Editorial
Home » EditorialThe ghosts of the LTTE
The decision by the Government to list a host of organisations that largely mushroomed after the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) was liquidated has set a new poser. Is the ghost of the Tigers emerging? Or are we merely chasing dragons and phantoms? These organisations dared not exist when the LTTE was around. For the LTTE claimed [...]
Geneva vote: Govt. in the dock
“Illegal”; “totally reject”; “biased”; “double standards” – these stock phrases have been the refrain from Government voices these past weeks leading to the vote on the resolution against Sri Lanka at the UN’s Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions in Geneva last Thursday. And post-vote, we have heard a learned professor say that Sri Lanka in [...]
Dealing with India: From parippu to fish diplomacy
President Mahinda Rajapaksa in an uncustomary lashing out – not so obliquely either – at India last weekend set the tone for Sri Lanka’s reaction to the upcoming resolution against the country at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. While Ministers of his Government have so far vented their wrath restrictively on the West, [...]
Massive kickbacks in unsolicited projects
It has long been suggested that the UPFA Government’s signature fondness for unsolicited proposals comes from the generous fringe benefits they earn for some of its members. It is also speculated that Sri Lanka pays premium rates for its gleaming new infrastructure because prices are inflated to include massive kickbacks. In a recent interview with [...]
Geneva: Like trains heading for collision
President Mahinda Rajapaksa thinks an adverse Resolution at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva is only a “black mark” against Sri Lanka, but he knows he must put on a brave face and downplay the otherwise bleak scenario. In Geneva, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister maintained what has long been the Rajapaksa Government’s official [...]
North; Diaspora and India
Hot on the heels of passing a resolution in support of an international war crimes investigation in Sri Lanka, the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) has passed a resolution calling for direct flights to India from Jaffna and Trincomalee (the latter is not even in the Northern Province and therefore outside the Council’s jurisdiction). The resolution [...]
Geneva: Focus on damage control now
By the Indian Minister of External Affairs meeting a team of visiting Sri Lankan journalists in New Delhi this week, the public here had the benefit of a clearer picture of the Indian position on the anti-Sri Lanka resolution coming up before the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva next month. When the Sri [...]
Political pantomime for PC circus
And so, we are going to see the spectacle of two more Provincial Council elections next month. Campaigning has begun in earnest and in Galle, a ruling party cavalcade has run over innocent road users. The provincial fiefdoms that have been created by the Provincial Council system — even if Police powers remain with the [...]
The State of the Union
Sri Lanka celebrates, if that indeed is the appropriate word, the 66th year since regaining its Independence as a free, sovereign state in the comity of nations. Yet this event is marked in a pall of gloom and a cloud of uncertainty with external forces baying at Mother Lanka’s throat overtly demanding war crimes tribunals [...]
One good reason for failure abroad
Foreign policy is an extension of domestic policy and concerned with the protection of fundamental national interests. It is globally accepted that the only way to achieve this objective is through a dedicated, educated, well trained, professional Foreign Service with a ‘sprinkling’ of the great and the good from outside the service. This is all [...]
Media rights and responsibilities
The Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka (PCCSL), the newspaper industry’s own ‘policeman’, celebrated its 10th anniversary this week; an event postponed from last October due to a request from the Government not to clash with CHOGM. In her keynote speech at the opening of an international conference to mark the occasion, Prof. Savitri Goonesekere, [...]
Grade Five exam: What is the answer?
Education Minister Bandula Gunewardena’s sudden announcement at the end of last month that the Grade 5 All Island Scholarship Examination would be abruptly stopped has sparked a heated national debate – mainly protests. The discussion, particularly as a new school year was about to begin has become so contentious that, when asked about it by [...]
Law is King or King is Law?
The legal fraternity, or at least most Colombo-based lawyers and judges, enjoyed a convivial evening on Friday at the annual Voet Lights Society dinner as the year draws to a close. Those present could reflect on the good humoured barbs, especially at the expense of the judiciary. They might be left with the thought if [...]
Nelson Mandela
The passing away of Nelson ‘Madiba’ Mandela at his home in Johannesburg, South Africa on Thursday night is a merciful end to the life of one of the 20th century’s, nay, history’s most iconic personalities. He was the face of resistance to one of the worst forms of racial discrimination the world has ever seen [...]
Poaching crisis: Haul India before ICJ
With the recently concluded CHOGM we saw that multilateralism nowadays is a fading concept in international affairs, and bilateralism — issues between nations, enveloped in the domestic compulsions of political parties — is now the order of the day. The excitement in the corridors of power in Canada, Britain and India demonstrated that even when [...]
CHOGM: Where do we go from here?
CHOGM 2013 is done and dusted. The event has been proclaimed as a resounding success; the re-launch of Sri Lanka and the rebirth of the Commonwealth; but let us get down to a realistic post-mortem examination, not so much of the organisation of the event but of the organisation itself, and Sri Lanka’s foreign policy [...]
Geneva: Be substantive, not combative
Slowly but surely, the dreaded United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions have stealthily crept up. A resolution against Sri Lanka — sponsored by the US and promoted by Britain and India — is on the cards this month. With the solitary backing of China from among the big and powerful nations, it would be [...]