KAMALIKA PIERIS Sirancee Gunawardena, the author of ‘Palm leaf manuscripts of Sri Lanka ‘(1977) met J. Pannila of Artigala south, Hanwella when she was researching palm leaf manuscripts.   He was then a village elder and was the descendant of   a long line of palm leaf manuscript writers.  Pannila had told Sirancee how the palm leaf […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Palm leaf manuscripts were always respected in Sri Lanka, but they did not receive much publicity. They were treated as respected but obscure collections, seen only by dedicated researchers. Today, palm leaf manuscript collections of Sri Lanka are   getting more publicity and more promotion. Here is a research project which specifically focused on […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Palm leaf manuscripts are now valued as historical documents and collections of palm leaf manuscripts are carefully preserved in libraries, in Sri Lanka and abroad. Most of the palm leaf manuscripts available in these collections date only from 18th and 19th century.  The palm leaf is a perishable item.  Manuscripts of an earlier […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS COMMISSION. In the 1930s, palm leaf manuscripts were held by elite families living in the Central Province. They had been handed down from generation to generation. These collections were greatly cherished.  Some manuscripts showed the standing of the family under the Udarata kings, but many manuscripts were looked after simply because […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS  TEMPLE LIBRARIES         Special mention must be made of the extensive palm leaf manuscript collections found in the   Buddhist temples in the island.  The collections were mostly on Buddhism but they also had manuscripts which yield   valuable primary information on other matters. Sirancee Gunawardana has looked at the collections in the following temples as […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Palm leaf manuscripts   have been in existence in Sri Lanka from the ancient period onwards. The two oldest palm-leaf manuscripts found in Sri Lanka today are the Cullavagga Pālimanuscript of the H.C.P. Bell collection, which is held at the Library of the National Museum, Colombo, and the Mahavagga Pāli manuscript in the University […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Eelam wars (1983-2009)  between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), arose over the issue of self-determination for Sri Lankan Tamils and the separation of the Northern and Eastern provinces from the rest of the country. The goal was a separate state.  The Eelam war was […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Eelam war was never  a terrorist war.   LTTE   engaged in regular  military warfare using modern weapons. It had a trained army, dressed  in uniform. It attacked the state army where ever it could and concentrated on taking  territory.       Dayan Jayatilleke  observed  that  LTTE was not a terrorist cell, or a branch of […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Eelam wars were defeated by the government of Sri Lanka in May 2009. Nirmala  Chandrahasan said that the Tamils must start all over again. I do not think that Tamil nationalism with secessionist aspirations, will die a natural death. Even if the LTTE is destroyed , it is possible that a new […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The term Genocide”  was invented by  the lawyer Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jew. The word came into use after the  wholesale massacre of Jews in World War II. I  The word  was recognized in the  Nuremberg  trials  which  took place at the end of World War II.  UN Convention on the Prevention and […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Tamil Separatist Movement has successfully embedded the notion of  Tamil Genocide  in Canada, starting with  the Legislative assembly of Ontario. Tamil diaspora has a presence in this Assembly and a  private member’s bill (Bill 104)  by  Vijay Thanigasalam [1] In May 2021, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario unanimously passed   Bill 104  and  created […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Eelam wars (1983-2009)  between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), arose over the issue of self-determination for Sri Lankan Tamils and the separation of the Northern and Eastern provinces from the rest of the country. The goal was a separate state.  The Eelam war was […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Revised 22.2.26 Anti Eelamists have   tried sporadically to  crush  the Tamil Separatist Movement by taking  the Tamil Separatist Movement  to court. The first recorded instance is in 1976. 1976 On May 21, 1976  ITAK leader A.  Amirthalingam, along with Federal Party MPs  V.N.Navaratnam, K.P.Ratnam, K.Thurairatnam  were delivering leaflets in Jaffna , regarding a […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Lord Naseby (M.W.L. Morris  ) b 1936,  visited  Sri Lanka  in September 2019. He was already well known in  Sri Lanka  due to his intervention in the Eelam war  issue on behalf of the government of Sri Lanka . He told Renuka Sadanandan, who interviewed him for Sunday Times that In 1955, his […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Lord Naseby is recognized in Sri Lanka for his work on the war crimes charge against Sri Lanka , His main contribution  has been described  earlier . This essay looks at  his continuing efforts    regarding this issue. UNHRC 2017, 2021 In 2017,  Naseby   wrote to    UN  Human Right Council in Geneva   . He   […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Money was  an important factor in the VFS Global visa service launched  at Katunayake in April 2024. Firstly,  there was the money that the Consortium was supposed to bring into the project. The Parliamentary Committee on Public Finance (COPF) said in its report on the visa matter, thatCabinet Memorandum dated September 8, 2023, […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS In July 2024 the Parliamentary Committee on Public Finance (COPF)   was asked to  look into the GBS-IVS-VFS  matter . COPF  conducted a formal, detailed  inquiry into  the appointment of the  VSF Global Consortium as the authorized representatives for online visa applications to Sri Lanka COPF issued a damning 640-page report titled Outsourcing Online […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS In 2012, the Department of Immigration and Emigration   had   asked  Mobitel   to establish and operate an online gateway for those wishing to apply for visas to Sri Lanka.  Mobitel   provided the  Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA)  system  for  the Department . This was  tried out on a trial basis  on 1 October 2011 and […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS   Revised 12.20.25 The contract for issuing on-arrival visas at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) was  taken over by    VFS Global   on April 17, 2024. This matter had previously been satisfactorily  handled by the officers of the Sri Lankan Immigration Department , without any complaints. After VFS Global  took over, those applying for […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The tourist industry protested  vehemently over  the VFS take over  at Katunayake. but the Ministry ignored the protests and allowed VFS to continue regardless. Then something happened  and the  issue went public .  On 3 May 2024,   television news  showed  an enraged Sri Lankan at the Katunayake International Airport complaining loudly over denial […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Department of Immigration ignored the Supreme Court order and continued with VFS.   Minister Alles held a special  media conference after the Supreme Court order to explain why they could not obey the Supreme Court Order. He was flanked, I think, by the Permanent secretary,  Vyani Gunatilaka and  Harsha Illukpitiya, Controller General  of […]

 KAMALIKA PIERIS During  the Eelam war, the Navy was heavily  engaged in escort duties. The cargo and fuel shipped to Jaffna from Trincomalee to Colombo were escorted by the navy.   The passenger ferry carrying civilians sailed under navy security. [1]   The LTTE closed the A9 road to Jaffna and the  government  forces had to take […]

 KAMALIKA PIERIS Karannagoda   in his book The turning  point ‘ provides us with a detailed account of the arms procurement method of the LTTE . Navy intelligence knew about these movements, but lacked the strength to stop them.  Initially, most of the explosives and weapons LTTE used were obtained from Tamilnadu and also from the […]

 KAMALIKA PIERIS Intelligence reports indicated that the LTTE’s strategy was to demoralize the navy.[1] The more they target the navy the more the navy resolved to fight back, said Karannagoda .[2]   Navy  listed all the  vulnerable   naval targets and took precautions. [3]   Despite the many precautions we took LTTE always managed to find  ways to […]

 KAMALIKA PIERIS LTTE  established small  Sea Tiger bases the north- eastern  and north- western coasts  in lagoons opening to the sea. They were approx. 10-15 km apart along the coast.    In 1994  LTTE went into the Vanni, it was pushed out of Jaffna. In Vanni, they freely used all the lagoons that opened to the […]

 KAMALIKA PIERIS Wasantha Karannagoda, former Commander of the Sri Lanka navy, has written a book titled, ‘The Turning Point,  the navy’s role in Sri Lanka’s war” published by Penguin India in 2025. The book  records the experiences of the  Sri Lanka Navy ,  at two specific periods of  the Eelam war,  first when  Karannagoda  was […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS  In 2005,  When Karannagoda became Commander of the navy, the navy was mostly engaged in escort  functions for the army and merchant vessels, said Karannagoda in his  book The Turning Point”. Karannagoda turned the navy into a successful fighting force. To do so, he had to  improve many aspects of the navy service. […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The book The Turning Point ’has a separate chapter titled  ‘The evolution of the Sri Lanka navy and the LTTE’s Sea Tigers”. This  give us much first hand information on the development of the LTTE Sea Tiger force and the measures taken  by the navy to combat them.  We are told that the  […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS UNESCO recently announced that it has accepted for its Memory of the World Register 2025, the Trilingual inscription” found in Sri Lanka. The tablet   containing the inscription was brought to Sri Lanka from China by Chinese Admiral Cheng Ho.  The item was therefore submitted to UNESCO jointly by Sri Lanka and China. UNESCO […]

Kamalika Pieris  2nd  REVISION.  5.4.2025. The theatre enthusiasts, who saw Maname in its maiden presentation in Colombo and before that at rehearsals in Peradeniya, saw its significance and artistic value. Many years later, this group wrote up their recollections for Sunday newspapers. They also provided contributions to publications issued to mark Maname anniversaries, such as […]