Elections in the East
There is much hype by the government spokesmen about how they held an election in the East for local authorities and restored democracy. Now the government is holding a Provincial Council election.…
Batticaloa
Batticaloa: Despair of the displaced and disappeared and the euphoria of elections and “liberationâ€
“Return my husband you abducted before you ask for my vote” (Plea to the TMVP-UPFA, from a Batticaloa women) The government had claimed it had “liberated” the East, completed a 180 days…
Eastern elections
In the backdrop of a country at war and democracy that’s hostage to the whim and fancy of a President and his coterie of murderous brutes, it’s hard to be even cautiously…
WHAT LIBERATION?
Introduction The East is ‘liberated’. It has been so since last June when the government requested it to be celebrated with ‘patriotic joy’. Over 300,000 civilians were displaced in the process and…
Use Of SMS By Govt For Vital Information Dissemination
The growing use of SMS for information dissemination was discussed earlier on Groundviews, and I would like to mention a recent development. At least one government department has been pro active and…
Alliance Of Parties In The East?
It was reported today that an alliance of political parties plan to jointly contest local govt elections in Batticaloa, but a closer look is revealing. The report http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=2606 stated the following: “An…
I/NGOs: Mea Culpa… Your Culpa… or Our Culpa?
Shanaka Amarasinghe Nearly three years have passed since the devastation of Boxing Day 2004. Those three years should have sufficed for grief to transform into resolve, for shock to become measured response…
TMVP Protest In Batticaloa Today
The TMVP is organizing a big protest at the Weber stadium in Batticaloa today. According to the Pillayan-led TMVP, it is against LTTE atrocities in the East and the TNA. The TMVP…
Karuna Leaves The Country
TMVP leader V.Muralitharan alias Karuna leaves country to Briton few days ago leaving Pillayan for TMVP administration says several sources. At the same time Moulana reappointed as TMVP spokesman in place of…
SMS news alerts during emergencies – The experience of JNW and the tsunami warning of 13th September 2007
Chamath Ariyadasa The coverage by the media of yesterday’s earthquake near Indonesia might be of interest to some readers, and as the editor of JNW, Sri Lanka’s first SMS news agency, I…
To Be Heard……… Talk or Shoot?
Shanthi Sachithanandam “Nation, is the geo-social entity providing maximum security for the survival of a community, Nationalism, is that fundamental desire For the assurance of a Nation Nations uniting and dividing Of…
How The East Was Won – Watch the Al-Jazeera documentary
Groundviews was the first to review the new Al-Jazeera documentaries on Sri Lanka (Mistaking Night for Day in the New Dawn of the East: A Review Article of the al-Jazeera Documentaries, ‘How…
Voldemort rising
Kofi Anan, former UN Secretary General At the time of writing, news of the liberation of the East and the resulting celebrations have captured headlines and the public imagination in Sri Lanka.…
Dismissing inconvenient truths – The Divaina’s take on Groundviews
Clearly, Groundviews seems to be doing something right in highlighting the plight of IDPs and refugees in the embattled North and East of Sri Lanka through stories such as and others. The…
The Indo-Lanka Accord – Some reflections 20 years hence
ඉන්දු ලංක෠ගිවිසුම (1987 ජූලි- 2007 ජූලි): අවස්ථà·à·€à¶šà·Šà¶¯? බලහà¶à·Šà¶šà·à¶»à¶ºà¶šà·Š ද? “ඉන්දු ලංක෠ගිවිසුමෙහි දසවන සංවà¶à·Šà·ƒà¶»à¶º අවස්ථà·à·€ පෙන්නුම් කරන්නේ එහි අරමුණ වු ජනවà·à¶»à·Šà¶œà·’ක ගà·à¶§à·…ුවට දේà·à¶´à·à¶½à¶± විසඳුමක් සොය෠ගà·à¶±à·“මෙහි ල෠à·à·“â€à·Šâ€à¶» ලංකà·à·€ ඇදහිය නොහà·à¶šà·’…