Archive for the ‘Ampara’

What Is The Future Of The Eastern University?

The Eastern University Muslim students are trying to get transfers to other universities for security reasons following the claymore attack by the LTTE on January 31st 2007. Students outside of Batticaloa district are fearful after the incident and some have little experience of such incidents. What I could see after talking to the students was that they were very fearful after the experience and there were internal politics between the Vanni – Betti armed groups. When I spoke to a student out of the North and East who is studying at the university, she said “on that day a few students ran around the university compound making a barking sound. I think it was a signal or warning to some students to expect an attack. Actually we were in the dark regarding this signal. Thereafter gunmen entered the hostel, where there were only female students, and they warned us to lay down and opened fire towards the sky twice. I…

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Brotherhood Bloodshed Again?

The TMVP has given a request to the government to conduct eastern provincial council elections and before that to setup an interim council. Because most of the eastern province is now under the control of the government this becomes an important matter. The statement of TMVP that they are the only representatives of the Tamil people in the east has worried other Tamil political parties. Due to this they fear “brotherhood bloodshed”, something that happened in the past with the LTTE. Also if the government doesn’t agree with their request will they resort to violence? Do they want a federal system of devolution or will they even ask for a separate state if their requests are not met? They have not clarified on this matter. Such suspicions and questions are now important in the eastern ground situation. Regarding this, when I spoke with a number of political parties there seems to be major differences in points of view. Speaking with…

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Double standards?

A post here points to a powerful new report on the dangers on humanitarian aid work in Sri Lanka and elsewhere. Reports in Groundviews, both from Citizen Journalists as well as news snippets from JNW featured on the site, clearly indicate growing concerns about the security and safety of aid workers, increasingly assaulting, vilified and killed for being perceived to be partial to non-state actors, biased towards operations of terrorists and / or acting to undermine the “national security” of the State. This is the first report I’ve read that comprehensively debunks the myth that local INGO / NGO / staff and humanitarian aid workers are any less vulnerable to attacks. As it notes: Humanitarian organisations have largely failed to fully consider the ethics of transferring security risks from expatriate staff to national staff or local NGOs. One of the core assumptions of remote management approaches is that national workers are at less risk than their international counterparts. But this…

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Abandoned War Displaced People From Border Villages

The people who are displaced from border villages in the east face many problems. However other communities get assistances through some NGO’s or CBO’s (community base organization) than the Singhalese communities. Specially Sinhalese people from Ampara face bias in assistance with no voice or eye focusing on their worries and I would like to focus on this in this report. In the eastern province, since 1983, over 100 villages with people from all three communities were destroyed or villagers were displaced due to the civil war between the LTTE and government. Villages, which were in LTTE-controlled area as well as on the borderline, were affected. Villages in government-controlled area were less affected. After Black July of 1983, there was displacement of the Singhalese community from the eastern province such as from Batticaloa, Muhathuvaram, Kalkudha, Mankerni, Pullu malai area etc. In Trincomalee villages from Kantale, Somapura were affected. In Ampara areas of Karadianaru, Pullumalai and Badulla people in border villages were…

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Seeing mobile phones as a basic human right

Communication rights remain for most of the world’s people a vision and an aspiration. They are not a reality on the ground. On the contrary, they are frequently and systematically violated. Governments must be constantly reminded that they are legally required under the human rights treaties they have ratified to implement, promote and protect communication rights. Communication rights are the expression of fundamental needs. The satisfaction of these needs requires a strong political will and the allocation of substantial resources. Lack of commitment to such resources serves only to deepen the global distrust of political institutions. News that mobile phone users in the North & East of Sri Lanka are once again cut off is a disturbing trend in the erosion of fundamental rights, including Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which proclaims: “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression and opinion; this right includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive…

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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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