Last week, there were two very important international gatherings in the Central Asian region with the involvement of a large number of Asian and Eurasian countries including Russia, China, India and Sri Lanka.

Around the 1980s Tamil people believed they were given step-motherly treatment by all Governments: there was a simmering discontent in the North-East over policies; they thought the ‘Sinhala Gove

The British major had ridden for days from Allahabad while on his way to Nagpur and had arrived in the small village of Bharhut just before sunset. That evening while resting in a villager’s house he noticed some carved stones paving....

Household indebtedness is now a critical factor in disrupting social life. Furthermore, rising and unsustainable household indebtedness has also contributed to national economic crises, including the global economic crisis of 2008.

It does not take a political scientist to feel that the mass resignation of Muslim Ministers is in bad faith. More so when they took place barely six weeks after Islamic terrorists unleashed a serial carnage, killing over 250....

In Sri Lanka, anything unlawful we are caught doing, can be “shaped up.” It is the “Asian Way” we say proudly, indirectly alluding to upholding the law as the “Western Way.” In that self-congratulation we forget....

Sincerity is the greatest quality in human beings and it is children who have it in abundance. Children are devastatingly honest. That is why religious leaders have warned us and the punishment that await those who abuse children.

America’s trade war with China seems to be entering a new phase with the Huawei ban in full force and Trump administration mulling further tariffs on Chinese imports. It is causing China....

The orchestrated political campaign by the Mahinda Rajapaksa-led opposition in association with sections of the Buddhist clergy and mainstream media against three prominent Muslim politicians has ostensibly succeeded. The said aim of the campaign was

The week-long Poson ceremonies come to a climax tomorrow with tens of thousands of devotees congregating in Anuradhapura for religious observances mainly in Mihintale and Thanthirimale. It was to Mihintale that the Buddha-Dhamma was brought by Arahat

H C P Bell, former Director of Archaeology, says, “Mihintale”, is the perfect sanctuary for the sons of Buddha that they could find throughout the length & breadth of Ceylon”

Last Tuesday, the Cabinet of Ministers did not meet for their weekly sessions. Reason being the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) constituted to investigate Easter Sunday attacks.

Given the questions posed by almost all non-Muslims, except for a few on the mass resignation by the Muslim Ministers, State Ministers and a Deputy Minister on June 3 in the wake of Parliamentarian Athureliye Rathana Thera’s....

The much revered St.Anthony’s Church in Kochchikade was reopened to the public on June 12 (Wednesday) underscoring the fact that the Catholic community in the country was able to reap the benefits of patience, a trait which its members chose to nur

Introducing a new legislation to control terrorism has become a subject matter of debate in the wake of the radical Islamist wave that hit Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday killing over 254 people and wounding many.

The crisis waiting to happen during the past few days in May fizzled out into what turned out to be an anti-climax with the Ven. Athurelue Tathana Thera calling off his much-hyped ‘fast unto death’ after Minister Rishad Bathiudeen, the two provin

We don’t have to listen to the not-so-veiled threats of ex-Governor of the Eastern Province, Mahabood Hizbullah to understand that there is a real and abiding danger of a kind of terrorism this country did not know before Easter Sunday. And yet, th

Normally, the Ministers get a communiqué from the Presidential Secretariat every Friday convening them for the regular Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. There was no such communication this time, but the Ministers anxiously waited till Monday only to lear

India’s reelected Premier Narendra Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka on Sunday (June 9) happened at a time of tension in the island. But the Indian statesman was all focused in achieving what he wanted and passing the message that Sri Lanka could look to

Finally, we heard a saner, saner than usual, voice in the midst of national insanity. It was an honest voice in a riotous cacophony of dishonesty; an urgent message in a country searching for immediate action and an apolitical behaviour in a politica

The conundrum of happenings, people who are guilty, not guilty, tried and discharged, sent on bail, conflicting opinions on what has taken place; what is taking place and even about what will take place; is, to say the least, startling and even unbel

Supposedly the language spoken by nearly 16 million Sri Lankans, Sinhala does not fall into the category of the world’s most endangered languages. Still, being geographically limited to the island nation of Sri Lanka, the Sinhala language, unlike i

I am not a Buddhist, at least in the conventional sense; i.e. that my Birth certificate does not state ‘Buddhism’ in the slot where the topic ‘Religion’ is to be filled. But the little Buddhism that I know tells me that it is a great sin to t

The reports on the actions by politicians, including the leaders of the country and the officials responsible for national security, with regard to the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks reveal how irresponsible they had been in respect of their duties

Brazen contradictions both in national politics and the exercise of the franchise as well as in civic life have marked the tragic national history of the Sri Lankan nation with vengeance during the last post-Independence 70-year span. The hartals of

The Eastern Indian State of West Bengal, which has been a stronghold of the secular Centre-Left/Left Wing parties from the time India gained independence in 1947, is now experiencing a non-secular Right Wing surge. There is every possibility of th

All conflicts stem from one underlying problem that is the distribution of wealth and access to resources. If this is a universal issue, then the Sinhala-Muslim animosity that exists in the Sri Lankan context must also be explainable in terms of weal

As we look around our environs, it’s useful to keep in mind that security has moved into a lot of areas of our lives. It’s particularly important for the places that we go for refuge and shelter and to pray also afford the similar security proced

The timely intervention of the religious dignitaries of our country in the extremely burning issue regarding the proposed agreements with the USA brings in some consolation amidst the prevailing desperation.

Ever since Donald Trump became the US President, as well as during his presidential campaign, he raised the spectre of an aggressive China building its military, naval and air power and the threat China pose to both US interests and the interests of