Pri's blog

(text of a talk given at the Soroptimist International 40th Anniversary celebration s) The idea of ‘post-war’  immediately conjures up  the situation in the North and the East where the overt  fighting was most severe, and where the war devastated the infrastructure, displaced communities and destroyed a way of life and living. But at the same time, I don’t think we should be  confining our label of ‘post-war’ to the north and east.  It’s my contention that ALL  of Sri Lanka is in a post-war situation;  the war has affected all of us – in the north and in the south – Tamils and Sinhalese, and all of our institutions and our governance systems, and even our own individual ways of thinking and behaving.  It has polarized communities.  The growing militarization and centralization of government, the encroachment of the military into commerce and other spheres, the disregard for lives and livelihoods of people with no voice – we can see...

Check this out if you haven't already. http://tinyurl.com/kw526a It is a video of the Sri Lankan army executing Tamils early this year and was shown on Channel 4 recently and did the rounds of emails, facebook etc. Naturally it sparked a huge row. GOSL denied it of course. Experts tried to prove it was a fake. Last heard, GOSL was going to sue Channel 4. The footage is udoubtedly quite horrific and irrespective of whether this video is a fake or not, I think it is quite possible that such incidents could have taken place. What I find disturbing is that responsible journalists, and responsible citizens are happy to accept 'evidence' that has so obviously not been triangulated, that is openly admitted to being 'unverified'. Is it not also an indictment of our times that no one is seeing the video as depicting the brutalising effect of war . Armed conflict creates monsters on both sides - and this for me is the most important message that this video needs to bri...

This is the story of a colleague working in an organisation of which I am a director. I have changed his name as a respect to his privacy, but the story remains the same. Mr Sivanathan’s family has been severely affected by the recent events in the previously rebel-held areas of North Eastern Sri Lanka. Mr. Sivanathan’s son and daughter-in-law were teachers in Kilinochchi before they and their four children were forced into the ‘No Fire Zone’ by LTTE rebels. Whilst being held in the ‘No Fire Zone’, the family’s young son was killed by a shell attack. The funeral was held on Tuesday 19 th May. The same shell seriously injured the child’s mother, who has been transported to hospital and is being cared for by a team of French Medics. Mr. Sivanathan’s son and three surviving grandchildren, girls aged 11, 9 and 4, were rescued by the Sri Lankan army, and transferred to an IDP camp in Setti Kulam. Security measures mean that they are unable to leave the camp to visit their mother ...