By D.B.S.Jeyaraj In a peculiarly aggressive display of “Saffron Terrorism” a mob led by a Buddhist Priest has deployed force and taken away a statue of the Elephant faced deity known as Pillaiyar in Tamil and Gana Deiyo in Sinhala from a Hindu temple in Panamai on the Eastern coastal district of Amparai. In a [...]
Archive of entries posted on 6th August 2012
Can Anyone Honestly say that Federalism will lead to Secession?
by M.A.Sumanthiran Last week I wrote on the topic of self-determination. This drew many comments. One of which was to the effect that Tamil political leaders seem to believe that these issues can be settled by presenting a good legal brief, but they are eventually settled by practical power politics and the military. That point [...]
Responsibilities Vested With Armed Services May Go Beyond What Is Customary
by Gotabaya Rajapaksa (Text of speech delivered by Secretary of Defence and Urban Development Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa who was the Chief Guest at the Passing out Parade of a batch Officers and Airmen of the Sri Lanka Air Force on 3rd August at the SLAF Academy in China Bay) It gives me great pride to [...]
Setting up Special Economic Zones in Trincomalee aimed at Providing Job Opportunties for Tamil victims of Ethnic War
by N Sathiya Moorthy In a masterly stroke aimed at improving bilateral economic relations on the one hand, and job opportunities for the Tamil victims of the ethnic war, New Delhi and Colombo have agreed to set up Special Economic Zones (SEZ) for Indian engineering, auto components and pharmaceutical industries in the eastern port town [...]
Beyond Recognition and Misrecognition: the Shooting at Oak Creek Gurdwara in Wisconsin
by Amardeep Singh One of the issues that has come up periodically in the Sikh community in the U.S. since 9/11 has been how to handle the common problem that men in turbans are presumed by many Americans to be Muslims. A man named Balbir Singh Sodhi was shot down in Arizona just a few [...]
How Ethnic Lobbying Impacts On US Foreign Policy
by Rafiga Gurbanzade Lobbying is generally defined as the process of seeking to influence a government and its institutions to execute policies that serve interests of a group of individuals. The Woodstock Theological Center defines lobbying as a “deliberate attempt to influence political decision through various forms of advocacy directed at policymakers on behalf of [...]
All Adult Citizens Are Breaking International Law If Complicit In War Crimes Committed By Their Governments
by John Scales Avery At the end of the Second World War, when the full extent of the atrocities that had been committed by the Nazi’s became known, it was decided to prosecute Nazi leaders for crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity (such as extermination camps). There was disagreement about how such [...]
The War in Syria is all about Iran and our desire to crush the Islamic Republic and its Infernal Nuclear Plans
by Robert Fisk Has there ever been a Middle Eastern war of such hypocrisy? A war of such cowardice and such mean morality, of such false rhetoric and such public humiliation? I’m not talking about the physical victims of the Syrian tragedy. I’m referring to the utter lies and mendacity of our masters and our [...]
Militant Buddhism is a Recent Phenomenon and was not Behind the Civil war
By Shirani Seneviratne (This is a response to the article written by William Mcgowan in “Foreign Affairs” that was posted on dbsjeyaraj.com under the heading”militant Buddhists are behaving badly in Sri Lanka) It’s deeply disturbing that a magazine such as Foreign Affairs would stoop to publish such an article as this. It is more of [...]
How Adrian Anthony Gill Critiqued Channel 4 Documentary on Sri Lanka
by Hemantha Warnakulasuriya I was informed by an agent, allegedly working for ‘Digos’, the Secret Police of Italy, that certain video clips were being prepared by the LTTE to bolster its claim that the Sri Lankan soldiers committed war crimes. This was to be used internationally by the LTTE as proof of atrocities committed by [...]
Petroleum Corporation has Four ‘off Specification Fiascos’ in Three Years -1
By S. Talpahewa It appears that Ceylon Petroleum Corporation is now afflicted with the chronic disease of Off-specification Fiascos. During the short period of the last three years four major “off-specifications fiascos” had occurred at the CPC. They are –
President wanting Centralization of Power and Tamil side wanting a certain sense of Autonomy Causes Sharp Conflict says Ex –Chief Justice
Sarath Nanda Silva Interviewed by Dianne Silva Question:In light of the upcoming provincial council elections; what is your opinion on the provincial council system and the devolution of power, is it effective in a country as small as Sri Lanka? Should the PC’s be given more power?
Dairy Cattle in Sri Lanka Declining due to Rise in Beef Eating Consumption
by Charitha Ratwatte Sri Lanka’s dependence on imported milk is a phenomenon that evolved during the time frame of my lifetime. I well remember as a child, a man used to bring a cow and its small calf to our house – we lived in a Government quarters bungalow in Colombo – and milk the [...]
Is the Sri Lankan Govt Addressing Concerns of the International Community or the Tamil Victims of the War?
By N. Sathiya Moorthy The timely announcement on the setting up of official mechanisms for the implementation of the Report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) should be welcome for more reasons than one. On the face of it, the Roadmap on the LLRC Report implementation seeks to address the concerns, real and [...]
The need to setup a Land Commission as envisaged by the Thirteenth Amendment
By Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha M.P Having now gone through the LLRC Action Plan, I can understand how sensible it was of the Cabinet to appoint, not politicians, but the Secretary to the President to work on it. And he in turn was inspired to appoint extremely competent public servants who would not be looking over [...]
