Operation Liberation: 25 years on
Twenty five years ago, on May 26th 1987, the Sri Lankan military forces launched ‘Operation Liberation’, which, at the time, was the biggest military operation in Sri Lanka since independence. At least…
Year: 2012
Cast as mother: A review of a work in progress
[Editors’ note: All photos courtesy of Ruvin de Silva] produced by Stages Theatre Company is a work in progress and therefore poses a unique challenge to the reviewer. How does one review…
The Disappeared in Sri Lanka’s War in the Recent Past: What is missing in those “Missing”?
IRIN has recently highlighted the fact that “thousands of people are still missing” in Sri Lanka and presented an UNOHCR report that states that there are “5,671 reported cases of wartime-related disappearance…
THE SRI LANKAN REPUBLIC AT FORTY: REFLECTIONS ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL PAST AND PRESENT
Image courtesy Daily News Forty years ago this week, at the auspicious time of 12:34 p.m. at the Navarangahala on 22nd May 1972, a new constitution was signed into law, creating the…
What’s next for General Fonseka?
Image courtesy CNN It has been a couple of days since the former military commander of Sri Lankan Army and common opposition’s presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka was released from the prisons…
Reconciliation: The Symbolic and the Substantive
Photo courtesy JDS Against the backdrop of grave planetary changes, Sarath Fonseka’s release, G.L. Peiris’s visit to Washington DC and the third anniversary of the defeat of the LTTE, an evaluation of…
Transcript of first one-to-one interview with Sarath Fonseka after release from prison
Image courtesy the Economist GV editors note: In the transcript below and the video of it available on the BBC online, the BBC correspondent in Sri Lanka Charles Haviland asks Sarath Fonseka…
Interview with Dr. Farzana Haniffa: The eviction of Northern Muslims in Sri Lanka
First interviewed in 2010, Dr. Farzana Haniffa appears again on to talk about the Citizens’ Commission on the Expulsion of Muslims from the Northern Province by the LTTE. As the Commission’s website notes, in…
Reloading General Sarath Fonseka for a post-paid Sinhala package
Photo via JDS. AFP PHOTO/Lakruwan WANNIARACHCHI. The V-Day celebrations were on, as this piece was written. A military victory being commemorated at the Galle face esplanade, celebrated as the 3rd anniversary of defeating…
DEVOLUTION AND THE CONCEPT OF CONCURRENCY: ABOLITION OR REFORM?
Among proponents of devolution as a means of power-sharing in Sri Lanka, one of the key bones of contention about the Thirteenth Amendment has been the Concurrent List. This is the list…
Truth and Dialogue as Theatre: Some Reflections on the Frontline Club Panel on Sri Lanka
I watched the Frontline Club panel on Sri Lanka, belatedly and reluctantly. I am skeptical about such public enquiries and debates into complex matters, which threaten to reduce the dialogue and truth…
3 years after the end of war: Official statements vs. reality
Sri Lankan Army soldiers march during a Victory Day parade rehearsal in Colombo on May 16, 2012. Sri Lanka celebrates War Heroes Week with a military parade scheduled for May 19. PHOTO/…
Three years after the war in Sri Lanka: To celebrate or mourn?
Photo courtesy For the 3rd successive year, the Sri Lankan government has made elaborate arrangements to celebrate the end of the war in Colombo. This year, May was declared as “war hero’s commemoration…
A cold, hard look at homophobia
I’m a scientist by training and as such, generally avoid public debate, which tends to be dominated by charisma rather than fact. Nevertheless, given the strongly homophobic atmosphere in Sri Lanka two…
What Samhara Means: A review of Samhara and an unraveling of what it really means for Sri Lankan Dance
[Editors note: See interview with members of Nrityagram and the Chitrasena Dance Company here.] is a new dance work created by the Odissi dance ensemble, Nrityagram, together with their long-term friends and collaborators…
