The Problem with Karma: Notes from the Conflict in Sri Lanka

Amarnath Amarasingam

Doctoral candidate, Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario, Canada      Posted March 4, 2011 
Over the past month, there has been some speculation among members of the global Tamil community on whether Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited Texas to obtain cancer treatment in secret. The story in itself is not particularly interesting, but it does have relevance for the post-conflict situation in Sri Lanka. Many reacted to the news not with sadness, but with a sense that cosmic justice was being meted out. Some argued that Rajapaksa, responsible for mass human rights violations during the final months of the Sri Lankan civil war, was now getting his just desserts. Although many nationalist Tamils profess to be atheist or secular, the reaction to the news was always framed in Hindu and Buddhist notions of karma, popularly defined in the West as "what goes around comes around.     Read Post
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Fr. Jim Brown and Mr. Vimalathas: Five years after disappearance, where are they and what has happened to the investigation?

 *groundviews journalism Forcitizens

Fr. Tiruchelvam Nihal Jim Brown | Image courtesy of www.transcurrents.com

Fr. Jim Brown, a Catholic Priest from diocese of Jaffna in Northern Sri Lanka and his associate, Mr. Vimalathas, a father of five people, seem to be just two names and statistics in the long list of disappeared in Sri Lanka, particularly after the escalation of violence and war in the North since 2006.

Mr. Mr.Vimalathas

                                                                                                                             Parish of Mandaitivu-Allapidy, which was shelled in August 2006.  

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