A Call to protect civilians in Wanni

People of conscience are perturbed that the current war in the LTTE occupied Vanni places the majority of civilians at tremendous risk. Unarmed and trapped in this war zone, large numbers of civilians including children are caught in the intense cross-fire of a deadly armed confrontation. Thousands are already displaced and can flee only to places of temporary safety. [FI]

WSJ Op-Ed: Colombo needs to offer moderate Tamils a political settlement

Sri Lanka's military is now two months into a full-on offensive against the Tamil Tiger rebels in their northern base. An end finally may be in sight to the war that has roiled the country for a quarter century. [FI]

CPJ: "Publishing a magazine should not constitute an offence"

 
Statement by Committee to Protect Journalists 

The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Colombo high court’s indictment of journalist J.S. Tissainayagam today on terrorism charges for articles he published in 2006. [TC]

Mano Ganesan Carried Message From Chandrika To Prabakaran In 2005 About Offering Asylum To “Col” Karuna

Western Peoples Front leader and Colombo district Parliamentarian Mano Ganesan was sent as a special emissary to the Wanni  by former President Chandrika Kumaratunga in 2005 to convey a message to LTTE leader Velupillai Prabakaran. [TC]

Lessons of a Conflict 

By Ram Manikkalingam

Ceasefires and insistence on human rights protection may not help peace processes in strife-torn countries. [FI]

Sri Lanka's Foreign Policy: The Way to Go

by Dayan Jayatilleka, PhD [FI]

The Consequences of July 1983

by Prof Rajiva Wijesinha [FI]

Towards Economic Development in the Northern Province

by Rohantha N A Athulorale [FI]

Education of thousands disrupted by fighting

Report by United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs [TC] 

Impending military victory, pending political questions

by Rajan Philips 

This is supposed to be the year of victory over the Tigers. Prime Minister Wickramanayake even predicted that the Sri Lankan troops will be in Kilinochchi before Sabragamua and North Central Provinces go to polls on Saturday. Regardless of when the troops will reach Kilinochchi, most observers seem to agree that the LTTE is not going to hold out much longer in its Vanni stronghold. The natural question is what is going to happen after that. In fact, there is more than one question and a military victory may not answer any of them. [TC]

The Tragic Phenomenon of Permanent Refugees

By Rajan Hoole

The pledge of government leaders not to leave the problem of terrorism to the next generation might have carried credibility, were the different components to a rational strategy in place. One should have been a federal settlement that would have left no doubt that the Tamils would enjoy equality, security and dignity as citizens of Lanka. Nothing approaching it has happened in 60 years of independence. [FI]

Foreign Minister Bogollagama’s antics and escapades

By Namini Wijedasa

Month after month, Rohitha Bogollagama continues to astound the country with his free-wheeling attitude towards public finance and his blatant abuse of the foreign ministry portfolio for the good of his own. [TC]

Indictment of Journalist J. S. Tissainayagam [FI]

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Northern Front: Retreating Tigers and Advancing Army

By D.B.S. Jeyaraj

In what appears to be a co-incidence the military fortunes of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have been declining on the Northern battlefront ever since our Lady of the Rosary was relocated from her traditional abode at Maruthamadhu (Madhu). [TC]

Indictment of Tissainayagam An Assault on Press Freedom in Sri Lanka

Statement by International Federation of Journalists 

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is alarmed that Sri Lankan authorities are taking the unprecedented step of applying the country's draconian anti-terrorism law to seek to condemn senior journalist J.S. Tissainayagam for pursuing his profession. [TC]

Tens of Thousands at Risk in Sri Lanka as Fighting Escalates

Statement by Amnesty International

The Sri Lankan military and the opposing Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are putting tens of thousands of displaced civilians at risk as fighting continues in the Wanni area of northern Sri Lanka [TC]

War, Peace & Relations Across Palk Straits

By Col. R. Hariharan (retd) 

The Eelam War is entering the messy phase. During the last two weeks, in Mannar sector the security forces have progressed up to Mulankavil (southeast of Nachikuda on the Mannar coast) on A32 road to Pooneryn. They are leaning on lineTunukkai-Mallavi, West of Mankulam on A9 highway increasing the threat to Pooneryn and Kilinochchi defences of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). [TC]

What is the Future of Sri Lanka?

by Prof. Ratnajeevan Hoole

This is the full text of a speech delivered on Aug 17th 2008 at a seminar organized by the Canadians for peace in Toronto. [TC]

I.D.P.'s in the North face humanitarian catastrophe

by D.B.S. Jeyaraj

“Humanitarian catastrophe” was the description given by the so – called International media when the Caucasian conflict began displacing people .

Initially it was a humanitarian catastrophe only to to Russian and other pro – Moscow media when 34,000 people became internally displaced persons (IDP’s) due to Georgia’s military adventure. [TC]

Desperate plight of Tamil civilians By Ethirajan Anbarasan [TC] Tamil Translation: தமிழ் பொது மக்களின் பரிதாப அவலம்  [ஊற்று]

Beneath the evasive negotiated settlement

The BBC world service programme ‘Insider’s Debate’ on Sunday 27 July 2008 with Lyse Doucet in the chair started with the questions - What is it like to try to sue for peace between two bitterly-opposed factions? To be in the same room as Northern Ireland adversaries Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley? How do you begin to get the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government to talk to each other? [FI]

I.D.P.s: Need for National legal framework in Sri Lanka

By Andres Angel

'The ongoing ethnic strife between Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority has led to one of the worst crises of internal displacement in South Asia. In terms of the proportion of the population, Sri Lanka has one of the world's largest IDP populations. Internal displacement in Sri Lanka predominantly stems from conflict-related violence caused by the clashing of the government's armed forces with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Disregard for human rights has traditionally caused displacement as rebel and government forces indiscriminately assault, arrest, and abuse civilian populations.'[FI]

All Lands Home

In Pictures: Pradeeban Peter-Paul

Sri Lanka born Canadian in the Olympic Table Tennis Team [Canada.com]

Olympic Pictures of the Day: August 17 August 16 August 15 August 14 August 13 August 12 August 11 August 10 August 9

NY Times in Pictures: Olympics Opening Ceremony

A land struggle  

by S. Viswanathan

For the Dalits of Ittikkal Agaram, Tamil Nadu, trying to cultivate the land allotted to them has been a struggle against caste-Hindu hostility. [Frontline]

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

Not many pluses: A brutal military campaign threatens Sri Lanka’s exporters [The Economist]

LTTE, government endangering lives of tens of thousands of newly displaced around Wanni

by B. Anton Jeyanathan [TC] 

China’s Influence in India’s Neighbourhood

by Col.R.Hariharan

China is using the space provided by India’s reluctance to sell weapons to Sri Lanka for political reasons to increase its influence in Sri Lanka’s strategic spectrum. So the possibility of the Hambantota project ending up as a remake of the Gwadar episode in Pakistan is very much there. [TC]

The Spectre of Dravidastan

By R.Venugopal

Dayan Jayatilleka's review of Tamil Nadu and the Indian model is a sensible, measured, lucid articulation of the problem at hand. His article makes a compelling and convincing logical exposition of the parameters within which the possible settlement of the ethnic conflict can meaningfully take place - and partisans of all stripes should be forced to read it. [FI]

1983 July Anti – Tamil Violence – State Terrorism

by Izeth Hussain 

In 1958, ten years after Independence, Sri Lankans of my generation were shocked by the anti-Tamil riots. We had complacently assumed that that was the sort of thing that was endemic in India but could never take place in Sri Lanka. [TC]

Second Death Anniversary: Kethesh Loganathan - A committed, engaged individual

By Dayan Jayatilleke 

Kethesh Loganathan was one of those 'best minds'. He was above all else a committed, engaged intellectual.

He was indubitably one of the sharpest analytical intellects, one of the finest Sri Lankan minds of his day.

He and I had a generation, social background, ideological formation and historical-political experience in common. [TC]

Tamil Nadu, the Indian Model and devolution

by Dayan Jayatilleka 

The devolution debate has been sharpened by the highly interesting and significant results of the public opinion poll recently conducted in Tamil Nadu, with regard to Sri Lanka’s ethnic issue and its internal arrangements [FI]

TMVP must retain arms until LTTE is eliminated

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

NY Times OpArt: on 08/08/08

Access to newly displaced "critical" 

Access to thousands of civilians who have fled fighting between government forces and the Tamil Tigers in the northwestern Mannar District between June and July was critical to prevent further hardship, according to UN officials. [TC] 

Provincial Election Campaign: Battling for the Centre? 

by Pradeep Peiris

Today, the UNP, the SLFP and the JVP have zeroed-in all their resources to the Sabaragamuwa and North Central provinces. Ministers, Members of Parliament and the Pradeshiya Sabha politicians across the country have all been entrusted with specific tasks in this provincial council election campaign. These tasks are based on their individual capacities. Some of them strategize the campaign, some others speak at the rallies while others –unskilled labourers – have been assigned the popular traditional tasks of intimidating and harassing their opponents which has often been effective in election campaigns in Sri Lanka. [FI]

HRW: Sri Lanka Government Misusing Emergency Regulations

The Sri Lankan government should release a prominent journalist and two others connected to a website critical of the government, Human Rights Watch said today. The three have been held without charge since March under emergency regulations. [FI]

Frontline positions shift rapidly in Northern theatre of war

D.B.S. Jeyaraj

Significant strides made by the armed forces on the one hand and consequential withdrawals (strategic or otherwise) by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on the other, have caused rapid shifts in the frontline positions of both sides in the northern theatre of conflict. [TC]

by Col R Hariharan (retd.)

"The Sirasa TV crew who went to cover the opening of the second flyover in Kelaniya met with hostility from the bodyguards of Minister Mervyn Silva. An eye witness at the scene claimed that the minister had inquired whether a Sirasa TV crew was present and upon identification had ordered his guards to forcibly remove the video tapes from the camera." News item in a Colombo daily August 5, 2008. [TC]

Tamil separatism survives on the strength of Sinhala nationalism

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

Pictorial: ‘Honouring the courage of all who have dared to rebuild’

By Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai

Profile: Navanethem Pillay, New UN Human Rights Chief

United Nation's new commissioner for human rights, wants to be the "the champion of human rights in every part of the world" [BBC]

Some Thoughts on LTTE's Military Response

By Col R Hariharan  (Retd.)

During the last one week, Sri Lanka army has kept up its momentum of advance. According to defence sources, the troops of 57 Division are on the periphery of line Tunukkai-Mallavi, west of A9 highway. [TC] 

War-torn Sri Lanka no where near political settlement

By Dr. S. Narapalasingam

The reality that Sri Lanka needs political solution to the problems pestering the entire population in varying degrees and that there is no militarily solution is widely recognized. Any devious move to avoid the required changes to the failed system of governing centrally will only prolong the suffering of the people. The unity and peace the country needs for moving forward will continue to elude with dire consequences. [FI]

The Colombo SAARC Summit: Big India and her small neighbours

by Rajan Philips

Founded by Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 1985, and joined by Afghanistan in 2007, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation should by now have become not only a force among the global trading blocs but also a supranational plane for political and economic cooperation for the member states. [TC]

In Pictures: "Dhammapada and Other Works"

By Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai

Being an anti-war artist, Chandraguptha Thenuwara has sought to remind his fellow Sri Lankans of Lord Buddha’s teachings about tolerance and peace. The exhibition will remain open till 29th July 2008 from 10am-7pm. Chandraguptha Thenuwara is a senior lecturer at the University of Visual Arts in Colombo. He is also the Director of Vibhavi-Academy of Fine Arts, which was founded in 1993. [HA]

All Spruced up

By Namini Wijedasa

Tch. Can’t go anywhere in Colombo these days for the smell of wet paint. And God forbid that you should lean against anything. Every lamppost, garbage can, hosepipe and pebble from here to the South Pole is painted for the SAARC summit. [TC]

All Lands Home

In Pictures: Picturing Casualties

Zoriah Miller, the freelance photographer who took this image and others of marines killed in a June 26 suicide attack and posted them on his Web site, was subsequently forbidden to work in Marine Corps-controlled areas of Iraq. [NY Times]

Randy Pausch, 47, Dies; His ‘Last Lecture’ Inspired Many to Live With Wonder

Randy Pausch, the professor whose “last lecture” made him a Lou-Gehrig-like symbol of the beauty and briefness of life, died Friday at his home in Chesapeake, Va. He was 47, and had lived five months longer than the six months a doctor gave him as an upside limit last August. [NY Times]

Arts - Culture- Heritage

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

In pictures: School fear in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan airforce planes fly over the northern Tamil district of Kilinochchi. The planes were not attacking this area, but everyone rushed for shelter. [BBC]

Mounting Sri Lanka bombing campaigns curtail school attendance in Kilinochchi

The environment of war and hostilities is drastically reducing the school and education activities in Mullaitivu and Kilincochchi districts, reports premier Colombo Tamil daily Virakesari. [TW]

By Bishop Lakshman Wickremesinghe

Former Anglican Bishop of Kurunegala, Lakshman Wickremesinghe issued this message after the July violence of 1983. He passed away shortly afterwards thereby making this his last message. We reproduce it here as it is of poignant relevance at this time. Bishop Lakshman as he was popularly known is the paternal uncle of Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and the maternal uncle of Rajiva Wijesinghe , secretary , ministry of human rights: [TC]

Escape to Freedom

Survivors of Sri Lanka's infamous Black July riots 25 years ago recall the terror -- and their relief to find a haven in Canada. [TC]

25 Years later: The haunting spectre of 1983

By D.B.S. Jeyaraj 

The last week of July this year would mark the 25th anniversary of one of the darkest chapters in the history of our island nation. It was the week when a racist rabble encouraged by those in power went against a helpless minority living within Sinhala majority regions of Sri Lanka. It was a shameful episode that created immense problems and caused great harm to the country’s image. Twenty five years have passed but the country is yet to recover from that fateful July. [TC]

Commemorating July 1983: Bridges that Continue to Hold

Statement by National Peace Council of Sri Lanka 

In July 23, 1983 law and order in Sri Lanka virtually collapsed as mobs went on a rampage, inciting anarchy and fear, uprooting Tamil people, looting and burning their property and killing many of them. [FI]

Challenges facing the church today

The Rt Revd Duleep de Chickera, Bishop of Colombo, was chosen by the Archbuihop of Canterbury to deliver the sermon at the opening Eucharist of the Lambeth Conference of all Anglican Bishops world-wide held once in ten years. It is being held this year at the University of Kent at Canterbury. The following is the text of his sermon delivered at the Canterbury Cathedral on Sunday 20th July 2008: [TC]

War after the fall of Vidattlthivu

By Col R Hariharan (Retd.)

Keeping up the momentum of their offensive, Sri Lanka army's 58 Division and Commando troops advanced another 10 km to the north to capture Illuppakkadavai on Sunday July 20, 2008 close on the heels of their success in capturing the Sea Tiger base of Vidattalthivu on the Mannar coast on July 16, 2008. According to Defence sources, the Commandos pursued and attacked the cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fleeing  Iluppakkadavai, three km to the north on the A32 Mannar- Pooneryn road. [TC]

Impunity, a debilitating fixture in state culture

25 Years after the Welikada massacre 

by Rajan Hoole

Colombo’s Welikada high security prison was the scene of two massacres of Tamil political prisoners during the communal violence of July 1983, first after lunch on July 25 claiming 35 prisoners and second, about 4.00 PM on the July 27 claiming a further 18.

On both occasions Secretary of Justice Mervyn Wijesinghe asked Colombo Magistrate Keerthi Srilal Wijewardene to hold inquests with the assistance of Tilak Marapone and C.R. de Silva (the present AG) from the Attorney General’s Department. No culprits were identified and the case was hushed up. [TC]

The infamous white van: A symbol of shame

By Dr. Baptist Croos F.S.C.

The colour white generally stands for purity, truth, innocence and cleanliness, virtues we proudly cherish; virtues that are pivotal for our well being.

Unfortunately, with the subtle deployment of the infamous white van, this time-honoured traditional notion, so sagaciously handed down to us by our venerable forefathers, has been shattered in our resplendent island where white stands for duplicity, treachery, trauma, suspicion, fear and death! [TC]

Attack on free expression

By Kshama Ranawana

An on-line poll by the Asian Tribune asks “Should the Sri Lanka Government appoint a Press Commission, with full powers to probe the media?

And, I’d rather ask, should the people appoint a commission to probe all the attacks, physical and verbal that have been carried out against the Sri Lankan media, with impunity, in the recent years? [TC]

All Lands Home

In Pictures: Treasures From the Mughal Empire

"Akbar Fights with Raja Man Singh," from a copy of the Akbarnama. (circa 1600-03)  [NY Times]

In Pictures: Mandela celebrates 90th birthday

Nelson Mandela, one of the world's most revered statesmen and the icon of the anti-apartheid movement, has marked his 90th birthday by calling for the rich to do more for the poor. [BBC]

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