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prashan commenting on 1953
Hemaka, I think the point you responded to, and your response speak to the purpose of creating this timeline of encouraging debate on various contested historical events. Some do indeed…

hemaka dissanayake commenting on 1953
While I have no doubt that their were genuine cases of discrimination against tamils in Sri Lanka, I find this ‘colonization mania’ of Tamil politicians unjust. Firstly, there is overwhelming…

Namil commenting on 1888
What do the modern intellectuals say about the ethnic difference among Tamil speaking Muslims and Tamil speaking Hindu/Christians? I mean, do Muslims belong to the Tamil minority or not?…

Sunil Bastian commenting on 3 October 2001
I am not that enthusiastic about talk of resurrecting the Constitutional Council because it amounts to tinkering with the presidential system, instead of questioning it fundamentally. When such powerful institutions…

pact team commenting on Feature: Historical roots and contemporary causes of conflict in Sri Lanka
In the final part of our interview with Sunil Bastian, he comments on the continuing relevance of Tamil grievances that date back to the 60s and 70s, on engaging with…

pact team commenting on Feature: Historical roots and contemporary causes of conflict in Sri Lanka
In the third installment of our interview with Sunil Bastian, he talks about the impact of intra-ethnic divisions and elite politics on finding a resolution to the conflict in Sri…

PACT team commenting on Feature: Historical roots and contemporary causes of conflict in Sri Lanka
In the second part of our interview with Sunil Bastian, he responds to the idea that conflict between Tamils and Sinhalese was inevitable and that British colonialism precipitated it. When people…

prashan commenting on 28 May 2009
The resolution at the UN Human Rights Council, absolving the Sri Lankan government of any complicity in human rights abuses during the final stages of the war, the confirmation of…

pact team commenting on Feature: Historical roots and contemporary causes of conflict in Sri Lanka
In the first part of our interview with Sunil Bastian, he introduces his ideas on the nature of the state as the central question when examining Sri Lanka’s conflict, and…

Kannan Arunasalam commenting on Feature: Historical roots and contemporary causes of conflict in Sri Lanka
In the third installment of our interview with Dr. Pradeep Jeganathan, he discusses the need for constitutional change, including a brief assessment of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, and…

Kannan Arunasalam commenting on 15 June 1956
To pick up on the comment left by Kumar Silva on the evolution of the ‘Tamil Eelam’ concept, I think perhaps there is a need to distinguish between early articulation…

Kumar Silva commenting on 15 June 1956
Tamil nationalism started before 1956. It was the distinguished civil servant, Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam, who invented the concept of ‘Tamil Eelam’ in 1922. Please read the following: 1. http://sundaytimes.lk/030209/columns/cv.html 2. http://www.tamilnation.org/selfdetermination/tamileelam/2200arunachalam.htm In 1949,…

PACT team commenting on Feature: Historical roots and contemporary causes of conflict in Sri Lanka
Dr. Jeganathan compares and contrasts Sri Lanka’s particular colonial experience with the experiences of other colonised countries, under Britain and France. It’s worth stepping back for a moment and thinking…

PACT team commenting on Feature: Historical roots and contemporary causes of conflict in Sri Lanka
Dr. Pradeep Jeganathan talks to the PACT team about why it is important to pay particular attention to Sri Lanka’s colonial past when looking at roots of conflict in Sri…

Farzana Haniffa commenting on Feature: Historical roots and contemporary causes of conflict in Sri Lanka
Dr. Jeganathan raises an important point regarding the historical antecedents of Muslim political consciousness. I agree that these historical moments that Dr. Jeganathan mentions indicate an incipient political consciousness -…

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