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By Chackravarthy “One Mullivaikkal is enough. Don’t try to get 100 more.” Oh God the British never told the French ‘one Waterloo is enough. Don’t try to get 100 more’. What kind of a speech is this? Is this the tolerance Lord Buddha taught or his disciples learnt? A Tamilnadu newspaper in her editorial said, [...]

by Rajani Iqbal A group of war widows in the Nedunkerny region of the Wanni District celebrated the International Widows’ Day on 22nd June, 2012 at the conference hall of the Nedunkerny Pradesa Sabai. This meeting was organized by an NGO in collaboration with the relevant officers of the Divisional Secretary of Nedunkerny who had [...]

By Dr. Nirmala Chandrahasan Reading through some of the articles that have appeared recently, following upon Mr Sampanthan’s Presidential address at the ITAK Convention, it appears to me that there is a big trust deficit. Interpretations are being put on words, and inferences drawn which are not justified by the plain meaning of, or the [...]

By Camelia Nathaniel Gunasingham Kasendran is considered the tallest man in the country. Standing at a staggering 7 ft 3 inch, he is currently part of the government rehabilitation programme for ex-LTTE combatants at the Rehabilitation Centre in Kandakadu, in the Polonnaruwa District. A rather shy and soft spoken man, Kasendran shuns public functions, which [...]

(Text of statement issued by Reporters without Borders/Reporters sans Frontieres) Reporters Without Borders is concerned about the reasons that led the management of the newspaper Ceylon Today to force its editor in chief Lalith Allahakkoon to resign on 13 June. The journalist, who received no letter of dismissal, arrived at his office on 16 June [...]

By Cillian McGrattan The idea that divided or post-conflict societies can achieve stability through reconciliation represents something of a paradigm shift in peace-building theory and practice. Arguably, thanks to the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, ideas that the past should be represented as something remote (as in post-war, post-Nuremburg Germany) or unarticulated (as in [...]

By Thulasi Muttulingam The Irulas are a South Indian tribe who have traditionally based their livelihood on being snake catchers. Up until 1972, they were able to make an adequate living selling snake leather, but with the Wildlife Protection Act India passed that year, their livelihood became illegal. Irulas from the village of Thottithopu, Cuddalore [...]

by N Sathiya Moorthy Two interim reports from the two sides, so to say, and the focus is slowly slipping away from the work on hand for the National Commission of Inquiry (CNI) probing then Maldivian President Mohammed Nasheed’s resignation of February 7. It is back more ore less in the realm of politics and [...]

by Selcuk Colakoglu As the Cold War ended, the international system entered a process in which it was afflicted by secessions, sometimes bloody and sometimes peaceful. After 1990 there was a general trend for countries to break up and while countries entering a union was the exception. In 1990, the year the Cold War ended, [...]

By Salma Yusuf A widely held belief among the populace is that the discourse on foreign policy remains the sole prerogative of those in the highest echelons of political power; that is, until presented with a statement by the likes of well-known American political activist, Ron Silver, who declared: “I can’t talk about foreign policy [...]

by Dakshana Bascaramurty They all made boastful, superlative-ridden claims: The Largest South Asian Indoor Shopping Centre in the GTA! The Biggest Chinese Mall in North America! North America’s First Tamil Plaza! But years after these ambitious projects under the names The Sitara, The Landmark, and T.Junction were announced – all with target opening dates that [...]

Preamble: All the nations once again will meet in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012 to discuss the future of the world and the very survival of the humankind. However, in general no nation has a success story to share other than so called growth and increase of per capita income which is based on [...]

A number of residents of Sampur, in the Trincomalee District filed a Fundamental Rights (FR) petition in the Supreme Court on Friday 15 June 2012, challenging the demarcation of a Special Zone for Heavy Industries (SZHI) through Gazette Extraordinary No. 1758/26 issued on 17 May 2012. The Gazette attempts to demarcate a SZHI within the [...]

The Sri Lanka Working Journalist Association is extremely disturbed by the recent turn of events at Ceylon Today newspaper, where the editor in chief and respected journalist Lalith Allahakkoon was unceremoniously removed from all his duties by the management due to what we understand as Mr Allahakkoon’s refusal to publish politically motivated and potentially libelous [...]

by Panchali Saikia A major highlight of Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s trip to Thailand was her visit to the Mae Sot refugee camp in June 2012. The Mae Sot camp is the largest among the nine refugee camps in Thailand, with nearly 50,000 refugees of which most are Karen ethnic nationals of [...]

By Hasan Afif El Hasan From day one after the 1967 war, Israel’s actions in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem suggest the occupation was not temporary and underscore Israel’s desire to erase the concept of the Palestinian nation by undermining the connection between the people and their land or history. In an effort [...]

by M.G.Devasahayam It is famously said: “In public domain, truth is not the truth, perception is the truth”. This adage could be related to the discourse on the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP). While the arguments in favour of the plant is that it will generate electric power essential for ‘development’, People’s Movement Against Nuclear [...]

By Martin Khor The Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 (known officially as the UN Conference on Environment and Development) was a landmark event which launched “Sustainable Development” as an internationally accepted concept. Environmental problems would be seen in relation to and in the context of the development needs of developing countries. Sustainable development would [...]

By S.S.Selvanayagam The Court of Appeal yesterday (19) allowed the move by the Petitioner to amend the prayers in the Writ application challenging the imminent premature dissolution of the Eastern Provincial Council. The Bench comprising Justices S.Sriskandarajah (President C/A) and Deepali Wijesundera fixed the matter to be supported on July 11 with the amended prayers.

by Srilal Miththapala All newspapers carried headlines a few days ago stating that May 2012 tourist arrivals have increased by 17.5% from last year. It is reported that the May arrivals of 57,506, were higher than even that of April, which showed only a 9% increase YOY. So far, the total arrivals for 2012 up [...]

By Kath Noble What should the Security Forces do when there’s no war to be fought? Now that three years have passed since the defeat of the LTTE and pretty much everybody is convinced that there will be no resurgence, this would seem to be a pertinent question to ask. Of course vigilance is needed. [...]

By Amnesty International A statement issued on June 13th 2012 by Amnesty International for the UNHRC sessions in Geneva from June 18th-July 8th 2012 Sri Lanka is not fulfilling many of its international human rights obligations. Impunity remains the norm for gross violations of human rights, including alleged war crimes. Gross and systematic human rights [...]

By Ben Doherty and Som Patidars A PEOPLE-SMUGGLING network is targeting Tamil refugees in southern India, promising them safe passage across the Indian Ocean and Australian citizenship when they arrive. But boats have already been lost. Refugee advocates say at least two boats, carrying up to 50 people, disappeared off India’s south coast late last [...]

By Salma Yusuf Whoever said that demand must drive supply was certainly not talking about reconciliation. However, the relevance and applicability of the philosophy and its wisdom in a post-war reconciliation setting cannot be overstated. After all, reconciliation is as important a goal as it is a process. While Government efforts in post-war rehabilitation, reintegration, [...]

by Chamikara Weerasinghe The government will open the re-developed Palmyrah Research Institute in Kaithady, Jaffna, soon. The institute became defunct from 1995 due to the war in the North. Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Ministry Secretary V Sivagnanasothi yesterday told the Daily News that they are ready to open a state-of-the-art palmyrah research facility [...]

by Karu Jayasuriya A situation is emerging in the country where, permission is needed from goons to engage in politics. It is well known that these gangs who suppress opposing political views using iron bars during the past era had the blessings of some politicians or politically powerful persons. Now these goons are so powerful [...]

By Lalith Allahakkoon (This is the full text of a public statement issued to the media by Lalith Allahakkoon the Editor in Chief and Editorial Director of “Ceylon Today”about recent events that have caused an Editorial crisis in the English newspaper published in Colombo) 1. At around 7 p.m. on the night of Wednesday June [...]

by Gunvanthi Balaram From the magnificent stupas at Anuradhapura to the street food of Colombo, from the Cave of Celestial Maidens to the beach at Galle, Sri Lanka offers many changes of scene. Shore at Manatkadu, Jaffna- pic courtesy of: twitter.com/shanmugan10 Stories apart, what did I remember best about Sri Lanka, my mother asked me [...]

by Charles Santiapillai Although the Jaffna man’s mind is preoccupied with money and matrimony, yet the thing that he treasures most above everything else is education and scholarship. For a Jaffna man, it’s the books, and not dogs, that are his best friends. He would pay more attention to a good book than to his [...]

Sri Lanka has signed its largest foreign direct investment (FDI) deal valued at $4 billion with an Indian company. Gateway Industries, an Indian venture, will oversee operation and management of a special industrial zone for heavy industries in Trincomalee district. Board of Investment (BOI) chairman M.M.C. Ferdinando Friday hailed the signing of this landmark project [...]

By Camena Guneratne and Harini Amarasuriya | Open University of Sri Lanka Almost one year ago, we wrote an article suggesting that there were signals from the academic community that it was waking up from a long slumber. We wrote about the fact that the Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA) was moving away from, [...]

by Edward Gunawardene The story of Lasith Malinga is the story of a poor rustic, who because of his rare talents in cricket, has shot to stardom. Another log cabin to White House or a Dick Whittinghton story. He is today one of the most sought after and one of the highest earners in international [...]

by Mangala Samaraweera Police spokesperson SP Ajith Rohana accepted that two persons including a woman died due to an unarmed gang shooting at a Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) local meeting held in Katuwana in the Hambantota district on 15 June (2012). He said, a group of unidentified men on motorcycles had opened fire at the [...]

President’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunga last week summoned a press conference at the old parliament now serving as the presidential secretariat to tell “our side of the story’’ of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s recent London visit. As is well known, LTTE supporters succeeded in getting a session of an event organized by the Commonwealth Business Council cancelled [...]

by Selvam Canagaratna “On Wall Street, he and a few others – how many? – three hundred, four hundred, five hundred? – had become precisely that . . . Masters of the Universe. There was . . . no limit whatsoever!” – Tom Wolfe, The Bonfire of the Vanities (1987) In the midst of an [...]

Senior UNP parliamentarian, Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena has appealed to His Holiness Pope Benedict the XVI to use his good offices to dialogue with the Sri Lankan Government to ensure that the Bishop of Mannar continues his mission without threats, intimidations and false allegations. In a letter to the Pope, the MP says: “Since the beginning [...]

by Prof Rajiva Wijesinha MP To cite the preamble to this dialogue between Asian and European Liberals, we agree that, ‘from a liberal standpoint, it is mutually beneficial for countries to engage in trade, and free trade is one of the means to lift countries out of poverty.’ Unfortunately this ideal is under attack for [...]

By Shanika SRIYANANDA in Mullaitheevu It was 11 am, the OPD of the District General Hospital Mullaitheevu was crowded. People from all walks of life and all corners of the district get treatment from the hospital. Located close to the A-34 Highway, the hospital, damaged by the LTTE, has now turned into a fully-fledged hospital [...]

By Marwan Macan-Marcar BANGKOK, Jun 15 2012 (IPS) – Reports of sectarian violence in western Myanmar have exposed the plight of 800,000 Muslim Rohingya, a persecuted minority that a regional human rights body described in 2006 as facing a “slow-burning genocide”. Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organization Malaysia (MERHROM) holds awareness campaign in Kuala Lampur, [...]

Dr.Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Two contrasting insights into reconciliation were on display in the last ten days – one in the field of sports and the other in the field of politics. The former relates to the Carlton Super Seven Rugby Tournament and the latter to the ITAK or Federal Party convention in Batticaloa. The significance of [...]

By Salma Yusuf A widely held belief among the populace is that the discourse on foreign policyremains the sole prerogative of those in the highest echelons of political power – that is, until presented with a statement by the likes of well-known American political activist, Ron Silver, who declared: ‘I can’t talk about foreign policy [...]

by Charles Santiapilai and S. Wijeyamohan One of the surest signs of ecological richness and diversity of a country is the number of predator species it supports. Egret and Crocodile in Yala, Sri Lanka-courtesy ~ Picture by Ranuka Marshall ~ more pics Larger the number of predator species, the greater is the biodiversity. The existence [...]

An Interview With President Mahinda Rajapaksa The Report Company: What is your assessment of the country’s current stage of development? Mahinda Rajapaksa: I am convinced that Sri Lanka can attain a much higher stage of development than we are currently at. Unfortunately, we lagged behind for over 30 years as a result of a debilitating [...]

By J.C.Weliyamuna A Governance Analysis of Frequency Allocation & TV Rights in Present Sri Lanka Frequency Allocation- A Grand Corruption? Understanding the State capture by Kleptocrats does not require a dedicated study; it is easily recognizable. For the benefit of keen students of governance, let me begin this article with the definition of Kleptocracy: “A [...]

By Kath Noble Sri Lankan refugees have been making the news again in recent days. A group of 40 whose claims of persecution have been rejected by the UK was sent back to Colombo at the beginning of the month. Sri Lankan refugees prepare to disembark from the ferry that brought them from India to [...]

by Ayesha Zuhair Tamara Kunanayakam, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative (PR) to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva, has accused Navanethem Pillay, the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, of playing the political agenda of the US and Western powers. In an e-mail interview with the Daily Mirror, Ambassador Kunanayakam elaborates on the accusations contained in [...]

by Faiza Thassim Tucked away in the southwest corner of Sri Lanka’s coastline, away from the hustle and bustle of the busy town of Galle lies the quaint old peninsula that is the Galle Fort. Originally built by the Portuguese and then modified by the Dutch in the 17th century, this little enclave shot to [...]

By Chackravarthy Well every thing started with the 11th International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) held in Colombo from June 3 to 5th 2010. In a way it was an Ill conceived – white elephant project that failed drastically to give the desired result as the sponsors had no deep knowledge about Bollywood or Indian [...]

By Paul Newman Sivagnanam Shritharan, 43, is the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Member of Sri Lankan Parliament from Kilinochchi. Elected in 2010, he was earlier the head master of the Kilinochchi Mahavidyalayam in Kilinochchi, where LTTE leader Velupillai Prabakaran’s children had studied. An ardent advocate of peace who loses no opportunity to criticise the flawed [...]

By Nimmi Gunasekera Armed with images from the news media of a partially restored Galle Fort in the context of the, literary festival, and with the excuse of driving down the new southern highway, we, a group of four, set forth to spend a weekend in the Fort. Starting with a very tasty Sri Lankan [...]

by R.M.B.Senanayake At a recent seminar on the peace dividend, the speaker Dr Muttukrishna Sarvanandan drew attention to the fact that the share of government services which includes defense services is a high of 53% in the Northern Province. He was quoting from the Provincial GDP data prepared by the Department of Census & Statistics [...]

by Kalana Senaratne From its inception in late 1949 as the Tamil Federal Party, the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) – a party which, as the late Lakshman Kadirgamar once claimed in Parliament, was founded by a “dedicated group of principled men” – has been in the forefront of Sri Lankan (and Tamil) politics. It [...]