The shame of Menik Farm
The floods that affected significant swathes of the expansive Menik Farm a week ago generated interesting responses from government. One of the most revealing was the deafening silence of the usually loquacious…
Year: 2009
Headlines
Bodies in the river and a riot in town Stones thrown, belts flying, youth going down Vans on the prowl and cops on the loose Gangsters, mobsters, drugs and booze Kids committing…
Critiquing the President’s victory speech: Evidence of a majoritarian mindset?
Authors note: The following is the text of a talk before a forum on minority rights organized by the CPA in July. It should, ideally, have been edited for publication. But, given…
The Beauty of Barbed Wire: Sri Lanka’s cutting edge exhibition
– Banyan News Reporters learns that Sri Lanka will hold the world’s first barbed wire exhibition for 180 days beginning 1st September at the Bandaranaike Memorial Hall under the auspices of the…
Confessions
Stop this struggle He pleads Of his comrades A revolutionary leader Broken in pain In State Custody They set me on the wrong path He blames, pointing to his friends A young…
A note on a father
It was one of those phone calls that one would always remember, the shock it generates pervades all through a lifetime. On Monday 17 August 2009, I received a phone call from…
A first hand perspective of Sri Lanka’s largest IDP camp: Are they really ‘our people’?
This is an interview in English secured by Vikalpa with a Sri Lankan Tamil who had visited his family at the “Ramanathan Transitional Relief Village” in May. His family is amongst 260,000+…
Unpacking the Truth in Sri Lanka
In recent weeks there has been some talk about a truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) as something that will allow Sri Lanka to come to terms with its troubled past and move…
Implement the 13 Amendment
Now that the war is over the question that comes to mind is in what way we can rebuild this country which has been affected by an ethnic cum terrorist conflict for…
Update on Menik Camp flooding: More images and reports from the ground
After first breaking news on Friday, continues to receive disturbing photos on the flooding in Menik Camp after last Friday’s torrential downpour. No journalists have been allowed to visit the IDP camp…
First images: The flooding in Menik Camp and the increasingly dire situation for IDPs
These are the first images of the flooding in Menik Camp, where over 260,000 IDPs are interned. was first to break the news on Friday that flooding on account of torrential rain was…
A critique of Sri Lanka Unites: Freedom has NOT made itself known
“After 25 years, terror, war, and violence have lost their grip, and freedom has finally made itself known” ~ Prashan De Visser, President, Sri Lanka Unites While acknowledging the meritorious work of…
Barbed Wire
Barbed, by Valimar A little boy stares through barbed wire, wondering which direction his home is. He reaches out to rest his fingers between the rusted knots of wire but his watchful…
Breaking News: IDPs in Zone 3 and 4 in Menik Camp affected by flooding
Reports received by this evening indicate that torrential rains in Vavuniya throughout the day have severely affected IDPs interned in Menik Camp, particularly in Zone 3 and Zone 4. Other unconfirmed reports…
A response to Gomin Dayasiri’s “Return of the Colombians”
Friends, Colombians and Countrymen, a few weeks ago the commercial capital of our country; Colombo was attacked. This was not a conventional armed attack and nor was it a terrorist attack, but…
