It is time India corrects its Sri Lanka policy

It is impossible to believe that the forced withdrawal of two Sri Lankan army officers from the Defence Service Staff College in Wellington in Tamil Nadu will not affect ties between New Delhi and Colombo.

Diaspora and Development:Bridging between Societies and States

International Dialogue on Migration 2013 - Diaspora Ministerial Conference, on the theme ‘Diaspora and Development: Bridging between Societies and States’ organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Editorial - Unprotected railway crossings a death trap

Is Sri Lanka a country that cannot afford to spend Rs. 3 million a month for the safety of thousands of vehicular passengers who cross the railway lines daily at about 600 points throughout the country? This question is so pertinent in the light of the increasing number of fatal accidents at unprotected railway crossings since lately.

Noise Pollution When will we break the silence? 

Whether we are walking on the street, travelling by public transport or even resting at our homes, we cannot escape the loud noises coming from -- vehicle horns, ear-splitting music and the booming noise of loud speakers. Sound pollution has almost become second-nature to us, especially to city-dwellers.

Mistrust and misunderstanding between Sinhalese and Tamils must end

Dharmalingam Siththarthan, the Leader of the People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), a former militant who embraced democratic politics consequent to the signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord told the Daily Mirror that the Provincial Council system introduced under the Accord should not be weakened despite

Revamping Healthcare Services in Sri Lanka

Healthcare absorbs a major part of public and private expenditure in almost all countries around the world. In some developed countries, it hovers around 15% of the GDP. The increasing cost of healthcare provision is partly a reflection of growing commercial interests in healthcare and partly the result of the increasing

Editorial - Go clean, go green: It's not a dream

In the latest of the blazing crisis after crisis or scandal after scandal over fuel imports, a five-year battle between the Rajapaksa regime and the Standard Chartered Bank over flawed hedging deals has ended in somewhat of a disaster for Sri Lanka with the Government agreeing to paying US$ 60 million

Subramaniam Sivakamy alias Thamilini becomes a free bird 

“Suthanthirapparavaigal” (Birds of Freedom) was the popular name by which the Women’s political division of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was known in the past. Last week , saw a former woman political commissar of the LTTE tasting freedom after  three years of detention and one year of rehabilitation.

A pause in the rush to destroy devolution

That the Rajapaksa regime is in a mighty hurry to dismember and roll back the clock on the limited devolution of power accorded in Sri Lanka under the 13th Amendment is borne out by the fact that the Cabinet of Ministers two weeks ago approved as an urgent bill

Editorial - Rail gates: government must get onto the fast track

Evidence that the Rajapaksa regime’s lightning express development may be on the wrong track was given bloody substance with two tragedies on unprotected railway crossings this week.

What Obama will see in Africa this week

In June 1994, Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first black President, spoke at a summit meeting of the...

Editorial : Food for thought on nutrition

The crisis over imported milk powder allegedly containing harmful agro-chemicals appears to have...

After 12 years of war, US paves the way for Taliban

If Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai is wise, he should take a lesson from the not-so-distant history

Majority of Sri Lankans still has a feudal mindset

Starting his political career as a member of the Leftist movement, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Minister Rajitha Senaratne has always cut a rebellious figure in Sri Lanka’s political arena.

Swimming against the tide on 13A

As President Mahinda Rajapaksa grapples with divisions in his Cabinet over the 13 th Amendment to the Constitution, several ministers this week voiced their opposition against repealing the amendment.

Country’s balance of trade looms larger despite CB reasoning - Editorial

It is evident that Sri Lanka needs to focus on significant improvements of her revenue sources. The country’s expenditure has been going up ever since the war was brought to an end disproportionate to the improvements in the income levels.

THE NOW DEFUNCT INDO-LANKA ACCORD OF 1987

The then geriatric J. R. Jayewardene, President of Sri Lanka and the then youthful Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi, [who not long before that date had prevented by force the armed forces of....

The plea of a distressed brother

The Brother of the British national murdered in Sri Lanka in December 2011 writes a personal account of the sting of delayed justice.

BLIND CHAUVINISTS LEADING THE BLIND

Those parties, who made use of the Provincial Council (PC) system for 25 years, are now up in arms at the thought of Tamils in the Northern Province having an elected Council of their own, for the first time since Vartharajah was deposed by President Premadasa.

Showers of blessings, but blackout for the people - Editorial

In the afterglow of Poson—the day on which Arahat Mahinda brought the hallowed dhamma of the Enlightened One to Sri Lanka and changed the history, civilisation and culture of this country..

Powerless PCs like guns without bullets

UNP Puttalam District MP Palitha Range Bandara spoke to the Daily Mirror about his stance on the 13th Amendment and shared his thoughts on the future of Provincial Councils in Sri Lanka.

It takes all kinds to make a world

El Presidente has scored again. He has stepped in decisively to punish a rogue Provincial Council member who humiliated a schoolteacher by forcing her to kneel in school.

The cornerstone of Sri Lankan Foreign Policy; Indo-Lanka relations

Abridged text of lecture delivered at the Marga Institute in 1985, two years before the airdrop, the Indo-Lanka Accord, the IPKF and the 13th Amendment. Full text in ‘Crisis Commentaries: Selected Political Writings of Mervyn de Silva’, ed. E Vijayalakshmi, ICES Colombo 2001, pp68-78.

Positive but not enough - Editorial

The government has apparently softened its stance on the question of imposing a new code of ethics on journalists by the State. President Mahinda Rajapaksa during a meeting with the.....

I like to think the old Mahinda is dormant within him

One time government strongman and a man who was considered one of the most powerful...

The Age of Uncertainty

Uncertainty has no doubt been an integral part of human life from the beginning of human...

Political cronies in diplomatic posts

During the past few years the External Affairs Ministry has been so overloaded with unprofessional...

ARHATH MAHINDA AND THE SINHALA CULTURE

Popular belief based on legend has it that Arhath Mahinda used his powers to come by air from India to the Mihintale Rock. Given the possibility that Arhath Mahinda, as an Arhath endowed with psychokinetic powers could have overcome the.......

Thanthirimale: the journey then and now

It was the year 2004 and January, the month of Duruthu Poya. Seven staff members of the Wijeya Newspapers under instructions from the top management undertook a tedious journey to get to Thanthirimale.

No to US military intervention in Syria

The fog of war in Syria descends. Alliances on the ground come and go. America wobbles. Europe wrings its hands. Russia ups its military commitment, fearful of an arc of Sunni militancy that will make common cause with Russia’s own fundamentalists in Chechnya and Dagestan.