Sri Lanka: The best humanitarian crisis business destination
It will not be long before areas in the north and east will be declared Industrial Zones or BOI areas, opening up opportunities for development. But wait; business is already going on…
Human Security
Broken Pottu
An infant in Menik Camp. Many thousands of the IDP children have lost both their parents comes news from the Sri Lankan ‘welfare camps’. Bright red pottu Every morning Never missed. The…
Forcible resettlements in East
Perhaps the President is unaware that even as he cites the above as reason for delays in resettling people displaced from the Vanni, his government has started to dump displaced people in…
The war in Sri Lanka is not over – get it?
In his ”responses and clarifications’’ to his article, Is the War Really Over?, Lionel Bopage defends himself against a critic’s charge that he doesn’t ”get it” that the war is really over…
Sri Lankan media awards and Lasantha who?
Those posts written with a heavy heart have a tendency to backfire on one, and I suspect that this would have quite negative consequences on my personal relations, when read by those…
Decree
The government wishes all Tamils good rest, sweet sleep and recovery at Manik Farm. We have cleared the brush and carpenters are busy making coffins. Parasites will be snuffed out, no ifs…
The internment of IDPs in Sri Lanka: Comparisons with another example from US history
The continued denial of freedom of movement for over 250,000 innocent men, women and children – including thousands who are injured, some with disabilities, some mentally challenged, some pregnant, many sick and…
De-militarizing Democracy and Governance in Sri Lanka: From National Security to Human Security
Sri Lanka was once a ‘model democracy’ with a welfare state and social indicators that were the envy of the developing world. Hence, there was great optimism that life would return to…
Concerned Tamils, but what about the rest?
I read with interest the concerns of a group of Tamils on the situation of IDPs and their suggestions for a speedy recovery of a human tragedy. However, I am a little…
Setting the record straight: Challenges of internment for IDPs
I was surprised to see that a piece I wrote recently for was mentioned prominently in two articles in the Island last Saturday and Sunday. Since the original article was not published…
Divining peace
, United Nations This morning, as I was writing this column, I noticed a strange pattern of tea-leaves amongst the dregs of satiation. The pattern suggested that the Chief Executive’s term in…
Liberation
You claimed to liberate hostages, to conduct the largest rescue operation in history. In other countries people robbed of freedoms, rescued, are treated by doctors, then sent home to be greeted usually…
An eye-witness account of IDP camp conditions in Sri Lanka
[Editors note: The dire conditions of internment in camps that are home to well over a quarter of a million fellow citizens are unknown to many. Fears of inflammatory and inaccurate journalism,…
The IDP situation in Sri Lanka: Let’s keep things real and a response to Rohini Hensman
[Editors note: This article was published in , also on Sunday. Update – Rohini Hensman’s response to this article is now featured on here.] Rohini Hensman is absolutely right when she asserts…
Why are the Vanni civilians still being held hostage?
Image courtesy Throughout the last stages of the civil war, the government of Sri Lanka claimed to be engaged in a hostage rescue mission on behalf of civilians in the Vanni who…