what was coming. Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia did not violate general international law, said Hisashi Owada, the president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, in a non-binding advisory opinion. [TC]

Kosovo's independence From Serbia and Implications for Separatist Movements

By Peter Beaumont

Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia in February 2008 did not violate international law, said the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday in a groundbreaking ruling that could have far-reaching implications for separatist movements around the world, as well as for Belgrade's stalled EU membership talks. [TC]

Independence of Tamil Studies and Politics of Tamil Conferences

By Noboru Karashima

The World Classical Tamil Conference that was held in Coimbatore last month attracted lakhs of people, according to reports. [TC]

Permalink TamilWeek: Digest of Week's Top News & Views