Protesters in front of the US embassy call for an end to US military support for Israel.
#GazaGenocide #Palestine #Israel #US
Two of four pillars of Transitional Justice are truth and justice. Without truth and justice, history has shown that it is impossible to transition from a post conflict society to one where there is sustainable peace. The Mylanthanai massacre of 1992 is an example of where, while the truth was revealed, justice did not ensure.
#conflict #justice #truth #stories #experiences #law
Protecting farmers’ livelihoods and ensuring a stable milk supply for the nation: On the scene of an ongoing roadside protest in Siththandi, the cattle farmers have united to reclaim their ancestral grazing lands. #rights #economy #governance
S. Ganeshamoorthi, Principal of Hindu National School, Matale shares his perspective as a principal on living in peace and harmony.
#Malaiyaham200 #MalaiyahaTamils
Today #MalaiyahaTamils marched from Tirappane to Kekirawa, spanning 22km making the 11th day of the march a success.While demanding equal rights they also portrayed their power of unity today.
Now the cultural event is happening at Kekirawa Cultural Centre.
#Malaiyaham200 #MaanbumiguMalaiyaham
From Pilgrim To Terrorist
How a Sri Lankan Tamil man's journey in search of spiritual connection ended in torture, trauma and a false terror charge that stole almost a decade of his life.
Hundreds of civillians are still incacerated under the draconian anti-terror law in Sri Lanka - Prevention of Terrorism Act
Stay tuned to @groundviews as we bring you the unstold stories of #PTA victims in Sri Lanka.
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Story and Video by Buwanaka Sagindra Perera
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#lka #PTA #SriLanka #antiTerrorLaw #humanrights #HumanRightsViolations #ArbitraryArrest #freedomofreligion #torture #CitizenJournalism #investigation #abolishpta #RepealPTA #GroundViews
The people who brought us here should help us
“We have no way to live. Other than farming, there are no alternative jobs for us to do. Whatever we grow is for home consumption. The costs have gone so much for urea, diesel and all the other inputs for cultivation. The people who brought us here should help us,” says Kadiramalai.
And yet there is little help for the 22 families who live in the village of Kanchanamutti in the interior of the Vavuniya district are refugees who returned from India, some having lived in Tamil Nadu camps for 28 years. They fled their homes in Mullaitivu to escape the bombs and shells that caused havoc and drove them to find shelter elsewhere.
In 2018, they were resettled on the land in Vavuniya; a place to grow paddy, chillies and brinjals, raise some livestock and live in peace. But the reality has been very different. Unable to cope with the harsh conditions, lack of infrastructure and any assistance from the government, 20 families abandoned the village for greener pastures. Their crumbling grey brick houses are being gradually reclaimed by the forest, serving as stark reminders of the failure of resettlement and rehabilitation of people who have already gone through so much trauma.
To read more about the villagers of Kanchanamutti, click the link below.
https://groundviews.org/2022/11/29/abandoned-to-their-fate-northern-villagers-battle-to-survive/
#Poverty #Farming #FertiliserCrisis #HungerIndex #Inflation #ForexCrisis #LandRights #Settlement #Vavuniya #TamilNadu #SriLanka #lka
The last we saw him, he was going to the market to buy biscuits
Yesterday Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa met with Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sampanthan to discuss the issues faced by the Tamil community. The meeting comes amidst President Wickremesinghe's assurances that an all party solution to the 'ethnic problem' would be found by Sri Lanka's 75th Independence day.
Last month however, the Families of the Disappeared in the North held a vigil and protested the absence of the international community in a meeting between Tamil politicians and members of the Sri Lankan government. Most of the families lost their loved ones during the final phase of the Sri Lankan Army's offensive under President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
When groundviews visited some of the families at the tent, one of the mothers present was Nandasmay Manoranjitha, whose son Kandasamy Mohan went missing in 2009. She is convinced he is still detained by the security forces. "He was born in Warakapola, can speak all three languages and is well educated," she told us.
Manoranjitha and her family left their home in Kilinochchi for Chettikulam where her family had a house. She wanted to prevent her children from being forcibly recruited by the LTTE and so the move south seemed like a good idea. Yet on the way from Kilinochchi, Kandasamy went missing.
"The last we saw him, he was going to the market to buy biscuits," Manoranjitha's family had told her.
Stability or Protest, That is the Question
"Pregnant women are becoming anemic and children are facing malnutrition so in long run what’s the stability?"
Earlier this month, a statement was issued by several business chambers including the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Chamber of Young Lanka Entrepreneurs and Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry calling for the cessation of protests to allow for the 'recovery of the economy'.
But the fact remains that while a certain section of the population is once again enjoying the benefits of electricity, petrol, gas and food supplies, the majority of Sri Lankans, especially the urban poor, are fighting for their very survival.
Trade union activist and lawyer Swasthika Arulingam spoke to Groundviews, on the failure of large companies to look after their workers, the future of the aragalaya and her own hopes for a rejuvenated Sri Lanka.
For more, read Minoli de Soysa's article 'Stability or Protest, That is the Question'
https://groundviews.org/2022/11/12/stability-or-protest-that-is-the-question/
"Where are we? Let's go home now".
Sirisena interrupts his wife Karuna as she relates the story of how she found out her two children Nishantha and Samantha were abducted from their home in 1989. She was abroad when the abduction happened. Sirisena was at home and had tried to fight off his children's abductors. Yet he was shoved off and severely beaten. He copped a blow to his head with a rifle and his memory has continuously faded since then. He remembers very little now.
"The only time he seems to remember something he feels sad," Karuna says.
Karuna never saw her children being taken away. The only source of knowing what happened on that fateful day is trapped within the faded memory of her husband. "I can't even organise an almsgiving or have anything to remember them by because I don't know what happened. I didn't see it."
#SriLanka #Remembrance #InRemembrance #FamiliesoftheDisappeared #Disappeared #Justice #LKA #Accountability #EnforcedDisappearences
"I have given up hope of finding out the truth now"
Jayanthi Amarasinghe's husband and son were dragged away from their home in Mirihana one night in December 1989. "They came at around 11 and were dressed in dark clothing. One of them was wielding a T-56 rifle".
Although she fought to keep them with her, she was overpowered and brushed aside. The last she saw of her son and husband were them being forced inside of a green van. Later she heard that the two of them were taken to the Thalapathpitya cemetery and murdered there. When she arrived, however, there was no trace of their bodies.
It has been more than thirty years since, but there has been no official confirmation of what happened to Jayanthi's husband Newton, and their 17 year old son Jayantha that December night.
"I have given up hope of finding out the truth now," she told Groundviews.
Coming Home
Abu Saleem has been home now for more than 6 months, but life is still not as it was. During his period in detention his wife was looked at with suspicion by the villagers, while his children faced ridicule in school. To the village, Abu Saleem was a terror suspect. Rumours flew that his entire family had taken photographs with the mastermind of the Easter Sunday Attacks Zaharan Hashim, and that a cache of weapons and gold were found stashed in his house. His release from prison hasn't put these to rest nor has it made much of a difference.
Even as Saleem tries to get his life back, he still faces harassment and surveillance by the CID and TID. His new place of work has CID officers visiting to ask questions. His bank accounts have been frozen so he is unable to get his salary deposited in the bank. He cannot travel abroad to work without his passport which has been confiscated. All this while still suffering from crippling back pain from the beatings he received while in prison.
“The PTA is an unfair law. Without evidence people are being arrested and after that the police manufacture the evidence," says Saleem. He is a free man now, but his life has been wrecked by an unjust law
For more on the story of Abu Saleem and the Prevention of Terrorism act, watch this space. To learn his full story, read our article here:
https://groundviews.org/2022/10/12/a-life-wrecked-by-an-unjust-law/
#RepealPTA #SriLanka #PreventionofTerrorismAct #lka #PTA #HumanRights #EasterSundayAttacks #EasterSunday #Justice #Kalpitiya
Abu Saleem was taken from his home in Kalpitiya in May 2020 by 5 CID officers and driven to Colombo. Media reports at the time said that Saleem was an ISIS agent who ran a weapons training camp in Madurankuliya, but Abu Saleem was only the manager for children's charity organisation.
At the CID office in Colombo, Saleem was handcuffed to a table and beaten and abused for 13 days. The handcuffs remained on Saleem as he slept. All the while TID officers forced him to confess to crimes he had not committed. A confession would mean he would be released in three days, he was told.
Read Saleem's full story here:
https://groundviews.org/2022/10/12/a-life-wrecked-by-an-unjust-law/
#RepealPTA #SriLanka #PreventionofTerrorismAct #lka #PTA #HumanRights #EasterSundayAttacks #EasterSunday #Justice #Kalpitiya
