Democracy, Pluralism and Constitutional Law: Remembering Neelan Tiruchelvam’s Intellectual Legacy By Asanga Welikala Sunday 29th July 2012 is the thirteenth death anniversary of Dr Neelan Tiruchelvam, which will be commemorated, as is now customary, with the annual Neelan Tiruchelvam Memorial Lecture. An old friend, Professor Sujit Choudhry of the New York University School of Law, [...]
Archive of entries posted on 21st July 2012
Eastern Provincial Elections and The Muslim Congress – 1
By D.B.S. Jeyaraj The advent of elections to the Eastern Provincial Council has caused the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) to come under the media spotlight during the past week. There was much interest and speculation over the course of action to be adopted (or not adopted) by the premier political party of the Sri [...]
Evaluating Prospects of a Movement of Moderates for Sri Lanka
By Salma Yusuf The year was 2010, the venue was the United Nations General Assembly, and the occasion was the 65th session of the General Assembly. The context was a world where crises are rampant and hopelessness is contagious. The effects of globalization were being felt in every continent on the planet and in every [...]
Lawyers and Judges did nothing in the past as Law of Rulers replaced Rule of Law
By Tisaranee Gunasekara “How could we have seen what was coming, until it had arrived in our midst, clanking and smoking?” John Banville (Shroud) Last week the law of the jungle reached the portals of judiciary. According to media reports, Rishard Badurdeen, Minister of Traditional Industries and Small Enterprises, tried to intimidate the Mannar Magistrate [...]
People are beginning to understand the reality of Gotabhaya type thinking
by Dr. Vickramabahu Karunaratne Defence secretary said in an interview “No, in fact I clarified that in the conversation with her over the phone – the very same conversation. All I said was that people are so angry with persons like her who have worked against the war effort and the country, that if she [...]
Displaced Sampoor Tamils petition Supreme Court to prevent setting up of heavy industries project in their ancestral lands
by Dinouk Colombage Land owners in Sampoor in Trincomalee have petitioned the Supreme Court challenging the acquisition of land for what is said to be a multi-billion-dollar investment project to establish a special zone for heavy industries. They allege that the government has illegally acquired their land for the project. The land acquired by Gazette [...]
Minister Bathiudeen Threatened Mannar Magistrate on Telephone that ‘Court would be Torched’
By Ranga Jayasuriya The government’s strongman in Mannar, Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen is in the news for all the wrong reasons. Earlier, he was blamed for spearheading a policy that overtly favours his supporters while discriminating against local Tamils, in land allocation and doling out resettlement assistance. This time around, he had allegedly [...]
Soilders Guide Pre-dominantly Sinhala Visitors on ‘Terrorism Tour’ of Mullaitheevu District
By Namini Wijedasa | in the Mullaitheevu district What I did was right,” read the words on the wall of chamber D-05, a small and dingy cell that still smells of urine. Sivakumari, a Tamil woman, had left them there. The army believes she was killed by fleeing terrorists before the war’s end. She was [...]
I will say again and again that Gota must go – Mangala Samaraweera
By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan UNP MP Mangala Samaraweera says that he never went down on his knees to apologize to Sajith Premadasa over the alleged slandering remark on his website, adding that the exposure they have received consequent to the ‘raid’ in fact made his website more popular, both locally and internationally.
Mannar Bishop Rayappu Joseph Alleges Minister Bathiudeen of Racially Disciminating practices
by Ranga jayasuriya Minister Bathiudeen has allegedly turned the Mannar district into his fiefdom, say local community leaders. He openly discriminates against Tamils in favour of his supporters, in resettlement projects, they allege. The minister was earlier at the centre of a controversy after he tried to tamper with a list of beneficiaries of a [...]
Haresh Selvaskandan Recounts Exhilaration of Running with Olympic Torch
by Duvindi Illangakoon For Haresh Selvaskandan, the best thing about carrying the Olympic Torch was having his parents and friends there to support him. Perhaps this is a reflection of the life and attitudes of a young man who went into medicine with the aim of helping others and was chosen to be part of [...]
Kandy may Lose UNESCO World Hertage City Status Due to Municipal Maladministration
by Shanika Pitigala The heritage of the ancient historic city of Kandy, the final capital of Sri Lankan Kings is on the verge of being devalued before the very eyes of its own people. The petty self centred notions of politicians are the root cause for the downfall of this historic city sooner or later. [...]
Sunday Leader Editor Frederica Jansz Sues Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella For 50 Million
Lawyers for the Editor of The Sunday Leader Frederica Jansz on Friday sent a letter demanding 50 million rupees in damages to the Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella for defamatory remarks made against her after the weekly post cabinet news conference on Thursday. The publisher and the Editor of The Island newspaper were also sent similar [...]
Public perception is that political authorities are manipulating decisions of the judiciary
by Sanjeewa Ranaweera | Attorney-at-Law Last Friday, the lawyers across the country boycotted court proceedings. The learned judges of the lower courts also did not take their respective benches. And the cases that were to be heard in the superior courts had to be postponed as a result of the lawyers’ absence. So, the 20th [...]
