By Prof. V.Suryanarayan, SAAG, 12 May 2012 - MY STORY AS A CHILD SOLDIER IN SRI LANKA’S BLOODY CIVIL WAR (Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 2011), pp. 308, Price not mentioned. - Writing about his literary career, Robert Frost once wrote: “I have never started a poem yet whose end I know. Writing a poem is a discovery”. I was in the same predicament when I started reviewing Niromi de Soyza’s absorbing account as a Tamil Tigress. I planned a brief review, but then I realized that such an account will not enable the discerning readers of SAAG to understand the twists and turns of Tamil militancy and how the Tigers degenerated into one of the most ruthless and inhuman terrorist organizations in contemporary world. I felt that the best way to do justice to the book is to sum up Niromi’s life as a Tigress in her own words. This alone is the justification for the unusually long essay.

By Prof V Suryanarayan, Centre Right India, 10 April 2012 - Nehru regretted that few Sinhalese leaders, in their short-sightedness, were trying to strain the relations between two countries. In his report to the Congress President, Nehru remarked, “When the British Empire fades away, where will Ceylon go? She must associate herself, economically at least, with larger groups and India is obviously indicated. Because of this, it is unfortunate that many of the leaders of Ceylon should help in creating barriers between India and Ceylon. They do not seem to realize that India can do well without Ceylon in the future to come, Ceylon may not be able to do without India”.

By V. Suryanarayan, SAAG, 24-Mar-2012 - Human Rights organizations and Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora have valid reasons to be jubilant about the outcome of the 19th Session of Human Rights Council held in Geneva on March 22, 2012. There was intense lobbying by the Sri Lankan Government to defeat the US sponsored resolution to promote reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka. On the other hand, activists in the Tamil diaspora ceaselessly campaigned, supported by human rights groups, to hold the Sri Lankan Government accountable for the gross human rights violations and the killing of nearly 40,000 innocent civilians during the last stages of the Fourth Eelam War.

By V. Suryanarayan and Ashik Bonofer, SAAG, 08 September 2011 - Students of contemporary South Asian history are aware of the fact that the Government of India has responded favourably and spontaneously to any appeal for assistance by the Sri Lankan Government to tackle its domestic problems.

By V. Suryanarayan and Ashik Bonofer, SAAG, 06 September 2011 - The need of the hour is for New Delhi to say good bye to its policy of ambivalence on Sri Lanka and come out into the open to expose the true nature of the Sri Lankan Government. In Geneva when the matter comes up for discussion in the UN Human Rights Council India should take the lead and call for the institution of an international enquiry under the UN auspices. History will not forgive us if we try to shield the tyrannical Sri Lankan Government once again. The Government of India should also simultaneously encourage eminent jurists like Justice Bhagawati and Justice Rajinder Sachar to visit foreign countries to awaken the conscience of the world. The expertise of South Asia specialists associated with Jawaharlal Nehru University and Madras University, non-governmental organizations like the Asian Centre for Human Rights and the Center for Asia Studies in Chennai should be harnessed to provide the much needed intellectual inputs.

By V. Suryanarayan and Ashik Bonofer, SAAG, 05-Aug-2011 - The results of elections to local bodies, held on March 17, 2011 and July 23, 2011 and subsequent comments made by Sinhalese and Tamil leaders clearly indicate that the ethnic divide in Sri Lanka is getting sharpened. Two years after the decimation of the Tigers the Government is determined to impose a solution which reflects the will of the Sinhala majority. There is no attempt to win the hearts and minds of the Tamils by convincing them that they are equal stake holders in the present and future of Sri Lanka.

by V. Suryanarayan & Ashik Bonofer, SAAG, 06-June-2011 - Sri Lanka watchers in Tamil Nadu were hoping that the Governor’s address to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on June 3, 2011 will be in conformity with the poignant statement made by Jayalalitha to the media soon after her spectacular electoral victory. In that statement Jayalalitha solemnly assured the people of Tamil Nadu that she will exercise pressure on the Central Government to revise its Sri Lanka policy not only to expose the heinous crimes committed by the Sri Lankan Government during the last stages of the Fourth Eelam War and bring the guilty to book, but also to ensure that justice is done to the Tamils in the island nation. The reference to Sri Lanka in the Governor’s address, in contrast, was matter of fact and in many ways was a dampener to millions of Tamils across the world who expected a more forthright and assertive pronouncement. A former senior civil servant told the authors that while the first statement was an illustration of the heart swaying the head, the second was a political declaration of a government which was keen to maintain cordial relations with New Delhi.