By Paneetha Ameresekere Three things came out of Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to India last week. Those were India’s concerns over the leasing out of the Hambantota Port to the Chinese in a debt swap, India’s interest in the Trincomalee oil tank farm to counter the Chinese threat and Wickremesinghe’s keenness in getting Indian aid …
By “Sunday Times”Diplomatic Editor Some say India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi neatly cajoled his Sri Lankan counterpart Ranil Wickremesinghe into swinging by New Delhi, making what was to be a private visit to attend a wedding into a one-day ‘working visit’– and then got him entrapped to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Others rubbish …
BY DR. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA While the Ramayana narrative makes clear that a land link between India and Lanka was of decisive and devastating strategic consequence for the island of Lanka, the Romans and the British made it clear that the building of roadways was an essential part of annexation and empire building. What is true …
In what seemed an otherwise bhai-bhai friendship between the two countries, the sour point was the nagging, continuing issue of poaching in Sri Lankan waters by southern Indian fishermen. The crisis is causing an estimated Rs. Five billion loss annually to Sri Lanka. Premier Modi said on March 13, 2015, addressing Sri Lanka’s Parliament: “The …
If Sri Lankans are wondering how many times Sri Lanka has won approval for a renewed duty concession to the markets of the European Union (EU) under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) Plus, they may be excused. This week, there was another huge hurrah for having defeated the EU parliamentary vote on a resolution …
By Kishali Pinto Jayawardene In the chaotic merry-go-round characterizing the drafting of Sri Lanka’s proposed Counter-Terror Act (CTA), the periodic surfacing of one version followed by another has given rise to unexpected horrors. Each time that a new draft emerges or should I rather say, is ‘extracted’ with great pain out of a process gripped …
By Namini Wijedasa The Counter Terrorism Act policy framework approved by the Cabinet this week has reintroduced offences originally listed under “espionage”– whilst merely removing the word “espionage” from the document. As such, the draft makes it an offence to voluntarily engage in any illegal, unlawful or unauthorised act for the purpose of gathering any …
Continue reading ‘New Counter Terrorism Law Undermines Right To Information Law’ »
By Kasun Warakapitiya Foreign workers, both with and without work visas, are arriving in Sri Lanka with the country facing an acute labour shortage, a cabinet minister said yesterday. Megapolis and Western Development Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka told the Sunday Times that an estimated 200,000 strong foreign labour force was in Sri Lanka. He said …
By Namini Wijedasa Cabinet approval on a Resettlement Ministry paper to award 6,000 prefabricated houses to the war-affected of the North and East, was held up this week, after President Maithripala Sirisena sought further clarification. Resettlement Minister D.M. Swaminathan has been promoting the initiative of steel giant ArcelorMittal since 2015. Its logistics partner is Kumarca …
by Rajan Philips “My legs have carried me for 90 years. Now they have earned their well-deserved rest”, he would tell his visitors at the Jesuit House in Akkara Panaha, Negombo, where he spent the last years of his life confined to his bed and a wheel chair. Now his entire mortal coil has earned …
By P.K.Balachandran India and Sri Lanka have arrived at a compromise on the sensitive and problematic issue of the Trincomalee oil tanks, with both sides climbing down from their earlier positions but gaining some ground at the same time. As per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Cooperation of Economic Projects signed in New Delhi …
By Gerard D.Muttucumaru What though the spicy breezesBlow soft o’er Ceylon’s isle; Though every prospect pleases, And only man is vile – Anglican Bishop Reginald Heber The British gave us a nation that was respected regionally and globally. In an earlier article, I stated that the leading companies in Sri Lanka today bear British names …
Continue reading ‘What Has Happened to Ceylon and to the Ceylonese?’ »
by Emily Jane Fox A group of young boys on bicycles stopped in their tracks outside of a pizza shop as Ivanka Trump drove by in a tan S.U.V., in the middle of a flashing motorcade on her trip to Germany in her new role. Throngs of police officers and Secret Service officers wove through …
By P.K.Balachandran To make up for lost time and avoid delays in the execution of joint projects, India and Sri Lanka have agreed on a tight time table in respect of each of the projects mentioned in the MoU signed in New Delhi on April 25 in the presence of Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and …
By K. Ratnayake Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has called upon Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka to resign from the government’s ministry and return to the position of army commander. In a bid to “discipline the country,” Fonseka would be head of the country’s three armed forces for two years. Cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne announced the …
By Charumini de Silva The Government yesterday expressed confidence that the country will regain the GSP plus trade concession by 15 May and called on the business community to make this a ‘turning point’ in the economy to increase the country’s exports to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio over 100%. “Sri Lanka overcame the biggest …
Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday listed a litany of wrongs that President Maithripala Sirisena had committed against the party since becoming its leader and vowed to give leadership to the opposition forces to defeat the ineffective government. He also openly defied the threats made by the SLFP’s current leadership and urged everyone to attend the …
By Ryan Gilbey Robert Jonathan Demme, film director, born 22 February 1944; died 26 April 2017 Jonathan Demme, who has died aged 73 from complications from cancer, rose from his colourful if tawdry beginnings under the aegis of the exploitation maestro Roger Corman to become one of the most eclectic, delightful and original film-makers in …
By Sudha G Tilak. Vinod Khanna, who has died aged 70, belonged to the second wave of Punjabi heroes who ruled Bollywood – known as “Partition Punjabis”. His family hailed from Peshawar in Pakistan and had moved to India in 1947 when the country was divided. The heroes on screen then were all swashbuckling heroes …
By Meera Srinivasan Sri Lanka’s north and east shut down on Thursday following a hartal call by protesters demanding an answer from the government to questions about their missing relatives. Shops remained closed all day and transport services were minimal, media reports said. Over the last few months, families have been protesting in different places …
The main left front of the Joint Opposition (JO), the Communist Party of Sri Lanka (CPSL), indicated a break with the JO and that they will conduct a separate May Day rally and meeting at the Viharamahadevi Open Air theater on May Day instead of participating in the May Day rally of the JO, which …
By Dr.Rajitha Senaratne (POWER SHARING IN SRI LANKA -S.J.V. Chelvanayagam Memorial lecture– delivered by Dr.Rajitha Senaratne, Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine on 26thApril 2017) When we were political cubs, we knew of Chelvanayagam as one who was the “father” figure of Tamil Nationalism.He was one Tamil political leader who was affectionately called “Thanthai” …
President Maithripala Sirisena today appointed 25 senior lawyers including TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran, J. C. Weliamuna, Upul Jayasuriya and Nizam Kariapper as President’s Counsel. A statement from the President’s office said these lawyers were appointed in recognition of their professional integrity and diligence.
By Shamindra Ferdinando Former Ceylon Bank Employees Union President and civil society activist Rusiripala Tennakoon yesterday urged the ruling Sirisena-Wickremesinghe coalition and the Joint Opposition to state their position on alleged moves to impose a staggering 28 per cent tax on Employees Provident Fund (EPF). Pointing out that the JVP, which had worked overtime to …
In the wake of a crippling petroleum strike and a wave of protests against the Government, Cabinet Spokesman Minister Rajitha Senaratne made a shock announcement yesterday that President Maithripala Sirisena had requested wartime army chief Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka to take over the military as commander or Chief of Defence Staff in order to bring …
By Paneetha Ameresekere reporting from New Delhi China ranked high in Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe’s meeting with Indian Premier Narendra Modi, at Hyderabad House, New Delhi yesterday, official sources who didn’t want to be named told this reporter. Reporters were not allowed to cover these meetings, with opportunities provided only for the taking of photographs and …
By Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka “New Silk Road or New Great Game? India Developing New Sri Lanka Port to Combat China” (Wayne Shepard, Forbes, April 21, 2017) “Will they leave?” was the urgent question President Premadasa posed to me after having kept me behind as Varadarajah Perumal and the others left the meeting at Sucharitha in January …
Continue reading ‘Why is Prime Minister Wickremesinghe About to Give Away Trincomalee to India?’ »
Cabinet Co-spokesperson Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said today there was the possibility that Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka would be appointed to a post that would allow him to oversee all of the defense establishments in the country. While the Cabinet Co-spokesperson declined to offer more details on the powers the post would be vested with, he …
By P.K.Balachandran India and Sri Lanka on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on “Cooperation in Economic Projects” during the on-going visit of the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to India. The MoU envisages joint ventures in several areas of development. Wickremesinghe and his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, welcomed the signing of the …
Sri Lanka’s cabinet, on Wednesday granted approval to hand over some elephants from an elephant orphanage in the Central Hills of Pinnawala, to individuals and religious places under definite conditions. The Government Information Department said the maintenance of the present number of 88 elephants in a restricted land area of 30 acres at Pinnawala had …
By Ajith Siriwardana Cabinet Spokesman Minister Rajitha Senaratne said today the President Maithripala Sirisena requested Minister Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka to quit the ministerial portfolio and take up the post of army commander or overall commander for two years to discipline the country. He told the weekly Cabinet briefing that Field Marshal Fonseka was known …
By Ananth Palakidnar Several hundred rehabilitated ex-LTTE cadres, both men and women, presently serving in the Civil Security Department (CSD), staged a demonstration yesterday against the handing over of Army-managed agricultural farms and pre-schools to the Northern Provincial Council. The procession of ex-LTTE cadres, which commenced at the Kilinochchi Depot junction, on the A-9 highway, …
by Nirupama Subramanian When the visiting Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a working lunch on Wednesday, an agreement for the development of the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm will be the hottest dish on the table. Sri Lankan and Indian government sources said the two sides will finalise an …
BY Suhasini Haidar & Meera Srinivasan Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremsinghe arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday for official meetings expected to finalise an MoU on developing energy and infrastructure projects in Trincomalee, as well as fast-tracking negotiations for the upgraded Free Trade Agreement —the ETCA (Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement) — both of …
By Dr. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA The victory in Round One of the French elections and his highly probable election as the new President of France on May 7th, of Emmanuel Macron, the young outsider with a neo-Centrist or ‘Alt-Centrist’ stance, underscores that the global trend goes against conventional, traditional, established Governments and Oppositions, and favors unorthodox, …
By P.K.Balachandran Agitations against major Indian and Chinese projects in Sri Lanka, trigged by a fear of domination by these powers, may adversely affect the investment climate in the island and reduce the flow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) at a time when Sri Lanka desperately needs FDI to tide over a severe resource crunch. …
By Ranga Jayasuriya The government is reportedly considering bringing garbage disposal under a centralized authority and to legislate a law on garbage recycling. In the meantime, untended rubbish is piling up by the road side. Garbage is not funny business. A year or so back when rubbish piles heaped up in Beirut, the capital of …
By Tejshree Thapa (The writer is a senior Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch.) The refrain I heard over and over again, travelling through Sri Lanka’s southern Sinhala belt, was this: “Politicians rise on the bodies of our dead children.” Parent after parent, across political divides, repeated this phrase. Politicians, they said, promise justice and …
By Frances Bulathsinghala Concealed from privileged city dwellers, tucked away from posh tourist resorts and invisible to policy makers are the rubbish dumps in the cities of South Asia. But the thick wall of apathy cracked on April 14 when a 300 ft high mountain of garbage, allowed to build up for years in the …
The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) trade unionists last night decided to call off their strike which had crippled fuel distribution throughout the country. Their decision to abandon trade union action came following an assurance given by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that he would not enter into an agreement with India on the Trincomalee Oil Tank …
By Norman Palihawadane Health Minister and Cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne yesterday said that the government had the power to dump garbage at any location found suitable for the purpose and none could oppose that action. Commenting on Colombo Bishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith’s warning to the government not to use police and security forces against the …
by Norman Palihawadane Bishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has said it will be counterproductive for a government to use police and military personnel to force the public to allow the dumping of garbage in their environs, he said.
By P.K.Balachandran A scientific study of garbage disposal in Colombo done by EML Consultants Pivate Ltd.,for the Central Environment Authority (CEA) had concluded that sanitary land filling would be the only practical way of disposing Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in Colombo, the Ministry’s former Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, said here on Thursday. Speaking to Daily Express, …
by Jeremy Luedi Increased international interest in the Indian Ocean comes at a convenient time for Sri Lanka, as the country continues to recoup after the end of its decades-long civil war which ended in 2009. The island nation is being courted (and courting in turn) by various major powers, each seeking a stake in …
Continue reading ‘China,India and Japan in Great Game of Competing for the Harbours of Sri Lanka.’ »
By Sachin Parashar NEW DELHI: Sri Lanka may find it difficult to wriggle out of China’s clutches because of the massive debt it owes to Beijing but to balance things out, it is now set to allow India to jointly develop the Trincomalee port in northeastern part of the country. Diplomatic sources said Sri Lanka …
By Manekshaw The civilians in Mullaitivu have launched a protest against the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) expanding its presence in the Mullaitivu District by acquiring nearly 617 acres for the expansion of the Navy presence in the Mullaitivu District. The civilian protest is led by the Wanni Electoral District, Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian, Dr. S. …
By Meera Srinivasan Although New Delhi and Colombo have expressed satisfaction over recent bilateral talks on the Palk Bay fishing conflict, northern Sri Lankan fishermen say a much-needed long-term solution remains elusive. Following resistance from the fisherfolk and some efforts taken by the two governments, the number of Indian trawlers coming into Sri Lankan waters …
by D.B.S. Jeyaraj It is with great sadness that I write for the first time on my Blog after the advent of the April traditional new year “Hevilambi”! My first post for the new year is the last post for the Editor who first recruited me as a journalist. Kandasamy Sivapragasam , Former Editor -in …
BY SANJA DE SILVA JAYATILLEKA The dreadful tragedy of Meethotamulla has shocked even those who usually go about minding their own business, to spin around and look back at what could possibly have led to such needless waste of human lives. In a country that faced frequent terrorist violence in its main streets for decades …
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — In the ruins of a tropical hideaway where jetsetters once sipped rum under the Caribbean sun, the abandoned children tried to make a life for themselves. They begged and scavenged for food, but they never could scrape together enough to beat back the hunger, until the U.N. peacekeepers moved in a …
By P.K.Balachandran The landslide disaster at Meetotamulla within Colombo city limits last Friday, in which a 300 ft high mountain of garbage came down on hapless slum dwellers killing 26 and wrecking 84 houses fully and 36 partially, could have been averted if steps had been taken to remove the dump even as late as …
By Shamindra Ferdinando The Collective of Civil Society Organizations has urged the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration to inquire into war crimes allegations in accordance with Geneva Resolution 30/1 co-sponsored by the government. Addressing the media at the Centre for Society and Religion (CSR), Maradana on Tuesday (April 18), Akalanka Hettiarachchi (Aluth Parapura) emphasized that all those who …
By DR. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA A few days after the Meethotamulla tragedy in Sri Lanka, a referendum was held in Turkey. The people of Turkey rejected Western liberal warnings and voted in favour of an executive presidency. The Meethotamulla tragedy, which occurred utterly inauspiciously as it were during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year holiday, was …
Politics, rather than science, is playing an important role in marine fisheries governance especially in South Asian countries, said Maarten Bavinck, a Dutch scientist, whose research projects include providing space for small scale fishers of India and Sri Lanka. “The dispute between India and Sri Lanka over the fishing activities in the Palk Bay remain …
By Padma Rao Sundarji Mahinda Rajapaksa was President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015. He is a human rights lawyer by profession, but has been the butt of widespread outrage and criticism for alleged human rights violations by the Sri Lankan armed forces during the final stages of the 30-year long civil war against …
By Iromi Perera and Vijay Nagaraj On the afternoon of 14 April tonnes of garbage at Meethotamulla, one of the biggest dumping sites just outside Colombo, came crashing down destroying scores of homes. At the time of writing, the death toll was reportedly 26 but was expected to rise. There have been serious allegations made …
By P.K.Blachandran Colombo, April 16: The landslide disaster at Meetotamulla within Colombo city limits on Friday, in which a 300 ft high mountain of garbage came down on hapless slum dwellers killing 24 and wrecking 145 houses, may have come as a surprise to the elite of Colombo who live in posh localities. But for …
Continue reading ‘Meetotamulla Garbage Dump Landslide Tragedy was a Disaster Waiting to Happen’ »
By Dr. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA “The correctness or incorrectness of the ideological and political line decides everything.”(Mao) UNP leader and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is mightily helped by the confusion in the ranks of the SLFP and Oppositional forces in general. The SLFP voters and the broader constituency of non-UNP (or non-hardcore UNP) voters are being …
By Dr. Archana Arul If there is considerable consternation in political circles in India over what took place at the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva recently over a two-year extension for Sri Lanka to come to terms with issues of the post-conflict era, it is only understandable. Once again the international community, led by …
Continue reading ‘Has There Been Genuine National Reconciliation in Sri Lanka?’ »
By Udeni Saman Kumara President Maithripala Sirisena in an interview with our sister paper Maubima said that people who elected him are still hopeful that the problems could be resolved through this government. “I like to unite and not to divide”, he said. Q; This is the third year since you were elected as President. …
By SANJA DE SILVA JAYATILLEKA It was not easy to watch the proceedings on Friday April 7that the UN Security Council’s emergency‘open session’ on Syria without thinking of Sri Lanka, although the actual circumstances of the UN’s engagement with the two countries are very different. Only one thing seemed alarmingly similar. It seemed like a …
Yu Zhengsheng, Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and the fourth most important leader in China, visited Sri Lanka this week, he was pleasantly surprised to get a very warm reception. “The warm hospitality I got was far beyond expectations,” Yu publicly declared on Thursday. Yu had come on a two-day visit as …
By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan The government appears to be in hot water these days as the Chinese have demanded the complete handover of the Hambantota Port to the China Merchants Port Holdings Company, without the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) having any stake in it. The Chinese, on seeing the new amendments put forward by …
by Anura Gunasekera When absolute virtue is your launching pad, there is no way but down thereafter and that has been the sad story of the Yahapalanaya regime from its laboured birth. Yahapalanaya is a collage of intrinsically incompatible points of view and an uneasy cohabitation between groups and individuals who would not, normally, bed …
Continue reading ‘Yahapalanaya Regime – Lunacy,Idiocy or Plain Hubris?’ »
Multiple award-winning film director Vasantha Obeyesekere, whose adoption of real life stories onto the big screen made him one of the biggest names in the country’s film industry, passed away last morning at a private hospital in Colombo. He was 80. In a film-making career that spanned nearly five decades, Obeyesekere won several presidential awards …
By Namini Wijedasa If the Government intends to slash its original proposal of 65,000 prefabricated houses down to 6,000 houses for the war-displaced, it must call a fresh tender as many more contractors will qualify for the smaller project and offer better prices, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian M. A. Sumanthiran said this week. Despite …
By Chris Kamalendran Sri Lanka has expressed disappointment over the failure by the Indian authorities to honour the pledges made at the last round of joint Indo-Lanka talks on the fisheries issue. Fisheries Ministry Secretary Rani Adhikari, who headed the Sri Lanka delegation at the talks held on Friday in Colombo, told the Sunday Times …
By Namini Wijedasa Resistance is growing in the East to W.M. Mendis’s (WMM) proposed ethyl alcohol plant, approved by the Finance Ministry within 18 months of Maithripala Sirisena winning the presidency, on a platform that decried, among other things, “the ethanol mafia”. The Batticaloa District Coordinating Committee met on March 27 and resolved to oppose …
by Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka What the upcoming round of sub-national elections (PCs and PSs) will decide is the respective strengths of the official SLFP and the JO/SLPP. I for one am pretty certain that the JO/Podujana Peramuna will beat the official SLFP into third place in the PS/PC elections—the reason being the official SLFP’s role …
By Namini Wijedasa Despite three months’ renovation work which disrupted airline schedules, the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) will not upgrade the Bandaranaike International Airport’s runway in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation-accepted classification for runways capable of accommodating new large aircraft such as A380s. Notwithstanding its recent widening at a cost …
By Hiranthi Wijemanne It was Lao Tzu who said, “When a nation is filled with strife, then do patriots flourish.” This epitomizes Ravi Jayewardene, who in 1983 during the first manifestations of unprecedented violence and destruction, began a response to protect our motherland, threatened by separatist forces of immeasurable proportions. Ravi became a catalyst for …
By Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena A common view held by many across the Commonwealth that Sri Lanka holds out a beacon of hope to the world in reversing the tide of authoritarianism underscores darker and more complex realities. Even in those early days when elation prevailed after the surprise election defeat of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in …
Continue reading ‘Challenges to Media freedom in Sri Lanka; The ‘New’ Government’s Performance’ »
By Asoka N. I. Ekanayaka Emeritus Professor I share with many millions of people in this country (who may not even know what the letters SAITM stand for) a certain indifference to the SAITM controversy that seems to be occupying so much media attention at this time. I have never been a teacher in that …
Continue reading ‘The SAITM Controversy: From Hippocrates to Hypocrisy’ »
National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa has made a miraculous recovery and was discharged from the National Hospital less than four hours after being granted bail this morning. Weerawansa was taken to the Colombo Fort Magistrate Court by ambulance this morning from the Colombo National Hospital. He was admitted to the Colombo National Hospital …
The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) has rejected the solution offered by the government on the SAITM issue. Speaking to the media this evening, GMOA Secretary Dr. Navin de Zoysa said they wanted the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) shut down, not taken over by the government. He also promised that the …
By Zahrah Imtiaz The usually crowded waiting rooms of the Colombo National Hospital (CNH) were deserted yesterday as the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) and 100 other trade unions launched the 24 hour strike against the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM). Thousands of patients seeking treatment at Government hospitals were left in …
by Dilanthi Jayamanne Thousands patients were inconvenienced by the doctors token strike yesterday. Director of the National Hospital (NHSL), Dr Anil Jasinghe said the OPD was not functioning though emergency admissions were carried out. The scheduled clinics had been cancelled. The NHSL attended to approximately 3,000 to 4,000 clinic patients daily. Routine surgeries had been …
By Dr. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA A country usually rolls out the red carpet for a visiting foreign dignitary but can a country turn into a carpet? Well, ours just did. We live in a time and a country in which a visiting celebrity from India can think nothing of openly criticizing and cautioning us against our …
By Shashi Tharoor (Following is the address delivered by keynote speaker, Indian MP and world-famous author Dr. Shashi Tharoor at the launch of Dinesh Weerakkody’s book ‘Ranil Wickremesinghe: A Life’ on 4 April 2017) It is presumptuous for a second-term MP to congratulate a fourth-term PM, but I am emboldened by Ranil Wickremesinghe’s own graciousness …
Continue reading ‘Issue of Sri Lankan Tamils is an Emotional and Political Subject in India’ »
By Sajeewa Chamikara One of the common practices of the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration, especially in the North and East of Sri Lanka after the end of the conflict, was the forceful encroachment of land that belonged to private owners, often from the most marginalized communities, to implement ‘development initiatives.’ According to the National Physical Plan …
By Saman Indrajith Parliament sittings were limited to 55 minutes as the Joint Opposition (JO) MPs disrupted sessions demanding more time for them to participate in a debate on the UNHRC resolution against Sri Lanka. MEP leader MP Dinesh Gunawardena said that it was unfair to allocate only 31 minutes of the 210 minutes long debate …
By P.K.Balachandran Colombo, April 5 (newsin.asia): Former Indian junior Minister for External Affairs and UN Under Secretary General, Dr.Shashi Tharoor, has warned Sri Lankans that the Chinese, in the guise of promoting economic relations with Sri Lanka, may well end up interfering in the internal affairs of the country as the legendary Chinese Admiral Zheng …
By Meera Srinivasan Congress MP and former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday flagged India’s concerns over China’s presence in Sri Lanka, pointing to “military intervention in the guise of trade” even in the earlier avatar of China’s Silk Road initiative. He was speaking at the launch of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s political biography, authored …
By Saman Indrajith The government would not remove the Navy camps at Silawathura and Mullikulam as they were necessary for curbing arms and drug and human smuggling operations, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament yesterday. In answer to a question raised by SLMC MP MHM Salman, who demanded that the removal of the Navy base …
By Harim Peiris In Sri Lanka’s ethnically polarized political society, the political discourse of both the Sinhala and Tamil polity is sadly limited and largely restricted to being within their own respective communities, with occasional broadsides against each other. There is insufficient dialogue and engagement between the different political views, especially on the issues of …
By Harischandra Gunaratna Environmentalists are calling for action against a powerful Cabinet Minister from the Vanni electoral District for going ahead with what they call unlawful settlements in the forest reserves in and around Wilpattu in defiance of President Maithripala Sirisena’s orders. Dineth Mallikarachchi, leading environmentalist, addressing journalists at a news conference organised by the …
By Ephrem Fernando The golden age of humanity was the era of the Antonines, especially that of Marcus Aurelius the second Antonine emperor. He admired the changelessness of the Roman Church. In my daily paper The Island of March 30, I read a piece which by far was the most Interesting news for me. It …
By Saman Indrajith Those who built the Hambantota Port had expected all ships going past Sri Lanka to stop there for refuelling, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament yesterday. “They thought that ships would come there the way the vehicles come to the petrol shed at the Alexandra Place in Colombo for refuelling. The agreements …
By Sarath de Alwis An otherwise obvious cliché needs to be reframed to draw out the lessons from the life of Ravi Jayewardene who passed away at the age of eighty whose obsequies will be held on Thursday 6th April. It is not enough to say that he was the only son of President J. …
By Nisthar Cassim The launch of a biography on Ranil Wickremesinghe last night at the BMICH saw praised being heaped on the Prime Minister, who credited patience for his success but said that it was time to ensure victory for Sri Lanka by uniting for peace and development. “There are many who helped me but …
Indian lawmaker Dr. Shashi Tharoor yesterday voiced his country’s concerns about China’s presence in Sri Lanka as well as its growing influence in the Indian Ocean. “There are some concerns in India if China’s interests here undermine our own historical and cultural links built over generations,” Tharoor said in his keynote at the launch of …
by Shamindra Ferdinando Denying the Joint Opposition’s allegations that law enforcement authorities had been targeting military personnel as well as the police over several high profile cases, police headquarters yesterday emphasised that they couldn’t be exempted from investigations. Police spokesman DIG Priyantha Jayakody said that those who believed people could be excused as they were …
Deputy Minister of Public Enterprise Development Eran Wickramaratne yesterday told Parliament that no action had been taken to investigate allegations over the misuse of public funds by Gamini Senarath, the Chief of Staff of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and Piyadasa Kudabalage, who functioned as Directors of the companies associated with controversial Canwill Holdings Ltd. The …
By Zacky Jabbar Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had won over people not by changing his attire or religion, but by his royal conduct and breeding, Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne said yesterday in Colombo. Senaratne , speaking at the launch of the book “Ranil Wickremesinghe – A Political Biography” by Dinesh Weerakkody at the BMICH, attended …
(Text of Editorial Appearing in “The Island” of April 5th 2017 Under the Heading “Lester, the Lodestar”) Today is a special day; internationally acclaimed icon of the Sri Lankan cinema, Lester James Peries, turns 98. He, in our book, is a national hero in that he almost single-handedly led the freedom struggle of the Sri …
By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya After the UN Human Rights Council 34th session ended in Geneva, the US said it introduced three resolutions that were adopted with ‘broad cross regional support.’ The list included Resolution 34/1 on Sri Lanka. The statement says that ‘Sri Lanka was one of the 47 co-sponsors’ of Resolution 34/1. This assertion is …
Continue reading ‘Where is the Pressure for Prosecutions by a Hybrid Court Coming From?’ »
By Rathindra Kuruwita The red pill and its opposite, the blue pill, are popular cultural symbols representing the choice between embracing the sometimes painful truth of reality (red pill) and the blissful ignorance of illusion (blue pill). Last week, National Freedom Front (NFF) Leader Wimal Weerawansa drank a cup of milk and gave up his …
Continue reading ‘Ultra- Nationalist Sinhala Politicians Becoming Political Dinosaurs’ »
By Ranga Jayasuriya Wimal Weerawansa is a destructive politician. After Anagarika Dharmapala, he is probably the most effective rabble rouser who could manage to send a sizeable portion of the population to an ethnic frenzy through his gifted oratory. His leader for a short while, Rohana Wijeweera was also a provocative orator, however, though he …
By Harischandra Gunaratna The much-awaited short list of Gratiaen Prize 2016 was announced at the British Council auditorium yesterday evening at a simple ceremony. The short listed works are: 1. “Introspection”(poetry) by Jean Arasanayagam 2. “The Memory of Loss”(novel) by Rizvina Morseth de Alwis 3. “Short eats” (short stories) by Shehan Karunatilaka 4. “Stories” (novel) …
By Meera Srinivasan Expressing solidarity with their counterparts across the Palk Bay, Sri Lankan trade unions on Monday protested against the “attack” on Maruti workers. With posters displaying slogans in Sinhala, Tamil and English asking the Indian State to stop “prosecuting” workers, leaders and members of different unions here gathered outside the Indian mission’s premises …
By D.B.S.Jeyaraj Octogenarian leader of the opposition Rajavarothayam Sampanthan in a hard hitting Parliamentary speech made four weeks ago drew attention to the prevailing practice of persons being condemned as Traitors (Drohi/Thurogi) within the sphere of Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalist Politics. The Trincomalee district MP who is also the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group …
Continue reading ‘Tamil Nationalist Politics and the Process of “Traitorization” in Sri Lanka’ »
Four gazettes reportedly impacting the Northern Muslim resettlement process in Wilpattu proximity are to be rescinded. “I informed the officials that I will present a Cabinet Paper to do way with the gazettes affecting resettlement of Northern Muslim IDPs.” said Minister of Industry and Commerce and Vanni District MP Rishad Bathiudeen on 31 March in …
By R.S. Karunaratne I still follow a piece of advice given to his students by T. Max Perera who ran an English institute at Horana way back in the 1950s. One day he advised us to read advertisements published in newspapers and name boards to learn good English. Since then I have been reading advertisements …
By Nisthar Cassim In an emphatic move, Beijing has brought together two competing bidders for the Hambantota Port to work together, reinforcing China’s serious intent on Sri Lanka though the latter is still grappling with differences of opinion on the crucial $ 1.4 billion public-private partnership (PPP) project. The Daily FT learns that the Beijing …
by Zacki Jabbar The government says that only 600 acres of state land and not 100,000 acres from Muslims settled close to the northern border of the Wilpattu Forest Reserve, have been acquired by the President’s March 24, Gazette notification. Acknowledging the crucial contribution of the Muslim community to electing Maithripala Sirisena as President, Sports …
By Don Manu Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka fired the first shot. When CID detectives, probing the daylight killing of former editor Lasantha Wickrematunge, came to question him in January and obtain his testimony, he laid the blame squarely at the doorstep of former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. He claimed that a ‘death squad’ run by …
Sri Lanka and India will jointly make investments to develop the Trincomalee Port and establish a petroleum refinery and other industries there. They will also encourage Indian companies to invest in a Container Terminal in the Port of Colombo. These are highlights of a Memorandum of Understanding to be signed this year between Sri Lanka …
By Kishali Pinto Jayawardene Assessed even with the kindest eye, the potential of the proposed (and revised) new Counter-Terror Act (CTA) to legally validate intrusive acts of state officers is most worrying.If this version has been sent to the Legal Draftsman’s Department for conversion into the form of a Bill as we are informed, one …
By Namini Wijedasa SriLankan Airlines has been slapped with fresh litigation, just days after dodging an expensive legal battle with a company through which it extended leases on three A330-200 aircraft. Duty Free Partners (DFP), supplier of SriLankan’s onboard duty free products, on Friday took out an enjoining order preventing the national carrier from terminating …
by Dr A.C.Visvalingam Towards the end of its war to establish an independent state, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) did not allow civilians to move out of those areas from which it was attacking the Sri Lanka Army. It has been accused of deploying these hapless fellow citizens as human shields so as …
By Sujeeva Nivunhella in London Jeeves Wijesuriya, a Sri Lankan junior doctor from London, was hailed as a hero as he was the first physician to attend to those injured following the Westminster parliament terrorist attack last week. Dr. Wijesuriya who specializes in General Practice was not on duty at the time, but was nearby …