1/.@HarshadeSilvaMP quotes Mr Sampanthan who reportedly said solution to ethnic conflict must be acceptable to Sinhala majority, with which Mr De Silva agrees. I will first deal with Mr De Silva’s position and then explain why Mr Sampanthan may have made such a remark. 2/Successive govts failed to provide solution claiming Sinhalese maj didn’t want power to be shared with Tamils. Maj Sinhalese voting for Gotabaya R whose selling point is keeping minorities in their place as 2nd class citizens, shows racism is deeply ingrained. Case in point 👇🏽

1/ #Militarisation

Audit reports (issued by Auditor-Gen) of tri-forces provide a snapshot of financial waste, mismanagement and possible misappropriation. Despite this, military isn’t held accountable as these issues/reports aren’t even debated in parliament. @IMFNews

https://twitter.com/sulorammohan/status/1731624943727816733

2/The procurement section in the Army’s 2022 audit report makes interesting reading. The SLA didn’t have a main procurement plan for 3 yrs. The plan for year under review (47.45 billion) did not mention the number of units of goods or services to be procured.

1/#PoliceBrutality #Torture

On 26 Dec 2022 around 10 men in civvies entered house in Periyaneavanai, Amparai, allegedly severely beat & dragged out 3 men. When wife of 1 inquired why they were beating them,they verbally abused her, pulled her trouser down & kicked her in stomach 2/The sister of woman who was kicked asked same Q & was also kicked in stomach.Women followed them out & saw a white van parked & behind it a blue jeep with Akkaraipattu police written on it.The abductors thrust 1 man’s head under seat, all the while verbally abusing man’s wife

1/Outrage being expressed about male police officer using force against woman police officer. This incident can’t be viewed in isolation of nature of institution and broader political culture- patriarchal, violent, abusive, politicized and never held to account. 2/It isn’t one govt that’s responsible but successive govts. Police began acting like counter -insurgency force at times during war. Accountability for war time violations are ignored even now & many who are outraged by current actions would likely defend war time violations.

1/ #RepealPTA

Rathinam Kamalaharan who was working for the Civil Security Division (CSD) was arrested in July 2020 under #PTA and released in April 2022 on bail. He has to go to court twice a month and sign on last Sunday of month. He obtained a loan of Rs 650,000 in Jan 2020. 2/He has 3 children under the age of 10. His family struggled to meet basic needs while he was in prison. Even though out on bail he can’t return to CSD & has difficulty finding other work. Crt has ordered them to pay back loan with interest, which they don’t have ability to.

1/ My thoughts on support for the (role played by) LTTE.

PS: I have been attacked on social media, news websites as well as certain Tamil diaspora media & called traitor, anti-Tamil & pro-military. At the same time govt affiliated ppl have labeled me traitor, anti-natl & LTTE.

https://twitter.com/sarithairugal/status/1520241866049933314

2/The fact I have to first show my bona fides, as it were, by saying I was attacked by “both sides” to show I am being objective illustrates the challenge Tamils face when calling for a nuanced understanding of & means to deal with the violent past, which spills into our present.