“Sri Lanka leader asks Tamils to ‘forget the past'” by Channel News Asia

Sri Lanka’s president asked minority Tamils to “forget the past” as he campaigned for re-election Thursday (Dec 18), vowing not to allow another uprising after decades of ethnic war.

President Mahinda Rajapakse, who is seeking an unprecedented third term, told a public rally in the former war zone of Mullaittivu that Tamils should join him to rebuild the battle-scarred region. He made no reference to allegations that his troops killed some 40,000 Tamil civilians in the final months of fighting, when the leadership of the Tamil Tiger separatists was wiped out.

“Let us unite. Forget the past. Let us develop this country together,” he said in an address broadcast live. “We cannot let history repeat in this country.”

via: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/sri-lanka-leader-asks/1537582.html

“Top Sri Lanka lawyer says fears for life after criticizing govt” by Agence France-Presse

The head of Sri Lanka’s bar association said on Wednesday he feared he might be killed after he described President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government as becoming more autocratic.

via: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/140716/top-sri-lanka-lawyer-says-fears-life-after-criticising-govt

“Correcting Hudson’s Crooked Political Vision” by Nimalka Fernando

“Finally, the word and expression `loving the motherland’ has been used to benefit the Rajapakse clan and people like the Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. It is a ‘Veil of Patriotism’ which hides the nakedness of their corruption. We are not bound to protect the rulers and the stooges who are dragging our motherland into disrespect internationally by their own crooked political vision. We have every right to speak about violent and corrupt practices of rulers that violate international human rights standards and norms every state as a member of United Nations have agreed to uphold.”

Via http://groundviews.org/2013/11/27/correcting-hudsons-crooked-political-vision/

source: www.groundviews.org

“The Portrait Of A People” by Tisaranee Gunasekara

A majority of Sinhalese are less extremist, more rational and more humane than their Rajapaksa-saviours, according to the latest opinion survey by the Centre of Policy Alternatives (CPA). They are also becoming increasingly discommoded by and therefore disaffected with the existing regimen.

Mahinda‘Top Line Survey: Democracy in Post-War Sri Lanka’ contains many expected and unexpected insights into the collective thinking of the Lankan people. One of the most politically portentous and (helpful) findings is that an absolute majority of Sinhalese (59.1%) think that ‘the government should give priority to allocating resources to rebuild the conflict afflicted areas, even if this means that less money is spent in the rest of the country’. Only a miniscule 7.9% of Sinhalese think that ‘rebuilding the conflict affected areas should not be given priority over the needs of the rest of the country’.

Via https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/the-portrait-of-a-people/

source: www.colombotelegraph.com

“Rajapakse Administration’s choices with the TNA” by by Harim Peiris

The Rajapakse Administration faces a rather stark choice with regard to the TNA controlled Northern Provincial Council. The desired and preferred option would be, for the Government to be generous and cooperative with the NPC and provide it with the space and facilitation required to address the effects of the war on the Northern civilians as the former principle theatre of the conflict. This requires basically an attitude similar to that of the victorious allies in the Second World War, who had both the Marshal plan for Europe and very generous political arrangements for the defeated Japanese including retaining their Emperor in whose name the war had been fought. Initial indications are that the Rajapakse Administration is open to this possibility, once it gets over its own ideological hang-ups.

Via http://groundviews.org/2013/10/24/rajapakse-administrations-choices-with-the-tna/

source: Groundviews

L’armée sri lankaise réprime violemment une manifestation pacifique

L’armée sri lankaise déployée dans des localités proches de Colombo, à Weliweriya, a réprimé très violemment (3 morts selon les sources officielles, plusieurs dizaines de blessés) une manifestation pacifique de villageois cingalais se plaignant qu’une usine locale de gants de caoutchouc ait cessé de traiter ses effluents toxiques, rendant ainsi l’approvisionnement d’eau de la zone impropre à la consommation. Le frère du Président, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, est tenu pour responsable de cette répression menée par les unités qui ont écrasé les LTTE en mai 2009. De nombreux observateurs notent que ces violences interviennent exactement trente ans après les massacres anti-tamouls de juillet 1983 qui sont à l’origine de la guerre civile qui a ensanglanté le pays, ajoutent que cette fois le gouvernement s’en prend à des Cingalais et risque de perdre l’appui de la majorité que lui avait valu sa victoire sur les LTTE.

Lire à ce sujet : http://groundviews.org/2013/08/02/weliweriya-gampaha-black-thursday-2013/

“Sri Lanka : un pays qui s’enfonce de nouveau dans la guerre” par Delon Madavan (Echogéo)

Résumé

Le retrait unilatéral de l’accord de cessez-le-feu par le Président Rajapakse marque le retour officiel à l’état de guerre à Sri Lanka. L’île est meurtrie par les affrontements opposant l’armée gouvernementale aux militants séparatistes tamouls. Les civils se retrouvent encore prisonniers du cynisme des belligérants, qui préfèrent ignorer les répercussions de leurs actes pour arriver à leur fin, quitte à mettre en danger l’harmonie intercommunautaire dans l’île.

Cet article est disponible en intégralité et gratuitement sur le site d’Echogéo :

Pour accéder directement à l’article veuillez cliquer sur ce lien : http://echogeo.revues.org/2543

Référence électronique

Delon Madavan, « Sri Lanka : un pays qui s’enfonce de nouveau dans la guerre »,EchoGéo [En ligne], Sur le Vif, mis en ligne le 08 avril 2008, consulté le 11 avril 2013. URL : http://echogeo.revues.org/2543 ; DOI : 10.4000/echogeo.2543