Author Archives: thuppahi

About thuppahi

Sri Lankan and Australian nationality; student of Sri Lankan society and politics; sociology of cricket;
April 7, 2012 · 1:42 am

Nirupama on Lessons from Geneva

Nirupama Subramanium, in The Hindu, 7 April 2007

As Sri Lanka mulls over last month’s United Nations Human Rights Council resolution, it may look back with nostalgia at its 2009 triumph at Geneva. Then, barely a week after its victory over the LTTE, a group of western countries wanted a resolution passed against Sri Lanka for the civilian deaths and other alleged rights violations by the army during the last stages of the operation. With the blood on the battlefield not still dry, Sri Lanka managed to snatch victory from the jaws of diplomatic defeat, with a resolution that praised the government for its humane handling of civilians and asserted faith in its abilities to bring about reconciliation.

But few remember that the resolution contained an important line relating to a commitment by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The line, in the preamble to the text, is surprising in its detail: “Welcoming also the recent reassurance given by the President of Sri Lanka that he does not regard a military solution as a final solution, as well as his commitment to a political solution with implementation of the thirteenth amendment to bring about lasting peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka”. Continue reading →

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April 6, 2012 · 2:28 am

Ilangamuwa: A Journalist’s Tale of Politics and Pressures in Lanka

Q and A with Salem News, courtesy of the latter

Nilantha Ilangamuwa is an ambitious young journalist purged by the government for his conviction to uphold freedom of speech and independence of media in the island nation. He was taunted by the agents of the government and its secret service for fearlessly managing the Sri Lanka Guardian that is continuing to expose several sensitive news that is causing major irritation to the government.

The very first point in the nine points mission statement of the Sri Lanka Guardian says it all: ‘Adhere to the journalistic values of honesty, courage, fairness, balance, independence, credibility and diversity, giving no priority to commercial or political considerations over professional ones’. With that strong commitment, the Sri Lanka Guardian is fearlessly striving even after being officially banned by the President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government. In his first-ever interview with the media, Nilantha Ilangamuwa, the editor and founder of the Sri Lanka Guardian, a well-known online newspaper on Sri Lanka, visualized the regime that is governing Sri Lanka. He says the government will have to find its way out of its hypocritical politics and he feels that there would be an awakening of masses against the very foundation of bad governance embedded in the habitual political life of lies and crony vulgarism. He claims that these are the despicable core values of the government to stay in power. Continue reading →

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April 5, 2012 · 2:16 am

Technology and its Politics in Cricket — Mahela on the DRS

Michael Roberts

Tony Greig is a wide-ranging and perceptive commentator. We should be thankful that he took the opportunity of raising the issue of the DRS system on the morning of the second day of the Second Test Match at the P Sara when interviewing Mahela Jayawardene. This moment of review was inspired by the fact that Mahela had called in the DRS review when he was given out LBW by Rauf or Oxenford (I forget whom) in the 80th over – a crucial decision that influenced the subsequent unfolding – and unravelling – of the Sri Lankan innings …. In short a turning point as seen in retrospect. Continue reading →

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April 4, 2012 · 1:43 pm

Engeltine Cottage in Kandy: The Intertwining of Three Families — Pieris, Sangakkara and Krishnapillai

Michael Roberts

Engeltine Cottage stands on the hill slopes below Dharmaraja College overlooking the eastern part of Bogambara Lake which stands at the heart of Kandy (or Senkadagala or Mahanuvara as it used to be known). It is a spacious home set in substantial grounds. Its tale of emergence, decline and restoration over the last 150 years is a serendipitous one, befitting an island which was sometimes called “Serendib” and is thereby said to have generated the English noun “serendipity” way back in Horace Walpole’s time.

As far as I can ascertain the house was built in 1896[i] by Louis Pieris Snr. of the Hännädigē Pieris lineage on a cocoa plantation property he had acquired, one which extended from the eastern end of Bogambara Lake to near the Ampitiya Seminary and which at one time included a section that served as a cemetery for British personnel who had died of malaria.[ii] But before taking up these details, we must hark back to the island in the eighteenth century – paralleling Walpole’s time – if we are reach this moment by attending to the roots of social mobility that enabled a lineage of Low-country Sinhalese origin to embed itself so firmly in the centre of Kandyan country. Continue reading →

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April 3, 2012 · 12:03 am

Placing the Sri Lankan War in Context and Critquing Indian Vote at UNHCR Sessions

Ajai Sahni, in SATP, 2 April 2012, with this title: “India – Sri Lanka Relations: India’s Feckless UNHRC Vote A Disgrace”

Through history, few countries in the world have had to endure a terrorist movement as protracted, vicious and intense as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) campaigns, which lasted over thirty three years and killed, on some estimates, up to 80,000 people, in a tiny country with a present population of under 21 million.

Few countries in the world have secured as clear and demonstrable victory over terrorism as has Sri Lanka, even where extraordinary and indiscriminate violence has been inflicted on large populations, as, for instance, in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, where civilian settlements have been repeatedly targeted, and ‘collateral damage’ often overruns any rational proportion to legitimate targets. Continue reading →

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Filed under accountability, democratic measures, historical interpretation, IDP camps, Indian Ocean politics, law of armed conflict, LTTE, military strategy, politIcal discourse, power sharing, reconciliation, rehabilitation, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, truth as casualty of war, world affairs

April 2, 2012 · 2:58 pm

Sheridan rails against lax Australian policy towards boat people

Greg Sheridan,**  in The Weekend Australian, 31 March 2012

CONSIDER this moment. The young jihadist Mohamed Merah, 23, a Frenchman of Algerian background, has recently killed three French soldiers, two of African heritage and one West Indian. He did this to avenge the actions of French soldiers in Afghanistan. He said to one of the soldiers he killed: “You killed my brothers; I kill you.” Continue reading →

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April 1, 2012 · 3:39 am

Tamil Grievances at Grass-roots -Two Reports from the North

The Myriad Social Issues Facing People In The North — Raisa Wickrematunga in Sunday Leader, 1 April 2012

Tisha* wears a pale pink skirt and blouse. She squints at us through her glasses, wearing a resigned look. She is one of the many people who were displaced by the war. Forced to leave home in the 1990s in Vavuniya, she returned to her home as soon as it was safe, as part of the rehabilitation process in October 2009. Through the UNHCR, she received the standard immediate relief package- 16 tin sheets, eight bags of cement, and Rs. 5000.
Tisha hasn’t received anything since. Settling back in Nochchimoto, Vavuniya, she built a makeshift house out of what she was given. Shortly after, her parents died of old age. Now, Tisha has no hope of gaining a proper home, not even in the housing schemes built specially for the newly resettled, because she is on her own, and the housing authorities do not think it efficient to give a large house to just one person. She stays with relatives at night, but would like a house to call her own. Continue reading →

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March 31, 2012 · 2:15 pm

Hitler’s parents’ grave in Austria: headstone removed

Courtesy of the Associated Press, http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-03-30/hitler-parents-grave/53893852/1

The tombstone marking the grave of Adolf Hitler‘s parents, Continue reading →

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March 29, 2012 · 10:29 am

Tiny but meaningful steps towards job-creation in the north? Two News Items

Vocational Training for Ex-LTTE Combatants — News Item in the Nation, 25 March 2012

The army recently launched a crab farming project in the North that provided job opportunities for a few of the former ex-combatants. The government has ensured that former combatants or beneficiaries, who have been reintegrated back into the society, are provided with job opportunities that would keep them occupied.

The government has focussed on the issue so that the youth do not idle, lest they resort to violence to earn a living. The beneficiaries have been provided jobs in several sectors and assistance have been provided to ensure they are not left stranded after reintegration. The Army too has been working towards this aspect and has provided ample opportunities to the beneficiaries.

In another effort to uplift the living standard of reintegrated former combatants and their close relatives, various government and civil institutes have come forward to assist the Headquarters Security Forces – Jaffna (SF-J) by way of providing financial assistance, donations and giving vocational training to ex-combatants which enable them to engage in self-employments.

Administrative authorities of Dreamron Lanka (Pvt) Ltd of Kohuwala, at the request of Commander Security Forces – Jaffna (SF-J) Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe, recently sent a team of hair dressing and beauty culture experts to Jaffna to conduct a five-day training programme for ex-LTTE members in the peninsula. The programme was conducted by five representatives of the Dreamron Lanka (Pvt) Ltd from February 16 to 20 at the Civil Affairs and Public Relations Office, Jaffna. Continue reading →

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March 29, 2012 · 1:24 am

Friday Forum pushes for Implementation of the Key Recommendations of LLRC Report

Island, 29 March 2012

The Friday Forum is an informal gathering of public spirited persons wishing to contribute to the future development of Sri Lanka within a framework of democracy, social justice and pluralism. It is in that spirit that we wish to share some of our concerns with the wider public.

The Friday Forum welcomed the setting up of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission and co-operated constructively by making representations before it. In November 2011, the Commission produced its final report which, though not meeting all our expectations, could form the basis for building national reconciliation in our country. We now wish to stress the importance of the early implementation of the recommendations, especially those flagged by the Commission for immediate and short-term implementation. Continue reading →

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