Jason Motlagh is a roving freelance multimedia journalist.
Sri Lanka: Endless War?
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers, the once formidable insurgency that pioneered guerrilla suicide attacks, claimed Sunday they had given up their 25-year battle for an ethnic homeland on the tropical island nation.
Surrounded in a small coconut grove with Sri Lankan forces closing in, several leaders reportedly committed suicide instead of surrendering.
Jason Motlagh received a grant from the Pulitzer Center in 2008 to report from Sri Lanka. The following is an excerpt from Jason and Nicholas Kralev that was feature
Jason will share his experiences in reporting international conflicts.
In November 2008, The Pulitzer Center partnered with Helium to produce its fifth round of the Global Issues/Citizen Voices Writing contest, challenging contestents to write on the most pressing int
Not even the United Nations can stand in the way of the Sri Lankan army now. Looking to finish off the Tamil Tigers, the government has ordered the few aid agencies still in the northern war zone to leave, saying it can't guarantee their safety.
Asia's longest-running civil war has left many claims of imminent victory in its wake, along with an estimated 70,000 dead. The difference today is that Tiger losses on the battlefield are compounded by high-level defections, and a stranglehold on the fundraising and smuggling operations that have sustained them.
Journalists have been barred from covering the war in Sri Lanka's battered northern region, and now aid workers are out of the picture.
For the first time in more than a decade, government forces are making inroads into rebel strongholds and are within striking distance of their capital, according to military officials who insist a
The chief minister of Sri Lanka's eastern province nodded with concern as a member of the provincial council described a security problem. It was a typical scene of government proceedings – except that the minister is a former Tamil rebel commander and enemy of the four Army generals seated to his left, taking notes.
There is a two front war in Sri Lanka. One against the Tamil Tigers, and another against those trying to cover the human toll.
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Jason Motlagh is a multimedia journalist who was until recently TIME Magazine’s Kabul correspondent. He has reported from around Afghanistan and more than 30 countries for leading US and...