The Tamil Struggle, the Aragalaya and Sri Lankan Identity
May 18, 2009. The end of the war. Of the many horrific visuals of the end of the war the one that is etched in my memory is of people crossing the…
Author: Ambika Satkunanathan
Revolution by Committee and Other Ways to Kill a Protest
Infantilizing youth: a familiar trope The ongoing protests are being labelled youth protests. Yes, youth have taken the lead in the Occupy Galle Face protest, which is being sustained by their creatively…
The Welikada Prison Massacre Judgment: A Damning Indictment
In November 2012 a massacre took place at Welikada Closed Prison in Colombo during which 27 imprisoned persons were killed. On January 13, 2022 one of the three persons charged, Emil Ranjan…
PTA Reform: A Farce in Multiple Acts
Over decades, regardless of the government in power the abuses enabled by the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) never ceased. They only decreased or increased depending on the regime in power. Even…
Water Pumps and Chickens: Rhetoric vs Reality in the North
December 19, 2021. Jaffna town. 6 am. Three motorcycles parked one behind the other at an angle with headlights on. Two armed military personnel, clad in black, on each motorcycle. Women headed…
PTA ++: Learning the Wrong International Lessons
In the name of counter-terrorism countries enact repressive laws that restrict human rights. They claim these laws will make us safer. Yet, contrary to claims of increasing national security, the tendency of…
Creating National (In)security: Prevention of Terrorism Act and the Death Penalty
Today is the World Day Against the Death Penalty Today, when globally the call for the abolition of the death penalty is renewed and its inhumane and cruel nature is highlighted, we…
Fighting the War on Drugs the Wrong Way
This article is a summary of my report Broken System: Drug Control, Detention and Treatment of People who Use Drugs in Sri Lanka published by Harm Reduction International, which discusses both the…
False Promises: The Myth of Security and the Prevention of Terrorism Act
For decades human rights activists have highlighted the draconian nature of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), which promises safety and security, yet in practice makes each citizen vulnerable to being arbitrarily…
The ‘Punishment Bureaucracy’ and the Normalization of Torture and Impunity
Justice Kulatunga During the period March 2020 to 24 June 2021 there were reports of six cases of encounter killings, twenty-seven cases of police violence, eight deaths in police custody, four deaths…
Romanticising Resilience: Why the Struggle to Survive Should not Become a Way of Life
Resilient is a word frequently used by human rights activists and the development sector, to describe persons affected by war and violence. In Sri Lanka, the mothers of the disappeared are…
Living in Hell: The Plight of Prisoners Held Under the PTA
The findings of the National Study of Prisons undertaken by the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka have been discussed in numerous articles since its publication in December 2020. The study was…
Not All Detainees Are Equal: Class, Ethnicity and the Prevention of Terrorism Act
Photo courtesy of InfoLanka Kanagasabai Thevathasan is a 64-year-old prisoner I met while I was at the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka. Twelve years have passed since he was arrested, more…
Evoking the Undead Tiger, the Eternal Bogeyman: The Consequences of Forgetting the Past
“An alleged former combatant who was “rehabilitated”. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is the armed group that the Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa government claim they defeated in May 2009.…
Precarity, Fear and the Death of Empathy
In our powerful yet fragile state, precarity defines our being. Precarious safety of dissenters and human rights defenders Precarious privacy invaded by drones Precarious plight of frontline workers Precarious lives of daily-wage…