TAMIL NATIONAL ALLIANCE AFFLICTED BY INTERNAL DISSENSION

A high level delegation comprising seven members of Parliament from the Tamil National Alliance(TNA)was in New Delhi last week from October 10th -14th  on an invitation extended by the Government of India.

KP MOVES FROM COLOMBO TO THAMILCHELVAN’s HOUSE IN KILINOCHCHI

Selvarasah Pathmanathan alias “KP” who is under the protective custody of the Sri Lankan Government has been relocated from Colombo to Kilinochchi last week by the authorities.

NAJEEB ABDUL MAJEED MAKES HISTORY AS THE FIRST MUSLIM CM OF SRI LANKA

Mohamed Najeeb Abdul Majeed made history when he was sworn in as the chief minister of the Eastern Provincial Council before President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday September 18th 2012. After the swearing in ceremony at “Temple Trees”

POST-WAR JAFFNA CHILDREN FEEL THE HEALING TOUCH OF MUSIC

Jaffna, described as the cultural capital of the Sri Lankan Tamils has for decades been a war affected region. The absence of military conflict in recent times has afforded an opportunity for the ravaged people to re-build their battered lives.

SEGU DAWOOD SAGA

Sri Lanka Muslim Congress “Thavisalar” Chairman and National List Parliamentarian Basheer Segu Dawood is in the eye of a political storm.

LAKSHMAN KADIRGAMAR LARGER THAN LIFE PERSONALITY

 August 12, 2005 was the day on which Lakshman Kadirgamar was killed by a sniper of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) concealed in the house of an unsuspecting neighbour.

LIFE AND TIMES OF KETHEESWARAN - "KETHEESH" LOGANATHAN

Ketheeswaran Loganathan called generally as “Ketheesh” was  assassinated  six years ago on August 12th  exactly one year after Lakshman Kadirgamar was killed. With his departure one more Tamil who wanted his people to live with equal rights in a united Lanka and championed that cause

TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE INDO –LANKA ACCORD

Twenty –five years have passed since the signing of the Indo – Lanka accord by former Indian Prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and ex –Sri Lankan president Junius Richard Jayewardene on July 29th 1987. It was hailed as a great breakthrough when it was signed. Much was expected of it then.

Eastern provincial elections and the muslim congres-1

The advent of elections to the Eastern Provincial Council has caused the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) to come under media spotlight during the past week. There was much interest and speculation over the course of action to be adopted (or not adopted) by the premier political party of the Sri Lankan Muslim people.

FROM WELIKADA TO VAVUNIYA: Tale of Thamilini’s transfer -2

Monday July 2nd  2012 was a red letter day in the life of SubramaniamSivakamy alias Thamilini.The 40 year old former women’s division political chief of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)formally began her period of rehabilitation

From Welikada to Vavuniya: Tale of Thamilini’s transfer

Subramaniam Sivakamy  alias Thamilini was transferred from the Colombo Remand Prison(CRP) in Welikada to the  Protective Accommodation and Rehabilitation Centre(PARC)at Poonthottam in Vavuniya on June 26th.

Mervyn de Silva: reminiscences about a journalist colossus

Recent events in the sphere of English journalism  have  caused shock waves among  members of the fourth estate.  Things seem to have taken a turn for the worse in a land where giants in journalism  flourished once.

“Pulathup Puligal”(LTTE) protest against Mahinda in London

Mahinda Rajapaksa was let down badly by the London based Commonwealth Business Council that had invited the Sri Lankan President to deliver the keynote address in a symposium organized by it for  the Diamond jubilee of ascension to the  throne by  Queen Elizabeth II of Britain.

SARATH FONSEKA: HISTORIC CONFLUENCE OF TWIN PROCESSES

The “release” of  Sarath Fonseka Former Army commander and erstwhile contender for the 2010 Presidential stakes from jail due to remission of his prison sentences by President Mahinda  Rajapaksa has infused fresh excitement into the Sri Lankan Political scenario.

Ensuring TNA Participation at the PSC

The political dialogue between the Sri Lankan Government  and the Tamil National Alliance(TNA)that progressed in fits and starts has  reached a state of  impasse for several months.

DMK CHIEF KARUNANIDHI REVIVES TAMIL EELAM DEMAND

Muthuvel Karunanidhi the Octogenarian leader of India’s Dravida Munnetra Kazgagham (DMK)  has a flair for creating controversy through provocative pronouncements. Karunanidhi known widely as “Kalainjer” or Artiste has been the chief minister of Tamil Nadu state for nearly 19 years serving five terms in office.

Is Dayan Jayatilleka the target of a witch-hunt?

“I see, these books are probably law books, and it is an essential part of the justice dispensed here that you should be condemned not only in innocence but also in ignorance.” -- Franz Kafka in “The Trial”

“GOING TO GENEVA”:TNA IN THE EYE OF A POLITICAL STORM

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) regarded as the premier political representative organization of the Sri Lankan Tamils has been in the eye of a political storm for the past few weeks. The TNA which contested the 2010 Parliamentary polls under the Housesymbol of the “Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi”(ITAK)has been mired in controversy over its recent decision of not going to Geneva in Switzerland where the 19th session of the United Natio

MARIE COLVIN: THE UNCROWNED QUEEN OF INTREPID JOURNALISTS

It was with a deep sense of sadness that I read about the death of Marie Catherine Colvin the respected war correspondent of Britain's "Sunday Times" 22nd along with a French photojournalist Remi Ochlik in Syria on February.

OPERATION HOLDFAST”:CONTOURS OF A COUP CONSPIRACY

“Operation Holdfast” was the codename given by a group of conspirators to a plot devised to overthrow the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Government headed by the world’s first woman Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike through a bloodless coup d’etat in January 1962. 

50th ANNIVERSARY OF ABORTIVE COUP D’ETAT CONSPIRACY IN JANUARY 1962

Fifty years ago on Sunday January 28th 1962 the people of the Island nation known then as “Ceylon” were rocked by a special news bulletin in the afternoon  on “Radio Ceylon” (Sri Lanka Broadcasting  Corporation)that interrupted regular programming . The shocking announcement repeated ad nauseam by a male voice on Radio stated that a conspiracy to stage a coup d’etat had been foiled.