Category Archives: Eelam

October 13, 2024 · 3:43 pm

Tekwani’s Analysis of “Transnational Security and Postinsurgency Issues” in Sri Lanka

Shyam Tekwani ... taken from …Alas the date of pubn is not indicated clearly… it is probably circa 2010 

  • Sri Lanka’s quarter-century civil war may be over, but many of the underlying causes of the war continue to linger.
  • The international network of the defeated Tamil Tigers continues to control immense financial and logistical resources and is supported by the nearly one million Tamil diaspora. Meanwhile, the victorious Rajapaksa government has been slow in implementing its promise of political settlement and integrating the minorities into the political and socioeconomic life of the country. These realities may contribute to the radicalization of a new generation of Tamils, both on the island and in the diaspora in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. Continue reading →

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October 10, 2024 · 8:12 pm

About Bart Klem in Political Science

  About Bart Klem = My research is focused on questions of political order amidst and after civil war. I am interested in state institutions, de facto sovereignty of rebel movements and public authority. Sri Lanka has been my main country specialization, but I also work on Northern Cyprus and I have done some work on Indonesia (mainly Kalimantan). More details may also be found on my personal website.

Before joining Gothenburg University in 2020, I was lecturer at the University of Melbourne and the University of Zurich.

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October 3, 2024 · 12:56 am

Nationalist Studies and the Ceylon Studies Seminar at Peradeniya, 1968-1970s

Michael Roberts …. repeating an old TPS item [with highlighting added] because of the implications of the recent TPS item  by Bedgar Perera re Prof Rex Clements.

The years 1966 to 1975 were heady days in Ceylon. Especially so for some of us in Peradeniya Univeristy where the CEYLON STUDIES SEMINAR was launched in November 1968 by a few members of the Arts Faculty assisted by the facilities provided by Professor Gananath Obeyesekera at the Sociology Department – located then on Lower Hantane Road away from the centre of teaching. Not least among these facilities was the service provided by the Sociology Department peon Sathiah[1] who cyclostyled the written seminar papers beforehand for circulation so that those who were keen could read any presentation beforehand if they so wished – a procedure that also maximized discussion time. This background service was seconded by the typing services of Mrs Hettiarachchi in the History Department and Mr Kumaraswamy in the Sociology Department.

   Sathiah — an essential servicing hand …

  & Bishop Lakshman Wickremasinghe, who perceived the depth of the festering ethnic split early on

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September 26, 2024 · 2:39 pm

Deciphering the Past to Secure Reform in the Present

Michael Roberts

Let me suggest that in any country one cannot address the fundamental problems of the present without understanding its immediate past. This prescription was/is inherent in an article that I penned for the Indian journal FRONTLINE in June 2009 one month after the LTTE had been vanquished in war (1). Its title was “Some Pillars for the Future.” 

On re-reading this essay today in September 2024, I affirm that it is marked by good sense and presents several worthwhile propositions. It is reproduced here for others to assess and comment critically on its arguments — standing now in the midst of the many developments and changes between 2009 and 2024.  Continue reading →

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September 16, 2024 · 3:24 pm

Noel Nadesan’s Critical Reflections on the Sri Lankan Tamils’Armed Struggle

Rajeswary Balasubramaniam, reviewing Odyssey of War by Noel Nadesan **

The ‘Odyssey of War’, a novel by Dr. Noel Nadesan published by Sarasavi Publishers, reflects the struggle for the liberation of Tamils in Sri Lanka (1977-2009) and the failure of interwoven world politics. The novel illustrates how upper-class Tamils overcame caste, religion, and regions and united for the liberation of Tamils, but went beyond the spirit of liberation, migrated, and eventually made the liberation struggle of Tamils a profitable business.

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August 24, 2024 · 5:20 pm

The Siege of Jaffna Fort by the LTTE in 1990

Gamini Goonetilleke, … with a few photographs awaiting insertion later

I had volunteered my services to the Sri Lanka Army and it was my turn of duty at the Palali Base Hospital when the Jaffna Fort came under Tiger attack. Thus I was a witness to a major battle for supremacy in the North. For the State the Jaffna Fort was of symbolic importance to demonstrate its sovereignty over the Jaffna population and as such the Sri Lanka Army was occupying the Jaffna Fort. For the Tigers, dislodging the troops from the Fort was of importance to pave the way for ‘liberation’. Therefore it became an important battle for both sides.

Image  1 – A view of the Jaffna Fort          

Jaffna Fort – main entrance

 

 

 

 

The siege of Jaffna Fort

The Tigers had surrounded not only the Fort but also the Palali Air Base to prevent the mobility of the troops and also to cut off supplies. They positioned anti-aircraft guns in the Fort area. This threatened the helicopter borne supplies to the stranded troops and the battle for the Fort turned out to be fierce and intense.

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July 24, 2024 · 9:22 pm

Michael Roberts Mss stored at Adelaide University

Michael Roberts

The library at Adelaide Univeristy is known as the BARR-SMITH LIBRARY.  The staff in the “Special Collections” within the library over the years have been especially helpful over a long period and were hands-on central in organising the Roberts Oral History Project from the 1980s and subsequently (see https://www.adelaide.edu.au/library/special/mss/roberts/).

But it is by pure chance that I came across a document penned in my hand detailing the stock of manuscripts and photocopied material that I had placed within the Special Collections –maybe because our home is adjacent to a National Park and within a high fire-risk arena.

Let me assure all ye readers that I have been stunned by some of the items that I have collected –some of them original Mss items; with the others being copies. but the main point is that some of these copies reproduce very rare items.  Moreover, I find that the range and type of items placed within the realm of the Barr-Smith are quite astonishing. It remains to be seen whether readers and investigators of the past accept that evaluation. I should add that I will be among the personnel delving into some of the data within this stock; but I do not have long to live…..and this stock is there for posterity.

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July 19, 2024 · 5:19 pm

Underlining BLACK JULY in 1958: Poignant Reflections

Daya Wickramatunga to Jayantha Somasundaram, 14 July 2024, in Response to Jayantha’s Circulation of the DAILY MIRROR Item on the 1958 Riots: viz. …………………………. https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/Black-July-facing-the-moment-of-truth/231-287106

The ‘Sinhala Only Bill’ by SWRD was ridiculous. SWRD could hardly speak Sinhala when he returned to Sri Lanka from Oxford. That [the Sinhaal Only campaign] was obviously a political move by SWRD.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo shows Tamils being ridiculed and assaulted on Galle Roadin Colombo by Sinhala çitizens’…but check if this is from 1983

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June 24, 2024 · 8:13 pm

For Muralidhar Reddy: Thoughts on Eelam War IV in late 2009

ONE: Preamble by Michael Roberts

I was in Colombo from mid-April 2009 to early June and observed the local coverage of Eelam War IV at its bitter end. I was invited by Muralidhar Reddy[i] to write articles for Frontline on aspects of the politics surrounding the war. Though Frontline is a magazine produced by The Hindu consortium, I was not a regular follower of that newspaper on web — even though I had once been introduced to its owner and chief executive, N. Ram, way back in time by Chandra Schafter and had also had an extended chat with him in Delhi in 1995.[ii]

 

 

Thus, the receipt of a Hindu report on President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s thoughts in mid-2009, expressed in an extended session with him conducted by N. Ram serves up new material from my position. In step with my policy of raising significant episodes in the course of Eelam War IV to public notice,[iii] I  hasten to present this exchange in the public domain.

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May 29, 2024 · 2:04 pm

Gross Ignorance displayed by USA’s Parliamentarians

Daya Gamage, whose chosen title runs thus: “US lawmakers ignorance of civilian casualties in Lanka’s war on terrorism”

Declaring that the government of Sri Lanka, while combating ‘Tamil Organizations’ which were fighting for a Tamil Homeland in the North-East, committed genocide against the Tamil people, a resolution was tabled in the US House of Representatives, on May 15, 2024, to coincide with the 15th anniversary of the conclusion of the LTTE’s terrorist war; it states, “Recognizing the hundreds of thousands of lives lost during Sri Lanka’s almost 30-year armed conflict, which ended 15 years ago on May 18, 2009, and ensuring nonrecurrence of past violence, including the Tamil Genocide, by supporting the right to self-determination of Eelam Tamil people and their call for an independence referendum for a lasting peaceful resolution”.

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