Day: 1 October 2016

Pathetic Plight of People Living in Mullaitheevu District By Meera Srinivasan The last time Mary Sabamalai saw her son Mayuran was in 2008, when he came home for his 21st birthday. “Mullaitivu has nearly 6,000 women who are the sole breadwinners in their families.” A file photo of the town in 2013. (Below) Mary Sabamalai, who had to “surrender” one of her sons to the LTTE. He went missing in 2009~pic: courtesy of Getty Images~via The Hindu This was about a year after she “surrendered” him to the Liberation Tigers of…

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Govt should facilitate better role : Lankan diaspora important for rebuilding democracy By Dr. Lionel Bopage Lankan diaspora is a strategically important human resource that is useful in developing and promoting democratic systems of governance in Sri Lanka. Yet, how can they contribute? Mobilising the Lankan diaspora in the endeavour of developing viable mechanisms to sustain democratic practices and good governance does not appear to have been so successful. Also, the constructive role diasporic communities could play in this field does not appear to have been properly looked into. The…

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In an interview with Nation, Northern Province Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran shared his thoughts and views on the Ezhuga Thamizh (Tamils arise) event which evoked mixed to negative responses from the South. Following is the full interview: Q : What is the reason behind organizing such an event at this juncture? The majority of the Tamils believe that our rights are going to be sacrificed at the altar of convenience soon. Till today nothing concrete regarding what rights the Tamils are to receive under the new constitution have been conveyed…

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By Charles Ponnuthurai Sarvan – Prof. Charles Sarvan I am neither a military analyst nor a military historian. I have read but little on military matters, and what follows are very much the thoughts of a layman. As a student of Literature, my concern has been with the victims, and not with the so-called makers of History. My sympathy has been with the Trojans and not with the victorious Greeks; with devastated Carthage and not with proud, imperial, Rome; with the Native Americans, and not with the Europeans who dispossessed…

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Both the President and the government have promised at their respective election campaigns to create a better society in the country and move the country forward with a rich political culture. The majority of the country believed this election promise and elected both Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe as their President and Prime Minister respectively. It had been clearly indicated by the people that the majority of the country had been fed up with racism, political and ethnic polarization of the society and extreme nationalism. The majority in the country…

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by Easwaran Rutnam While the government is doing all it can to set a good example to society and the Opposition, there are a few thorns among its roses it is being forced to deal with, sometimes with much embarrassment. One such ‘thorn’, at least according to some Sri Lanka Freedom Party members in the government, is Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka. The United National Party member has been very outspoken in Parliament these days and he does not hide the vengeance he has towards the former regime, especially former President…

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In its list of demands, the ‘Eluga Thamil’ (Tamils Arise!) rally in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, on Sept 24 included phrases that form the bedrock of Tamil nationalism – ‘Tamil nation,’ ‘sovereignty’ and the ‘right to self-determination.’ This is because the Sri Lanka government and Tamil politicians supporting the regime are deemed ineffective in preventing the Tamils’ political power base from eroding, and supporters of the rally believe that nationalism is the bulwark against such attrition. The rally was called by the Tamil Peoples’ Council (TPC), a loose coalition of political parties,…

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