Jul 5 - 11:
"If we keep helping we become the jailer of these people”
"If we keep helping we become the jailer of these people,” a western diplomat is quoted as saying in a New York Times Article by Lydia Polgreen, dated from Cheddikulam, Vavuniya.
The diplomat was commenting on displaced Tamils remaining hidden from view and continued "funding being provided by several foreign countries to feed, shelter and clothe the displaced." [TC]
Where wait for water, medicine lasts days as refugees in their own land
by Jaya Menon
As day breaks over Cheddikulam near Vavuniya in northern Sri Lanka, life stirs in rows of white and blue tents dotting the landscape-once a dense jungle, the area has been cleared hurriedly to accommodate thousands of Tamils who have borne the brunt of final Eelam war IV. [TC]
Sri Lankan Tamil parties participate in sham local elections
by K. Vasanthan
Sri Lanka’s Tamil parties are participating in the Rajapakse government’s sham local government elections in the war-ravaged Northern Province on August 8, thus helping the regime provide a democratic façade for the ongoing military occupation of the island’s north and east. [TC]
Sri Lankan Political Parties Complicit in Rajapakse Regime War Crimes
By K. Ratnayake
All the Sri Lankan parliamentary parties last week attended a meeting called by President Mahinda Rajapakse to form an “All Party Committee on Development and Reconciliation”.[TC]
Lasantha Wickrematunge: The man who changed Sri Lankan journalism
by D.B.S. Jeyaraj
It is six months since the fearless editor of “The Sunday Leader” was brutally assassinated in broad daylight.Lasantha Manilal Wickrematunge was murdered in cold blood at Ratmalana by a killer squad of eight riding four motor cycles. He was driving alone to work on that fateful January 8th. [dbsj]
Why cannot Sri Lanka make race hate speeches and utterances a principal offence?
by Lynn Ockersz
President Mahinda Rajapaksa is on record that he has cautioned sections of his ruling coalition against stoking communal disharmony and this position would, no doubt, be widely welcomed by the ‘moral majority’ in Sri Lanka whose hearts are in a future that would be shared among Sri Lanka’s communities. [TC]
Full Implementation of Thirteenth Amendment Is NOT Ultimate Solution To Ethnic Questionby Dr.Jayampathy Wickramaratne
The defeat of the LTTE as a military force has not made the ethnic question in Sri Lanka go away. If anything, the need for a political solution has become ever more urgent. [TC]
Doctors’ statements recanting Tamil deaths "expected and predicted," Amnesty Int’l says
Sam Zarifi, the Asia-pacific director for Amnesty International, told Associated Press the statements from the doctors who witnessed civilian massacres recanting their toll in Northern Sri Lanka were "expected and predicted."
The Tamil doctors who have been in police custody for nearly two months were brought before the media for briefing on Wednesday, July 8th to recant their reports of mass civilian casualties during the final days of the civil war. [TC]
Mahinda Rajapakse speaks out: A conversation with N.Ram of “The Hindu”
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa responds to Editor in Chief of “The Hindu” N. Ram’s questions in this extended interview in Colombo. Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to the President, participated in the conversation, filling in some details and adding his insights. [TC]
President orders ball-by-ball Tamil cricket commentaries
by Rex Clementine-Reporting from Galle
On the instructions of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation was forced to take immediate measures to provide ball by ball cricket commentaries during the ongoing first Test Match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan here at the Galle International Cricket Stadium. [TC]
Call for a metamorphosis from a 'well frog' to a 'tree frog'
by Kusal Perera
It is time to leave this Sinhala Diasporic purging of "patriotism" that serves no purpose for Sri Lanka , today or tomorrow. [TC]
Meeting The Canadian “Combatant” conscripted by LTTE
by Kath Noble
It would be foolhardy to assume that the conflict in Sri Lanka was irretrievably over. Prabhakaran is gone, but the Tiger diaspora is sounding as fierce as ever. [TC]
"Facilities inadequate" - Deepak Obhrai MP, Canada's Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs
"Everybody is trying to address this issue, including Canada through its aid to the World Food Programme, to Oxfam and to everyone who provides shelter..nevertheless, that is still a humanitarian crisis....
These are refugee camps, people are cramped together, medical facilities are there, but with the massive number of people all these become inadequate," Canada's Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Secretary Deepak Obhrai MP, was quoted saying to Stewart Bell of National Post about the camps for internally displaced Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka. [TC]
Video: Sri Lanka rejects refugee camp allegations
Mahinda Samarasinghe, Sri Lanka's minister of disaster management and human rights, has rejected accusations regarding its "welfare camps" for Tamil war refugees as a "load of rubbish". [TC]
Presidential Secretary calls for spy units throughout public sector
By Wije Dias
President Mahinda Rajapakse’s secretary, Lalith Weeratunga, who heads Sri Lanka’s civil service, has called for undercover intelligence units to be installed in every public sector workplace to spy on workers under the pretext of curbing corruption and inefficiency. [TC]
Unacceptable Methods Used By Sri Lanka to Subdue Tamil Tigers
by Robert.D.Kaplan
Though it was only a one-day news story in the United States, a momentous event occurred last spring, with worldwide military significance. [TC]
Sri Lanka revives draconian law to gag media
By S. Sampath Perera
The Sri Lankan government has revived legislation that vests the Sri Lanka Press Council, a statutory body, with broad powers to restrict the media and punish offending journalists and publishers with fines and imprisonment. [TC]
“Sinhala Buddhist Guilt”: Giving the benefit of the doubt for ignorance
By Kusal Perera
My article, "Defining moments of living with the Sinhala Buddhist guilt" generated a heavy spurt of anger perhaps from the Sinhala Diaspora living in the comfort zone of the West, which does not surprise me. On 3rd July evening (SL time) when I logged into "transcurrents" site there were 37 comments and 17 of them stood for all that's happening in the North and said the government is right. [TC]
Recollections of St Thomas’ College, Gurutalawa: an extract from a personal memoir
by Charles P. Sarvan
If I remember correctly, in 1950 St Thomas’ College, Gurutalawa, had 214 pupils. Not only was it among the best of schools, it was also the most expensive boys’ boarding school in Ceylon. I was completely out of my financial and social class, the other boys being from wealthy families, parents who held well-paid jobs or had political position and power. [TC]
Non-Implementation of Tamil as an official language in provinces outside North and East
By Chandani Kirinde
While opinion remains deeply divided in the country about the full implementation of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, the recognition of Tamil alongside Sinhala as an official language guaranteed by the same constitutional amendment remains largely confined to paper with several key areas in the government sector lagging behind in executing the Official Language policy. [TC]
Portrayal of Conscientious Person like Shantha Fernando as Traitor is Grave Injustice
by Basil Fernando
In the present-day context, the re-imaging of a person from a conscientious citizen to a traitor can be rapid. The transformation is not in real terms as in Kafka's Metamorphosis. [TC]
Rajapakse Must Reach Out For Hearts And Minds Of Tamil Community
by Padraig Colman
Even those Sri Lankans, including Tamils, who were dubious about their government’s decision to pursue the military option against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), are relieved that the venture appears successful. [TC]
Is Central Bank the real “Bottleneck” Delaying IMF Loan to Sri Lanka?
By Muttukrishna Sarvananthan
Ever since the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) publicly acknowledged that it has sought a stand-by credit facility of USD 1.9 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on March 04, 2009 there have been anxiety and rumors abound among the general public (both within the country as well as in the diaspora), politicians (both local and foreign), policy makers, independent researchers, civil society organisations (especially human rights organisations), and the media (both local and international) about the quantum, conditions and the timeline of the proposed borrowing. [TC]
Campaign Against 13th amendment is Self-Destructive and Counter-Productive
By Ranga Jayasuriya
No lesser than the desire of the minority communities to feel equal members of the Sri Lankan community, the Sri Lankan state has a dire need to redeem itself in the eyes of its own citizens, 300,000 of whom now languishing in the heavily guarded camps, rather misfittingly named welfare villages. [TC]
Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam is a Dangerous Exercise
by Dr. Rajan Hoole
On 15th June S. Pathmanathan, the most prominent of surviving members of the LTTE announced the establishment of a Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (PTG), pointing to the danger to the ‘very physical survival of Tamils’ and the absence of ‘political space to articulate their legitimate political aspirations’ in Lanka. [TC]
I.D.P.'S Yearn to Get away from Their Barbed Wire Enclosures
Further Statement of Group of concerned Tamils of Sri Lanka
The Group of Concerned Tamils of Sri Lanka is disturbed by persistent reports of continuing lack of adequate shelter, privacy, water, toilet and bathing facilities, nutrition, and medical services as well as other grave ills, notably disappearances in several of the detention centres. [TC]
Implementation of 13th Amendment is a Guarantee of our National Security
by Dayan Jayatilleka
There are two types of people who assert that President Mahinda Rajapakse is against the 13th amendment or does not intend to or will not implement it [TC]
Unlucky thirteen: make or break number in present politics of Sri Lanka
by Lucien Rajakarunanayake
I’m no believer in numerology, or the power that numbers can have on people, but it appears that 13 has suddenly emerged as the make or break number in the politics of Sri Lanka. [TC]
Sri Lanka held hostage by extremist forces for far too long
by Shanie
Sri Lanka has for far too long been held hostage by the extremist forces. These were the vocal elements on both sides of the ethnic divide who strangulated and silenced the moderates. [TC]
Hold Special School Examinations for IDPs to Restore Confidence
Full Text of Statement by National Peace Council of Sri Lanka
The end of the war has brought with it the opportunity for a restoration of normalcy and reconciliation after 30 years of suffering and trauma. [TC]
Turning Tamil swords into Oriya ploughshares
by P. Sainath
One is a member of the Malkangiri District Cricket Association and custodian of its cricket kit. Another, a minor contractor in a public works project. [TC]