Columns
Home » ColumnsBuoyant Sajith attacks Karu at Working Committee meeting
The United National Party (UNP)’s one time deputy leader Sajith Premadasa was in a buoyant mood when the party’s Working Committee met last Thursday. Perhaps he had good reason to be in that mood. He had performed well for his party during last week’s Southern Provincial Council elections. During the polls campaign, Mr. Premadasa told [...]
Rajapaksa govt. taken aback by PC results
Concerns for the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Government last week outweighed all others in its decade-long existence. The outcome of the two provincial elections, just after the adoption of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution, reverberated in the dovecotes of power. This is the first time since the military defeat of Tiger guerrillas [...]
Geneva gloom broods after polls’ sunshine
As the Lankan Government gives itself a hearty pat on its back and calls for a rousing round of hurrahs over its victory last Saturday at the provincial council elections, the UN’s General Secretary Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday raps the Government on its bare knuckles; and, ‘recalling the commitments made to him on accountability by [...]
The law according to Geneva Losing
My Dear Geneva Losing, I thought I should write to you after your ‘man of the match’ performance in Geneva last week. After hearing what you had to say both before and after the vote in Geneva, I was so proud of you and realised how fortunate we are to have you as our External [...]
US resolution, Indian abstention and the blowback
One week after resolution A/HRC/25/L.1/Rev.1 was adopted in the Human Rights Council, it seems that the aftershock of the Indian abstention on the vote continues to be felt. Abroad, that is. Sri Lanka — the subject of the controversy — is preoccupied with its favourite pastime of holding elections and dissecting the results, while the [...]
Economic performance in 2013 and growth prospects
The spurt of growth in the third quarter of the year — 8.2 per cent — contributed to an economic growth of 7.3 per cent in 2013 and it was significant. The growth in industry by 9.9 per cent with factory industry growing by 12.1 per cent and textiles and apparels growing by 15.3 per [...]
Lies and bluster will not work any more
For long, it had been blissfully believed by this Government that the deliberate undermining of Sri Lanka’s systems of justice could be covered up by outright lies and bluster on the one hand coupled with the resurrection of the eternal bogeyman of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on the other. Lying worked to [...]