Enhancing practical efforts to uphold the language rights of millions of ethnic Tamil-speaking Sri Lankans could play a key role in the country’s long-term peace and reconciliation, say analysts and activists. “Language parity is one of the biggest challenges to Sri Lanka’s peace and reconciliation efforts, and indeed its future. Without it, I doubt we …
By Camelia Nathaniel V. Suresh Kumar, former Chairman of the Kadawath Satara Pradeshiya Sabha(town and gravets Pradeshiya sabha) in Trincomalee and a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidate in the forthcoming Eastern Provincial Council elections, was among the three suspects arrested by the CID in connection with human smuggling, Police Spokesman SP Ajith Rohana said. According …
by J. Jeganaathan The Government of India (GoI) has extended the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for two more years. LTTE was first banned in 1991 in the aftermath of the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. According to the Home Ministry of India, “LTTE continues to adopt a strong anti-India posture as …
Continue reading ‘India’s LTTE Ban Renewal is unnecessary and counter productive’ »
by Radhika Coomaraswamy Dear colleagues, partners, and friends, As the primary users of our website, I am proud to announce that Children and Armed Conflict’s new website, http://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org goes live today. Included in the redesign, are many new features that will make it easier for you to access essential and interesting information and stories.
by Asif Ahmed Islam , mainly of the Sunni sect, is practiced by 4% of the population of Burma according to the government census. Soldiers patrol through a neighborhood that was burnt during recent violence in Sittwe on June 14, 2012 – Reuters pic via: HRW.org However, according to the US State Departments 2006 International …
By Kath Noble Everybody knows about the crisis in the UNP. Of the many elections there have been in Sri Lanka in the last two decades, it has lost all but one. This includes four presidential elections and four out of five parliamentary elections. And it will have the opportunity to lose a few more …
Continue reading ‘To end its losing streak UNP needs to rebuild its base among Sinhalese’ »
by B.Sirisena Cooray (Excerpted from book written by Srisena Cooray titled “President Premadasa and I – our Story) The day we heard about the killing of the 13 soldiers in Jaffna I went to see Mr. Premadasa. He was on the phone to the President. There was a lot of tension in the country and …
by D.B.S. Jeyaraj The tragic history of post – independence Sri Lanka records that the Tamils of Sri Lanka have been subjected to mass –scale mob violence in the years 1956, 1958, 1977, 1981 and 1983. The anti-Tamil violence of July 1983 was the most terrible and horrible of them all. It remains etched in …
Continue reading ‘‘Black July’ 1983: Remembering the Horrors of a Pogrom’ »
by Hillary Rodham Clinton (Remarks made on July 24th 2012 by US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton at the US Holocaust emorial Forwatd looking symposium on Genocide prevention) Thank you very much, and it’s a tremendous honor for me to be here on this occasion for such an important conference. I want to start …
by Inside Outsider Having been through the grind in the field of Sri Lanka’s mainstream print journalism for nearly two decades, what I feel is a growing sense of frustration. Whatever standards and respectability that was maintained by our past peers are deteriorating to the extent that journalists are being looked at, more with ridicule, …
by K.S.Sivakumaran Writers in Tamil include Muslims, Malays and Thamilians. Most Muslim writers hail from the Eastern province. A good many are living in the western and southern and a few from north central, northwestern and the hill country. Although their writing find a place in national newspapers and magazines there are no exclusive literary …
Continue reading ‘Muslims writing in Tamil Encouraged by Revival of ‘Yatra’ Journal’ »
(Text of Speech made by Hunais Farook , UPFA Vanni Dist MP, in Parliament on July 20 2012) I am thanking you for giving this opportunity. I have the duty to speak about the incidents that took place in Mannar today and yesterday. UNP Member of Parliament, John Amaratunga and Sri Ranga M.P. stated that …
Continue reading ‘‘What is the injustice committed by Minister Rishad Bathiudeen’?’ »
by Salma Yusuf Much ink has been spilt over the years on the subject of human rights in Sri Lanka. The opinions, observations and indeed ultimatums have emanated from official, unofficial, international and domestic quarters. The issue of media freedom and related rights have come to the fore time and again.
by Charitha Ratwatte An important feature of the recent Sri Lanka Economic Summit, which both the Guest Speaker Gurcharan Das, Author, Columnist and Management Consultant and Keynote Speaker Dr. Kalpana Kochar, Chief Economist – South Asia of the World Bank, referred to were the opportunities presented to Sri Lanka by the ongoing process of globalisation …
By Radhieka Peeris It is not that often that people in Colombo get to witness art exhibitions by muslim women from Jaffna. Against all odds, Zhamshiya Kaleel (54), from Jaffna made it work for her, when she held her maiden solo exhibition of art work at the National Art Gallery recently.
by Thulasi Muttulingam Landscapes, nudes and portraits in charcoal, pencil and watercolours dot the living room of Mervin Mendis, a retired civil servant, now dedicated artist. “Even as a child, I had a fascination for drawing,” he recalls. “In the absence of other media, I would even draw portraits of people on the sand, with …
Continue reading ‘Landscapes, nudes and portraits in charcoal, pencil and watercolours’ »
By Azra Ameen Loud speakers, parades, posters, cutouts and banners are a common sight during elections. Most candidates feel that not making a public announcement while displaying banners and posters is not a favourable atmosphere for elections. The Election Secretariat had ordered all political parties not to hold rallies and parades on nomination day and …
Continue reading ‘Election laws violated as Propaganda begins for provincial Polls’ »
by Rob L. Wagner In 1953, young reserve Air Force lieutenant Milo Radulovich lost his security clearance for maintaining a “close and continuing relationship” with people who were communists or had communist sympathies. Those people? His father and sister.
By Ahmed E Souaiaia The Arab Spring has provided scholars and analysts with a laboratory to observe radical social change. Tunisia and Egypt taught us about non-violent resistance and the power of the people to overcome regime repression. In Libya, we saw tribal, regional, national, and international actors whose interests intersected to create allies out …
by Ben Doherty A remote stretch of Sri Lanka’s west coast lies the village that wants to come to Australia. The homes here are built alike, low and squat, their thatched roofs tightly tied down against the monsoon’s rains and wind. And from almost every one, someone has left for Australia. Some reach Christmas Island, …
Continue reading ‘The Sri Lankan Tamil village which wants to come to Australia’ »
by Dr. S. P. Udayakumar July 21, 2012 marked the 125th day of my and Pushparayan’s self-exile here at Idinthakarai. We have not gone out of this coastal village for more than four months now except two brief visits to the neighboring Kuthenkuzhi village by sea. Rayan and I live in a quarter kilometer radius …
by Nirmanusan Balasundaram “Given that 75% of the army’s divisions are stationed in the Northern Province, in addition to other formations such as task forces and independent brigades and regimental units, it is not unreasonable to assume that at least 60% of the army, i e, approximately 180,000 personnel, are stationed across the Northern Province.” …
Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka: Militarizing the Land and Terrorizing the Minds’ »
By Hemantha Warnakulasuriya One of the worst indictments on JRJ’s tenure was his interference with the judiciary. As a man inebriated with power, he would not permit anyone to correct him or caution him that by his attitude he would eventually destroy himself and the country he rules. The voters were inveigled into believing in …
Continue reading ‘How a cabinet Minister threatened a Magistrate cum Additional District Judge’ »
by Veerasinghmam Anandasangaree (Full text of a statement issued by TULF Secretary -Genera Veerasingham Anandasangaree titled ‘Open appeal to leaders of all political parties, important personalities and religious dignitaries in India) This appeal comes as an urgent measure taken by a very senior Tamil Politician who had been in Politics for nearly sixty years, in …
By Ayesha Zuhair On 3 May 2012, long before the Mannar mayhem, the Sri Lanka Police acknowledged a growing trend – that of people taking the law into their own hands. In a media communiqué, Police Headquarters stated that certain groups were increasingly behaving in a violent manner, and noted that 105 individuals had been …
By Camelia Nathaniel Despite the fact that it has been three-and-a-half years since the war that ravaged this country ended, the sufferings of thousands of war widows have been ignored. These widows continue to live in poverty and suffer from social stigmatisation and economic deprivation, purely because they have lost their husbands.
by J.Balaji Pranab Kumar Mukherjee, 76, was declared elected the 13th President on Sunday. The UPA nominee defeated the former Lok Sabha Speaker, P.A. Sangma, by 3,97,776 value votes. While Mr. Mukherjee polled 3,095 votes, (value 7,13,763) Mr. Sangma got 1,483 votes (3,15,987).
by Parvathi Menon The fight will go on,” said Captain Lakshmi Sahgal one day in 2006, sitting in her crowded Kanpur clinic where, at 92, she still saw patients every morning. She was speaking on camera to Singeli Agnew, a young filmmaker from the Graduate School of Journalism, Berkeley, who was making a documentary on …
By M.A. Sumanthiran M.P There is a growing trend in the political culture of the North that the rest of the country does not seem to have taken note of. The advent of the ‘grease yaka’ saw people coming out on to the streets in large numbers to apprehend these offenders, and in several instances, …
By M.S. Shah Jahan “Some 40,000 deeds have been given to Tamil refugee families within the past three years. However, not a single plot of land has been provided to any one of the Muslim refugee families in the North. Why is the Muslim community in the North receiving step motherly treatment?”
By Ifham Nizam The National Zoological Gardens in Dehiwala, despite having the services of curators and veterinary surgeons, assistant directors and deputy directors to carry out special tasks and programmes, had completely messed up at a crunch situation, particularly when it came to saving endangered species.
By Gagani Weerakoon Black July 1983 -1 Kathiravelu Nithyananda Devananda, was in the cell facing the gallows of Welikada Prison when he heard the commotion outside the prison walls on 25 July 1983, just two days after the infamous Black July began. “We did not know what was happening at the time, and I was …
Continue reading ‘Douglas Devananda recalls Welikada jail massacres of July 25th and 27th 1983’ »
by An Old Soldier Black July 1983 -2 With a remarkable increase in subversive activities in the Northern Peninsula, commencing with the killing of the Mayor of Jaffna, Alfred Duraiappa on 14 May 1976, the then government introduced the Prevention of Terrorism Act on 15 July 1979.
By A Thirunelvely Eyewitness Black July 1983 – 3 Many Tamils who recall horror stories of the July 1983 riots lived in Colombo at the time. This was where the worst atrocities were committed. In Jaffna, however, where Tamils were the majority, not much violence is related. I, being a native of Thirunelvely, Jaffna where …
Continue reading ‘It all began with LTTE ambush and Army retaliation’ »
By Gagani Weerakoon BLACK JULY 1983 -4 Leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), Veerasingham Anandasangaree is known for his denouncement of violence committed by any party. Sangaree, who is a staunch supporter of federalism, was awarded the 2006 UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence, for being an indefatigable advocate …
By Dilrukshi Handunnetti BLACK JULY 1983 -5 The late Yasapalitha Nanayakkara was a trendsetter in the Sinhala cinema with his penchant for commercially successful film-making. Often he cast the late Vijaya Kumaratunga as his chosen hero. In the late sixties, it was becoming trendy to produce Tamil twins to the Sinhala movies. Often, the Tamil …
Continue reading ‘Mano Ganesan talks about destruction of Tamil Film Industry in Sri Lanka’ »
By Asif Fuard BLACK JULY 1983-6 Two days after Sri Lankan Tamils suffered a brutal massacre, sounds of pandemonium were still heard outside the impenetrable walls of the Welikada Prison, while the stench of burnt rubber mixed with the odour of blood and corpses filled the air.
By A Jaffna scribe BLACK JULY -7 The communal riots against the Tamils in post-independent Sri Lanka first took place in 1958. The second unrest was experienced in 1977 and the worst was, as history recorded, in 1983 not only claiming the lives of hundreds of Tamils in the island but also destroying assets running …
By Anes Alic Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) remains one of the few countries in the world without lyrics for its national anthem, as politicians have squabbled over its words since its adoption 13 years ago. Most recently, the Bosnian parliament on July 3rd rejected the lyrics proposed by its own commission.
By Joshua landis A sectarian look at Syrian unrest Will the Alawites try to establish an Alawite State centered in the Coastal Mountains? Many opposition figures and journalists insist that the Alawites are planning to fall back to the Alawite Mountains in an attempt to establish a separate state. This is unconvincing.
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, …
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 …
Continue reading ‘Eastern Provincial Elections and The Muslim Congress – 1’ »
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 …
Continue reading ‘Evaluating Prospects of a Movement of Moderates for Sri Lanka’ »
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 …
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 …
Continue reading ‘People are beginning to understand the reality of Gotabhaya type thinking’ »
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 …
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 …
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 …
by Shamala Kumar On Thursday, July 12th, the day of FUTA’s all island signature campaign, a colleague and I walked through Kandy town to speak with people and ask them to sign our petition to save public education. We were a bit wary of the whole task, not sure if we would be chased away, …
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.
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 …
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 …
Continue reading ‘Haresh Selvaskandan Recounts Exhilaration of Running with Olympic Torch’ »
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. …
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 …
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 …
By Vishnuguptha “The incentives toward reactive ethnic voting are strong. When voters of one group choose, in effect, not to choose, but to give their vote predictably on an ethnic basis to an ethnically defined party, they put voters of the other group who do choose among parties at a collective disadvantage. All else being …
Continue reading ‘Tamil Leadership must understand the True Nature of the Sinhala mindset’ »
by Shamindra Ferdinando Sri Lanka and Australia are on a collision course over what the Australian High Commissioner in Colombo Ms Robyn Mudie asserts is the failure on the part of the Sri Lankan Navy (SLN) to put an end to human smuggling. Australian HC Mudie urged Navy Commander Vice Admiral Somathilake Dissanayake to step …
Continue reading ‘Lankan Navy Chief and Aussie Envoy ‘clash’ over refugee boats issue’ »
by Dr. Theodore A. Fernando A famous Aesopian fable tells us about a lion which prowled about a pasture where three bulls always grazed together. He had tried without success to lure one or the other of them to the edge of the pasture in order to kill. He had even attempted a direct attack …
Continue reading ‘Lion and The Bulls Fable and The FUTA Trade Union action’ »
by Ranjith C. Perera Some years back while serving as an Instructor in English at a Vocational Training Centre in a Middle-East Country, I encountered an experience perhaps unique to a Teacher of English. My students although they were adults and in their late teens, were quite unfamiliar with the English Language and its usage …
Continue reading ‘Knife, Kitchen and the correct usage of alphabet ‘K’’ »
Mannar is said to have returned to normal following Wednesday’s violent protests, which left several police personnel injured and a court house and a police station damaged. But, let’s not lull ourselves into a false sense of complacency. The situation is far from normal there if the frayed tempers and public resentment are any indication. …
Continue reading ‘President must Intervene Directly to Resolve Mannar Dispute -The Island’ »
by Srinath Fernando The United National Party (UNP) is the single largest political party in Sri Lanka and has had the good fortune of maintaining this position since it was formed in 1946. The founder of UNP was D.S. Senanayake, who was at the forefront of securing independence for Ceylon. The ideals he cherished were …
Continue reading ‘Has Ranil Wickremesinghe been Adequately Marketed as ‘Mr.Clean’?’ »
Most Palestinians, whether they supported their late leader Yasser Arafat or not, were in agreement that he did not die of natural causes. They believed he was murdered by Israel or its agents. But are Palestinians justified in blaming Israel for his death? French doctors treating Arafat did not issue a conclusive report identifying the …
Continue reading ‘Was Yasser Arafat really murdered by Israel or its agents’ »
by Mandip Singh The recent announcement by the Chinese government to set up a $30 billion tourism project in Tibet came as a surprise for ardent Tibet watchers. The turnaround in China’s policy to open Tibet to tourists and thereby to the world is a major departure from its policy of keeping Tibet ‘in closed …
by K. Venkatraman Veteran Tamil Nadu politician M. Karunanidhi has announced the revival of the Tamil Eelam Supporters’ Organisation, a forum he had floated in the mid-1980s to drum up support for the creation of a separate Tamil nation in Sri Lanka. In 1986, it was a broad-based political platform that attracted leaders from different …
by Dianne Silva Tamil National Alliance National list Member of Parliament M.A Sumanthiran spoke to the Daily Mirror on the TNA preparations for the Eastern Provincial Council Elections, the commitment of the party to the Parliamentary Select Committee and the Militarisation of the North.
by Azra Ameen A total number of 3,073 candidates from recognized political parties and independent groups will be contesting the forthcoming Provincial Council polls in the North-Central, Eastern and Sabaragamuwa Provinces. The acceptance of the nominations ended without any interruptions or problems with the enthusiastic participation of candidates at 12 noon at the three Provinces …
by N Sathiya Moorthy Unknown to the world and unacknowledged by the international community, Sri Lanka may be running to a point of no-return, all over again. ‘International intervention’ in the form of UNHRC resolutions has made the Government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa more vulnerable in electoral terms – or, that is the internal perception …
Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka: Incremental Devolution is what a Political Solution is all About’ »
By Ranmali Wijesuriya There is so much talk of this Diaspora in Sri Lanka. Diaspora did this. Diaspora did that, and so on. However, I am yet to see any article which describes what the Diaspora is. In Sri Lanka the word Diaspora is used to refer to the Tamil Diaspora which is pro LTTE …
Continue reading ‘Fraudulent ‘LTTE Terrorist Diaspora’ must be Exposed Through Extensive Campaign’ »
by Ziya us Salam (Rajesh Khanna, actor, died in Mumbai on 18 July 2012, aged 69. He was born in Amritsar on 29 December 1942. He is survived by two daughters, Twinkle and Rinke) A rose, a candle, a couplet. Rajesh Khanna, Hindi cinema’s first real superstar who passed away in Mumbai following a prolonged …
Continue reading ‘Rajesh Khanna: Super Star Who Changed Image of Heroes in Hindi Cinema’ »
by Alan Keenan We need to be careful here. While there is some truth to some of the arguments in this piece and in the Washington Post article that inspired it, it misses some crucial points. To wit: 1. The trope of “Sri Lanka doesn’t need the West anymore, its support from China, Russia, Iran, …
Continue reading ‘Story of Waning Western Influence in Sri Lanka Should Not Be Over Blown’ »
by D.B.S. Jeyaraj The Tamil National Alliance(TNA) regarded as the chief political formation of Sri Lankan Tamils is gearing up to face the forthcoming elections to the Eastern Provincial council under the house symbol of the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi(ITAK)without aligning with any other political party or group. Earlier the TNA was exploring the possibility …
Continue reading ‘TNA to field Muslim Candidates also for Eastern Provincial Poll’ »
by D.B.S. Jeyaraj In a significant political development, strong grassroots pressure exerted by the Tamils of Sabaragamuwa province has led to political parties representing the interests of Up Country Tamils sinking their differences and uniting to contest the forthcoming provincial council polls by submitting a combined list of candidates under the symbol of cockerel. Three …
by Dr.Janaka Ratnasiri The recent article by Dr Tilak Siyambalapitiya highlighting the delay in starting work on the Sampur coal power plant (CPP) prompted me to write this article. This project was conceived several years ago to be executed in collaboration with India’s National Thermal Power Corporation of India (NTPC), a government owned company. The …
Continue reading ‘Govt Must Re-negotiate with India and go for a Natural Gas plant at Sampur’ »
By Prof. Wiswa Warnapala The alarming increase in the rate of shameful incidents involving the political leadership of the local government institutions and the failure on the part of these institutions to execute their responsibilities in the urban and semi-urban areas prompt one to critique the nature of local administration in the country.
by Thulasi Muttulingam For the fourth time within the last month, animal rights activists staged a protest demanding to know where the dogs they are feeding are disappearing. Ever since 2010, canines have been disappearing off the roads of Colombo according to the activists. They have been campaigning since then to get the dogs back.
by Jagath Gunawardana It would surprise many to know that a short, narrow strip of privately owned swamp forest is the only known place in the world where two critically endangered and endemic plants, amongst another large number of endemic species, are found. The existence of this forest speaks volumes not only of the critical …
by Zacki Jabbar and Lal Gunasekera The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) decision to contest the forthcoming Eastern Provincial Council Election (EPCE) on its own has the blessings of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and was on the understanding that it will not oppose the government. Informed sources told The Island that when talks between SLMC leader …
By Javid Yusuf The run up to the Eastern Provincial Council Elections has once again exposed the lack of a clear political vision or strategy among Muslim political actors. In the weeks leading up to nominations there were a number of statements from Muslim politicos as well as news items which painted a conflicting picture …
by Namal Rajapaksa MP (Text of address made by Namal Rajapaksa M.P. at “India Today”conclave held on March 15th&16th at New Delhi) Namal Rajapaksa MP at an event in Kilinochchi-June 2012 Distinguished Invitees Friends 1. It’s a pleasure for me to participate in this prestigious India Today Conclave. Thank you for giving me the honour …
Continue reading ‘‘I Represent The Third Generation of Politicians of The Rajapaksas’’ »
by R.M.B Senanayake The Government has been compelled to take notice of the agitation by the University staff. Their demands not only relate to their remuneration but include outlawing private universities. One demand is that the educational budget should be 6 percent of GDP.
by David Ucko The Washington Post has a very interesting article on Sri Lanka’s apparent slide ‘toward dictatorship’. Since the military defeat of the LTTE in 2009, the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has become increasingly autocratic, stifling opposition and silencing – sometimes violently, so the article suggests – those who speak out against it.
by Sarath.N.Silva | (former Chief Justice) Sexual violence and child abuse are abhorrent crimes that evoke the righteous indignation of the people. The media should be commended for giving due publicity to the more serious instances which would galvanise public opinion against the alarming rise of these crimes. Such action is necessary in the face …
By Kath Noble These days, I rarely feel like thanking the Government for anything. It squandered the opportunity it had post-war to push through a deal with the TNA and put the country on a new and more productive, forward-looking track, preferring instead to focus on consolidating its own power. Now the discussion is back …
by Dr Tilak Siyambalapitiya You open the morning paper on the last working day in each month. You see a notice from the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), explaining the key features of international petroleum price movements within the month. Then you see a table showing the calculation of petroleum prices and the allowed maximum selling …
Continue reading ‘Govt must tell truth about Petroleum Prices to the People’ »
by Thulasi Muttulingam A name to look out for when it comes to recreating and renewing the traditional dance forms of Sri Lanka is Rangika Jeewantha. Or else the institute that is synonymous with his name – The Rivega Dance Studio. They are an up and coming troupe who have been on the scene for …
Continue reading ‘NATMO 2012: Modifying Traditional Dances to Suit Modern Tastes’ »
by Hemantha Warnakulasuriya President of Greece Karolos Paoulis told me “Your Excellency, today the Minorities are more powerful than the majority. Every nation emerging from internal strife must accept this 21st century reality. We are very a happy with the reconciliation strategies adopted by your country, but we believe that much has to be done …
Continue reading ‘Recalling the Speech made in Houston by George Willy before President Rajapaksa’ »
By Gomin Dayasiri India is a friend of Sri Lanka? Often said but listened in disbelief. If it is in India’s interest, the answer is, yes. Who stays mum to help a friend in distress and seek multiple benefits in return? India opts to cheer at the mayhem of another and enjoys watching the discomfort. …
Continue reading ‘At crunch time India would de-stabilise Sri Lanka as it did in Geneva 2012’ »
By Salma Yusuf When history repeated itself on 6 June 2012, it became clearer that something is amiss in our post-war nation building efforts. One and a half years on, the itinerary of a Presidential visit to the United Kingdom was once again altered when an invitation to deliver the keynote address at the Commonwealth …
Continue reading ‘Setting up a specially designated Office for Diaspora Affairs’ »
by Jehan Perera It was past eight pm and most of the two to three hundred strong audience present at the open air theatre of the Centre for Performing Arts in Jaffna had not dispersed. King Coconuts on Kasthuriyar Road-pic by: Feng Zhong They had come to be part of the golden jubilee celebration of …
by Sumanasiri Liyanage Giving an interview to an Indian national newspaper based in Chennai, The Hindu, appears to have become a perennial practice of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. In this interview, he has revealed that “We want to hold elections in September 2013. We are working towards it [the elections] in a systematic manner.”
By JC Weliamuna Another round of elections has been fixed and the country is turned into election mode. Elections are said to be a benchmark of democracy, and then why are we bothered when more and more elections are held? More and more elections, have we correspondingly increased democracy in Sri Lanka? What does an …
By Victor Ivan The opposition political parties are in disarray. This situation, whilst weakening the opposition movement of the country, has substantially contributed to strengthening the power of the government. pic courtesy of: karujayasuriya.lk Against this backdrop, Karu Jayasuriya has endeavored to propose a solution of a newer kind to the difficult and complex problem …
Continue reading ‘Karu Jayasuriya Proposes Opposition Unity to Change Political System’ »
by Prof. Nimal Gunatilleke | University of Peradeniya A newspaper report titled ” Caught transporting weniwelgeta” appeared a few months ago in The Island newspaper and several related incidents that I came to know recently prompted me to spotlight on this disconcerting issue. Aricanut Trees close to the Pothupitiya Village-pic courtesy of: jmsbandara Unsustainable harvesting …
Continue reading ‘Weniwelgeta / Maramanjal: Can Dwindling Resources Cope with Increasing Demand?’ »
by Mario Andree Time was not in Sri Lanka’s favour as it stands to lose major opportunities with India seeking to finalise comprehensive economic partnership agreements (CEPA) with other nations, the Indian High Commissioner in Colombo Ashok K. Kantha said. “The governments of both countries have not had enough dialog to rectify and finalise the …
Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka the loser by delaying CEPA agreement with India says Indian Envoy’ »
by Kumudu Kusum Kumara The government having taken one whole week to ‘study’ the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations’ (FUTA) proposals for education reforms has come up with one general proposal of setting up a presidential commission to investigate ‘complex issues’ in the higher education sector. While no one would deny the value of an …
Continue reading ‘Setting up a Commission Cannot Resolve Specific Issues Raised by FUTA’ »
By Risidra Mendis A statement made by the Diyawadana Nilame that the annual peraheras are facing a shortage of tuskers, has irked environmentalists who say no measures have been taken to breed the existing elephants. An elephant at the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, Sri Lanka-Aug 2011–Pic by: steve chao- Al Jazeera There are …
Continue reading ‘Cruel Exploitation of ‘Captive’ Elephants in Sri Lanka is a National Disgrace’ »
By Roel Raymond At last week’s (5 July) media briefing on Cabinet decisions, Mass Media and Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella made known a government decision to include news websites under the Press Council Law. This announcement came in the wake of a raid on the offices of two news websites – lankamirror and lankaxnews – …
Continue reading ‘Govt has no clear Understanding of what Constitutes a Website’ »
By Cassandra Mascarenhas Keeping to tradition, the final plenary session of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce’s Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2012 featured a panel of young Parliamentarians, giving them an opportunity to air their views on key economic issues affecting the country and for the audience to pose questions and express their suggestions on creating …
Continue reading ‘Younger Parliamentarians speak out on Economic Issues at Panel Discussion’ »
by Charitha Ratwatte The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines ‘reconcile’ as ‘finding an acceptable way of dealing with two or more ideas that seem to be opposed to each other’. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II shakes hands with Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister and former IRA commander Martin McGuinness as First minister Peter Robinson looks on …
By S.S Selvanayagam In view of the undertakings given by the State, the Writ application filed in the Court of Appeal challenging the impugned controversial Land Circular on the management of land in North East withdrawn yesterday. A Writ petition had been filed by TNA Parliamentarian M.A Sumanthiran challenging the said controversial Land Circular. The …
by Arthur Wamanan General Secretary of Citizen’s Front and Parliamentarian J. Sri Ranga charged that Tamil politicians were taking people for a ride for their own benefits. In an interview to The Nation, Ranga said the likes of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) misled the people and were not genuine on going for a political solution …
Continue reading ‘Tamil people are misled by certain politicians – J. Sri Ranga’ »
by FLORET When the British took over the island in 1796, Colombo had a population of 4,700. In the city of Colombo, there were horse driven carriages, bullock carts and rickshaws. This was a time when ladies wore long gowns and had feathered hats. Most of the gentlemen had long whiskers and top hats. There …
Continue reading ‘‘Disce Aut Discede’: Royal College celebrates 177 years of excellence’ »
by Carlo Fonseka Victor Ratnayake, the much loved reigning King in the Kingdom of Sinhala music, is the creator of the all time musical extravaganza called Sa. By a very wide margin Sa has proved to be the greatest solo song show in Sri Lanka’s recorded history. Those who listen to Sinhala music and have …
Continue reading ‘Victor Ratnayake: Reigning Monarch of Sinhala Music’ »
by Rajpal Abeynayake A Sunday newspaper last week alleged that the said newspaper’s female editor had called the defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa to clarify a story about a matter allegedly involving him — and that the defence secretary had abused her in unparliamentarily language, and also threatened her. Certain media rights groups have meanwhile taken …
Continue reading ‘Gotabaya Rajapaksa Responds to Allegations by Frederica Jansz’ »
by Gamini Weerakoon The uprooting of the Bandaranaike colossus that towered over Galle Face and its environs brought to our mind a poem we learned in the Fifth Form more than half century ago on the fickleness of immortality – Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley: I met a traveller from an antique land, Who said …
Continue reading ‘Immortality through Monuments: Mahinda Rajapaksa has outdone them all’ »
by Dr. Vickramabahu Karunaratne All democratic organizations vehemently condemned the unlawful killing of political prisoner Nimalaruban, without any trial, at the Vavuniya prison. Everybody in the north as well as in the south understands that he and other prisoners were severely assaulted and beaten with iron rods by the police and others, while they were …
By Tisaranee Gunasekara “The answer to bad speech his nearly always better speech and those who argue otherwise rarely create countries worth living in” Nick Cohen (Standpoint – 14.7.2012) The Rajapaksa government is going hell for leather not against child rapists or murderers. The Rajapaksa government is going hell for leather against journalists.
By Raymond Stock Closing a celebration on June 30, 2012 for his swearing-in as what the world hailed as Egypt’s first civilian, freely elected president, Mohammed Mursi declared, “We will not look back, nor will we look beneath our feet, but we will look forward always.” Mohamed Morsi supporters celebrate his initial victory in the …
Continue reading ‘How The Muslim Brotherhood Conquered Egypt And Conned The World via Facebook’ »
By Risidra Mendis The Minister of Environment has come under flak for allegedly violating the Forest Conservation Ordinance and taking a decision to cut a road across the Makandawa Conservation Forest to the Pallebage village. Purple-faced leaf monkey in Makandawa Rain Forest, Sri Lanka -Pic: Sergey Yeliseev Makandawa is part of the Kitulgala-Kelani Valley Conservation …
By Cassandra Mascarenhas Economic Summit kicks off with wakeup call for Sri Lanka The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce-organised Sri Lanka Economic Summit kicked off yesterday, with an emphatic message to both the Government and the private sector that challenges are mounting and success as a nation will depend on a strong collective effort to be …
By Dr.P.B. Jayasundara (Following is the full text of Secretary to Ministry of Finance and Planning and Ministry of Economic Development Dr. P.B. Jayasundera’s keynote address titled ‘Sri Lankan Economy in Perspective’ at first plenary session of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Sri Lanka Economic Summit yesterday under the theme ‘Positioning Sri Lanka in the …