The Sunday Times Sri Lanka

Columns

Political Column

The exclusive report in last week's the Sunday Times and related details in the political commentary about a Sri Lanka delegation meeting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's panel probing alleged war crimes issues in Sri Lanka reverberated in the portals of the United Nations in New York.

5th Column

Let’s put it across with the indelible cross

My dear voter,

I thought I must write to you because most of you will be called upon to vote yet again on Thursday despite doing your democratic duties several times in the last two years in provincial, presidential and general elections.

The Economic Analysis

Massive US$ 5.2 B trade deficit: Implications for exports

A massive trade deficit of US$ 5.2 billion characterized last year’s trade performance. The trade deficit expanded by 66.7 per cent to US$ 5,205 million in 2010 from US dollars 3,122 million in 2009. It was the largest trade deficit recorded in the country’s economic history. Although export earnings increased by 17.3 per cent to US$ 8,307 million, it was far below the increase in imports by US$ 13,512 million: nearly twice (32.4 per cent) that of exports.

Lobby

Raising LTTE bogey creates diplomatic row

Prime Minister D.M.Jayaratna may not have realized he was stirring a hornet’s nest by making an unsubstantiated claim last Wednesday in Parliament while opening the debate on the extension of the emergency. He claimed that intelligence authorities have received information to the effect that LTTE terrorists were training at three secret locations in Tamil Nadu with the objective of assassinating Indian political leaders and re-establishing the group’s bases in Sri Lanka.

Focus on Rights

A savvy question and answer session indeed!

It is true that questions of coconut prices, the elephant-human conflict and bad sanitation at housing schemes are problems that directly affect segments of the population of Sri Lanka. Whether these are questions that the President of Sri Lanka should directly address in a savvy but transparently motive-full people-to-people question and answer session televised over national media channels as we saw this week is, of course, a different matter altogether.

Talk at the Cafe Spectator

Mind your tongue Mr. Prime Minister

Prime Minister Dee Moo Jayaratne seems to have put his foot in his mouth, though he was forewarned only weeks ago to be careful in speech, one of the tenets to be followed by good Buddhists. On Wednesday, he told Parliament that there were LTTE training camps in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu only to draw the wrath of the Indian authorities who lost no time in denying the story.

From the sidelines

War crimes investigation: Bell Pottinger vs LTTE Inc.

The UN Human Rights Council sessions continue in Geneva this month, while the report of the UN Secretary General’s expert panel on Sri Lanka (‘war crimes’ panel) is expected to come out any time soon. As these weighty deliberations take place the image of post war Sri Lanka projected in the western world is not one of a country that has overcome the scourge of terrorism, ended a three decades long conflict and now holds out the distinct prospect of a better future for its people.

Column By Gomin Dayasiri

Not issued with this week