Vindhya Buthpitiya

Anthropologist of War and Pictures. Conflict. Politics. Resistance. Visual Culture. International Development. Sri Lanka.

[Vindhya Buthpitiya @vindib_]

‘A Volatile Picture: War and the Political Work of Photography in Sri Lanka’ is out now with @UWAPress | US/North America https://t.co/lEhCVqDvGm UK/Rest of the world inc. Sri Lanka https://t.co/Oj81FgrcRH or do ask your favourite local book seller to order it in for you (easy!)

[LankaFiles @lankafiles]

More than 55 Tamils including young children, women & the elderly who were killed 39 years ago by Indian 'peacekeeping' forces stormed the Kokuvil Hindu College in Jaffna, are being commemorated with flowers and oil lamps; justice for these victims has yet to be served.

[LankaFiles @lankafiles]

A protest on Vap Full Moon Poya day & preceding day demanding removal of 'Tissa' Buddhist temple established through military force on land forcibly seized from Tamils.

Tamil community has held protests on 42 separate Poya days against this temple, which remains unregistered.

[Meera Srinivasan @Meerasrini]

Around 40 stranded Iranian sailors aboard U.S.-sanctioned oil tankers anchored just outside #SriLanka’s territorial waters received urgent medical treatment in the island nation on Saturday (October 24, 2026)
https://t.co/ELObZyYV7L via @the_hindu

[Vindhya Buthpitiya @vindib_]

lowkey charmed and amused by this. | Amid economic uncertainty and intense competition, millions of young Chinese people are tuning in to 84-Year-Old Cambridge Professor Alan Macfarlane’s lo-fi answers to life’s biggest dilemmas. https://t.co/9gVM5LXZ2G

[Vindhya Buthpitiya @vindib_]

imagine if actual socialists, and not posturing imperialist shills had won here, comrade.

[Awantha Artigala @awanthaartigala]

Cartoon

[Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish]

BREAKING: Brazil’s left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won the presidential run-off against right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro on Sunday, the electoral authority said, securing a fourth non-consecutive term.

🟠 LIVE updates: https://t.co/XJke3BXe1e

[Vindhya Buthpitiya @vindib_]

the number of custodial deaths (invariably coupled with police brutality/ torture) should cause wider alarm & outrage. ‘Drugs’ have long been a way in which arbitrary arrests have been euphemised, alongwith the PTA which disproportionately impacts political minorities. #SriLanka

[NewsWire 🇱🇰 @NewsWireLK]

A 29-year-old man arrested in connection with a drug-related investigation has died after being held at the Homagama Police Station, with his family alleging that he was assaulted by police officers.

The deceased has been identified as Ishara Harsha Kumara, a resident of Kiriwaththuduwa.

According to his relatives, the suspect was arrested and detained at the Homagama Police Station.

Family members alleged that they learned he had been assaulted when they visited the police station to see him.

They further claimed that the suspect was unable to walk and had to be carried by several officers after being taken for questioning.

Relatives alleged that he had visible injuries and was bleeding when he was returned to the police cell.

Following requests from family members, police officers took the suspect to the Homagama Base Hospital. However, his relatives claimed that he had already died by that time.

The family has called for an impartial investigation and justice over the death.

Responding to the allegations, the Police Spokesman said the suspect had been brought to the Homagama Police Station during an operation and had subsequently developed a sudden illness.

He said the suspect died after being admitted to the hospital.

The Police Spokesman further confirmed that the Homagama Assistant Superintendent of Police has initiated a preliminary investigation into the incident. (Newswire)

[JDS @JDSLanka]

'At Jaffna Customs office, books dealing with political subjects get singled out for scrutiny. The presence of words such as “war,” “military,” “gun,” “Tigers,” and “mass grave” is enough to detain a book.'

- A joint appeal by the Eelam Tamil writers. https://t.co/UEFWmqRaBm

[Philip Proudfoot @PhilipProudfoot]

AI labs: building a monster

Technician looks up: "Guys, see this monster I'm building? Yeah? I’m just warning you about it, ok!?”

Technician goes back to building monster

[Vindhya Buthpitiya @vindib_]

the only thing I am thinking about right now is that with the switch to (already temperamental) e-visas, an (especially cyber) emergency is going to cause serious problems for some of us. Bring back physical IDs (and cash payments!).

[Vajra Chandrasekera @_vajra]

Yatharthan's translated his post into Sinhala as well https://t.co/sDDPK2qgdw

[Vindhya Buthpitiya @vindib_]

@AustinYoshino also why intergenerational friendships are so important!

[Vindhya Buthpitiya @vindib_]

@AustinYoshino this thought definitely crossed my mind - especially for young people who haven’t ever existed offline socially and otherwise.

[mimi alphonsus @alphonsus_mimi]

Customs said they don't have a list of confiscated books over the years when @ExaminerLK RTI'ed for them. There's effectively a set of banned books, but nobody knows for sure what they are.

[Vajra Chandrasekera @_vajra]

Yatharthan has a detailed writeup of what happened on his blog at https://t.co/Ua5SZf1pTP

[JDS @JDSLanka]

Adding further to the list of censored Tamil books, on Thursday (22), Sri Lanka custom officials in Jaffna refused to release 30 copies of the Tamil novel "Thorai" by Pradeep Kunaradnam alias Yatharthan & informed the author to obtain a "permission from the Ministry of Defence".

[LankaFiles @lankafiles]

Court in Jaffna urged to reject Professor Raj Somadeva's recent report on Sri Lanka’s largest mass grave, which "appear to be inconsistent with, or materially depart from, the findings, opinions and conclusions contained in the previous reports" submitted by the same archeologist

[Sana Saeed @SanaSaeed]

In the midst of violent repression of student protestors, she compared the language of campus protests to WMDs - a morally repugnant, intellectually obtuse essay.

[Vindhya Buthpitiya @vindib_]

Sri Lankan political Buddhism in a glimpse!

[LankaFiles @lankafiles]

Following a night of occult rituals condemned by Lord Buddha as vulgar arts (ගර්හිත විද්‍යා) for the release of Galabodaaththe Gnanasara thero, a group of Buddhist monks led by Balangoda Kassapa offered alms to a Buddha statue this morning at the largest public park in Colombo.

[Rahul Rao @thariel]

truly honored to have had my recent review essay on books by Pankaj Mishra and Esmat Elhalaby for @HimalSouthasian translated into Arabic by @I_Sharif13 and Roba Salibi 🙏🏾