Ganesan Nimalaruban: A damning murder, funeral and silence
Photo credit: It is very likely readers of Sinhala mainstream print media have no clue who Ganesan Nimalaruban was, or exactly how he died. A simple Google news or general web search…
Identity
In conversation with M.A. Sumanthiran, TNA National List MP
M.A.Sumanthiran, is a National List Member of Parliament from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). has carried in the past the Minister’s submissions to Parliament against the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, for…
A quotidian response: Letter to President regarding religious extremism
On 4th July 2012, along with printed and bound copies of the over 1,400 comments in Tamil, Sinhala and English generated by Not In Our Name (coming to over 300 pages), a…
School closed early today
Original photo from Ilankai Tamil Sangam School closed early today. Amma was looking very jumpy when she came to pick me up, but she wouldn’t tell me why. When we went to…
Buddhist monks and party politics in post-war Sri Lanka: In conversation with Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe MP
Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, President’s Counsel, is a Member of Parliament from the United National Party, and currently President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka. In the past, Mr. Rajapakshe’s also chaired the…
Cast as Mother – A Reading: Audience Reviews
‘Cast as Mother’ – a dramatic reading of an upcoming play by Stages Theatre Group was held at the Lionel Wendt on May 24. Directed by Ruwanthie de Chickera, ‘ featured the…
INCREMENTAL SECESSIONISM: WHY DEVOLUTION MUSTN’T BE OPEN-ENDED
While everything is debatable, not everything is negotiable. Some things, a few things, simply must not be negotiable. The territorial unity and integrity of the Sri Lankan state, Sri Lanka as a…
International Widows’ Day Celebrations of 2012 in Nedunkerny
A group of war widows in the Nedunkerny region of the Wanni District celebrated the International Widows’ Day on 22nd June, 2012 at the conference hall of the Nedunkerny Pradesa Sabai. This…
Post-war Sri Lanka’s Thought Police: The Rehabilitation of Ex-Combatants and the Denigration of Tamil Identity: Part Two
[Editors note: Read Part 1 of this series here] As mentioned by TSA,[1]the government has prepared a lengthy, heading-less, and inappropriate questionnaire[2] (in poorly written and, at times, incoherent Tamil) which has…
Post-war Sri Lanka’s Thought Police: The Rehabilitation of Ex-Combatants and the Denigration of Tamil Identity
Image courtesy [Editors note: Read Part 2 of this series here, with PDFs of parts A-C of the questionnaire] The defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May of…
A man, a magistrate and 220 intimates: A reflection of the HIV response in Sri Lanka
2012: A man dies of AIDS in prison. A magistrate orders all 220 inmates that shared his ward to get tested. 2011: The National HIV/AIDS Policy was passed by parliament. Article 3.6…
ITAK and the New Chapter in Post-War Politics of Sri Lanka
Photo courtesy , via dbsjeyaraj.com From its inception in late 1949 as the Tamil Federal Party, the (ITAK) – a party which, as the late Lakshman Kadirgamar once claimed in Parliament, was founded…
In conversation with Bishop Duleep de Chickera
I clearly remember Bishop de Chickera at S. Thomas’ College, from around 25 years years ago. The fact that I hadn’t seen him in person for a quarter of a century hit…
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa on ethnicity in Northern Sri Lanka post-war
Image courtesy 3mana In my interview with the Secretary of Defence, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, broadcast on the BBC a week ago, his comments on the demography of the North aroused particular interest. DBS…
The burning of the Jaffna library: 31 years on
31 years ago, the public library in Jaffna was burnt. As noted online, at the time of its destruction, the library was one of the biggest in Asia, containing over 97,000 books…