Category Archives: Sri_lanka
Appreciation: CHANDRAKALA SENANAYAKE RATNAYAKE: Second Year Remembrance
(May 12th 2017 – May 12th 2019) She was, is and shall forevermore be my Ammi…
Sunalie Ratnayake for Global News Centre
(LOS ANGELES) From the age of three, I have vivid memories of all the astounding times I had with my beloved mother, together in this riddle called life, for which I thank my samsaric karma, for creating my existence as an only child of such an exceptional lady, who sought perfection in all she did. I’d call her the ‘ne plus ultra’ of same. Moreover, I can never draw a blank to a single moment of the last three months of her existence in physical form, in which she fought incessantly, and with utmost braveness, clinging onto dear life. Life breaks everyone, but some people heal stronger in the breaks, they say, and my mother was one of those who healed stronger in the breaks. Nevertheless, life, once foaled, must reach its logical end: death; the eternal truth taught to us by Gautama Buddha.
The damage done by the former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to the Tamils in North-East Sri Lanka
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with Mahinda Rajapaksa, former President of Sri Lanka (UN file photo)
There is evidence that the UN staff in Colombo repeatedly contacted Ban Ki-moon and asked him to come to Sri Lanka to prevent what was certainly going to be a bloodbath. Ban said that he would come only of he could do something about it.
Dr. Brian Senewiratne for Global News Centre
(BRISBANE) In the 70 year history of the United Nations, there has not been a Secretary General worse than Ban Ki-moon. The UN Office of Internal Oversight Services said that the UN Secretariat under Ban Ki-moon was “drifting into irrelevance” He has damaged the standing of the UN so much that Richard Gowan, a UN expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations believes that Antonio Guterres, who succeeded Ban Ki-moon on 1 January 2017, “could give the UN the kick up the backside it needs”. Under him, the UN has become a joke, not to be taken seriously, and very different to what the UN was expected to do when it was formed.
Tamil Nadu, Global Tamils should be organised in addressing US-UN failure: Boyle
Professor Francis Boyle photo courtesy: iranreview.org
Professor Francis Boyle, an expert in international law, who teaches at University of Illinois, in an interview given to the 3CR radio broadcast in Melbourne Saturday in the “Tamil manifest” program said that he sees the millions of Tamils in Tamil Naadu, its Chief Minister Jayalalitha, a unified Tamil diaspora and the young generation of Tamils as the propelling agents to force the changes necessary to bring justice to the victims of Tamil genocide by taking the Sinhala genocidaires to Court. The horrendous nature of genocide needs an international tribunal to dispense justice, and the United Nations and the U.S have failed in their obligations, Boyle said. Geopolitical compulsions have pulverized U.S. foreign policy to collude with the genocidaires, Boyle told TamilNet.
(TamilNet) Tamils in Tamil Nadu should exert pressure on New Delhi to take the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Professor Boyle said adding that “if the 50 million Tamils living in Tamil Nadu can get Prime Minister Modi to do this, I will be happy to file the charges myself; draft the papers and file the charges. But we will need Prime Minister Modi, and unfortunately he seems to be supporting the process recommended by the Human Rights Council.”
Finding peace in post-war Sri Lanka
Tamil casualties in Sri Lanka, 2009
What’s being done to achieve reconciliation after war?
(AL JAZEERA) Between 1972 and 2009, at least 100,000 people were killed in conflicts between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Sri Lankan military. In 1983, clashes between the two groups escalated into war following a period known as Black July. The Tamil fight for a state independent of Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese majority fueled a war that lasted nearly three decades.
The notorious ‘white van’ surfaces on the eve of Sri Lanka’s elections
“White vanning” is a historic practice of the Sri Lanka government. Political opponents disappear after white vans are seen, the same vans often are used to deposit decapitated bodies generally near the homes of the victims.
Global News Centre
(COLOMBO The Citizen) The nascent rejuvenation of institutions since the change of government was demonstrated in an unexpected manner with the apprehension of a white van.
These vehicles have obtained a notoriety that peaked during the last years of the war with the LTTE. The circumstances under which this particular white van came to light had all the classic features that made the white van an object of fear and intimidation during the previous decade. It had false number plates. It had army personnel in it. It was being driven in a manner that caused the policemen on duty to decide to stop it, and the occupants had behaved in a sufficiently suspicious manner to prompt the police to thereafter search the vehicle. This led them to find a pistol that belonged to none of the occupants of the van.
Colombo intent on subjecting more Tamil GS officers to ‘military rehabilitation’
Ki’linochchi photo courtesy: misshelen.wordpress.com
While 6 Eezham Tamil Village Officers (GS) from Ki’linochchi, recently interdicted from their jobs by Colombo’s Ministry of Public Administration, are now forced to undergo ‘military rehabilitation’, the occupying Sri Lankan military, which seeks to retain its control on the civil affairs has instructed Karu Jayasuriya’s ministry to subject 12 more Tamil GS officers to the genocidal military rehabilitation, civil sources in Jaffna said. Mr T. Kanagarasa, the coordinator of SL Human Rights Commission in Jaffna said he had sent a letter to the SL ministry of Public Administration seeking clarification after receiving a complaint from a young mother, who has been interdicted from her work. In the meantime, Mr S. Varathan, the president of the interest organisation of the GS officers in Jaffna accused that the SL Government Agents have failed to protect the interests of the GS officers.
Global News Centre
[TamilNet) Five GS officers from Jaffna district and 4 GS officers from Mullaiththeevu district are among the other GS officers, who have been subjected to interdiction in recent days, the civil sources told TamilNet.
Justice in Sri Lanka: With just 273 political prisoners in custody, how many have disappeared?
The haphazard arrests, detentions, killings, disappearances and the impunity that prevailed during the former President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government led families of the disappeared to live in ignorance as to whether their loved ones were dead or held incommunicado in Government custody.
By JS Tissainayagam
(ASIAN CORRESPONDENT) New questions about wartime and post-war disappearances in Sri Lanka emerged following a bombshell revelation that the Government hs only 273 political detainees in its custody. Families of the disappeared believed the numbers are much higher. This announcement also hardens doubts if a Sri Lankan-led judicial process into mass atrocities, such as disappearances, will bring justice to the victims.
US Senator Patrick Leahy rejects local mechanism & local news
US Senator Patrick Leahy
“It is time for the armed forces to return land.” - US Senator Patrick Leahy
Visvanathan for Global News Centre
(CHENNAI) “A domestic mechanism to deal with issues of accountability in Sri Lanka will not be sufficient,” said a US Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, stressing the importance of accountability for potential war crimes. Impunity for serious crimes has been the norm in Sri Lanka.
Tamils still face genocidal agendas says TNA MP
The TNA MP was speaking at a local civil society event organised by a Jaffna University Student Kokilraj and the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) Kilinochchi youth leader Suren.
Global News Centre
(TAMIL GUARDIAN) Tamils are still having to deal with the ‘genocidal agendas’ said the Tamil National Alliance MP R Sritharan at a local civil society event in Kilinochchi last week.
Highlighting a prevalence of drug sales in the region, Mr Sritharan said, “it (the government) has planted poisonous seeds in the community. As a consequence the community is continuing to face cultural calamity.”
Sri Lanka rejects Oakland Institute ‘silent war’ report
Between December 2014 and January 2015 the Oakland institute carried out research and fieldwork to document the state of land conflicts and displacement.
Global News Centre
(Tamil Guardian) Sri Lanka’s government has rejected a recent report by the Oakland Institute, which said a “silent war” through the military occupation of Tamil land in Sri Lanka continues to seek “Sinhalese domination in former Tamil homelands”.
Deputy foreign affairs minister Ajith Perera said to media the government “strongly rejects” the report published last week.
Jayalalithaa acquitted: relentless defender of Eelam rights back in the saddle
Hear ye, hear ye, the incredible and formidable Jayalalithaa, the relentless defender of Eelam rights is back in the saddle. She will be sworn in again on Sunday May 17 2015 as Chief Minister of Tamilnadu.
By Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah Colombo Telegraph
(COLOMBO) We are on course Ladies and Gentlemen, the “Lady’ is back “victorious” and “stronger” than ever.
Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah
I wrote about, “Jayalalithaa’s Incredible Tenacity“, in an article in the Colombo Telegraph and many relished the thought of me eating humble pie when she was convicted of, what the charge described as amassing “disproportionate assets.”
And later, I didn’t call her “The Formidable Jayalalithaa – Unrivalled Leader Of The Tamils“, for nothing!
