Month: August 2016

Another week, another round in the recent debate in the columns of Sri Lanka’s The Island into which I’ve  unwittingly been dragged. At any rate, with any luck the barrage of criticism I’ve been receiving in those pages of latre will die down soon. We shall see. For clarity’s sake, beneath my response I’m adding the article to which it was a reply. Richard Armitage, Former US Deputy Secretary of State on a visit to Sri Lanka, here with President Sirisena. Photo: Asiantrubune.coma Staying On Message August 30, 2016 Vinod Moonesinghe (The Island, 29 Aug 2016) offers a, to say… More

Norway in Sri Lanka: in defence of negotiations LTTE’s leader Prabhakaran with Norway’s envoy Erik Solheim. Photo/Tamilnet Here’s the latest installment of my contribution to a debate that’s been raging in the coloumns of Sri Lanka’s The Island over the last week. The immediate subject is Norwegian conduct in the aftermath of the assassination of Sri Lankan Froeign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in August 2005 – an event whose 11th anniversary fell earlier this month. More broadly, it’s about the role of facilitators and mediators in peace processes and what they should – and should not – try to do in… More

A Long Watch: The Capture of Commodore Boyagoda Here is a sensitive, thoughtful account of how her fascinating new book came to be by authoress Sunila Galiappatti. The book, A Long ‘Watch: The Capture of Commander Boyagoda, was recently released by Hurst, my own publishers in London. This article itself was originally published in The Wire. The Risks of Testimony: ‘Memories of Captivity with the Tamil Tigers BY SUNILA GALAPPATTI LTTE leaders at Sirumalai camp, Tamil Nadu, in 1984 while being trained by Indian Intelligence (RAW). Credit: Wikimedia CommonsThe framing of A Long Watch: War, Captivity and Return in Sri Lanka… More

Norway ‘Secrets’ are No Secret Raghavan and Aijitha Kadirgamar, eldest son and daughter of assassinated Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Laskhman Kadirgamar, by their father’s funeral pyre, Colombo, 15 August 2005. Source: FP PHOTO/Indranil MUKHERJEE   Post summer holidays and I find myself once again responding to revisionist accounts of the Norwegian’s engagement in the Sri Lankan peace process in the domestic press. This time the subject is the aftermath of the assassination – almost certainly by the LTTE – of noted Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in August 2005. Below is my riposte, published as an op ed in… More