Relangi Selvarajah’s killing in 2005 is a reminder of the risks faced by critics of Tamil militancy and the LTTE during Sri Lanka’s civil war – and of the persisting impunity around crimes against journalists in the country
This week in Himal
This week, Sohel Sarkar reviews three recent books unpacking the violent roots of caste-based vegetarianism. Sarkar writes that vegetarianism in India continues to be framed in
A conversation on the failed attempts at accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka and hopes from the country’s new political dispensation for movement towards transitional justice.
The Indian-Francophone writer Ari Gautier on Black and Dalit struggles, indentured labour, and the little-known histories of French colonialism in South India
It is natural to compare Gaza today and Tamils’ plight at the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War – but claims that the LTTE stood in solidarity with Palestine and got training from the PLO are dangerously misleading
Sri Lanka rejected the Rajapaksas and an entire political establishment in the presidential election, with voters serious about a break with the past, says human rights advocate Ambika Satkunanathan
Tamil nationalism faces a new challenge as the climate emergency spreads in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province and other Tamil-dominated areas, where the ravages of war and systemic discrimination have left the population especially vulnerable
With mainstream Sri Lankan parties feeling compelled to pander to Sinhala Buddhist voters, Tamil-led parties have been pushed to take more hardline positions to address Tamil voters’ frustrations - historically and today
Sampanthan’s death prompted glowing tributes from Colombo but relative indifference in the Tamil community, which gained nothing from his and the Tamil National Alliance’s compromises with the Sri Lankan state
Two recent books conjure up a society and polity in Tamil Nadu bound by a Dravidian consensus, but they fail to explore the economic and social contexts behind fissures in the Dravidian compact – especially when it comes to the Dalit question
Building on an inclusive Dravidian politics, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has provided leadership to the opposition alliance countering the Bharatiya Janata Party, and Tamil Nadu has shown a better path for India’s development
