Peace and Reconciliation: A Way Forward
Photo via I have enjoyed and appreciated the documents you have sent me and am happy to speak to you on Peace and Reconciliation – Way Forward. Up till the time of…
Jaffna
Parallel Enigmas of Pirabaharan and Rajapaksa
Photo courtesy TTN The attempts to field the ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa as a Prime Ministerial candidate to contest the upcoming parliamentary elections by a vocal fringe of the southern political community is…
THE MIRUSUVIL CASE: WHY SEARCHING REFORM IS URGENT AND NECESSARY
Image courtesy The High Court Trial at Bar’s recent conviction and sentencing of Staff Sergeant Sunil Rathnayake to death for what has come to be known as the ‘Mirusuvil massacre’ was met…
Coconut saplings for war widows – an innovative project worth emulating
Since the end of the war the Government and other organisations within and outside Sri Lanka have being helping the victims of the war in the North and the East to enable…
‘What is represented and what is made invisible’: Women and Transitional Justice Processes in Sri Lanka
Photo via Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom During a recent conversation about campaigns to eliminate violence against women, and the participation and role of women working at the community level…
Addressing “blocked grief” in Jaffna
Photograph via Steppes Travel Six years after the end of the war the population in the North of Sri Lanka remains passive, ensnared in wartime mentality because they haven’t been able to…
Gang rape and murder of a school girl
Image courtesy News First The recent gang rape and murder of a school girl in Jaffna has, within the few days, triggered many public reports in newspapers and elsewhere, raised many issues…
The rape and murder of Vidya: Do women really matter in Sri Lanka?
Editors note: Original image was taken from Icarus Wept. Rather than the issues noted in the article, or the incident of rape, many initial comments focussed on the use of the photo. Histrionics…
Post-war Sri Lanka: 6 years and still an open wound
On May 19 six years had passed since the war ended. Six years ago former president Mahinda Rajapaksa spoke to the people of Sri Lanka commenting the final battle of the war:…
6 Reasons Why Accountability in Sri Lanka Matters
Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war ended six years ago amidst allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious abuses by both government and rebel forces. In 2011, a U.N. panel…
Valalai (Jaffna): Re-militarisation of released villages with façade of resettlement
Valalai[1] is a Tamil village of about 233 acres[2] that was occupied by the military for nearly 25 years and before it was handed back to villagers in March 2015 by President…
A Clear-eyed Assessment from Afar
Photo courtesy The Republic Square Darkness, movement in the bathroom. No need for lights until somebody breaks a toe. Ouch. I would’ve never known it was broken if it weren’t sticking so…
Are Sri Lankan Tamils prone to collective political suicide?
Photo by AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena via SBS We have entered the ninth decade since the Donoughmore Reforms leading to the first State Council elections of 1931. Through the early part of these eight…
The other side of Narendra Modi’s Sri Lanka visit
Photograph via Quartz Ever since becoming the Prime Minister of the world’s largest democracy, Narendra Modi has concentrated on building strong diplomatic ties with foreign nations. The process began with the swearing-in…
Nationalism, Ethnicity and Conflict
Photo via Sri Lanka Guardian I read with appreciation, the contents of the article of DBS Jeyaraj under the title “Imperative need to support Tamil Moderates in the struggle against Extremists” (…