Posted By:  yajitha Posted On:  Aug 9, 2008	Feature story: Cries for help from Puttalam
Less that a kilometre away from a cluster of government offices in Puttalam dedicated to the welfare of Muslim IDPs is the home of thirty one year old Madeena, her jobless husband and six children. The small, completely cadjan thatched hut, teeters upon the mercy of the weather. It is one of...... [view]

Posted By:  yajitha Posted On:  Jun 29, 2008	The voice of an IDP single mother in Puttlam
Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai “We lack road, water, and housing facilities. Our children are unable to attend school regularly as there is no proper transport service. We don’t have any facility and leading the same life even now as same as 18 years ago”. This is a...... [view]

Posted By:  yajitha Posted On:  Mar 27, 2008	Forgotten IDPs from the North
‘Cries from Puttalam’ For those familiar with the fairytales of the Grimm Brothers, the story of the young girl who equals her love for her father to her love for salt is no doubt a resounding one. Banished from her home by a wounded father who assumes her love for him to be trivial, she...... [view]

Posted By:  yajitha Posted On:  Jan 16, 2008	The divide between Muslims and Tamils: Perspective of an IDP
Opinion of Fathima, 24 and mother of one child from Karambe camp in Puttlam “I was eight year -old, when we were forced out of Jaffna. I was crying throughout the journey from Jaffna to Puttlam. We came to Puliyankulam, Vavuniya and Puttalam. It took three days for us to reach Puttlam....... [view]

Posted By:  yajitha Posted On:  Nov 15, 2007	Sri Lanka - Killing for Peace
Channel 4’s recent programme on Sri Lanka broadcast recently in England. As noted here , … the team making a documentary for Channel 4 was ordered to leave Sri Lanka’s embattled Jaffna peninsula on the orders of the country’s military [even though] reporter...... [view]

Posted By:  yajitha Posted On:  Sep 12, 2007	Sri Lanka on tsunami alert after Indonesia quake (Updated)
12 Sep 2007 12:31:03 GMT Source: Reuters COLOMBO, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka issued a tsunami alert on Wednesday for its north, south and eastern districts following a major earthquake in Indonesia, the National Disaster Management Centre said. “We have issued a warning for the...... [view]

Posted By:  yajitha Posted On:  Aug 10, 2007	We are nobody’s children…
Interview with Mrs. Alisa S. Mirza, Palaviya, Puttlam This camp occupies approx. 70 families evicted from Jaffna in 1990. For the past 17 years we have been completely ignored. If I am to talk about the plight of many families, a book could be composed on this behalf. In Jaffna we had...... [view]

Posted By:  yajitha Posted On:  Jul 27, 2007	The Indo-Lanka Accord - Some reflections 20 years hence
ඉන්දු ලංකා ගිවිසුම (1987 ජූලි- 2007 ජූලි): අවස්ථාවක්ද? බලහත්කාරයක් ද? “ඉන්දු ලංකා ගිවිසුමෙහි දසවන සංවත්සරය අවස්ථාව...... [view]

Posted By:  yajitha Posted On:  Jul 18, 2007	Wars and Waves: Sri Lanka’s internally displaced
The 28 minute documentary “Wars and Waves: Sri Lanka’s internally displaced” that was produced by COHRE, and directed and written by me, is available online. There was a small private launch a week ago in Colombo. COHRE plans to do a larger public screening followed by a...... [view]

Posted By:  yajitha Posted On:  Jul 10, 2007	Homeless in one’s homeland
Photo credit: Agron, from Portraits of Displacement Worldwide, those rendered homeless and destitute by violent conflict is growing. According to UNHCR statistics, the figure of Internally Displaced Persons stood at over 32 million at the end of 2006. In Sri Lanka’s case, many of those...... [view]

Posted By:  yajitha Posted On:  May 25, 2007	An encounter in Puttlam: Peace as seen by two youth who served in the Army
My article is based on an encounter with two Sinhalese youth in Puttlam recently. Both had served in the Army. Both had lost limbs, though we didn’t find this out till much later. We listened silently as we sat on the bund and they recounted their stories of war, and their aspirations for...... [view]