Archives par mot-clé : TNA

“Tamils Caught Between The Devil And The Blue Deep Sea” by Paul Newman

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As the D Day in Sri Lanka is approaching there is a hot debate on whether the decision of the TNA to go with Maithripala Sirisena is in the right direction or not. Till 21st of November 2014, he had supported all the policies of Mahinda Rajapakse without ever raising an eyebrow. It was sheer opportunism that brought him to the election fray with the support of Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (CBK) and Ranil Wickremesinghe.

via: https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/tamils-caught-between-the-devil-and-the-blue-deep-sea/

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“Is Maithripala Sirisena Who was Acting Defence Minister During the Last Two Weeks of War Implicated in Alleged War Crimes?” by D.B.S. Jeyaraj

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The question is of great relevance and grave significance at a time when the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner’s office is investigating alleged human rights violations, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Sri Lanka in terms of a resolution passed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

via: http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/36931

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“Sri Lankan Tamil Party Backs Opposition for President” by The Associated Press

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“The Rajapaksa regime has been particularly harmful to the wellbeing of the Tamil-speaking peoples of Sri Lanka,” the party said in a statement. It said the government had “failed to engage genuinely in a process of evolving an acceptable political solution, except to engage in deceitful and dilatory exercises.”
It said instead of resettling, rehabilitating and providing livelihood opportunities for hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians displaced by the conflict, the government had resorted to land grabs and denied justice for those died, disappeared or were detained for long periods without trial.

via: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/12/30/world/asia/ap-as-sri-lanka-politics.html?_r=0

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“Reject The Twin Devils – Build An Alternative Beyond The Election” by TU Senan

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But providing such an opportunity in the election is not the sole aim of Siritunga’s campaign. If a real change is to be achieved, the silent minority of all progressive sections in the country need to be mobilised. The people’s voice is weak. Unless the oppressed masses have a strong organisational expression for their rightful demands, our rights will continue to be suppressed. The need for an organisation or a mass party that can articulate our rights and that will not gamble or compromise us is felt throughout the country. The thirst for such an organisation is registered by the hundreds of thousands who turn up to meetings in opposition to both Ms. Siri’s platform aims to provide energy and hope that such an alternative can be built.

via: https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/reject-the-twin-devils-build-an-alternative-beyond-the-election/

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“Maithri should face justice at UN, I cannot endorse him – Ananthi Sasitharan” by Tamil Guardian

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“Reiterating her refusal to tow the party line and endorse the common opposition’s presidential candidate, Maithripala Sirisena, the Northern Provincial councillor, Ananthi Sasitharan said she could not ask the Tamil people to vote for someone who was responsible for the genocide of the Tamil people.”

via: http://www.tamilguardian.com/article.asp?articleid=13330

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“Diabolical Plot of Opposition Paves way for International Probe on “War Heroes” in the guise of a Domestic Inquiry” by C.A.Chandraprema

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“The most diabolical and fiendishly clever policy position that the common opposition has taken is that they will not allow our war heroes to be tried by any international war crimes tribunal, but that any allegations of war crimes will be looked into by a domestic tribunal. The common opposition candidate himself has come before the people and pledged publicly that no international war crimes tribunal will be allowed to try any war hero. However he has given a statement which was carried in The Hindu and the Indian Express to the effect that a domestic mechanism would be set up to look into allegations of war crimes. This was later confirmed by Champika Ranawaka. The people of this country have got used to the idea that what is bad is an international inquiry into war crimes. By the mere addition of the word ‘domestic’ most people would be lulled into a sense of false security on the assumption that since such an inquiry will be conducted by ‘our people’ the war heroes will not face any problems.”

via: http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/36676

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“Tamils Lacks Political Leadership” by TU Senan

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The TNA chiefs are looking for a stunt of some sort to defend their sustained inertia in the context of a profound need for clear leadership for Tamils in Sri Lanka. Of course, the current regime complies – its continued repression of some TNA leaders provides opportunities for them to escape their responsibility. In fact, the TNA leaders intended to keep to the TULF tradition of supporting the right-wing UNP candidate. However, this was spoiled by Maithiripala Srisena’s announcement as an opposition candidate.

Prior to the election announcement, the TNA put time and effort into convincing a section of the diaspora leadership to support the UNP. TNA leaders met some diaspora leaders in a not-so secret meeting in the US. It was made clear that the TNA leaders were ready to compromise on key demands, including the demand for the right to self-determination, and that this was not just a strategy but a political stand that they are taking. Sadly for them, the diaspora organisations are still to the left of the right-wing TNA leadership and refused to give into all that was demanded.

A section of the TNA who dare to speak out are supressed by the TNA leaders. The current leadership spent more time manoeuvring against their opposition within the TNA than actually developing a political strategy to advance the right of Tamils. Creating illusions in the Indian government and western governments is their only consistent policy. This serves no purpose other than to transform them into a tool of the west and India depite the claims that they propagate among Tamils in the North and East – that the west and India are coming to support the Tamils’ cause.”

via: https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/tamils-lacks-political-leadership/

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“Remembering the tsunami, 10 years on” by Tamil Guardian

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“Ten years ago today, over 35,000 people perished during the catastrophic tsunami that hit the coasts of the North-East and South of the island of Sri Lanka. The United Nation High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said five days after the disaster that almost two thirds of those killed were in the Tamil homeland of the North-East. “The North-East is the region worst affected by the tsunami,” the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) said in a joint report.”

via: http://www.tamilguardian.com/article.asp?articleid=13250

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“Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act should be repealed” by Meera Srinivasan

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It has been nearly 200 days since the TID arrested Ms. Jeyakumari in Kilinochchi, along with her teenaged daughter. She was at the forefront in campaigns against involuntary disappearances, raising concern about her son who reportedly went missing in the final phase of the war. While the daughter is in probationary custody in a children’s home, Ms. Jeyakumari continues to be detained with no charges filed till date. At least 80 persons have been arrested under the PTA Act in Sri Lanka this year.

Via http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/south-asia/sri-lankas-prevention-of-terrorism-act-should-be-repealed/article6459779.ece

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“Military presence in Sri Lanka’s north is worrisome: Wigneswaran” by Meera Srinivasan

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People no longer fear the Army. They have started protesting against the Army taking over their lands and houses. The protests have been peaceful and with no personal animosity shown towards the Army. It was said recently that some of the soldiers who came to deal with such protests had told our protestors privately that they would themselves have protested if their lands in the South had been taken over in the manner it is being done now in the North!

via: http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/south-asia/article6108055.ece

source: www.thehindu.com

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“Govt. Commissioning Former LTTE Commander To Restart Tigers Outfit Subservient To The Regime: Wigneswaran” by Colombo Telegraph

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Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran today warned that according to latest reports they were receiving, a former LTTE military commander was being commissioned to restart an LTTE outfit subservient to the powers that be.

“Thus the White Van drama could now be enacted by a different cast,” the Chief Minister warned.

The Chief Minister said that he could become a target like Tamil politicians before him, saying that politicians seeking to stress commonalities between people of Sri Lanka often got brutally killed.

Via https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/govt-commissioning-former-ltte-commander-to-restart-tigers-outfit-subservient-to-the-regime-wigneswaran/

source: www.colombotelegraph.com

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

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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

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Northern Provincial Election 2013: Mainstream print media front-page coverage (CPA)

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7 Ocotber 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Northern Provincial Council (NPC) election in Sri Lanka was held on the 21 September 2013 for the first time in twenty-five years. The TNA won a total of 30 seats including 2 bonus seats in the 38 member council. The voter turnout was as high as 67.5%, which was quite unexpected due to what was believe to be a widespread disillusionment with the election process and serious intimidation of voters leading up to and on election day.
The frontpages of mainstream print media were monitored on 22 and 23 September to study the coverage given to this election and the results. Unsurprisingly, even amongst non-State / privately owned media, the Sinhala newspapers carried relatively fewer articles, lead news stories and editorials in comparison to Tamil and English newspapers, which featured a lot more coverage around the eelction and its significance for the Tamil people in the North.
Of particular significance in State-owned newspapers is the lack of coverage even in the Tamil Newspapers over the election result and its significance. Thinakaran, the only State owned Tamil newspaper, did not publish any lead news around the results on the 22 September, the day after the election. The State-owned English newspaper, Daily News and Sinhala Newspaper, Dinamina published lead news on the 22 September. Even the few articles published in Thinakaran on 22 and 23 September were clearly biased towards and promoting the government’s perspectives and opinions.

Read and download the full report here.

source: Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA)

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“From devolution to the deep blue sea” by Dayan Jayatilleka (The Hindu)

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New Delhi, which failed to militarily support an unambiguously pro-devolution President Kumaratunga during the Tigers’ siege of Jaffna in 2000, did not extend the requested and requisite degree of military support to Mahinda Rajapaksa in an equation that would have linked such support to political progress in lockstep as it were. Instead of simply insisting on the implementation of Sri Lanka’s own constitutional provisions (obviating the need for protracted, problematic talks with the TNA and the reinvention of the wheel), it was persuaded into echoing President Rajapaksa’s promise of 13 Plus. No wonder it finds itself in a dilemma on the next steps.

Via http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/from-devolution-to-the-deep-blue-sea/article4823985.ece

source: The Hindu

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