Peace for the World World ! Your War Our Lives
The Dalai Lama
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
(Full Story)
Back to 500BC.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Argentina: a possible forum to prosecute war criminals
[
Fri, 29 Oct 2010, 22:18 GMT]
Fri, 29 Oct 2010, 22:18 GMT]
Monday, October 25, 2010
Britain reiterates support for independent inquiry into Sri Lanka war crimes
[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 October 2010, 00:39 GMT]
British Prime Minister David Cameron Wednesday reiterated his government’s support for an independent inquiry into war crimes committed during the closing stages of Sri Lanka’s protracted war. Mr. Cameron comments on his government’s stance, made in response to a question from opposition MP Siobhian McDonagh, come a week after similar comments by British Foreign Secretary William Hague in the wake of his meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart, Prof. G. L. Peiris.
Prime Minister, David Cameron
Siobhain McDonagh
Ms. McDonagh’s question elicited a chorus of approval from the packed House, in an otherwise acrimonious PMQ session.
Mr. Cameron replied: “I think the Honourable lady makes a fair point. We do need to see an independent investigation of what happened. Everyone has read the papers and seen the T.V. footage, but we need an independent investigation to work out whether what she suggests is right”.
The chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Tamils (APPG-T), Mr. Lee Scott MP (Conservative), welcomed the British government’s position.
“I absolutely agree with the Prime Minister. The statement by the Foreign Secretary last week clearly shows that the coalition government is serious about finding a permanent and fair political solution to [Sri Lankan] conflict,” he said.
“In my view, an independent international inquiry is an important first step.”
In a press statement issued by Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on October 20, Foreign Secretary William Hague was quoted as saying “the political settlement needs to address the needs of all Sri Lanka's communities”.
“The Foreign Secretary discussed the work of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commisson with Professor Peiris and hoped that it would engage with the UN Panel of Experts,” the statement further said.
“The Foreign Secretary stressed the need for Sri Lanka to have a credible and independent process to address allegations of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law during the conflict.”
“He hoped that Sri Lanka would show clear commitment towards democracy, human rights law and freedom of the press,” the FCO statement said, adding: “the two Ministers also discussed wider bilateral relations and areas of common interest.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) welcomed the British government’s reaffirmation of support for an independent inquiry.
“It is clear that there is continuity in Britain’s policy on accountability for war crimes, despite the change in government early this year,” he said. “In that sense Sri Lanka is a litmus test of international community’s commitment to the International Humanitarian Law, as well as the principles of democracy, good governance and, in particular, human rights.”
Referring to Sri Lanka’s hiring of the British PR firm, Bell Pottinger, the GTF spokesman noted the contradiction between Colombo paying the firm £3million per year, whilst at the same time receiving £13.5m over the past 2 years in humanitarian funding.
Related Articles:
04.08.10 British PR firm whitewashing Sri Lanka’s reputation - report
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Sri Lanka's historic Jaffna library 'vandalised'
1 November 2010 Last updated at 12:45 ET
Organised Sinhalese mobs attacked and burnt the library over two days in mid-1981 The historic Jaffna public library in Sri Lanka has been closed to tourists a week after a large group of visitors vandalised it, say reports.
The library has emotional significance for the island's Tamil minority as it serves the city usually regarded as their cultural capital.The burning of the library by mobs 30 years ago helped trigger the Tamil Tiger insurgency.
It was reportedly vandalised by a large group of Sinhalese visitors.
Sri Lanka: Jaffna Public Library destroyed by Sinhala Police
Monday, June 2, 2008
Sri Lanka: Jaffna Public Library destroyed by Sinhala Police On the night of June 1st 1981
http://yarlphoenix.blogspot.com/For Tamils this is only an example, albeit the most glaring, in the grand scheme of genocide in Sri Lanka. Living in a country that constitutionally displays a penchant for Nazi style mono-ethnicity and ethnic purity (in a flag, an official language, and a state religion) for the last fifty years, and having lived through multiple state-sponsored pogroms to eradicate the identity of all others (the Non-Sinhala-Buddhists), there can be no doubt that this was an act of genocide.
Remembering the Jaffna
- K. Nesiah (Education and Human Rights in Sri Lanka)
On the 2nd of June every year, Tamils all over the world wake-up with sorrow and grief - over an event that took place twenty-one years ago. It started with the citizens of Jaffna waking up, that many years ago on this fateful morning, to an absolute horror.
On the night of 1st June 1981, t
he splendid Jaffna public library, housing 97,000 rare books and manuscripts, was burned to the ground. The shock experienced by the men, women and children of Jaffna that morning is indescribable. That day all Tamils lost a piece of themselves. It was the most magnificent piece of architecture (leave aside the treasure it contained) ever created in Thamileelam.
This act of arson was carried out, not by a bunch of nameless hooligans, but by a posse of two hundred officers of the Sri Lankan police force, taken to Jaffna by two senior Sri Lankan Cabinet Ministers (Cyril Mathew and Gamini Dissanayake, both self-professed Sinhala supremacists), ostensibly to oversee an election.
These two Sinhala Cabinet Ministers, who watched the library burn from the verandah of the nearby Jaffna Rest House, subsequently claimed that it was an ‘unfortunate incident’, where a ‘few’ policemen ‘got drunk’ and went on a ‘looting spree’, all on their own. This ‘justification’ has been echoed, and re-echoed, by many Sinhala leaders and the Sinhala media.
Let us look back.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Remembering the Jaffna
Public Library
“A city’s public library is the eye of the city by which the citizens are able to behold the realness of their heritage, and behold the still greater greatness of their future.”
“A city’s public library is the eye of the city by which the citizens are able to behold the realness of their heritage, and behold the still greater greatness of their future.”
- K. Nesiah (Education and Human Rights in Sri Lanka)
On the 2nd of June every year, Tamils all over the world wake-up with sorrow and grief - over an event that took place twenty-one years ago. It started with the citizens of Jaffna waking up, that many years ago on this fateful morning, to an absolute horror.
On the night of 1st June 1981, t
he splendid Jaffna public library, housing 97,000 rare books and manuscripts, was burned to the ground. The shock experienced by the men, women and children of Jaffna that morning is indescribable. That day all Tamils lost a piece of themselves. It was the most magnificent piece of architecture (leave aside the treasure it contained) ever created in Thamileelam.This act of arson was carried out, not by a bunch of nameless hooligans, but by a posse of two hundred officers of the Sri Lankan police force, taken to Jaffna by two senior Sri Lankan Cabinet Ministers (Cyril Mathew and Gamini Dissanayake, both self-professed Sinhala supremacists), ostensibly to oversee an election.
These two Sinhala Cabinet Ministers, who watched the library burn from the verandah of the nearby Jaffna Rest House, subsequently claimed that it was an ‘unfortunate incident’, where a ‘few’ policemen ‘got drunk’ and went on a ‘looting spree’, all on their own. This ‘justification’ has been echoed, and re-echoed, by many Sinhala leaders and the Sinhala media.
Let us look back.
Sri Lanka: Jaffna Public Library destroyed by Sinhala Police
http://yarlphoenix.blogspot.com/Toronto Star- Amid Sri Lanka’s boom, life for Tamils remains bleak
News | World
Amid Sri Lanka’s boom, life for Tamils remains bleak
Sat Oct 23 2010
Father Cryton Outschoorn, a priest at Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. He says some residents are still frightened a year after the end of the country's civil war.
Rick Westhead/Toronto Star 
By Rick WestheadTRINCOMALEE, SRI LANKA—The weathered wooden bench that serves as an open-air confessional booth at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church doesn’t enjoy much down time nowadays.
Tissainayagam speaks at 2010 Mackler Award ceremony
[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 October 2010, 02:31 GMT]
2009 recipient of the prestigious Peter Mackler Award, Tamil journalist J.S. Tissainayagma, who was incarcerated in Sri Lanka prison for his writing, and was unable to receive the award in 2009, spoke at the 2010 Award ceremony held Friday at 6:00 p.m. at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. Tissainayagam was announced as the Award's first recipient on August 31, 2009, the same day he was convicted on terrorism charges relating to his work as a journalist. 2010 Mackler award winner is a 24-year old Russian, Ilya Barabanov, the deputy editor of the New Times, an opposition magazine in Russia.
J.S. Tissainayagam
Tissainayagam praised Barabanov's work in Russia, and said that while Russia and Sri Lanka are countries with different culture and people, the threats journalists face in both countries are similar. He added that fellow journalists in countries outside authoritarian regimes are the main hope to keep the pressure on these governments spotlighting the dangers journalists face in those countries.
Tissainayagam added that the decreasing emphasis in investigative journalism in the U.S. and in other western countries due to the shortage of funds and support resources is a major concern for journalists. He cautioned that with focus mainly on countries where there is on-going war with the US, coverage of events in remote parts of the world will not receive the attention they deserve to the detriment of journalists living and working in these countries.
Barabanov addressed the gathering in Russian with a live English translator.
Ilya Barabanov is deputy editor of Novoye Vremya (New Times) which has been the target of an attempted illegal search and a lawsuit by the Russian government. Barabanov, 24, has decried the aborted search & seizure of The New Times editorial offices. He charged that the search, carried out in connection with a case filed against the news weekly by the Russian interior minister’s OMON security forces, violated Articles 41 and 49 of the Russian Media Law.Full story >>
Why the media silence on Sri Lanka's descent into dictatorship?
- Monday 12 July 2010
- Edward Mortimer: Local journalists who speak out against human rights abuses fear for their lives and the world press turns a blind eye Continue reading...
Lasantha Wickrematunge lies in state during his funeral ceremony in Colombo. Photograph: Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP/Getty ImagesPosted by Edward Mortimer
BBC HARD talk - Democracy Sri Lankan-Style: June 2010 2 of 3
Friday, October 22, 2010
Sri Lanka 'pays PR firm £3m to boost post-war image
Bell Pottinger helped promote the Sri Lankan foreign minister's recent UK visit The Sri Lankan government is paying a top British PR firm about £3m ($4.7m) a year to try to enhance the country's post-war image, the BBC understands.
Bell Pottinger Group was recently hired to lobby UK, UN and EU officials.The government says it employs several PR companies but will not disclose their names or the amount paid. Bell Pottinger also refused to give details.
Sri Lanka's authorities strongly deny alleged human rights abuses in the defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels last year. [ full story
BBC News [ full story ]
Tourist arrivalsWednesday, October 20, 2010
Foreign Secretary calls for Sri Lanka to work towards a comprehensive and lasting political settlement
20 October 2010
In a meeting today with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Professor GL Peiris, Foreign Secretary William Hague said the political settlement needs to address the needs of all Sri Lanka's communities. 
The Foreign Secretary stressed the need for Sri Lanka to have a credible and independent process to address allegations of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law during the conflict. He hoped that Sri Lanka would show clear commitment towards democracy, human rights law and freedom of the press.
The two Ministers also discussed wider bilateral relations and areas of common interest.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Amnesty to begin campaign on SLA execution of Trincomalee students
[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 October 2010, 18:41 GMT]
With the fifth anniversary of the massacre of five Tamil students in Trincomalee beach by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers approaching on January 2nd, Amnesty International (AI), the human rights watchdog has embarked on a postcard campaign "to use this case as an example of the ongoing lack of accountability in Sri Lanka," according to the U.S. Director of Amnesty Jim McDonald. AI researchers plan to use the campaign as the focus of a broader effort to highlight the need for an independent international investigations into Sri Lanka's war crimes. Post-Trinco-massacre photo album |
Student victims of Trincomalee executions
Culpability chart
The names and the date of birth of the five students killed on 2nd January 2006 in Trincomalee, a big harbor town under the control of and heavily garrisoned by the Sri Lanka security forces are:
- Manoharan Ragihar 22.09.1985
- Yogarajah Hemachchandra 04.03.1985
- Logitharajah Rohan 07.04.1985
- Thangathurai Sivanantha 06.04.1985
- Shanmugarajah Gajendran 16.09.1985
Trinco executions crime scene
Sunday, October 17, 2010
‘Sinhala Only’ imposed on name boards in East
‘Sinhala Only’ imposed on name boards in East [TamilNet, Saturday, 16 October 2010, 08:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka government Road Development Authority (RDA) in Eastern Province using only Sinhala language in the name boards reveals the intention of Sri Lanka government to impose the ‘Sinhala Only’ Act again, Batticaloa residents said. The name board of the road to Vaakarai from Batticaloa is written only in Sinhala language and despite the request made by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa parliamentarian Pon. Selvarasa to RDA to include the names in Tamil and English languages in August in the Vaakarai Development Meeting, the name board remains with the Sinhala name only.Meanwhile, people in Eastern Province express fear that the name boards next to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps written Sinhala language only show that their areas are to be Sinhalicized in the future.
The Government Agent, Presidents of Prethesa Chapai and Divisional Secretariat Secretaries do not take any action on the issue due to political pressure exerted on them, they said.
The lands of the Tamils are first encroached by SLA and police to establish their camps where they later erect Buddhist shrines to claim that the area belongs to Sinhala people. This is what is happening in many places in Eastern Province, they added.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
SAVING LOVELY, SAVING HAITI
Star Columnist
FRI OCT 15 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITIHer name is Lovely.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITIa rocky hilltop.
Lovely Avelus looks down on her Haitian neighbourhood from She is 3-1/2 years old. Petite in stature, she’s big in personality - moody, stubborn, loud, demanding. She has the dark, brooding eyes of a world-weary grandmother, and they size you up suspiciously. She likes to draw and scribble and, when she’s happy, dance and sing. She’s often sick from sleeping in a muddy tin hut crowded with people, and she has four rotten teeth, which hurt like hell. She loves salami. She adores her little brother, Jonathan, who looks just like her, only fatter. She has a little bird voice and she loves, loves, loves going to school. The first time I met her, she was chasing away chickens that approached her rice. She’s always hungry.
For me, Lovely Avelus is Haiti.I met her on my first day in the country, 12 days after the magnitude 7.0 earthquake ripped apart Port-au-Prince.Since then, I’ve been back to the country six times and interviewed hundreds of people — in throbbing refugee camps, broken hospitals, squalid streets, crumpled schools and in soccer fields turned into tent settlements. But I have always returned to Lovely.She is around the same age as my two kids. I worry about her like a mother.Al Ingersoll, Haiti’s leading prosthetic expert, explained the pull of someone like Lovely: “I can’t fix all the problems of Haiti. I try not to focus on them,” he told me while moving between amputees clogging the grounds of a city hospital. “I try to focus on one person — how can I get that one child back to school?”In a sea of rubble and heartache, my sightlines fixed on little Lovely.“
I can’t fix all the problems of Haiti. I try not to focus on them, I try to focus on one person — how can I get that one child back to school?”She had a miraculous story. On Jan. 12, Lovely was buried beneath two storeys of concrete. Everyone assumed she was dead. Six days later, a search-and-rescue team dug her out and rushed her to a makeshift health clinic, where I met her. Somehow she survived, without so much as a scratch.Lovely, like Haiti, was given a second chance at life. But second chances are not enough. There are still thousands of hurdles facing Lovely, starting with finding breakfast each day.There are still thousands of hurdles facing Haiti, starting with the rubble choking its streets nine months after the quake.And there are hundreds of thousands of Lovelys in Haiti — children who are homeless, penniless and, in many cases, hopeless.If Lovely can flourish after the earthquake, I thought, maybe her country can, too. Maybe all the Lovelys can. I didn’t know it then, but my interest in her would change her life. And mine, too.It was the deadliest 35 seconds in modern natural history. The earthquake that struck 17 kilometres southwest of Port-au-Prince killed up to 300,000 people, injured just as many, maimed thousands more, and shattered the homes of 1.5 million.What made it worse than the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was its location in the country’s capital. In that half-minute, every national ministry building collapsed, killing roughly one-sixth of Haiti’s bureaucrats, and destroyed 80 per cent of the country’s university buildings and one-fifth of its schools. More than half of the country’s hospitals were in the devastated area; most were badly damaged, including Haiti’s largest and only teaching hospital. The international airport and port were hit, the national courthouse was reduced to rubble and the country’s Catholic cathedral and most of its administrative buildings were destroyed. Before the earthquake, 80 per cent of the country’s businesses were in or near the capital. Many of the garment factories, banks and company headquarters were ruined.Walking down the crowded market road during that first trip to Port-au-Prince, I felt like I’d stepped into a World War II photo of Dresden. Every other building was a heap of rubble and twisted rebar being combed through by bare-footed men. People hustled through the squalid gutter, pushing wheelbarrows of broken wooden doorframes, carrying metal siding on their heads and yanking carts stacked with mattresses. White UN trucks roamed the streets with helmeted soldiers gripping machine guns. The world, it felt, was ending.But no one I spoke to over the ensuing months believed Haiti’s devastation began on Jan. 12; its roots stretch back centuries.A lush, productive colony of France, Haiti became the world’s first independent black republic in 1804, when former slaves overthrew their masters after a bloody 13-year revolution. The sugar-producing island’s major trading partners — the U.S., France and Britain — then boycotted Haiti, the Americans fearing their own slaves would be inspired to revolt, until Haiti agreed to pay France a retribution fee for its “lost property” in 1825 of 90 million gold francs. The debt strangled the country for more than a century, and still haunts the country. On Haiti’s 200th anniversary, then president Jean-Bertrande Aristide launched a popular radio and bumper sticker campaign demanding France repay the sum. Needless to say, the cheque didn’t arrive.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)