Private Medical Colleges – A boon or a bane?

The right of education is enunciated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on the 10th of December 1948 as a Human Right. I quote below from Article 26 of the UDHR “Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made genera

Does the UNP live up to its name?

United National Party is neither United nor National; Party provides the only credible alternative to the UPFA/PA which held Presidency, undisturbed for 18 years- those born in 1994 when Kumarantunga assumed power are now adults exercising the franchise!Years on, public perceptions are- with a government fast losing its peak popularity- UNP is incapable of ousting the UPFA. Is it a belief more than a reality? Underrated UNP acquires a horrific im

Crisis in Sudan

A new war seems to be brewing in Eastern Africa. A crisis of confidence between Sudan and the newly-independent South Sudan has imbalanced the equation.  Though border skirmishes and extra-territorial disputes are a fact of state-politics, the situation is becoming serious with President Salva Kiir calling on his countrymen to prepare for a long-drawn war. This is brinkmanship and it should not have come from a person who led his country to

Reviving the political process

Now that the Geneva process is behind the nation, it is time the Government revived the political process aimed at finding a negotiated settlement to the ethnic issue. The political process is not only about power-devolution, nor can negotiations be confined to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

Mystery behind the sudden emergence and exit of Gunaratnam

 A questionable background For a man who aspired to lead a political party in Sri Lanka, Premakumar Gunaratnam alias Noel Mudalige has a highly questionable track record. A gazetted absconder in the eyes of the law, Mr. Gunaratnam is a wanted person with an open warrant. Having escaped from the Pallekelle Detention Centre in 1990, where he had been taken into custody on suspicion of having set up a landmine that killed nine IPKF soldiers,

Your Voice..... (Sri Lanka after Geneva....)

Sri Lanka  after Geneva By H.L.D. Mahindapala Dear Mahinda, Here's an observation about 2009, made by the international award-winning journalist and author Nirupama Subramanian: "As Sri Lanka mulls over last month’s United Nations Human Rights Council resolution, it may look back with nostalgia at its 2009 triumph at Geneva.

Eelam War IV: The endgame and the blackmail

By Michael Roberts Eurasia Review The long and bloody war between the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE from the 1980s to 2009 involved in numerous atrocities on both sides, notably those in the Eastern Province in 1990. It is puzzling why certain Western states and human rights activists are concentrating solely on the crunch situation in 2009 at the end of Eelam War IV and are now pressing alleged war crimes charges against the Sri Lankan G

Mysterious Abductions When Will They Stop?

By Mekala Kelegama The recent abductions of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) dissident leader Premakumar Gunaratnam and member of the dissident arm Dimuthu Atigala brings into the limelight and attention the disappearances that have been part of post-war Sri Lanka.  Joint Sri Lankan-Australian citizen 42-year-old Premakumar Gunaratnam alias Noel Mudalige went missing last Friday from Kiribathgoda, when he was making preparations to launch

Global warming ‘hots’ up

As the monsoon season approaches Thailand, farmers are not alone in watching the rolling clouds, but also factory owners and workers. Unlike the farmers who hope for the rains to flood seedling plots, workers worry that devastating floods might follow and drown factories. The floods of 2011 inundated 250 factories, putting 200,000 people out of work and disrupting global supply chains of electronics and auto parts. As the Thai government readies

Defeat imperialistic attempts at interference through reconciliation

“A task force, which includes representatives from all political parties in Parliament, should be set up to re-develop the North and the East and to rally all communities in the task of expediting the re-development of the Northern and Eastern Provinces

An eyewitness in Geneva

By Guido Paola Brunetti The divisions within the Sri Lankan delegation to the 19th Session of the Human Rights Council in March 2012 reflected at least two different political orientations, which had already become manifest at the 18th Session of the Council in September 2011.

Lessons to Learn From Geneva

As Sri Lanka mulls over last month’s United Nations Human Rights Council resolution, it may look back with nostalgia at its 2009 triumph at Geneva. Then, barely a week after its victory over the LTTE, a group of western countries wanted a resolution passed against Sri Lanka for the civilian deaths and other alleged rights violations by the army during the last stages of the operation. With the blood on the battlefield not still dry, Sri Lan

Politics of Heroes and Traitors – Lessons Not Learnt

By Udara Soysa During the thirty years of terrorist campaign conducted by Tamil Tigers, thousands of Tamils were gunned down ruthlessly in the name of a Tamil homeland. Tigers ruthlessly justified such killing of Tamils in the name of Tamil Eelam homeland. The victims range from Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiyappa, M.P. Yogeshwaran, former opposition leader Amirthalingham to foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar.

Sri Lanka after Geneva

The essence of my good friend Dayan Jayatilleka’s essay on understanding the current situation facing Sri Lanka after Geneva – mainly the threats from abroad –can be reduced, in broad outline, to the following components:

Editorial - Forget the war and bring in the essence of all religions

April is with us and this weekend our people as a nation will be celebrating the National New Year. Historically the New Year has given us time and space to participate in reconciliation. Therefore we have visited family and friends and made up with them if during the past year we have in any way hurt them or wounded them. There is a strong school of thought today, which makes us believe that during the National New Year we must go beyond family

Your Voice.....

Your Voice..... (BRICS starts building Regional Outlook .........)

What went wrong with Sri Lanka in Geneva?

By K.T. Rajasingham It was Eelam War V – phased five of the battle between the Tamil Diaspora groups in the West and the Sri Lanka Government. The battle this time was in Geneva, Switzerland, at the 19th session of the UN Human Rights Council and the war was fought in the capitals of the West.

Yemen at crossroads

The recent shakeup in Yemen’s powerful military is likely to consolidate President Abed Rabbo Mansur Hadi’s position. It will also boost confidence among the people who have to date been demanding reforms in the armed forces, because of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s continued influence through his handpicked loyalists.

Needed: Roadmap on LLRC Report

CHENNAI, 6 April, 2012 - If there was seeming unanimity at Geneva, despite the division over the UNHRC vote, it was over the implementation of the LLRC Report. The division was mostly over country-specific resolutions, flowing from the customary positions taken by voting members for long. The need for giving Sri Lanka enough time to implement the LLRC Report too was stressed.

Editorial - Taxing the taxpayer

Ideally, a government elected by the people, should work towards realizing the dreams of those who appointed it, not at any rate, should its inane actions shatter them. Yet, the recent increase in tax for motor vehicles begs the question as to on whose aspirations the present government is functioning; for its recent actions go to show that the last thing on the policy-makers’ minds when increasing prices and taxes, is public welfare.

The impact, future and reality

The Ministry of Finance and Planning announced on March 31st that taxes were increased in order to reduce the high traffic congestions prevalent which would help bring down the use of fuel by motorists.

Increasing the Vehicle Tax: middle class left in the lurch?

George Carlin once famously described the class differentiation that prevails upon any society “You know how I describe the economic and social classes in this country? The upper class keeps all of the money, pays none of the taxes. The middle class pays all the taxes, does all the work. The poor are there just to scare the hell out of the middle class.” Carlin accurately describes the current social polarization that is part and parc

Editorial - No Christianity without Easter

Millions of Christians in Sri Lanka and the world over celebrate Easter Sunday tomorrow though many of them are not aware that the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the foundation of their  faith and tomorrow’s event is immensely more important than Christmas or other festivals.

BRICS starts building

The forceful and positive statement of intent with which Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa concluded their fourth annual summit on Thursday is entirely appropriate for five countries which between them account for 43 per cent of the world's population and 18 per cent of global trade, and attract 53 per cent of global financial capital.

From Death to Life

By Rev. Dr. Jayasiri T. Peiris Christians throughout the world celebrate Easter. The Easter greeting is ‘Christ is Risen, Hallelu Yah’! Hallelu Yah is the Hebrew form of saying Praise Yahweh i.e. Praise Lord (God). This proclamation that Christ is Risen as well as the greeting is important for Christians for three reasons.

Is Dayan Jayatilleka the target of a witch-hunt?

“I see, these books are probably law books, and it is an essential part of the justice dispensed here that you should be condemned not only in innocence but also in ignorance.” -- Franz Kafka in “The Trial”

U.S. Marines in Darwin: the Sleeping giant is awakening

On Tuesday, a 200-strong American military contingent arrived in the northern Australian city of Darwin, in what is seen as a joint US-Australian effort to check China's growing military power in the region. 

Demography a solution?

 Whether demography comes to define the parameters of the two-state solution the Palestinians have long sought is something that remains to be seen. But the issue that is felt keenly in Tel Aviv remains...

An underestimation of our intelligence

In recent days members of the government have made ludicrous statements which have furnished a number of water-filter conversations. However, after the initial ridicule of these statements has passed...

Lift sanctions on Myanmar

 Democratic forces in Myanmar have made a strong point. They have literally triumphed against all odds. The return to parliament of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and many of her associates in the by-elections is a testimony of plurality that Yangon's political dispensation is undergoing.