OPINION

Opinion

Latest news from and about the homeland

  Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), the largest Tamil party in Sri Lanka and once a pioneer of Tamil nationalism in the first decades after the independence of Ceylon, has strayed far from its historic mission. Founded in 1949 as the Federal Party, ITAK was born out of the necessity to challenge the Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarianism that sought to dismantle the political and cultural…

Geopolitical interests have long impeded a solution

Interests from outside Sri Lanka that have played a significant role in prolonging the island’s war.

There are three southern poles now

Can a ‘national government’ leave out the JVP and pursue peace?

Who let the lions in?

The Ceasefire Agreement is at the heart of the contest between two antithetical visions of what Sri Lanka should be.

Friends in need

It is a tough game of numbers through alliances.

Don't expect much

Like a re-run of an old movie we have watched many times before, we are now about to sit down and watch yet another round of peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam unfold in Geneva, Switzerland next week. This time though, how many of us will be waiting with bated breath for a significant breakthrough is debatable.

Peace talks were first held in Thimpu, the capital of Bhutan in the mid-1980s, under the supervision of the Indian Government. Next week’s talks in Geneva are being held under the supervision of the Norwegian Government.

New drama in a fig leaf democracy

Principles and policies are ignored in pursuit of power, position and perks.

Understanding Muslims

The Islamic world seems astoundingly united in its stern message to the West.

What chance peace?

The formidable obstacles to peace and negotiated settlement have been assembled by President Rajapakse himself.

Double standards on the TRO

Similar attacks on aid workers elsewhere in the world are usually unreservedly condemned. Why not here?

Silent lessons: so much for free speech

An intimate view of international standards on human rights, democracy and all that.