Category Archives: prabhakaran

January 7, 2017 · 10:33 am

Anthropology and History in the Mix in Political Analysis

Muralidhar Reddy, in Frontline, Vol 26/20, Sep. 26-Oct. 09, 2009, a review article

Michael Roberts’ collection of essays on Sri Lankan identity is a breath of fresh air in an atmosphere polluted by callous accounts.

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SRI LANKA, a country of 20 million-odd people of distinct identities, is witnessing a series of momentous events in the post-Prabakaran period. Michael Roberts’ latest book is a collection of 13 analytical essays, most of them written by him an d others edited by him, on the much-debated issues of collective “Sri Lankan identity” and the cultural roots and ideology of the majority Sinhala and minority Tamil nationalisms, and a detailed study of the projects of Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933), a staunch Sinhala Buddhist who made a conscious effort to swim against the tide and launched a full-throated campaign against British rule and Christian missionaries.
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December 21, 2016 · 2:31 pm

How USA got into bed with the LTTE

aadaya-gAbout Daya Gamage”s Book “Tamil Tigers’ Debt to America”

aa-ltte-and-usa   ISBN: 1537053485 …

ISBN 13: 9781537053486…..Library of Congress Control Number: 2016913508 … Copyright © 2016 Daya Gamage

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November 14, 2016 · 4:06 am

What Trump may bring to the US Table on Sri Lanka in contrast with Clinton’s ”Humanitarian Imperialist Cloak”

Daya Gamage, courtesy of Asian Tribune, where the title reads “Trump – Tamil Diaspora Eelam Activists & Sri Lanka Trajectory”

When asked about the implications of the ongoing purge – immediately following the abortive military coup in Turkey – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump echoed: What right do we in the United States have to criticize the condition of human rights elsewhere? Here’s Trump: “I think right now when it comes to civil liberties, our country has a lot of problems, and I think it’s very hard for us to get involved in other countries when we don’t know what we are doing and we can’t see straight in our own country. We have tremendous problems when you have policemen being shot in the streets, when you have riots, when you have Ferguson. When you have Baltimore. When you have all of the things that are happening in this country — we have other problems, and I think we have to focus on those problems. When the world looks at how bad the United States is, and then we go and talk about civil liberties, I don’t think we’re a very good messenger.” donald-trump_3 hillary-11-business-indider

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November 4, 2016 · 1:13 am

The Terrain of War: Ahmed and Thiranagama. From Outside and Inside

aa-bart-of-melbBart Klem, a Review Essay courtesy of South Asia Multidisciplinary Journal, at https://samaj.revues.org/3853 where the title is “Victory’s Categories, Contingent Histories: Re-visiting Sri Lanka’s Ethno-separatist War”  …the books under review being (A)  Ahmed Hashim (2013) When Counterinsurgency Wins: Sri Lanka’s Defeat of the Tamil Tigers, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 280 pages. (B) Sharika Thiranagama (2011) In my Mother’s House: Civil War in Sri Lanka, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 320 pages.

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Ahmed Hashim’s When Counterinsurgency Wins (2013) and Sharika Thiranagama’s In my Mother’s House (2011) may appear similar at first sight. Both books look back on Sri Lanka’s ethno-separatist war; both pay close attention to the rise and fall of Tamil militancy; and both are published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. However, in crucial ways, they are opposites. Hashim’s book is a military analysis focusing on the Sri Lankan government’s victorious campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Thiranagama’s is an ethnographic account of how Sri Lanka’s Tamil and Muslim society were irreversibly transformed by the war.

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October 15, 2016 · 8:32 am

Tirimanne’s and Kohona’s Talks at GENEVA AND YOU …..for You Sri Lankans

Supplementing the previous presentations (see Bibliography at end) and presenting textual versions of speeches also available on YouTube…. Emphasis has been tacked on by the Editor via highlighting.

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ONE:  Fr. Vimal Tirimanne

“There is neither legal nor moral justification for ‘War Crime’ probes in Sri Lanka” In this presentation, I wish to point out that the so-called “international” probe on the internal affairs of Sri Lanka, namely, the defeating militarily of what the FBI called “the most ruthless terrorist organization in the world” has neither legal nor moral justification. Thereafter, a word about the need to be doubly cautious when we use negatively loaded terms such as “genocide”, “war crimes”. Finally, I would point out that the enigmatic role played by the present Sri Lankan government at the UNHRC with regard to the “war crimes” episode is bound to boomerang on Sri Lanka as a nation, sooner or later. Continue reading →

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October 4, 2016 · 2:58 pm

Mahinda Rajapaksa meets “The Hindu” in July 2009

I. 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]

n_ram_20120625_350_630 N Ram talking to Mahinda Rajapaksa, mid-2009 mahinda-with-ram

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 place this exchange in the public domain. Continue reading →

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October 1, 2016 · 2:26 pm

How Sri Lanka triumphed in Eelam War IV

Ashok Mehta, courtesy of transcurrents and Sri Lanka Guardian  after it appeared in public courtesy of the Centre for Land Warfare Studies where the title is “Sri Lanka’s Ethnic Conflict: How Eelam War IV was Won ... Note that this is is a long article of over 10,000 words. Highlighting stress and the pictures have been added by the Editor, Thuppahi

Four watershed events spurred the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka – the Sinhala Only Act of 1956, the republican Constitution of 1972, the Parliamentary elections of 1977 and the 1983 ethnic riots.1 The killing of 13 Sri Lankan army (SLA) soldiers by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 23 July 1983 marked the initiation of armed hostilities and the beginning of Eelam War I, which ended in 1987. India intervened to end the war in which the SLA had the upper hand.

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satanic-force LTTE book prepared in India by Baby Subramanium and aides 1991

The LTTE’s brush with the Indian Peacekeeping Forces (IPKF) from October 1987 to March 1990 ended inconsequentially. Eelam War II began in July 1990 and closed in a ceasefire in January 1995. The next round of fighting (Eelam War III) began in April 1995, and culminated in the February 2002 ceasefire, the longest in the conflict. It was officially revoked by the Sri Lankan Government (SLG) only in January 2008, though for all practical purposes, it had been broken in 2006. The decisive Eelam War IV started at Mavil Aru in July 2006 and flared up into an all-out offensive. The security forces scored a historic victory on 18 May 2009, when the Tigers capitulated near their stronghold of Mullaithivu. Continue reading →

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September 30, 2016 · 9:23 am

Some Reflections on Eelam War IV

 nadkarni  Major-General Ranjit Nadkarni (Retd)**…… with highlighting emphasis and photographs being the additions by The Editor, Thuppahi.

Introduction: Having read and digested afresh, the article entitled ” How Sri Lanka won the unwinnable war” written by Serge de Silva ­Ranasinghe and then the lucid thoughts penned by Michael Roberts on this article, I got thinking on what were the issues other than those pertaining to Sri Lanka, which contributed to the defeat of the LTTE and a win for the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. Some of my reflections cover the International Environment prevailing during E War 4; the role played by India, Pakistan and China; the internal environment which dictated success; and the Strategic Blunders of LTTE leading to its defeat. These issues surely and certainly contributed to the winning of the so called unwinnable war’, notwithstanding the kudos heaped on the Sri Lankan Government and Armed Forces by both authors.

 

67-thamililam-in-late-2007 Thamililam in late 2007

The International Environment: ­ It is unthinkable that Sri Lanka would have won the E War 4 had the international community especially India not made soft bleating sounds asking for the hostilities to stop. This is so because 32 countries had banned the LTTE and declared it a terrorist group inhibiting a more potent reaction from the Western Countries and the EU. This coupled with a very lukewarm reaction from Asian countries, enabled Sri Lanka to withstand pressure and carry the offensive to its logical conclusion. Continue reading →

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September 29, 2016 · 10:50 am

Defeating the LTTE: VK Shashikumar on The Basic Principles behind Sri Lanka’s Success

sashikumar VK Shashikumar. This article was first published in Indian Defence Review with the title “Lessons from Sri Lanka’s War” . Read the original article at http://www.indiandefencereview.com/spotlights/lessons-from-the-war-in-sri-lanka/. I am indebted to Jitender  Kalra of the Editorial board for permission granted by email on 29th September 2016. Highlighting emphases has been inserted by the Editor, Thuppahi and some spelling corrections also made.

aa-shashi-kumar-map Continue reading →

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September 29, 2016 · 1:49 am

Ban Ki-Moon’s Confusions: Kashmir, the Burmese Hill-Peoples and Northern SL Tamils in One Pot

Dayan Jayatilleka, courtesy of the Daily Mirror, 28 September 2016, where the title reads “Ban Ki-moon’s “New Union” for Sri Lanka”

ms-and-ban You’ve heard of the “We Tamils” (who beat up High Commissioner Ansar). Now we have the “E-Tamils”–the “Eluga/Ezhuga Tamils” (or simply Eelam Tamils?). They shut down Jaffna, took over its streets, raucously demanding federalism, an international investigation and cleansing of the army and Sinhala Buddhist symbolism/presence from the North (thereby turning it into a mono-ethnic enclave). Meanwhile the smooth operators Suma-Sam-Sara-Suren canvass federalism and an internationalized ‘war crimes’ investigation in the corridors of Colombo and Western capitals.

   aa-gp-map-ethnic-dsitribution-1981

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