Archive for August, 2007

  • 31 Aug, 2007
  • 4 Comments
  • Advocacy,
    Human Rights

Doing Business with Myanmar

The Daily Mirror on 29 August 2007 reports a high-level meeting at Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) between state and business leaders of Sri Lanka and a state delegation representing trade interests in Myanmar. The vice chairman of the CCC is reported to have addressed the visitors with the words, “This is an opportunity to extend our friendship for a fruitful partnership”. I wondered if those attending realized who they were befriending, and the possible consequences of this attempted friendship. Myanmar is the new name for the country that has been better known as Burma. It is a country of about 47 million people who are predominantly Buddhist and, along with Sri Lanka, an important centre of Theravada Buddhism in the world. Suppressed, brutalised, and plundered But unlike Sri Lanka, Myanmar is also a country that is ruled by one of the longest running and most brutal military dictatorships in the world. In 1990, trying to head off local unrest,…

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Missing in Action – the sound girl …

Exhausted after reading too many verbose analysisez of Sri Lanka’s conflict? Ashamed of having to recite “Namo tassa, bhagavato arahato, samma sambuddhasa” over and over again? Bored with the mediocrity of your surroundings? Then, open your ears and eyes to some tunes and video clips from Maya Arulpragasam aka MIA. I am no reviewer or critic – so this is not a review or critique. I stumbled across MIA’s music at the start of 2005 when a friend was interviewing her for an article. Back then, she was about to launch her first album Arular – the alias name of her PLOTE activist father. There was something very exciting about discovering music that sounds completely different to what I had been listening to. It stands out – completely. Kind of like Radiohead’s OK Computer. Not similiar in the music necessarily – but in the way it stands out. Kala is her latest album. This time it’s named after MIA’s mother….

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To Be Heard……… Talk or Shoot?

Shanthi Sachithanandam “Nation, is the geo-social entity providing maximum security for the survival of a community, Nationalism, is that fundamental desire For the assurance of a Nation Nations uniting and dividing Of their own volition, is the Expression of their urge for that assurance Alas, as usual, this time too Our Nation lost the basis of its existence V.I.S Jeyapalan Bathed in the glare of the media and a high-pitched war rhetoric, the military operations in the East were the visible war efforts to most of us in this country and abroad during the past few months. But simultaneously, elsewhere in the East, the government had stealthily opened up another war front away from all the publicity and fanfare. This particular battle was part of a longer term strategy than anything that had been envisaged by the security forces in the North-East. Extraordinary gazette notification was its hardware that carried ammunition in the form of legality, which was deadlier than…

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Monks of War – Al-Jazeera on the JHU

Monks of War is Al Jazeera’s second news feature on Sri Lanka aired in August. As noted on their site: To many of us, Buddhism, with the sacred principle of non-violence, is the most peaceful religion of all. But in Sri Lanka a group of radical monks who say they represent the Singhalese majority are urging the government to take a hard-line, pro-war stance against the Tamil Tiger rebels. To make their voices heard in the political arena the monks have even set up their own political party – the JHU – which participated in the 2004 elections and secured nine seats in parliament. They are monks, they are political and they are not shy of controversy. Their belief that only a full-out military offensive will end the conflict with the Tamil Tiger rebels has put them at loggerheads with peace activists, foreign mediators, and Buddhists who favour non-violence. Pro-war monks have attacked peace marches and accused international NGOs of…

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The Capture of Thoppigala – A Phyrric Victory

By Air Vice Marshal Harry Gunetilleke (Rtd) Come around mid-July this year, there were victory celebrations with much euphoria, if not in the North and North East of Sri Lanka, with some enthusiasm certainly in the rest of the country, at the behest of the State which gave the lead with a colourful military parade at Independence Square, reminiscent of the yearly Independence day celebrations, on the occasion of the conquest of Thoppigala, even before the powder ran dry. Here, it must be noted that the military hierarchy desired another week or two for mopping up operations but the power that be would have none of it perhaps, wanting to put up a great show before the other big event of the opposition planned for 26th July through a mass rally where crowds in six figures were expected for the event. I leave it to the readers to judge the reaction of the masses and other organizations as to who…

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Views of the Periphery – Competing Views on Thoppigala

In his Mahaweera Day speech in 2005, Vellupillai Pirapaharan, the LTTE leader, depicted Ranil Wickremesinghe as a calculating fox who tried to deceive everyone by entering into a ceasefire agreement with the LTTE. Ranil Wickremesinghe has once again shown his foxy behaviour in his comments on the capture of Thoppigala by the security forces of the Government of Sri Lanka. His initial position was that capturing Thoppigala would be a useless exercise as it is worthy only for collectors of fire-wood. However, at the signing of a MoU with the SLFP (M), Ranil Wickremesinghe claimed that under the Wijetunga-Wickremesinghe regime, Thoppigala was captured by the security forces. Did he mean that Thoppigala was strategically important then but not now? As I have no knowledge in military strategy and I have no idea to get an access to that sphere of knowledge, I do not wish to comment on his current position on the strategic importance of Thoppigala. The UNP leader…

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How The East Was Won – Watch the Al-Jazeera documentary

Groundviews was the first to review the new Al-Jazeera documentaries on Sri Lanka (Mistaking Night for Day in the New Dawn of the East: A Review Article of the al-Jazeera Documentaries, ‘How the East was Won’ and ‘Monks of War’). You can now watch this documentary online. See the Groundviews video channel for Al-Jazeera’s previous videos on Sri Lanka (including a previous People Power documentary titled Tiger Tax – Part 1 and Part 2) and more. Part One: Part Two: Repost This Article

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Voldemort rising

“If humanitarian intervention is indeed an unacceptable assault on sovereignty, how should we respond to a Rwanda, to a Srebrenica – to gross and systematic violations of human rights that affect every precept of our common humanity?” Kofi Anan, former UN Secretary General At the time of writing, news of the liberation of the East and the resulting celebrations have captured headlines and the public imagination in Sri Lanka. Not much analysis though as to what it all means and answers to questions such as what now, and whether the fall of Thoppigala is any guarantee of animating a hitherto non-existent capacity of this government to articulate an enlightened approach to the ethnic question. Careful to not arouse the wrath of those who in power volubly state that to call to question the liberation of the East is to defile those who died for the protection of national sovereignty and undermine the morale of the troops, many analysts tread a…

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Homosexuality, Buddhism and Sri Lankan Society

By Bellanvila Sudaththa Thero and Cecil J. Dunne Before we discuss what Theravada Buddhism says about homosexuality, it is important to understand that in Buddhism people are encouraged to look inwardly when seeking guidance or a solution to a problem. In the words of the Lord Buddha himself “be a lamp to yourself” which simple means do not search for wisdom outside of yourself, rather you should let your conscience be your guide and it is here that the teachings and scripts of Lord Buddha can be of assistance. Generally speaking Lord Buddha did not anything specifically about homosexuality because it has never been an issue, however this is not to say that that there was no homosexual activity in the time of the Lord Buddha. There Tripitaka (Buddhist scripts) refer to incidents of homosexuality and transexuality. Specifically the Tripitaka highlights the case of a bhikku (monk) Wakkali who became a monk purely because he was physically attracted to how…

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I will not return to my Village

I am originally from Trincomalee. Now I am living in a Tsunami, temporary shelter, in Alayadivembu which is in the Ampara District. My home town is Thoppur, Munampodivattai. We initially became internally displaced in 1990 and continue to be displaced. The present displacement was due to the recent conflict in the East. My family is displaced and I have lost one of my children. In June 2005, following dinner, my husband, four of my children and I were at home in our village. I was asleep with two of my children and my husband was in conversation with the other two. Suddenly we heard the unmistakable sounds of the aircraft followed by aerial bombardment. My husband and I grabbed the children and ran out into the jungle. We had with us only the night clothes on. We fled from our village in that state towards Pattipuram village. The following day we returned to our village to see it being occupied…

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Manufacturing claymores in the Sinhala media – Media ethics withering on the vine

The 14th of August was an eventful day. According to the Sinhala media, the Police “discovered” claymores and explosives at the Ideal Lodge in Wellawatte on this day. As was discovered later, Ideal Lodge is also where 7 of the petitioners in the Supreme Court case against the unlawful and reprehensible eviction of Tamils from Colombo by the Chief of Police and this government reside. Several interesting aspects of the Sinhala media coverage of this incident are evident to the keen reader. As noted in my article in detail through direct quotes from headlines, the reporting was overwhelming sensational. Four leading Sinhala dailies stated that the LTTE was responsible for the explosives that were “discovered” without quoting a single source. What is more, there were several discrepencies in the reporting. Lankadeepa said the suspect did one thing. Dinama says another. Lakbima contradicts both. Divaina contradicts all of them. So much for the suspect! But there’s also huge variance in the…

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Special Military ID For Jaffna

Security forces are issuing a Special Military ID again in Jaffna. After 1996 when the troops captured Jaffna the forces issued a special ID for Jaffna people. After the CFA they stopped this identity card issue. Now they started again issuing the special ID. On 24th evening security forces announced in Jaffna town area by a three wheeler that those who completed 10 years, they must be take this ID. Repost This Article

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Permission To Travel Out Of Jaffna

All of our politicians says Sri Lanka is a one country and solve the ethnic problem within one nation but they treat Tamils like citizens from another country. One Jaffna Journalist was recently invited for the SAFMA (South Asian Free Media Movement) meeting held recently in Colombo. But Jaffna people who wish to leave Jaffna must take clearance from the Security forces MOD. He went to the Gramasevaka’s office, and the gramasevaka said come with your ration card, so that then he would recommend to take the application form. He got the application from the AGA’s office and filled everything gone to the gramasevaka’s office again to get it signed from the gramasevaka. The gramasevaka instructed that he takes 4 photo copies of his NIC and passport size photo and a form selling in the bookshops printed in Sinhala and type a letter to the brigade commander mentioning the purpose of your visit. He did everything, then the gramasevaka recommend…

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  • 25 Aug, 2007
  • 0 Comment
  • Human Security,
    IDPs and Refugees,
    Vavuniya

“I need to move out of this camp and have a place of my own”

Following heavy shelling and bombardment in Point Pedro, we had to evacuate the village leaving all our belongings behind. While we were running for shelter from our home, sounds of artillery were deafening we ran and ran hoping that we would find a place where we could rest for a while and without knowing where to go, we walked along the Point Pedro road fearing that at any time an artillery shell would fall on us and kill us, we left everything at home in Thurayamoolai where we were living peacefully. We left our livestock and poultry which were giving us an income to run my family without any financial difficulties throughout the year we also left household items, agriculture equipment, furniture, and important documents. I am a mother of the two children, presently residing at Vavuniya, Poonthoddam. After we left Point Pedro, amidst all the troubles I reached Vanni. In Vanni I was sent to Tharmapuram nutritious centre. My…

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The Chief Justice and Intelligence

Copyright: The Economist Recently our Chief Justice averred that one does not need intelligence to get into Parliament. I fully agree. But I have a further point to make to the Chief Justice. Read it on Vikalpa. Repost This Article

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About Groundviews

Located at the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Groundviews is a citizen journalism website that uses a range of genres and media to highlight critical perspectives on governance, reconciliation, human rights, the arts and literature, democracy and other issues. The site has won two international awards, including the prestigious Manthan Award South Asia in 2009. The grand jury's evaluation of the site noted, "What no media dares to report, Groundviews publicly exposes. It's a new age media for a new Sri Lanka... Free media at it's very best!"

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