Archive for the ‘Ampara’

  • 14 Jan, 2008
  • 0 Comment
  • Ampara,
    IDPs and Refugees,
    Peace and Conflict

‘I want a decent Education’ – A twelve year old’s plea

The field officer was on his usual rounds… visiting camps accommodating internally displaced personnel (IDPs). A young boy trots along and asks him what he is looking for. The field officer states that he had come to look into the welfare of the people and what he could do for him. The boy asked the field officer when this displacement would come to an end which is chaotic and scary. The field officer sat and listened to him…… The playful young boy said….. I am twelve years old and have been a victim of displacement. I am from Muttur and attended T/Ahathiyar Vidyualam in Kanguvelli. The conflict in Muttur displaced me from my original village and had to move into an IDP camp in Trincomalee. My family along with many others took refuge in this camp. For many days, I was playing in the camp with many other young friends and suddenly realized, I miss the normal life of attending…

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Alliance Of Parties In The East?

It was reported today that an alliance of political parties plan to jointly contest local govt elections in Batticaloa, but a closer look is revealing. The report http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=2606 stated the following: “An alliance of Tamil political parties has been formed to contest the upcoming local council elections in Batticaloa, EPDP leader and Minister Douglas Devananda said yesterday adding that a final decision on the party symbol and other details would be decided upon within the next few days. Minister Devananda said the alliance was formed between the EPDP, TMVP (Pillayan faction), PLOTE and EPRLF (Varathar faction) following an invitation extended by the EPDP and an agreement was reached to that effect at a meeting held in Batticaloa on Saturday. “The alliance was formed following the meeting held between the area political leaders of the Tamil parties in Batticaloa on Saturday. The alliance will focus on the rights of Tamils in Batticaloa and the development of the district,” Minister Devananda told…

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TMVP Protest In Batticaloa Today

The TMVP is organizing a big protest at the Weber stadium in Batticaloa today. According to the Pillayan-led TMVP, it is against LTTE atrocities in the East and the TNA. The TMVP also wants solutions to problems faced by people being resettled in the East, for example in terms of lack of jobs, all of which will go into a signed letter to be delivered to the President. TMVP Spokesman Azad Moulana says they expect 25,000 people from three regions of the east to voice their protest and gather at the stadium, which is scheduled to start at 9.30am. They may also try to bring together Karuna supporters to show their support for the above cause whether voluntarily or by some degree of force. The Karuna-Pillayan struggle is unfolding quite rapidly, as readers are no doubt aware, and the latest I have gathered, which I thought I would put down here, is that Karuna cadres are restricted to Ampara, while…

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The cost of liberation…

I do not have any words to express my agony and the untold hardship that I had faced in my village during the liberation of Seelavathrai, south of Mannar by the Sri lanka Army on 01.09.04. .Having woken up to the deafening sounds of the artillery, followed by gunfire, I peeped through the window. I saw total mayhem. People running helter-skelter dragging their children, not aware where they were heading. I thought I will die along with my family. My husband said that it would be best for all of us also to run away from the house as the firing was getting very much louder and closer. Along with our children we went out of the house to be greeted with very close range firing… it was too late. We hurried back home and cramped under the bed… praying. My husband was in shock and my children were shivering. I heard a youth groaning… I peeped out once again…

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Karuna Leaves The Country

TMVP leader V.Muralitharan alias Karuna leaves country to Briton few days ago leaving Pillayan for TMVP administration says several sources. At the same time Moulana reappointed as TMVP spokesman in place of Mahesh. Karuna, Pillayan issue was big headache for government and other anti LTTE groups earlier, as well as inside the TMVP. Few cadres were killed from both sides in last few months. Finally Pillayan controlled the Trincomalee District, while Batticaloa, Ampara was under control of Karuna’s faction. The TMVP cadres were mentally tired regarding the deviation. However Pillayan mostly focused on political wise as well as military from beginning. He received the goodwill and trust from the Tamil, Muslim communities and within the TMVP. After the deviation few Karuna cadres created tension among the communities. Also the other Tamil movements like EPDP, EPRLF, TELO, etc had worried regarding TMVP activities in the east. Several clashes happened recently. Specially the Muslim community suspected or mistrusted the TMVP due to…

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SMS news alerts during emergencies – The experience of JNW and the tsunami warning of 13th September 2007

Chamath Ariyadasa The coverage by the media of yesterday’s earthquake near Indonesia might be of interest to some readers, and as the editor of JNW, Sri Lanka’s first SMS news agency, I thought of penning my personal opinion and raising some issues that could be discussed further. My biggest concern at the moment, as a journalist, is getting access to the initial tip off from authorities on an impending disaster and the subsequent official news messages in a timely manner so that they can be passed on to the public as fast as possible. There isn’t an email or SMS alert system in place, that I know of, that could easily meet this need. I know of the Met Dept website (http://www.meteo.slt.lk/Tswarn.html) which goes some way towards improving access to information, but I wouldn’t know when its updated. An SMS or email by the Met Dept or Disaster Management Centre would go a long way towards helping the media pass…

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Sri Lanka on tsunami alert after Indonesia quake (Updated)

12 Sep 2007 12:31:03 GMT Source: Reuters COLOMBO, Sept 12 (Reuters) – Sri Lanka issued a tsunami alert on Wednesday for its north, south and eastern districts following a major earthquake in Indonesia, the National Disaster Management Centre said. “We have issued a warning for the south, north and east after the quake,” Keerthi Ekanayake, an official at the centre told Reuters. Sri Lanka was battered by the 2004 tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean rim. – Reuters story ends – Update #1 (7.00pm): Read the alerts issued on JNW and also visit their site for updates. Update #2 (7.15pm): Reuters news alert SMS thru Dialog says “Small tsunami hit Indonesia’s Padang, Sri Lanka expects small tsunami by 7.30 – Disaster Management Centre” Update #3: (7.34pm): Reuters news alert SMS thru Dialog says “Disaster management center lifts tsunami warning, says no effect; US Geological Survey increase earthquake magnitude to 8.2″ Also see Reuters web update here. 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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Dismissing inconvenient truths – The Divaina’s take on Groundviews

Clearly, Groundviews seems to be doing something right in highlighting the plight of IDPs and refugees in the embattled North and East of Sri Lanka through stories such as I pray God that no one in this world should face the hardships, faced by my child and me and We are nobody’s children… and others. The Divaina, a Sinhala daily published by the Upali Newspapers Group, had this to say on our recent story on IDPs in Trincomalee: “මෙයට සමගාමීව කොටින්ට පකෂපාතී ස්වෙච්ඡා සංවිධාන අලුතින් අන්තර්ජාල වෙබ් අඩවි ආරම්භ කරමින් ත්‍රිකුණාමලයේ අවතැන්වූවන් අතිශය දුෂ්කර ජීවිතයක් ගත කරන බවට ප්‍රචාරයක් විකාශනය කර ඇත. මේ අන්තර්ජාල වෙබ් අඩවිය ආරම්භ කළ තැනැත්තා කවූරුන්දැයි දැන් හෙළි වී තිබේ. ශී ලංකාවේ පූරවැසි මාධ්‍යවේදියා නමින් හඳුන්වා ගනිමින් ආරම්භ කර ඇති මේ කොටින්ට පකෂපාතී වෙබ් අඩවියෙන් පවසා ඇත්තේ හමූදාපති ඝාතන ප්‍රයත්නයෙන් පසූ යූද හමූදාව ත්‍රිකුණාමලයේ එචිලන්පත්තු ගම්මානයට මෝටාර් සහ රොකටි ප්‍රහාර එල්ල කළ බවයි. මින් පැහැදිලි වන්නේ වන්නි කොටි බේරා ගැනීමට මෙරට ස්වෙච්ඡා සංවිධාන විශාල මෙහෙයූමක් අරඹා…

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“I pray God that no one in this world should face the hardships, faced by my child and me”

“registration” Eachchilampattai, Trincomalee Sri Lanka. IDP registration point. this young girl and her family had to flee from their village. They had to walk 36 km to reach this school where hundereds other families are accommodated following escalation of violence last month in Trincomalee district. Photo credit: Agron The story of Mrs. Mathivathanan Ponmalar, IDP in Eachchilampattu Following the suicide attack at Army Head Quarters, Colombo, our village in Eechalampattu was shelled with mortars and multi barrel rockets. We evacuated the village immediately at midnight without our belongings in the pitch dark amidst the deafening sounds of the artillery and mortar fearing for our lives and those of our children. We trekked through the jungle not knowing where we would go. We reached Killiveddy in the morning hours. We left more than 150 gunny bags of paddy, furniture, house hold items, agricultural equipment and all related documents to prove our birth and citizenship. We left our source of income which…

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  • 28 Jul, 2007
  • 0 Comment
  • Ampara,
    Media and Communications

The forgotten: Sriyanie’s story from Welikanda

ගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමනි. අධ්‍යාපන ඇමතිතුමනි විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ප‍්‍රතිපාදන කොමිසමේ සභාපතිතුමනි විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයට යෑමට සියලූ සුදුසුකම් තිබු මේ දැරීයට එය අහිමි වුයේ පදිංචි දිස්ති‍්‍රක්කය වැරදීම නිසාද? එය මකා දමා හෝ නැවත අයදුම් පතක් ගෙන්වා ගෙන හෝ මේ තරුණියව විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයට ගන්න යුතුකමක් අදාල නිලධාරීන්ට නොසිතුනේ මන්ද? මෙවන් දුප්පත් දරුවන්ට මේ රටේ ඇති එකම අවස්ථාව ඉගෙන ගැනීම නොවන්නේ ද? ගුරුවරු රැුකියාවට නොයන ඇගේ ප‍්‍රදේශයේ දරුවන්ට ඉගෙන්වීමට ඇයට හෝ අවස්ථාව නොදෙන්නේ වැලිකන්දේ ඊළඟ පරම්පරාවන් නුගත් කමේ ගිල්ලවත්නට ද? නො එසේනම් ඔවුන් අධ්‍යාපනය ලබා ලෝකය පිළිබඳව අවබෝධ වූ විට මේ රටේ බලධාරීන් ලෙස ඔබලා ඔවුන්ට කළ අසාධාරණය ඔවුන් තේරුම් ගත්හ නිසාද? මේ අහිංසක දැරිය වෙනුවට කාගේ හෝ හෙංචයියෙකුගේ නුසුදුසු කෙනෙකු අද විශ්ව විද්‍යාලය තුළ ඉගෙන ගන්නා බවද අපි දනිමු ඇයට ඔබලා සාධාරණය ඉටු කරන තෙක් අපි බලා හිඳිමු. එසේම මේ රටේ තවත් දුප්පත් දරුවන්ගේ ජීවිත බලධාරීන්ගේ හෝ ක‍්‍රමයේ වරද නිසා මෙලෙස අනාත වන්නට ඉඩ දෙමු ද? ශි‍්‍රයානි තවම බලන් ඉන්නම් ඇයට සාධාරණය ඉටු කරන තුරු. අපි ඇයට එසේ ඉන්නට ඉඩ හරිමු ද? නැත්නම් ඇය වෙනුවෙන්…

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The Indo-Lanka Accord – Some reflections 20 years hence

ඉන්දු ලංකා ගිවිසුම (1987 ජූලි- 2007 ජූලි): අවස්ථාවක්ද? බලහත්කාරයක් ද? “ඉන්දු ලංකා ගිවිසුමෙහි දසවන සංවත්සරය අවස්ථාව පෙන්නුම් කරන්නේ එහි අරමුණ වු ජනවාර්ගික ගැටළුවට දේශපාලන විසඳුමක් සොයා ගැනීමෙහි ලා ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාව ඇදහිය නොහැකි තරම් ආපස්සට ගමන් කර ඇති අන්දම ය.” In this article I go back in time and look at the Indo-Lanka Accord the the dynamics of State power against the LTTE that was the lasting result of it. I speak of the battles that followed, examine the constitutional dynamics of the Acoord and the resulting system of governance, the political regimes in the South who variously interpreted the 13th Amendment, the way the Accord influenced war and peace in Sri Lanka and finally, a series of lost opportunities in the past two decades alone to bring about a transformation of violence and an end to violent conflict in Sri Lanka. Please read my article in full here. Repost This Article

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Wars and Waves: Sri Lanka’s internally displaced

The 28 minute documentary “Wars and Waves: Sri Lanka’s internally displaced” that was produced by COHRE, and directed and written by me, is available online. There was a small private launch a week ago in Colombo. COHRE plans to do a larger public screening followed by a discussion in the coming weeks. The purpose of the film is to highlight Sri Lanka’s IDP issue. The film will be used by COHRE as an advocacy tool, and by its network partners to provoke discussion about the issue. It’s primarily aimed at an international audience. Description of film: In Sri Lanka, a natural disaster and ongoing conflict have displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Those who lost everything to the December 2004 tsunami still wait for permanent housing. Families evicted from the North of Sri Lanka in 1990 continue to live in temporary shelters. And now the recommencement of the war is forcing people to flee their homes once more towards refugee…

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Homeless in one’s homeland

Photo credit: Agron, from Portraits of Displacement Worldwide, those rendered homeless and destitute by violent conflict is growing. According to UNHCR statistics, the figure of Internally Displaced Persons stood at over 32 million at the end of 2006. In Sri Lanka’s case, many of those displaced by the tsunami were communities already displaced by war. This double displacement exacerbated their trauma and continues to date. My article end with impressions of a photo exhibition of refugees and IDPs by Gemunu Amarasinghe. Read my article here. Repost This Article

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The Publicity Baby

Abilash Jeyarajah looks like any other ordinary toddler, living with his family in a small village near Kalmunai in the Ampara district of Sri Lanka. But life was not so ordinary for him a little over two years ago, when the tsunami literally swept him into the limelight. At that time, Abilash was more widely known as Baby 81, the famous four month old who was torn from his mother’s arms when the tsunami struck and was later found among the debris and wreckage. He was brought to Kalmunai Hospital and as his identity was unknown and he was the 81st person to be admitted, he became known as Baby 81. In the weeks following the disaster, many were still trying to trace their friends and relatives. Parents who couldn’t find their children searched high and low in hospitals and welfare centers in desperation. Several showed interest in Abilash and one other person made a claim for the baby. But…

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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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