Aug 15-21
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]
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 R.K. Radhakrishnan
A majority of the Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, who have been in India for a decade or more, are reluctant to go back to their nation, according to M. Mutia Kalaivanan, Director of Rehabilitation. [TC]
Sri Lanka working towards being free from threat of land mines
By Vidya Abhayagunawardena
The ongoing mine action program in Sri Lanka is very much impressive compared to other countries in the world today. Since 2002 the Government of Sri Lanka and the international community have under taken a large scale mine action program in the North and East of Sri Lanka. [TC]
Generosity on the part of Sinhalese and pragmatism on the part of Tamils is now required
By Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka
History tells us that ports are not only a driver of rapid development but a multiplier of modernization, and the Deep South, which after centuries of neglect has generated and benefited from a provincial power shift, will never be marginalised again. [TC]
Human smuggling or Tamil Tigers - A Story from the 'Ocean Lady'
By Amarnath Amarasingam
After the MV Sun Sea was boarded and escorted into Canadian waters two days ago, speculation has been rampant about whether there are members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, or Tamil Tigers) on board, and whether this is an instance of human smuggling.[TC]
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]
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 C. L. Cook
The small boat, traveled from across the world recently, its passengers a desperate collection of men, women, and children fleeing brutal repression in the wake of a failed popular uprising, has provided Canada an opportunity to define for itself just of what it is constituted and for what it will stand. [TC]
Why we Canadians should welcome boatful of Tamil refugees
by Harsha Walia
From the Komagata Maru carrying 376 Punjabi passengers and the SS St. Louis travelling with 900 Jewish asylum seekers, to the boats with 600 people from China's Fujian province and the Ocean Lady that docked in B.C. last year with Tamil refugees - there is something about boatloads of migrants that triggers a national hysteria. Perhaps it is the realization that the expanse of ocean is not enough to enforce the divide between the West and the so-called Third World. [TC]
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
(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]
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]