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Hello Friends,

Compliments of the Season and Greetings for New Year.

A New Year dawns and the nation gears up to face what lies ahead.

In a reflective mood I went through some of the articles I had written in the past particularly about incidents of human rights violations in the North and East. One thing that struck me was that justice has not been done in most of those cases. No person has been penalised for these crimes so far. There is a climate of impunity

By D.B.S. Jeyaraj

September 26th 1959 is an important date in the post-independence history of Sri Lanka. It was on this day fifty years ago that the Prime Minister Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (SWRDB) of the then Ceylon passed away . He had been shot the previous day by a Buddhist priest.

The past decades have seen hundreds of political assassinations in Sri Lanka. Both Tamil and Sinhala armed groups have been responsible for these killings at different times and locations.

An executive President, leader and former leader of the opposition, cabinet ministers and ex-cabinet ministers, Parliamentarians and former Parliamentarians, provincial council ministers, heads of district councils and local authorities have all been assassinated. A head of state survived an assassination attempt but lost an eye.

The assassinations of those who held or were holding high political office have been so numerous in recent times that most people have lost count of such assassinations.

SWRD Bandaranaike

Against this backdrop the solitary assassination that occurred 50 years ago may seem insignificant to some. What has to be remembered is that the incident was the first of its type in independent Sri Lanka. The impact of that single assassination was tremendous at that time. It is pertinent therefore to delve into that assassination and its aftermath fifty years later on this day.

Hello Friends,

It was on July 22nd that I posted an article by Lilani Jayatilaka on this blog with my heading “A Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Sri Lanka”?.

As I stated in my introduction the article in question had appeared in the “Sunday Island” of July 12th 2009 under the heading “Healing Memories:Lessons to be learnt from the South African Experience”.

Here is what I wrote then-”There was an excellent article offering much food for thought in the “Sunday Island” of July 12th 2009 by Lilani Jayatilaka that focused on the lessons of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.”

The article was inspired by Bishop Desmond Tutu’s book “No Future Without Forgiveness”. The book is on the findings of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission which Bishop Tutu chaired.
Lilani who is experienced in counselling emphasises how important it is for the people of this land to speak out about their grief, suffering and sorrow.

Reading and re-reading this article was an uplifting experience for me and I want to share it with you all.”

The article did result in making people think and there were quite a lot of comments. Some of these expressed very clear thoughts.

Still I was sorry that many who commented seemed to have either missed what Lilani was trying to say or misunderstood her.

An erudite observer who is perhaps Lilani’s “best friend” said it best in a personal e-mail to me.

I am excerpting the relevant paragraph here without revealing the writer’s identity.

“Reading some of the responses it is clear that some of those who had responded have not understood Lilani’s point correctly.

by D.B.S. Jeyaraj

Latest developments on the Wanni war front have brought much relief to all people yearning for the safety of entrapped civilians in the coastal strip of northern Mullaitivu district currently controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The long awaited military operation to break through Tiger defences and facilitate the evacuation of civilians that began at midnight on Sunday April 19 has been a success in terms of numbers.

By Thursday April 24 around 103,000 people from Palammaathalan, Ambalavanpokkanai and Puthumaathalan areas had been freed from what was in reality an open prison.

Since the Government had not geared itself up to handle such large numbers the officials both military and civil are struggling to cope with the large influx.

by D.B.S. Jeyaraj Fifteen years ago on this day (Oct 30th ) around 28, 000 men , women and children were expelled from Jaffna by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam organization. They were all Tamil – speaking Muslims living in the Muslim “vattaaram” or zone of Jaffna town. About 500 plus Muslims living in [...]