NOVEMBER 20, 2009 EST, USA
 
 
VOL. 10, NO. 228
 
TLA-Exclusive Feature Articles
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THE KILLING OF BALA VARNAM SIVAKUMAR
Dr A.C.Visvalingam, nov 4. Perhaps the most sickening TV news item seen by Sri Lankans in recent times was the cold-blooded murder of the mentally ill Balavarnam Sivakumar of Ratmalana. It is understood that a police constable named Dimuthu Somnas has been remanded in connection wth this attack. A few of his fellow constables are also said to be likely to be taken into custody. These arrests will predictably divert attention away from those criminals who started the whole thing by beating and chasing Sivakumar into the sea initially, and the other policemen who helped Somnas and his accomplices finish off the job by looking on, doing nothing. It has also been reported that the Bambapilitiya Police had been informed but had taken no action to stop the unrelenting assault. Most of the citizens who were witness to this monstrous exhibition of brutality would undoubtedly have been fearful of the consequences of interfering with its vicious’ participants. In these circumstances, the action taken by a few concerned citizens to alert the Bambalapitiya Police and the TNL TV Station tells us that there were at least a few decent persons there who had the conscience to try to do something to stop this inhuman killing. Considering the sad fate of many media institutions and personnel during the past few years, TNL TV and its personnel deserve our thanks and praise for their courageous exposure of this terrible episode.Discuss this story More...
SRI LANKA: FIVE MONTHS AFTER
by Apratim Mukarji, Sunday 25 October 2009. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa must be a rare civilian leader who has given birth to a new military concept by winning the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Defence academies and experts have been studying what has come to be known as the “Rajapaksa model”. More...
NO SINGLE OR BODY OF PERSONS CAN CLAIM CREDIT FOR WAR VICTORY AGAINST LTTE
S.L. Gunasekara, Oct 21. The final defeat of the `killing might’ of the LTTE on the 18th May 2009 ushered in a new era to our tortured land – an era when People of all races, religions, genders, ages and walks of life could go about their normal avocations without fear of being torn to pieces by bombs exploded in or about crowded city centres, shops, buses and trains; when Tamil residents of the North and the East could rest assured that their little children would no longer be kidnapped for slave labour in the LTTE’s terrorist cadres or for use as `cannon fodder’; when Sinhalese and Moors could worship at their temples and in their Mosques, work in their fields, and sleep in their humble abodes without fear of being slaughtered en masse; and when Tamils, particularly those resident in the North and the East are secure in the knowledge that their hard earned money would not be extorted from them by the LTTE in the guise of collecting `taxes’.Discuss this story More...
GAMINI FONSEKA: “MAHARAJANENI” OF SINHALA MOVIEDOM
Tamilweek, Oct 01. Gamini Fonseka, the uncrowned “Maharajaneni” or monarch of Sinhala moviedom passed away peacefully on September 30th in 2004. Though Gamini is no more most of his fans like this writer have not forgotten him. This article coinciding with Gamini’s fifth death anniversary today is a humble tribute to to the memory of a man who lives in the hearts of many.This article is to honour the memory of a man whom I loved as an actor, appreciated as a director, admired as a politician and above all respected as a decent human being. Gamini the actor on the Sinhala silver screen became an important part of life in childhood. Discuss this story This is the kind of relationship one has with actors, singers, writers and sportsmen. The impact of films and film stars in the South Asian region is Phenomenal. Childhood impressions in that sense are indelible. More...
MAHINDA AS "MAHARAJANENI": CONSTANT LICKERS
S.L. Gunasekara, july 28. Servility and self serving sycophancy are not unknown to poor Sri Lanka: on the contrary, the Country, most regrettably, abounds with it. Discuss this story However, never till now have we had the misfortune to witness the horrible spectacle of a pack of sniveling sycophants in political office of various types with unconcealed ambitions to climb higher on the basis of nothing more noble than their ignoble sycophancy, heaping mortal and unforgivable insults on the person of the Head of State while believing those insults to constitute fulsome praise which would so please the Head of State that they would result in his granting them some patronage or benefit whether political or otherwise !!! Such is the abysmally low opinion these scum have of the Head of State. More...
THE MAN WHO TAMED THE TAMIL TIGERS
TIME, July 14. Sri Lanka's 26-year civil war between the government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) came to a dramatic end in May with a decisive military victory and the killing of Velupillai Prabhakaran, the Tigers' fearsome leader. President Mahinda Rajapaksa is the man who tamed the Tigers. Now his task is to heal a nation still divided by tensions between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils. In a rare, wide-ranging interview, Rajapaksa, 63, talked with TIME's Jyoti Thottam at the President's official compound in Colombo on July 10.Discuss this story More...
280,000 IDP'S INTERNED IN CAMPS ARE WAR VICTIMS AND NOT WAR CRIMINALS
Trancurrents, JUly 12. Why do we sign as ‘Concerned Tamils of Sri Lanka’? It is not for lack of endorsement by very many non-Tamil Sri Lankans of every clause of each of our statements. Elsewhere, Tamil voices are heard loud and clear on our problems, but within our island, independent Tamil voices have been progressively stilled. In this crisis situation, we have a right and a duty to express our concerns collectively as Tamils of Sri Lanka. It will not do for the Tamil Diaspora or for Tamil politicians to be the sole spokespersons for the Tamils of Sri Lanka. Independent Tamil voices need to be heard.Discuss this story More...
THE LAST DAYS OF THIRUVENKADAM VELUPPILLAI PRABHAKARAN
DBS Jeyaraj - TamilWeek, May 22. Thiruvenkadam Veluppillai Prabhakaran is no more! Discuss this storyThe body of the 54 year old supreme leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) was found on Tuesday May 19th near the Mullaitheevu lagoon known as “Nanthikkadal” (sea of conches). He had gunshot wounds in the head and forehead.Thus ended the life of the man who was once described by the LTTE’s political strategist, Anton Stanislaus Balasingham, as both “the president and prime minister of Tamil Eelam”. Army commander Sarath Fonseka announced the death officially at 12.15 pm on the 19th.The ephemeral nature of power was illustrated vividly by the death of Prabhakaran who controlled what was perhaps the most powerful guerilla organization in the world and was raised to divine status as “Sooriyathevan” (Sun God) by his sycophantic followers. More...
TIGERS, TAMIL DIASPORA AND THE TAMIL CIVILIAN PLIGHT
D.B.S. Jeyaraj, May 8. IN 1989, this writer attended a conference organised by the pro-Tiger publication Tamil Voice International in London. Among the participants were politicians,journalists and bureaucrats from India such as P. Upendra, S. Unnikrishnan, Aladi Aruna, N.V.N. Somu, K. Veeramani, A.P. Venkateswaran and Samantha Datta Ray. More...
WHY LTTE FAILED
Colonel R. Hariharan, may 7. SRI LANKA’S security forces appear to have redeemed their professional reputation with their resounding success in the fourth edition of the Eelam War, which has been going on since 2006 against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), popularly known as the Tamil Tigers. They were not able to achieve decisive results against the LTTE in their three earlier outings. More...
LTTE IS NO EXCUSE FOR KILLING VANNI CIVILIANS
UTHR, April 25. The Government today objects to ‘balanced criticism’ by governments, the UN and human rights agencies, because all of them demand restraint from it towards the besieged civilians. What the Government apparently seeks is a blank cheque to go on indulging in cost-free killing of Tamils in the name of warring against terrorism. Nothing can cover the absurdity of the Government’s position. The LTTE, confined and reduced by steady attrition poses no threat to the Government. It is merely postponing the inevitable, placing more and more conscripts and children before missiles of the Government, whom it is happy to blow to smithereens. This has been true for several months and a government with a minimal sense of responsibility should have looked to other political means.Discuss this story As for the LTTE, most countries that count have declared it a terrorist group. In its present state of decay no one is going to breathe political life into it, unless the Government and the Sinhalese polity bungle their political act hopelessly. This is what they are doing by firing into the civilians in the no-fire zone and thereby committing a crime against humanity. These and other issues will be discussed in greater detail below, including the role of Tamil expatriates. We will conclude with several cases exemplifying the plight of civilians in the no-fire zone. More...
ANATOMY OF THE LTTE MILITARY DEBACLE AT AANANDAPURAM
DBS Jeyaraj, April 13. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organization has experienced many major setbacks during the course of its 33 year old history.Discuss this story Despite misgivings expressed on these occasions by prophets of doom, the movement has always managed to withstand these blows and continue on its politico-military journey. More...
A CRYING SHAME!- AN EDITORIAL
The Island, March 23. It is with shock and dismay that we note a minister’s wife serving a prison term for double murder and two foreigners jailed for heroin smuggling have walked to freedom on the International Women’s Day (March 08) thanks to a presidential pardon. Ironically, Mary Juliet Monica Fernando, (wife of Public Estate Management and Development Minister Milroy Fernando), was sentenced to death in 2005 for abducting and murdering two women and her death penalty was later commuted to life imprisonment! That was how Sri Lanka celebrated a day sacred to the womenfolk!TLA FORUM More...
COLOMBO'S SECRET WAR ON TERROR
Far Eastern Economic Review, March 16. The Sri Lankan government is on the cusp of achieving what once seemed impossible. Its armed forces are crushing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on the battlefield, having pushed the rebels out of their northern stronghold and surrounded them in a few coastal villages. The administration of President Mahinda Rajapaksa hopes that destroying the Tigers’ organization will bring an end to the 26-year civil war that has claimed more than 70,000 lives. Discuss this story But the president’s own tactics make it difficult to imagine the peace holding. Far from healing racial tensions between the Tamil minority and Sinhalese majority populations, Mr. Rajapaksa has whipped up Sinhalese nationalism as part of his campaign against the Tigers. Credible accusations of human-rights abuses against the authorities suggest that after the war the same discrimination against Tamils that created the civil war in 1983 will persist. More...
THE ANTI-CONVERSION BILL: INTENDED CURE WORSE THAN THE PERCEIVED SICKNESS!
Rev Fr. Vimal Tirimanna , March 12. Conversion from one religion to another is nothing new, since all the major religions came here from outside. There have been religious conversions in Sri Lanka from ancient times. All the major religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity) have had at least their early native adherents as a result of some such religious conversion. The embracing of Buddhism by our King Devanampiyatissa after having heard the inspiring words of Arahat Mihindu thero at Mihintale is a good historical illustration.Conversion from one religion to another is nothing new, since all the major religions came here from outside. There have been religious conversions in Sri Lanka from ancient times.Discuss this Posting on the Forum All the major religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity) have had at least their early native adherents as a result of some such religious conversion. The embracing of Buddhism by our King Devanampiyatissa after having heard the inspiring words of Arahat Mihindu thero at Mihintale is a good historical illustration. More...
NEED FOR NEW GLOBAL CONVENTIONS
THRISHANTHA NANAYAKKARA , Tuesday, February 17, 2009. On Feb. 9, an LTTE suicide bomber killed herself inside a crowded transit camp maintained by the government for displaced Tamil civilians in northern Sri Lanka. She killed and injured scores of Tamil men, women, and children awaiting transport to safer areas.Discuss this story A day later, the LTTE shot and killed 19 civilians as they attempted to cross over to government held areas. The incident was not widely reported in international media, perhaps due to its low political appeal. However, it is absolutely imperative that we resolve—as a global community—that no rebel group or government be allowed to commit such crimes against humanity again. More...
ECONOMICS OF ETHNIC PEACE: LESSONS FOR COUNTRIES LIKE SRI LANKA
Tilak Abeysinghe , Jan 15, 2009 . Ethnic tension is a dormant spark that awaits fuelling in multi-ethnic societies. It is all too well known how ethnic conflicts, once ignited, engulf and destroy peaceful lives, scar ethnic relationships over many generations and become hard to contain without mammoth efforts.

There is a large literature that focuses on ethnic conflicts and wars. There is, however, not much discussion on how to sustain ethnic peace partly because the countries that have ethnic peace just seem to take it for granted. It is important to note, however, that when ethnic peace breaks down and escalates into an ethnic war, the war may gain its own momentum and continue for reasons unrelated to the initial causes of the conflict. Even if such a war comes to an end through some interventions, there is no guarantee that lasting ethnic peace will emerge if the necessary conditions for peace are absent. More...

SO WE LIVE IN A DEMOCRACY
Namini Wijedasa, 1.11.2009. Moments after learning of Lasantha Wickrematunga’s daytime murder, one of my colleagues fervently combed through the intrepid editor’s last column to see what he might have written that got him killed. “Do you think it is safe for me to continue my column?” he asked. “I am scared to criticise the government....” It was a predictable reaction. Independent journalists around the country— those not associated with or employed by state media— no longer know the parameters within which they are expected to write.Discuss this story More...
NGOS AND THE VICTIM INDUSTRY
Lem Monde, Nov 4. The misadventures of the French charity Zoe’s Ark in Chad early last year (1) finally opened to question the motives and morality of aid agencies. For the first time an organisation was criticised in the media, rather than lauded for its good intentions. The humanitarian industry’s success made it inev itable its power would be abused. After the 2004 Southeast Asian tsunami, people had begun to question whether non-governmental organisations had the competence to administer the huge amounts of money they received. Discuss this Feature The ideology behind humanitarian aid depends on three principles. There must be universal human rights – a worthy premise, but problematic. You create victims whom you can save. Then you assert the right to have access to these victims. More...
“I MYSELF WILL TAKE CHARGE OF THE POLITICAL PROCESS AND SEE IT THROUGH POLITICALLY” - INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT RAJAPAKSE
Hindu, Oct 29. First of all, this issue has been there for a long time, more than 20 years, and it’s high time we came to a solution. As President of Sri Lanka, I am absolutely clear that there is, and can be, no military solution to political questions. I have always maintained this. A military solution is for the terrorists; a political solution is for the people living in this country. Discuss this story Let me reiterate that my government is firmly committed to a negotiated political solution — based on devolution of power and ensuring the democratic, political, including linguistic, rights of all our Tamil brethren within an undivided Sri Lanka. I would like to see more devolution to the people. It must go to the grassroots level, because they must decide on their development work, what they need. We must allow them to participate in the whole process. More...
'WE' ARE THE 'WE'
Gamini Weerakoon, October 12. Major General Janaka Perera's tragic death and that of his wife, and the deaths of Dr. Raja Johnpulle and his wife along with 27 others resulted in the call for 'national unity.' 'We must unite to fight terrorism,' it was said loud and clear. But one day after the foul killing of one of the greatest soldiers of Sri Lanka, those who were calling for unity in the wake of the foul murders, were unable to sanction the use of an air force helicopter to take the bodies of the slain couple to Anuradhapura. Discuss this story Apparently to the petty minded leaders at the top and their bureaucratic bootlickers, General Janaka Perera was not one of the 'We.' He was UNP and was being extended the same privilege as an ordinary Provincial Councillor! More...
D.B.WIJETUNGA: FROM GENTLEMAN FARMER TO CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCH
By D.B.S.JEYARAJ, sep 27. The most unforgettable thing about Dingiri Banda (DB) Wijetunga was his simple, disarming smile. Even the toughest of journalists warmed to that genial grin and thought twice about tossing a hostile question.Discuss this story More...
SRI LANKA IS LOSING ITS SOUL TO WAR
Peter Foster - Telegraph, Sep 24. Predictably in a conflict which stirs such bitterness, my last post on Sri Lanka and an analysis piece I wrote in Saturday's paper on Sri Lanka's human rights record has generated a slew of emails accusing me of failing to understand the conflict and ‘siding with the terrorists.'Discuss on TLA forum More...
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