Category: Articles & Reviews

Tamil Parties Must Urge Full Implementation of 13A

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Tamil Parties Must Urge Full Implementation of 13A D. B. S. Jeyaraj Last week’s article was about the guerilla war fought by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) against the Indian Army in the Trincomalee district. The JVP campaign in Trinco was then led by Kumar Gunaratnam alias “Gemunu”. Gunaratnam later split from the JVP and co-founded the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP). Kumar Gunaratnam alias Kumar/Kumara is currently the leader and general secretary of the FSP.  This week’s article focuses on the Indo-Lanka accord. It was in the aftermath of the…

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Constitutional reform and economic downturn

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Constitutional reform and economic downturn Media reports say that the draft 22nd Amendment (21st Amendment if enacted) is to be debated in the Cabinet today. They also claim that the current draft is different from the 22nd Amendment prepared under the instructions of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Interestingly, both drafts were prepared by the same Justice Minister and he who justified the earlier draft will also explain the basis for the new draft as well. It is ironic that the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government that enacted the 20th Amendment in October…

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Opinion: Remembering the India-Sri Lanka accord and how it was derailed

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Opinion: Remembering the India-Sri Lanka accord and how it was derailed MR Narayan Swamy (News Minute) It has been thirty-five long years since an experiment failed to herald peace to Sri Lanka. One wonders what the island nation could have achieved if the key players had not scuttled the India-Sri Lanka agreement of July 29, 1987.  When the pact was signed by Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President Junius Jayewardene, two Indian ministers shared with Gandhi their insight of the situation. External Affairs Minister PV Narasimha Rao…

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Ranil: Not the man to lead Sri Lanka out of the crisis

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Sri Lanka’s Ranil Wickremesinghe is a schemer and the West’s stooge. Not the man to lead it out of crisis Asian Angle by Kalinga Seneviratne (South China Post) Ranil Wickremesinghe, a five-time PM who has never completed a full term in office, only gained the presidency via horse-trading and with Western help He claims he can schmooze the IMF, but Sri Lanka would be better served if India and China stepped up and worked with Russia to craft a BRICS bailout Sri Lanka’s newly elected president Ranil Wickremesinghe addresses the media in…

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Burning Questions of the Sri Lankan People’s Movement: What is to be Done?

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(This article is based on a talk delivered at the online session organised by International Solidarity with the People’s Movement in Sri Lanka on a 23.07.2022) The people’s movement in Sri Lanka has entered into a deadlock with the ‘(s)election’ of Ranil Wickremesinghe as President. Within hours of him assuming office, a mid-night crackdown on the Galle Face protest camp was unleashed. Only cowards attack in the dead of the night as they have much to hide during the day. Despite brutal state repression, the people’s movement shows a resilient commitment to…

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‘Rajapaksas Lacked Vision, Worked for Themselves’: Erik Solheim, Peace Mediator in Sri Lanka War

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‘Rajapaksas Lacked Vision, Worked for Themselves’: Erik Solheim, Peace Mediator in Sri Lanka War According to him, both the LTTE and Colombo could have made compromises and established a federal state. “If Delhi insisted on making all decisions for Chennai, India would also break up.” (M R Narayan Swamy –WIRE) Norwegian diplomat Erik Solheim, who was the spearhead of an international peace process in Sri Lanka which failed, says the now ousted Rajapaksa brothers had no larger vision for their country and were into doing “politics for themselves.” Solheim, among…

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“Rowdy clan” no forum to adopt democratic Constitution

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“Rowdy clan” no forum to adopt democratic Constitution During the Budget 2022 debate in parliament concluded a week ago, PM Mahinda Rajapaksa responding to a query by the Opposition said the Constitution being drafted now, will be first discussed with all MPs before presenting in parliament. A few days before PM responded, Foreign Minister Prof. Peiris told parliament the draft Constitution would be presented in parliament around mid-January.Their announcements on behalf of the nine member “Expert Draft Committee” appointed with cabinet approval is proved manipulated by political leaders of the Government.…

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Chemical fertiliser ban reversed?

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Chemical fertiliser ban reversed? Agriculture Ministry Secy. says chemical fertilisers will be imported Mahindananda claims no decision to import chemical for paddy, vegetables Shasheendra says 100% organic not possible in one season SJB claims chemical fertiliser ban now reversed By Buddhika Samaraweera- The Morning 22-11-2021 Ministry of Agriculture Secretary Prof. Udith K. Jayasinghe-Mudalige stated yesterday (21) that steps will be taken to re-import standardised, second-generation chemical fertilisers, agrochemicals, and essential plant nutrients required for paddy, maize, vegetables, and other plantation crops, which, if implemented, would appear to signal an abandonment…

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New Constitution needs to reflect Sri Lanka’s plurality

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New Constitution needs to reflect Sri Lanka’s plurality by Jehan Perera (The Island 16th November2021) Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has informed Parliament that the draft constitution will be finalised by the end of the year. An expert committee to draft a new constitution was appointed in September last year, soon after the government won the general election with close to a 2/3 majority. In his inaugural address to the newly elected Parliament, on August 20, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced that the government would replace the existing constitution and do away…

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A strategy for leftists and nationalists

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A strategy for leftists and nationalists by Uditha Devapriya- The Island Since at least 1977, nationalists and leftists have constantly been defining themselves against one another. The key years in which this gulf widened would be 1980 (the July strike), 1982 (the presidential election), 1983 (the anti-Tamil pogrom and the proscription of the Left), and 1987 (the Indo-Lanka Accord). What we see in those years is a middle-class abandoning the Left: partly on account of an ideological turnaround, but also, more crucially, on account of the different trajectories such ideologies…

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