Four things done, Four things undone: The self-immolation of the LTTE
It is clear, even amongst the most liberal of the western political academic circles that the end of the LTTE is now inevitable. Backed by the widow state of Sonia Gandhi and…
IDPs and Refugees
Dr. Devanesan Nesiah on post-war / post-LTTE Sri Lanka
Image courtesy TransCurrents Dr. Devanesan Nesiah in response to a question posed by on the most important issue(s) in a ‘post-LTTE’ context and how can the State address it, writes in with…
A thought for the IDPs in the camps
It is hard for those who have no access to the camps in the North to form a realistic opinion on the plight of the over 65,000 refugees who are supposed to…
Sri Lanka’s IDP camp Manik Farm is what it is (but what is that?)
Most of the arguments about Manik Farm (and other transit camps in the North of Sri Lanka) seem to get stuck on definitions and comparisons. Is it a concentration camp? Is it…
Truth, more bitter than fiction for IDPs in Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, there are events in motion that have created just the perfect environment for “event-horizons”. An “event-horizon” in the movies is usually a black-hole where any hapless space faring vessel…
MAN, OH (VANANGA) MAN!
Let me get this right. Two hundred and thirteen years since the first British colonial ships landed in Sri Lanka, a ship is setting sail from Britain, launched at an event with…
Your opinion on a war ‘over in 3 weeks’ and a ‘post-LTTE’ Sri Lanka?
A senior government minister claimed today that the war would be over in 3 weeks. Whether we believe him or not, commentators like Ahilan Kadirgamar (writing in , February 2009) have called…
Interview with Udaya Gammanpila, Legal Advisor, JHU
I interviewed Udaya Gammanpila, the Legal Advisor to the Jathika Hala Urumaya (JHU) and erstwhile Chairman of the Central Environmental Authority (CEA). Udaya is now a candidate from the Colombo District for…
Three poems by Sivamohan Sumathy
[Editors note: These poems respond to Indran Amirthanayagam’s poems here, here and here. They are both part of the Writers Under Siege collection on .] 1 i am not a writer i…
Dancing In Sympathy (Mullaitivu)
Six boys from Hindu College will enter the scene from Stage Left, an equal number of girls from Muslim Ladies Stage Right. They will shake their bodies, slide and writhe, and be…
Equal Treatment
Citizens of Killinochchi and Mullaitivu fled before our liberators arrived. They live for the moment in nearby jungle under a canopy punctured by shells. Some moved to a safe zone demarcated by…
Forgetting, Mullaitivu
The town is full of stray dogs, cows, ghosts, buildings pockmarked, unhinged, open to wind and rain. Soldiers patrol on foot. Trucks and tanks rumble through the center. Rebels took all the…
Impervious and Insular members of Tamil Diaspora: M.I.A. and the Bogey of Genocide in Sri Lanka
I listened to the interview of Tavis Smiley of the Public Service Broadcasting (PBS) with Mathangi (aka Maya) Arudpragasam; a hip-hop artist (stage name M.I.A. – Missing in Action) who has been…
Unsolicited Advice
While the bureaucrat fulminates about the cost of hotel rooms in Geneva and the great burden placed on the Sri Lankan government to have to pay exorbitant rates, he may wish to…
An exclusive interview with Eastern Province Chief Minister Pillayan after the TMVP’s arms decommissioning
English transcript of an exclusive interview with the Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (alias Pillayan) conducted by Vikalpa. Have all the powers in the 13th amendment been given to the Provincial…