Visiting the I.D.P. camps: A subjective experience
Hello Friends, It was on July 22nd that I posted an article by Lilani Jayatilaka on this blog with my heading "A Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Sri Lanka"?. As I stated in my introduction the...
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SWRD Bandaranaike: Assassination of a Prime Minister
By D.B.S. Jeyaraj September 26th 1959 is an important date in the post-independence history of Sri Lanka. It was on this day fifty years ago that the Prime Minister Solomon West Ridgeway Dias...
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Mrs. Bandaranaike: The world’s first woman Prime Minister
by D.B. S. Jeyaraj Hello Friends Today July 21st is the 50th anniversary of Mrs. Sirima Bandaranaike becoming Prime Minister of Sri Lanka then known as Ceylon. Needless to say she made history then as...
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How Mrs. Bandaranaike became Prime Minister in 1960
By D.B.S. Jeyaraj Fifty years ago on 21 July 1960, Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike was sworn in as Prime Minister of Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was known then). The 44-year-old widow of Solomon West...
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Horror of a pogrom: Remembering “Black July” 1983
by D.B.S. Jeyaraj The tragic history of post – independence Sri Lanka records that the Tamils of Sri Lanka have been subjected to mass –scale mob violence in the years 1956, 1958, 1977, 1981 and 1983....
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Remembering Lakshman Kadirgamar on Fifth Anniversary of his Death
By D.B.S.Jeyaraj (Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was killed on August 12th 2005. This article written in August 2005 for "The Sunday Leader" is reproduced here to commemorate the fifth...
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Terrible truth of the Trincomalee tragedy
Hello Friends, Compliments of the Season and Greetings for New Year. A New Year dawns and the nation gears up to face what lies ahead. In a reflective mood I went through some of the articles I had...
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50th Anniversary of 1961 Tamil “Satyagraha” campaign
By D.B.S.JEYARAJ "Thus the violence of the oppressor silenced the non-violence of the oppressed; the armed might of Sinhala chauvinism crushed the ahimsa of the Tamils. This historical event marked the...
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Non-violent direct action campaign begins in Jaffna
by D.B.S. Jeyaraj The Throne Speech outlining the policies and plans of the new Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Government of Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike was delivered on August 12th 1960....
View ArticleSatyagraha receives “Baptism of fire” on first day
by D.B.S Jeyaraj The batch of volunteers from the Kankesanthurai(KKS) electorate led by Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) leader Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam commenced their Satyagraha...
View ArticleBrigadier Balraj: LTTE’s fearless frontline commander
By D.B.S.Jeyaraj Three days in May (17th -19th) marked the second anniversary of the total military defeat suffered by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE). While a large number of senior LTTE...
View Article‘Brigadier’ Balraj: Legendary commander of the LTTE
by D.B.S. Jeyaraj (continued from last week) With the Indian army dislodging the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) from its entrenched positions in the Jaffna peninsula through “Operation Pawan”...
View ArticleSivaji Ganesan: A doyen among actors in Tamil cinema
By D.B.S. Jeyaraj Hello Friends Sivaji Ganesan who passed away on July 21st 2001 is widely regarded as the greatest thespian of post-independence Tamil cinema. This doyen among Tamil actors was one of...
View ArticleFr. Jim Brown: Mystery of the missing priest
Hello Friends Five years ago on August 20th Fr. Thiruchelvam Nihal Jim Brown a Catholic Priest serving in the Jaffna Diocese and Wenceslaus Vimaladhas a Catholic layman went missing in the north. Aug...
View ArticleBharatha Lakshman Premachandra: A tragic anti-hero
by D.B.S. Jeyaraj Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra , gunned down brutally on October 8th 2011 was a vibrant personality who could be portrayed as an “anti-hero” of real life. The circumstances of his...
View ArticleFifth death anniversary of TNA Jaffna MP Nadarajah Raviraj
by D.B.S. Jeyaraj Hello Friends, It was on November 10th 2006 that Nadarajah Raviraj was brutally gunned down along with his Police bodyguard in broad daylight near his residence in Colombo. Five years...
View ArticleChristmas and New Year Greetings and Wishes Everybody
By D.B.S.Jeyaraj Hello Friends Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! The Many Faces of Christmas – Shaped Wooden Puzzle from Sri Lanka~ Photographed by Mary Harrsch at an exhibit of over 900 nativity...
View Article50th Anniversary of abortive coup d’etat conspiracy in January 1962
By D.B.S. Jeyaraj Fifty years ago on Sunday January 28th 1962 the people of the Island nation known then as “Ceylon” were rocked by a special news bulletin in the afternoon on “Radio Ceylon” (Sri Lanka...
View Article“Operation Holdfast”: Contours of a Coup Conspiracy
By D.B.S. Jeyaraj 50th Anniversary of Attempted 1962 Coup D’etat – 2 “Operation Holdfast” was the codename given by a group of conspirators to a plot devised to overthrow the Sri Lanka Freedom Party...
View ArticleThirty Sixth Birth Anniversary of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
by D.B.S. Jeyaraj Hello Friends The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which determined the course of Sri Lankan politics for more than two decades is no more a functional entity today. The LTTE...
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