This is part of an exercise where Fulbright Scholars were requested to write a letter, for their 60th Anniversary, to the President referring to what they learned through their exposure to the US political system during their stay in USA. Dear President Rajapakse, I am addressing this letter to you as part of a project initiated by the Fullbright ...
“The great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes The Tamil Diaspora is a diverse ethnic group. Amongst it, the majority are strongly connected to their kith and kin in the island of Sri Lanka. Arguably, the Tamil Diaspora is also a very powerful body. ...
Photo courtesy New Europe The recent Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka is a remarkable document. Crafted in the immediate aftermath of the devastating OISL Report on Sri Lanka whose central recommendation was that a ‘special hybrid court’ be established in Sri Lanka, and despite some hiccups during negotiations, a resolution eventually acceptable to a wide range of ...
Photo courtesy Wikipedia “One of the biggest gaffes by an External Affairs (Foreign) Minister in post-independent Sri Lanka” is how the Sunday Times in April last year chose to describe a remark by Sri Lanka’s current Foreign Minister, G.L. Peiris. Far be it from us to accuse Minister Peiris of terminological inexactitude, but given a distinct tendency to confuse ...
Image courtesy Flickr Debates of the Senate (Hansard) 1st Session, 41st Parliament, Volume 148, Issue 130 Wednesday, December 12, 2012 Hon. Hugh Segal: Honourable senators, the recent and further steps by the Government of Sri Lanka to impeach their Chief Justice should concern all Commonwealth citizens and governments. Clear Commonwealth values around the rule of law and democracy as ...
Image courtesy Beyond Borders Water runs through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence. The same could be said about changing a nation’s mind-set. “A culture that propagates violence against women and children is not a culture, it is a nightmare we still need to wake up from,” said Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, Executive Director at the ...
Image courtesy The New Yorker The UPFA’s election campaign is based on Four Ignoble Lies: Sri Lanka and all true-born Lankans are suffering; the reason for this suffering is the defeat of Mahinda Rajapaksa on January 8th; national salvation depends on bringing Mahinda Rajapaksa back to power; the way to do it is to make Mahinda Rajapaksa the prime ...
Photo by Thyagi Ruwanpathirana In the weeks that have passed since 6-15 (15th June) when Sri Lanka witnessed one of the worst outbreaks of anti-Muslim violence, the official narrative has been as chilling as the events. The government initially dismissed the violence that has so far claimed at least four lives directly, displaced over 370 families and damaged property ...
Rajini (pseudonym) was amongst the ten women we met in a church in Vavuniya district about a week ago. At the time she and two of her children were living in Kadirgama camp in Menik Farm. The women and their families were displaced since 2008 and were prevented from going home to Puthukudiruppu. Some of us had known this ...
The Census on human and property damages due to conflict – 2013, which began data collection last week is one of the key recommendations in the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission report. According to a statement by the Department of Census and Statistics “The responsibility to conduct a Census to assess the human and property damages has been assigned ...
Image courtesy AFP and via The Express Tribune The Rajapaksha Regime, through its parliamentarians, handed over an impeachment motion to the Speaker, the elder brother of the President Rajapaksha against the first woman Chief Justice of the country. It appears that the Government of Sri Lanka is in a mighty hurry to “get rid of the Chief Justice” so ...
Photo courtesy: Steve Chao /Al Jazeera via JDS With our Government busy defending itself from war crime allegations, protecting the sovereignty of the country and advising the common man to say ‘no’ to Google, the Tamil leadership and, of course, the Tamil Diaspora dreaming of some mode of foreign intervention and drooling over the latest Channel 4 documentary, the ...
Photo courtesy Daily FT Yesterday’s rally in Nugegoda organised by the hard-core Sinhala nationalists, i.e. Weerawansa, Dinesh, Gammanpila and Vasudeva with the blessings of former President Mahinda Rajapakse and their pseudo intellectual appendage Dayan Jayatilleke reminds us that the politicians who made a life out of Sinhala communalism/nationalism at the expense of a pluralist, liberal democratic Sri Lanka are ...
Monks of Sri Lanka’s hardline Buddhist group Bodhu Bala Sena pray during a protest rally urging boycott of consumer goods with Halal certification in Maharagama on the out skirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka in February. Picture and caption courtesy AP, via Asian Correspondent. The growing anti-Muslim sentiment in Sri Lanka is pushing us to respond in numerous ways: we are ...
Groundviews is pleased to present a new web based timeline that traces key events and developments around the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), from its inception to the implementation of its recently released action plan, spanning the next three years. The timeline at launch features over 125 entries, and will be updated regularly. For a more easily readable ...
Image credit AP, via BBC News “There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth…not going all the way, and not starting.” – Lord Buddha Authors note: When I was a teenager, I heard from a Sinhala brother that he constantly felt guilty for being unable to protect nearly 70 000-80 000 Sinhala youth who were killed in 1971 ...
Photo courtesy BBC In the few days following the UNHRC meetings in Geneva, we have witnessed several act of blatant criminality by mobs on people and property- in greater Colombo, Killinochchi and elsewhere. A common factor has been the passivity of the Police. They have looked the other way (reminiscent of July ’83) and suppressed video evidence of the ...
Image courtesy News First History of threats Venerable Watareka Vijitha Thero is the Chief Incumbent of the Rotalawela Mahaweli Maha Viharaya in Mahiyanganaya, in the Uva province. In July 2013, the Mahiyangana Pradeshiya Sabha of which Vijitha Thero is a member had discussed the destruction of a building above the shop in Mahiyanganaya, where Muslims used to pray, as ...
Photo by Anushan Selvarajah, from Flickr photo set on rally It is often the case that a nation which experienced a protracted war will tend to look forward rather than backward. For Sri Lankans, over the years, the war became a part of their lives, and survival a part of their routine. In such a context, healing becomes a lengthy ...
Mohamed Hisham, Co-Spokesperson, Rally for Unity begins the interview by saying why he chose to be associated with and helped co-found a group that openly and in public stands up against hate speech, in a country where most citizens are fearful of opposing policies, practices and bitter invective supported by the highest authorities in government aimed at minority groups ...
