Uvindu Kurukulasuriya’s inaugural piece in Groundviews is an aptly Niemölleresque exhortation to greater civic responsibility in the defence of political freedom, civil liberties and the Rule of Law. It comes at a time when Sri Lanka is once again returning to a ‘Bheeshana Yugaya’, the previous experiences of which should have toughened the resolve of […]
Lets talk about white vans, disappearances and abductions. How much do people who don’t speak in Tamil know about these subjects, and conversely how much do people who speak in Tamil know about these things? I will get to these odd questions in a bit. Being a Colombo-based Sinhalese person, I found the occasional reference […]
Photo credit: Nazreen Sansoni “on one level, Sri Lanka needs a revolution to really change what’s going on here. There is such a domination by the powers that be… there needs to be a real uprising. How to actually get an “enlightened uprising”, to use a term from the film, is the tricky part.” I […]
Jaffna people are a little happy now. All the essential item prices are down a little bit and things are available at pavement shops. Still the prices are double or triple the market price but reduced two to three times from the January market price. Whats not easily bought are medicine and baby items. Rice […]
Amidst shackles – Notes of a citizen journalist Sunanda Deshapriya’s article in Sinhala explores the recent statements of Champika Ranawaka, Minister for Environment and Natural Resources in the Rajapaksa government and a highly placed and trusted advisor to the President. With excerpts from MP Ranawana’s writings and his recent statement to Ravaya, Sunanda explores the […]
Most readers in Colombo would have seen the posters of the National Movement Against Terrorism (NMAT) calling for the peace, media and leftist ‘Tigers’ to be identified and destroyed. This columnist was asked to comment on the poster by a newspaper and he along with other colleagues condemned the message conveyed by it. Following this […]
- More Information Added Feb 28 – Two students are missing in Vadamaradchi. P.Yaseetharan and K.Sivaruban, who are Uduppidy American Mission students, are missing since Sunday afternoon. Their parents have made a complaint at the Human Rights Commission Jaffna branch. Both of them went to private tuition by motorbike and so far they didn’t come […]
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 […]
Interview was taken from: Mrs. Gopalakrishnan Kalaivani, 33 years. On 31st of January 2007 Displaced from: Manalchenai, Muthur Trincomalee Place – Welfare Centre (Cultural Hall Refugee’s Camp, Trincomalee) On the day, when a suicide attack was attempt in Colombo Army Head Quarters (on chief Army Officer), there were a terrible Artillery Shelling and Multi Barrel […]
Editors note: A Sinhala version of this article, in the form of a PDF, can be found here. Armed struggle and media freedom Night of fifth of this month, was a sleepless night for us. Reason being that former journalist Lalith Seneviratne was abducted from his residence. That night, all of us tried our best […]
Personal vignettes, in Sinhala, aimed at stimulating our thinking on social justice, peace, political and economic issues. In this issue, I talk about the many sleepless nights as a media activist in a violent country and some observations on media freedom and the growing culture of abductions under the present regime. Download my full article […]
Two days before our independence tamasha, an event with deep significance and bearing for the independence, integrity and unity of this country took place. It is unfortunately a part of a series of connected incidents. On Friday 2 February, Mudiyapu Remedias, Attorney at Law and Legal Advisor to the National Human Rights Commission, (HRC) Jaffna […]
I was with some Tamil students, as a training course was winding down for the day, when news of the explosion at the BMICH reached us. The details of the incident were sketchy at first. Being Muslim, while I felt worried when I heard the news, and the BMICH being close to where we were, […]
A family man, and popular activist in Oddamavadi Aboobacker Ilyas (25) was targeted and fired upon by an unidentified gunman on Boundry Road, Oddamavadi. This incident happened around 5.15 am on 4th February. The gunmen used T56 weapon; 5 rounds were fired, and luckily A.B. Ilyas escaped from this attack. This is not the first […]
Originally published in Himal Southasian, February 2007. The undeclared Eelam War IV in Sri Lanka shows no signs of abating. The Ceasefire Agreement, whatever is left of it, is enervated and made more irrelevant daily. Violence in the north and the east increased dramatically in 2006. Thousands continue to be displaced – unable to return […]