Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

Pera, with all due respect, Berty seems to be refraining from personal attacks on you these days or retaliating, and is maintaining a studios silence. This is the correct approach.

Perhaps you should do the same and just let him be. It's all unnecessary and it does not show you in good light.

Let the man be now.

Your an intelligent man - just focus on destroying the dumb peelamists views instead of personal attacks, despite past history and who is right or who is wrong or who started it etc.

attempts are made to weaken LTTE at an enormous cost to the economy.

June 25, 2006
SRI LANKA: The Ethnic Conflict
Posted by Ranjith Wijewardene under Uncategorized | Tags: Blogroll, media, News and politics, South Asia, Uncategorized, us, Word Of Wisdom, World News |
Comments

by Charles Gunawardena

Having lived in Britain for a few decades, I appreciate that its long tradition of democracy and respect for human rights predisposes its people to have sympathy for minority groups struggling against what they see as oppression and discrimination by majority communities. Having been a journalist, I am aware of the difficulties of reporting fairly on complex ethnic conflicts in unfamiliar societies. As a Sri Lankan, I have been concerned that reports and comments on the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka have sometimes tended to fall short of the highest standards of British journalism.

These considerations have impelled me to set down what is presented in this paper. It draws attention to some aspects of the Sri Lankan problem which seem to me to receive insufficient consideration. It suggests that certain journalistic practices should be used with greater care.

I hope these few pages will assist at least a few of those whose words, heard or read, have the power to influence the perceptions of millions to gain a better understanding of the tragic situation in which Sri Lankans of all communities are trapped.

(About the writer: I started work as a journalist in Sri Lanka in the 1950s, when for a few years I also reported on Sri Lanka as a stringer for The Economist, the Christian Science Monitor and Handelsblatt. I later handled information and press relations at Sri Lanka s Foreign Ministry and as a diplomat in London and New Delhi. In the 1980s I was head of information at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London. I was later on the staff of the South Commission and the Commission of Global Governance and helped prepare their reports. The second edition of my Encyclopedia of Sri Lanka was published in 2006 (http://www.srilanka-encyclopedia.com).

A potted history

Settlers from India s north - today s Sinhalese - and south - today s Sri Lankan Tamils - have lived in the island for over two millennia. From ancient to medieval times, kings from India s south occasionally invaded the country. This did not deter later Sinhalese kings from sending to South India for Tamil queens. The Sinhalese royal line ended with four kings from South India on the throne in succession in the last capital, Kandy. The British, who deposed the last in 1815, exiled him to South India.

Read a 'fake' Sinhalese:

Who is 'Berty'?

Well you should know that after all this time

Settlers from India s north - today s Sinhalese - and south - today s Sri Lankan Tamils - have lived in the island for over two millennia. From ancient to medieval times, kings from India s south occasionally invaded the country. This did not deter later Sinhalese kings from sending to South India for Tamil queens. The Sinhalese royal line ended with four kings from South India on the throne in succession in the last capital, Kandy. The British, who deposed the last in 1815, exiled him to South India.