Decks cleared for the full revival of 19A

After the flight of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa from Sri Lanka, gave the opportunity to parliament to elect Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Sri Lankan President. The chances of the 19th Constitutional....

End of the road for asphalt producing plants in Kalahagala, Polonnaruwa

It is the normal practice to cast aside tools used for a development activity at the end of the project. Especially machinery and vehicles can be found abandoned after taking the maximum.....

How Kumar Gunaratnam alias “Gemunu” Fought  against the Indian Army

The India – Sri Lanka Accord was signed by former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and ex-Sri Lanka president Junius Richard (JR) Jayewardene on July 29,

What is happening to Sri Lanka?

United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s victory in Wednesday’s Parliamentary vote for the election of the President was a victory for the Rajapaksas as well. With this victory Wickremesinghe saved the Rajapaksas from being pushed to the political wilderness for the second time within a little longer than two months.

Human trafficking a crime against humanity

With Sri Lankans focusing their attention on the unprecedented and historic public uprising, which forced President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and resign and Parliament on Wednesday electing Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as President with a majority of 52 votes, the United Nations later this month marks the World Day against Trafficking in Persons.

Will the new president renew a shattered nation ? - EDITORIAL

Sri Lanka needs plenty of solutions to its economic woes more than an election, but Wednesday’s voting that took place to elect....

Give the new President time to prove himself

For his admirers, Ranil Wickremesinghe is the president Sri Lanka has lost and found. The late former minister Mangala Samaraweera....

Anarchy and the Aragalaya

At the time of writing, there are disparate reports of the whereabouts of Gotabaya Rajapaksa; somewhere in the UAE, Saudi Arabia or Singapore,

The Aragalaya: a postscript

Ranil Wickremesinghe is no longer president in an acting capacity. He is the president, period. Did someone say ‘I don’t know whether to laugh or cry?’ I am pretty sure someone did.

The “house” Rajapaksas built comes tumbling down

Former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who even at the height of the political and economic crisis and his rapidly dwindling popularity,

Countdown to end Lanka’s political vacuum has begun - EDITORIAL

Our country has proved itself to be an exceptional. Just this month alone, ‘we, the people’ peacefully and bloodlessly.....

New Law or the same old wine in new glasses?

What is transpiring in Sri Lanka now, is unprecedented. A constitutional scheme which in its default mode, was supposed to select it‘s Executive...

Tomorrow’s critical decision in Parliament

Tomorrow, the country is going to see a new President. Parliament is scheduled to accept nominations today from the members of it for the Parliamentary election for the Presidency that has fallen vacant following the resignation o

May Sanity Prevail in Parliament

Sri Lanka is ailing due to a lack of visionary and strategic leadership on one hand and the culmination of the citizens’ agitation on the other. I grieve when I think of the deaths of Lalith Athulathmudali Gamini Dissanayake and Lakshm

X or Y or System Change? The Role of Legislators and Professionals

Sri Lanka encountered several turning points in the last four decades that could have produced sustainable development as an island nation. The first instance was the 1977 political change which gave a 5/6 majority. The second in

Gota’s finally gone; but how do we keep our heads above water?

Gotabaya Rajapaksa is already in the dustbin of history. The reason why he delayed handing over his letter of resignation? He’s not planning a dramatic comeback as some conspiracy....

Ranil and Dinesh to Run the Interim

Gotabaya resigned and fled the country for Singapore, Arjuna Mahendran’s safe haven, that, the then President Sirisena’s plea in 2017 [remember 20,000 signatures] for the swindler’s extradition....

The need for stability amid crisis in Lanka - EDITORIAL

Lankan society is at a critical juncture. A number of crucial issues have converged at the same time. Our Government is indebted to the tune of US$51 billion to international financial institutions and is unable...

Rooting out corruption; a necessary step for Sri Lanka to prosper

Sri Lanka is facing a crisis which is essentially a crisis of governance. It is mainly due to political and financial mismanagement. It has led to an economic crisis and if we are to come out of it we should resolve....

FSP Leader Kumar Gunaratnam and his “Aragalaya”

“Gota Go Home” was the clarion call around which the people launched their “Aragalaya” or Struggle. It has achieved its primary goal.

President has gone, crisis remains with us

The government which earlier retreated in the face of the people’s uprising against it now seems to have determined to take the bull by the horns and defeat it. It is not clear if this is the result of the government exhausting its patience or the change of leadership after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa left the country on account of the uprising intensifying.

Most of all, you’re my best friend

If conflicts could be settled by friendly dialogue instead of war or violence, then what a wonderful world we would be in.

The aragalaya must return to Galle Face - EDITORIAL

If Sri Lanka was crying now she is bleeding. This is because the Aragalaya is now pushing the country’s peaceful protest to a human....

Don’t cross the thin line between people-power and mob rule

People’s power is democracy and democracy is people’s power. Yet these notions which underscore that sovereignty lies in the people....

Without changing the situation in the country, nobody will help us - Hirunika Premachandra -

Former MP Hirunika Premachandra has made headlines over the recent past as she has led several protests with the participation....

When the centre cannot hold…

I write (the time is 12.09 pm, on Wednesday) at a time when there is a remarkable and unprecedented lack of political clarity in the country.

People’s power proves more powerful than people in power

Politicians, who no sooner elected to Parliament tend to forget they are obligated to serve the people but end up serving themselves,

Will the next fuel shipment arrive via a company owned by a Rajapaksa?

As of now Sri Lanka has run out of fuel. According to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) sources fuel reserves have completely....

What next? - EDITORIAL

On June 6, 1956, the day the ‘Sinhala Only’ Bill was introduced by the then Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike in Parliament, the Federal....

Unmasking of the false heroes

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is set to become the first of many things. The first executive president of Sri Lanka to be chased out of power....