Day: 3 November 2017

UNP, TNA,SLFP and JVP Engaged in a “Constitutional Conspiracy” Charges Racist Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Karu

The UNP, the TNA, the SLFP and the JVP were engaged in a ‘constitutional conspiracy’, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa told Constitutional Assembly yesterday. Participating in the debate on the interim report of the steering committee of the Constitutional Assembly, the former President said: “Look at the manner in which the debate on this interim report has been conducted during the past three days. First, a UNP minister speaks on behalf of the government. Then, a TNA member speaks on behalf of the Opposition. Once again an SLFP minister speaks on…

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Constitutional Conversations: need for a consensus from majority and minority

Karu

I was pleasantly surprised to read the very perceptive and might I say brilliantly argued piece by Dr. Dayan Jayatilleke in the Daily Mirror of October 11, 2017, “Constitutional Conversation :What the Government and the nationalists don’t get”. He has put his finger on what the Tamil Question is all about, when he says the Tamil question is about alienation. I quote “It is about the relationship between the Tamil community in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan state .  They feel it is a state they are under, not…

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Discrimination Caused the War

Karu

“There are no grievances specific to Tamils” – Udaya Gammanpila, Western Provincial Council Minister, 2014  “There are no minorities (Tamils) now (Only Sinhala Majority)” – Mahinda Rajapaksa, May 2009 Following the defeat of the LTTE in May 2009 popular understanding of the root causes of ethnic violence congealed around a single dominant narrative. This narrative consists of three premises and a conclusion. Premise I: The root cause of the ethnic conflict was the greed and power lust of Tamil elites, who led a misguided Tamil population. Premise II: These elites…

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