Category Archives: Tamil migration

March 31, 2019 · 5:21 am

Bishop Francis in Incisive Critique of Sri Lanka’s Poltical Leaders

A Note from a Sinhalese Friend in Canada: “Hello Michael, I have attached a video of a former Bishop of Kurunegala talking to a Adaderana TV interviewer- a Sinhala Broadcast.on March 12, 2019.The former Bishop is a Sri Lankan, by birth an ”Estate Tamil” Christian. He talks of a secret meeting with Ban Ki-Moon in 2011 and also about chats with another Lankan Leader who was very anti-Sri Lankan!! This interview is very, very interesting: apparently the Bishop resigned from his position as a Bishop due to the anti-SL stand taken by the church. The former Bishop is very pro SL in his views.”

Note 2:  Shantha Francis was appointed anAnglican Bishop in 2010 and then on 6 January 2015 the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, announced that Francis had resigned as Bishop of Kurunegala. In a statement by Francis he advised that he had been threatened by Tamil diaspora groups opposing his stand for a unitary state and the sovereignty of the country” — from Wikipedia …. So my Canadian friend’s final note is in error. Continue reading →

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March 29, 2019 · 9:57 am

Hostage Situations as defined by US War Manual absolves Sri Lanka in 2009

Daya Gamage in Asian Tribune, 28 March 2019, where the title is different = “U.S. official document clears Sri Lanka of civilian deaths”

Instead of agreeing to collaborate with the United Kingdom to adopt Resolution 40/1 in March – an extension of October 2015 30/1 Resolution which imposed on Sri Lanka a mechanism of ‘hybrid court investigation’ to ascertain the truth about civilian casualties during the Eelam War (2006-2009) IV – Sri Lankan delegation headed by Foreign Minister Marapona, following the impressive official statement rejecting the ‘hybrid mechanism’, among others, should have followed the example set by the United States, not leaving the UNHRC process altogether but dissociated with the mechanism set forth under the 30/1 Resolution.

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March 28, 2019 · 6:43 am

Tamil Guardian’s Reading of UNHRC Sessions at Geneva, March 2019

Item on 28 March 2019, entitled “Alternative Avenues” … with highlighting emphasis by The Editor, Thuppahi

For almost a decade, Tamil victims have looked to the UN Human Rights Council in their pursuit of justice. However, after years of resolutions followed by an extension, alongside lack of any progress on accountability, events at Geneva this week brought another deep disappointment. A day after the Sri Lankan government expressly told the Council it had no intention of creating an accountability mechanism with foreign judges as originally promised, yet another resolution was passed giving Colombo two more years to do just that. Sri Lanka’s foreign minister was blunt. Sri Lanka will not allow an international justice mechanism. The international community can be under no more illusions. If Sri Lanka cannot deliver the justice that victims demand, then other avenues must be explored. Else, as the UN human rights chief herself warned, further violence and instability will follow.

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March 27, 2019 · 5:15 am

UNHRC in Geneva: Its Partisanship revealed in Summary Statement from Lord Naseby

Lord Naseby PC, President of the All Party British Sri Lanka Parliamentary Group in the UK Parliament, has issued a statement on Sri Lanka with reference to the recently concluded 40th Sessions of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva  = 27 March 2019 …. http://www.ft.lk/news/Lord-Naseby-has-his-say-on-UNHRC-sessions-on-Sri-Lanka/56-675414

‘I have carefully observed every stage of this year’s meeting of the UNHCR. Before I make any other comment, I wish to congratulate Mr Tilak Marapana MP, The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka and Leader of the delegation on Sri Lanka’s statement. I have read meticulously all pages of the full statement. It is balanced, authoritative, measured, challenging and utterly professional – backed up by irrefutable facts and figures.


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March 21, 2019 · 2:26 am

Beyond Sam Power — Dibbert’s Solution from Hell for Sri Lanka

Taylor Dibbert, in National Interest, 20 March 2019, where the title is “Samantha Power Visits Sri Lanka and Ignores History” AND the principal byline runs “Barack Obama’s former UN ambassador is no longer the human-rights supporter that she claims to be” …. NB: in composing my title for this Dibbert-effort I am playing on words: Samaantha P:ower wrote a book entitled Solution from Hell

Samantha Power recently delivered a big speech in Sri Lanka. She was the keynote speaker at an event that celebrated Minister Mangala Samaraweera’s three decades in politics. Given Power’s track record, this is quite regrettable news.

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March 12, 2019 · 1:46 pm

Mythic Fantasies: Rāvana displaces Vijaya in the Sinhala Chauvinist Lexicon

Lakshman Gunasekara, courtesy of HORIZONS, 10 March 2019, where the title reads “From Vijaya to Ravana: Sinhala geo-politics as new cosmic war”  … with highlighting emphasis added by the Editor, Thuppahi

The trend in Sinhala ultra-nationalist discourse in the past decade clearly indicates a shift in mythic inspirational fundamentals – a fading of the ‘Arya’ Vijaya persona and a slow but vociferous (and already violent) rising of a Ravana persona. Is this an ideological shift that was required by the intensity of Sinhala supremacist war effort?

Readers of my ‘Horizons’ column last week may have sought an answer to the question in my title last week, ‘Was Ravana a Sinhalese?’ and been disappointed with the lack of one. Since my column last week discussed the rise of Ravana symbolism in terms of pure myth, the question of Ravana’s ‘ethnicity’ is clearly in the realm of myth as well – modern myth, that is. Continue reading →

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March 11, 2019 · 5:04 am

Tamil Tales in UK: Melange of Truths and Lies via Gullible Brits

This article in a web site in 2016 reveals the mix of dissimulation. half-truths, truths and lies amongst well-meaning, but gullible British do-gooders and reporters that are perpetrated by some members of the diaspora including new British-born generations who have absorbed a variety of tales, inclusive of half-truths and concoctions, related by their parents (all this apart from but not unrelated to active LTTE network activity throughout UK and Europe) … Michael Roberts

Flora Hastings, “Defunding the Diaspora: Sri Lankan Tamil Communities at the Forefront of Government Cuts,” https://novaramedia.com/2016/11/06/defunding-the-diaspora-londons-sri-lankan-tamils-at-the-forefront-of-government-cuts/

The end of Sri Lanka’s civil war, and the ongoing oppression of the Tamil community by the Sri Lankan government should make it harder for the UK to ignore the needs of London’s Sri Lankan refugees and incoming asylum seekers. But community spaces that support London’s Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora are struggling in the face of ongoing cuts to local governments.

 The Sangam center, founded in 1936, is one of the oldest Tamil organisations in London

“I want to show you a cemetery”. This was an unexpected endnote to an interview about teaching the Tamil language in the borough of Newham. Lashani pushes open the door of a disused room, three flights up. Light enters from a window yawning over a communal space, encased by a block of houses. Our viewpoint is through the back of the London Tamil Sangam of which Lashani is the head teacher. Continue reading →

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March 10, 2019 · 3:38 am

Suntharalingam Saga Across Generations captivates Adelaide

Both Professor Michael Morley (a Kiwi musical maestro) and Professor Justin Labrooy (a Sri Lankan medical specialist) were captivated by the Belvoir production of Counting & Cracking created by the playwright Suntharalingam Shakthidharan which has been one of the highlights of the ongoing ADELAIDE FESTIVAL.

pic by Roshan Fernando

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March 5, 2019 · 10:57 am

A Sri Lankan-Australian Experience on Stage

SEE https://youtu.be/WTudekMX91U ….. and LISTEN TO S. SHAKTHITHARAN in conversation with Richard Mockler

against a background of scenes from the play “COUNTING and CRACKING” ….. clarifying the making of  The Sri Lankan-Australian experience in Counting and Cracking | The Mix

The playwright contends that it has been moulded as “a cautionary tale” and that he would love to take the ensemble to Sri Lanka. The play was four years in the making and has a cast of 16 (sixteeen) from six different countries.
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February 20, 2019 · 10:45 am

Videos of Naseby and House of Lords UNHRC Debate, 5 February 2019

Videos of Naseby’s UNHRC Debate 05/02/19

Lord Naseby
Lord Framlingham

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