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Home » ColumnsWill we miss the opportunity to reduce our foreign indebtedness?
A congruence of increased exports, remittances and tourist earnings was expected to strengthen the external finances this year and also provide space to reduce the country’s high indebtedness. The recent communal violence that erupted in Aluthgama and Beruwala areas if not contained could be a severe threat to these favourable developments in the external finances [...]
The Wanni strives to recover while the South erupts in strife
It’s a smooth ride for vehicular traffic from Colombo to the Northern heartland of the Wanni, on account of beautifully carpeted roads all the way. While there is no discounting the benefits of vastly improved infrastructure manifested in such things as the road and rail links, the path to recovery for the people of these [...]
The blackened and burnt hearts of our people
The Rajapaksa Government’s attempt to marginalise recent Sinhala-Muslim violence in Aluthgama and Beruwala as being confined to a few extremist groups belies a stubborn truth. This was not a random incident. Instead it was carefully planned and meticulously executed. And as much as the incident itself gives rise to the most profound misgivings, the aftermath [...]
Five-star wonder of Asia: Dream or nightmare?
An uneasy calm has returned to areas hit by ethnic violence in and around the southwestern coastal junction town of Aluthgama. Armed commandos of the Police Special Task Force (STF) and Army personnel stand guard at almost every hundred metres in Dharga Town, along the Matugama Road, the worst hit. Their Buffel armoured trucks, with [...]
Hypocrisy, extremism are just not cricket
My Dear Angelo and the cricket team, I thought I must write to you and the cricket team to congratulate you on your fantastic performance against England, our former colonial masters, winning our first ever overseas test series against them and in doing so, teaching them a thing or two about how the game of [...]
For your eyes only: The spy battle
A ding-dong battle has broken out between the administrative boss and the operational chief in a spy organisation.The boss, insiders say, is livid and now ‘returns to sender’ some of the reports that reach him at various hours including midnight. The reason for this? The boss complains that they are not “credible” but the operational [...]
Beware Lanka’s Ides of June fallout
If it is not hard enough for Lanka to have to explain away to the international community the pressing circumstances that necessitated certain actions to be taken to end a brutal thirty-year-old ethnic war, she will have a tougher time in having to explain the events that were allowed to lead to the outburst of [...]