Game of Thrones in Gujarat; Scion VS Son of Soil - EDITORIAL

Beating BJP in Gujarat is next to impossible.That is not because it is the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi though it....

Sexual Violence in Conflict: Women Survivors and Stigma: The ‘Social Scar’

The impact of stigma on women survivors of sexual violence during and after the war in Sri Lanka has received little attention.  How stigma...

Nationalism in Our Times

The lessons from the modern world, of the tumultuous emergence of nation states, are often forgotten. We are again caught in the....

Britain’s Geostorm

Sri Lanka continues to be hit by adverse weather and the existential truth of the 21st century would be the expansive reach of extreme....

Tamil secessionism and the Dravida State demand in India

Tamil secessionism in the island of Sri Lanka came to an effective end in May 2009, when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Organization was militarily defeated by the Armed forces of the Government of Sri Lanka.

Challenges ahead as our dynamic region rises

The greatest expansion of prosperity in human history has occurred in the decades following World War II, supported by the international rules-based order that has been steadily built during that time.    This order – a web of alliances, treaties and institutions underpinned by international law – was designed to prevent a repeat of past eras where powerful nations invaded or coerced other nations, leading to conflict that i

Rajapaksa bond scams were like pyramid scams: PM

If the Central Bank bond issue and the disclosures of names at the Presidential Commission of Inquiry, had seriously damaged the image of the United National Party, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s widely publicized statement in parliament on Thursday went a long way towards clarifying the situation.   

AIDS victims; they have a fundamental right to good health

Today is World AIDS Day and the UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé in a statement says the UN is highlighting the importance of the right to health and the challenges that people living with and affected by HIV face in fulfilling that right.   

Islam’s liberative spirit lost in fanaticism

Last Friday’s mosque massacre in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula is yet another tragedy that has brought to the surface the crisis within Islam. 

BIG HOAX called change Bringing to book the smaller fry while the big fish still scheme and manipu

In Zimbabwe, RM “walked in” as the PM of independent Zimbabwe, respected and revered as their liberator. In Sri Lanka, MR “walked out”, still honoured as the “Sinhala hero”, having won a 30-year-war against Tamil “separatism”.

Female candidate percentage May result in Dummy candidates

The recent amendments introduced to the Provincial Councils Elections Act and the Local Authorities Elections Act have made it mandatory for the political parties and the independent groups contesting elections to include 30 percent and 25 percent of female candidates in their nomination papers respectively.

Amateurish Govt. swallowed IMF advice to increase tax

Former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal in an interview with the Daily Mirror spoke about the Government’s Budget and its implications. The interview done with Cabraal follows. 

Unpacking the ‘public interest’ for the judiciary

The late Justice C.G. Weeramantry, delivering the annual Lalith Athulathmudali Memorial Lecture in 2012 chose to speak on judicial ethics. He did refer to the key institutions of the state and how and why they need to be independent of one another, but stressed that everything depends on that 

From the cattle shed to the supermarket

Tomorrow December 1, we begin the Christmas season which has been commercialised to such an extent that some theologians are even suggesting that the name be changed, though the business world has already taken Christ out of Christmas and refers to it as X’mas.   

We have to be strategic enough to engineer a political explosion’

National Freedom Front leader MP Wimal Weerawansa in an interview with the Daily Mirror talked about the current political climate in the country and the plans afoot for the Local Government Elections. Following are excerpts of the interview done with MP Weerawansa.   

UNP, as a party, protects President - Hector Appuhamy

In an interview with Daily Mirror, United National Party (UNP) MP for the Puttalam district Hector Appuhamy speaks about the current status of the government and allegations against him about the Bond scam. He shared the following:

Lady with the Tattoo and other stories

When Naomi Coleman says that she was “overwhelmed” by the Supreme Court Decision vindicating her rights and compensating her to the tune of Rs.800,000, one is hardly surprised. When foreigners, specially Brits visit Sri Lanka, they do not expect a religious police a la Saudi Arabian Mutaween, to pounce on them at the Airport.

The President and the National Unity Govt.

Amid confusion, contradictory reports and chaos, the Elections Commission on Monday issued notice for nominations to 93 local councils. These are the councils where there are no multi-member wards and thereby are not covered by the interim stay order issued by the Court of Appeal.   

Why Ranil is the last hope for Good Governance?

Maithripala Sirisena did his job. His job was not to win the Presidential Elections in January 2015. His was to leave his Party and its leader and the Executive President of the country at the time and challenge him at the elections.   

CHINA’S DEVELOPMENT DRIVE AND GLOBAL INTERESTS

Socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era in a historic redefinition of China’s current situation. This new era means more than China’s great leap from standing up to becoming rich and strong in the global and domestic scene. 

Resolute Ranil shows his royal mettle

Once again, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has left his footsteps surely and firmly on the sands of time in our country’s political history. The first was, when he equaled the late Dudley Senanayake’s record of being Prime Minister of our country four times. This time it was when he was the first Prime Minister, to go before the Bond Commission to give evidence.

Setback for democracy in Pakistan as government bows to extremist Islamists

The ever fragile democracy in Pakistan got a grievous blow on Monday, when the Federal Law Minister, Zahid Hamid, resigned after three minor radical Islamic outfits successfully blockaded Islamabad for three weeks even after he had conceded to their demand for an amendment in the Election Law 2017.  

Why should public care about the ‘bondgate’?

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has referred to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee, a complaint about an alleged breach of privileges due to the disclosure of telephone conversations among  some government members of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and the Perpetual Treasuries PLC owner Arjun Aloysius. Why not also investigate the ethical aspect of those clandestine phone conversations that took place while Mr. Aloysius’s compan

‘We will take the hard road’

State Minister of Finance Eran Wickramaratne, in an interview with , spoke about the future economic vision of the Government. Following are excerpts of the interview done with Minister Wikramaratne. 

UNP opposed what SWRD proposed in 1959 TO Grant financial assistance to Lalith

The debate on the motion which began at 5.35 pm in the House of Representatives on February 24, 1959 under Prime Minister....

When the State Fails...

When the State fails, everything else tends to fail as well. This is what we observe around us today. Parliament does not enact urgent...

Absurdity, thy name is India - EDITORIAL

Two weeks before the Gujarat assembly polls, India is today at its worst as far as sanity is...

Government and human rights: Strong words must lead to swift action

This month the Sri Lankan Government made bold and unequivocal promises to ensure all our individual human rights are....

Tale of two Constitutions

It is an indelible fact that the lack of political will combined with fundamentally flawed Provisions of the 1972 and 1978 Constitutions and the mind – set framework of the majority community to share power with the Tamils stifled the Devolution Process.

Religious extremism is no new thing.

What drives people to extremes? Why do the people behind Wahhabism, Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State (IS) get so charged up and angry?