Columns
Home » ColumnsRanil, Sajith make peace but political war in Uva
After weeks of hemming and hawing, Sajith Premadasa will now become the Deputy Leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP). Their leader Ranil Wickremesinghe told a largely attended 63rd anniversary rally of the party in Passara that he would give prominence to Sajith Premadasa when appointing a Deputy Leader. He said that he [...]
President smart, Wimal smarter
Otto Von Bismarck once remarked that politics is the art of the possible. This is the story of a battle of wits between two Sri Lankan politicians who have practised that art to some perfection. One is President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the other, Minister Wimal Weerawansa, leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF). A meeting of [...]
Problem at home, but running next door
My Dear Sampanthan seeya, I thought of writing to you when I heard that you — and a delegation from your party — had rushed to New Delhi to meet Modi and his officials. It seems as if you have now revived with the new Indian government a tradition that has been quite common over [...]
A remittance dependent import-export economy
The Sri Lankan economy is increasingly becoming a remittance dependent import-export economy. In the first half of this year remittances amounted to US$ 3.36 billion — a 10.6 per cent increase from that of the first half of last year. These remittances in the first half of the year almost wiped out the trade deficit, financed [...]
‘Third Narrative’ puts war crimes lobby in the dock
With the 27th session of the UN Human Rights Council scheduled to start tomorrow, a team of representatives from two heavyweights in Sri Lanka’s NGO sector is in Geneva to present an alternative account of what happened in the last stages of the war. Their programme includes presentations at side events of the HRC and [...]
Will Sarath’s legal bullet stop Mahinda?
As if seated by the banks of the Diyawanna Oya with a much thumbed copy of the Lankan Constitution beside him and watching over the goings on of Lanka’s supreme legislative body, former Chief Justice turned Chief Television Buddhist and now hoping to be Chief Public Litigant, Sarath Silva delivers his own judgment on Mahinda [...]
It is time to cut down the banyan tree
A common point of agreement across differing views on the role of the Sri Lankan State is that the State (‘authoritarian’ or ‘Sinhala-Buddhist’ as the case may be), would at least perform its basic functions. In the alternative, the drivers of state power would be called to account. But ironically given erstwhile public expectations, the [...]