Rigged elections, cancellation of polls and dangers of a new ‘Araglaya’

The delaying of elections in our country is not new neither is election violence. Sri Lanka’s first parliamentary election was held in 1947. This was followed by ’52, ’56, March ’60, July ’60, ’65, and ’70. In the aftermath of the 1970 election, members of the newly elected governing party –a coalition between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) the Left-leaning Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and the Communist Party unleashed violent attacks on su

Media Portrayals, Hate Crimes and the Genocide in Palestine

Israel, encouraged by most Western powers, is drunk on taking revenge and in its blind rage, is creating the conditions for greater radicalization and more violence

Aerial bombing of Jaffna

Some of those in the church were those who had come to pray and others had come there out of fear of bombings by Sri Lankan Air Force planes hovering in the Jaffna skies that morning, thinking the church will provide them a safe space. But it was not to be.

Clarification

In reference to the article published in Daily Mirror on 1st November 2023, title ‘Sri Lanka’s Democracy under siege – The lurking shadows of business – politics nexus’ lawyers of Mr. Dilith Jayaweera has sent the following clarification.

New Court of Appeal Website  launched

The new Court of Appeal website was ceremonially launched by Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya (PC) on the invitation of Justice Bandula Karunarathna, President of the Court of Appeal on November...

Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka vis-à-vis Gaza

Sri Lanka said that the armed forces ended the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) conflict in May 2009 through a “Humanitarian Operation”, but the successive governments still defend...

Cricket’s squabbles that tarnish the game - EDITORIAL

Cricket has the power to unite; but as of today it is valid from the perspective of the country’s citizens and not from the context of the people who walk on the corridors of power. Die hard cricket...

Gaza carnage: R2P or RIP?

It has now been more than a month since Israel unleashed its military juggernaut against Gaza’s civilians in response to the October 7 attack by Hamas fighters on Israeli military and civilian....

Stop violence against women, let them play a powerful role

For thousands of years, women have played or have been forced to play a secondary role in society and often in the family for various reasons including violence. Fortunately, the trend towards gender equality is growing in thought, word and deed and in Sri Lanka there is a legal provision that 25% of Parliamentarians and other Local Councils should be women. But that is only in law for various reasons including the reluctance of women themselv

“Sugar Scam” is not the whole iceberg: “Forestalling” needs a rule-of-law solution

On 14 October 2020, taxes on imported sugar were slashed overnight from LKR 50 to LKR 25 cents per kilogram. That is a reduction of 99.5%. This led to much discussion in media and parliament about the large undue profits that accrued to those who had been primed in advance to keep large stocks ready to clear from customs soon after this reduction. This policy was reversed last week but raised the exact same concerns in the opposite direction.

Western governments are at odds with their citizens on the Gaza war

With the war in Gaza entering the second month, and the killings taking the shape of a genocide, Western governments are coming under mounting pressure from their people to revise their pro-Israel....

Cricket Board suspended, a judicial injunction and player timed out - EDITORIAL

Sri Lanka cricket has not reached dizzying heights. Much like our country earlier this year - when declared bankrupt - cricket too has hit its lowest depths. The cricket board has been sacked....

We need strictly fixed time frames for elections

In spite of allegations by the Opposition parties about the government’s repeated efforts to amend the election laws including the appointment of a ten-member commission by President Ranil Wickremesinghe last month, indeed there is a genuine need for electoral reforms. What is lacking in the government’s efforts is consistency which provokes suspicion among the people. The need for electoral reforms arises out of provisions in laws includin

International Implications of Sri Lanka’s IMF Solution

Last year, Sri Lanka exploded into international attention with severe shortages of fuel and food, and tremendous protests. While the uprising....

Hunger, suffering and failed IMF strategies - EDITORIAL

In our editorial on Saturday this paper highlighted the fact that it would cost a family at least Rs. 126,000/- a month to have three meals ....

Approval of government falls to 9% in October: Verité Research survey

The approval rating of the government fell from 21% in June 2023 to 9% in October 2023 according to the latest round of the Gallup....

How I was Released by Police and Cleared of Charges by Courts

As stated last week, one of the CID officers quizzing me on the fourth floor had told me confidentially that I was going to be detained indefinitely to prevent me from reporting on the fighting between the Indian Army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Though I had been taken into custody under the emergency regulations, I was going to be charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)soon. While conversing further this Police O

International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists is marked on November 2 Challenges in Addressing Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists in Sri Lanka

This is also relevant to serious crimes against journalists and although this report lacks specific focus on media freedom, there is reference to emblematic cases, which in past reports by the High Commissioner for Human Rights included killings and disappearances of journalists and impunity for them. Many journalists have been killed and subjected to enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka, with the Jayewardene-Premadasa-led UNP governments of 1977

SLPP reaping what it sowed

Are we witnessing another Yahapalana Government, not in its literal sense, but in its political sense? One would recollect that the Yahapalana Government was a cart pulled back and forth by two horses. President Maithripala Sirisena ran one government while Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was running another. Ultimately, one sacked the other in 2018, but the Supreme Court saved the latter. However, there is a difference between then and

Let’s dream of a renaissance in Sri Lanka - EDITORIAL

These are times when parents and even politicians are promoting the thought of quality education because when pursuing a goal in life ambition must match skill. Just the other day...

Gaza war and the planned exodus of Palestinians, according to scripture

As Israel kills a child every ten minutes in the Gaza Strip, the world’s biggest open prison, it’s revolting to see that the horror has still not drawn condemnation from the United States....

WHAT ARE WE THINKING? Socio-economic crisis in SL - who’s to blame?

Facts do not change. Feelings do and our feelings about ‘THE MESS’ (as the country’s situation is commonly referred to) vary from anger to despair, depending on income, social status, or career. I do not pretend to know what the citizens of disaster areas think. Can anyone imagine what depths to which they must plummet at these moments of unimaginable disaster? Desperation must be their commonest emotion I would imagine. So let me try and encap

The Earth does not belong to us: we belong to the Earth

With armed conflicts raging in the Middle East and in the war between Russia and Ukraine, we need to ponder deeply on the reflections of the United Nations on the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. Even Sri Lanka was severely affected by this during the 30-year war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and other terror groups. The war left hundreds of thousands of people

Beware of pitfalls! Digitalisation with laws that have no protection for owners

With reference to the article by Citizen Perera on the IMF attempting to destroy the country’s deeds and archival records while relying solely on a digital register, yes, as the....

Rumblings, grumblings and possible elections - EDITORIAL

Earlier this month, 21 October to be exact, President Wickremesinghe announced presidential elections would be conducted next year (2024). He added parliamentary elections and provincial....

‘Good terrorists’ and ‘bad terrorists’

In the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, I wrote in these pages why many who feel outrage at the Hamas barbarism may still hesitate for an unqualified condemnation...

SL’s peace-religious groups Showing a lion heart for battered Palestine

Brother Lionel Peiris, an Anglican Franciscan, stepped into the Embassy of Palestine in Sri Lanka by stating, “Now we are in Palestine.” He was a member of a group of peace-loving citizens who together with a collective of multi-religious leaders that gathered at the Church of Ceylon, Bauddaloka Mawatha in Colombo on October 23. The members of this group and the religious leaders then walked from the Church of Ceylon to the Embassy of Palestine i

Address root causes to defuse dissent

The government is deserved to be commended if we can rely on the media reports that it has withdrawn the Online Safety Bill to refashion and present it again, since it has drawn much criticism from the local and international right groups. However, the very fact that an “Online Safety Act” is to come under the purview of the Public Security Ministry tells volumes and is questionable. This is the second Bill prepared by the government under Pres

How the CID ‘Grilled’ a Journalist on the 4th Floor

The first and second parts of this article published on 14 and 21 October respectively narrated the story of how I was arrested by the CID in October 1987 and detained on the 4th floor for having exposed....

Is Sri Lanka addicted to missing revenue targets?

It is all too familiar that Sri Lanka has a problem in meeting its budgeted revenue targets. Recently, a government member of parliament (MP) who voted in favour of the budget last....