Columns
Home » ColumnsGovt. faces critical phase: Good and bad news from Zeid’s visit
Visiting UNHRC Chief gets a more friendly reception than accorded to his predecessor Rajapaksa loyalists taking full advantage of the Geneva crisis; new office opened for new party There was both good and bad news for the Government during the four-day visit to Sri Lanka by the United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad [...]
Co-existence of two opposition groups within a patched up House has Karu J. groping
Speaker Karu Jayasuriya is being put to the test, probably in a way none of his predecessors have been. He has to decide if he is going to allow two Opposition groups to co-exist in the same Parliament. A decision he has put off for nearly six months, but came to the fore in a [...]
IMF loan essential to resolve BOP crisis
The government has asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bail out facility to resolve the current balance of payments crisis. A loan facility is urgently needed owing to the critical state of the balance of payments. This crisis in the external finances has been brought about by the mismanagement of the economy over [...]
Right on Field Marshal!
My Dear Field Marshal, I am writing to congratulate you because you were appointed to Parliament once again. After running for the highest office in the country that might not seem like much but then, a lot has happened since then and I am sure you must be relieved to be back in the House [...]
The confusing drama behind AG’s appointment
President Maithripala Sirisena recommended and the Constitutional Council approved on Wednesday the appointment of Jayantha Jayasuriya as the Attorney General (AG). He succeeds Yuvanjan Wijeyatilake who retired in December last year. Suhada Gamlath, Solicitor General who also served a stint as Secretary to the Ministry of Justice, was acting thereafter. Naming a new AG saw the [...]
Goat makes an ass of the law
The law, it is said, is a serious thing. It is not to be scoffed at, especially in these days of yahapalanaya when the law is applied equally to one and all and is allowed to take its course wherever that might lead, if it leads anywhere that is. It may, of course, meander like [...]
Why these displays of acute legal incompetence?
As President Maithripala Sirisena and the Constitutional Council (CC) played a virtual game of ‘catch the ball if you can’ with each other over the appointment of Sri Lanka’s 29th Attorney General (AG) this week, the Rajapaksa-led section of the opposition engaged in raucous antics over not being allowed to sit as a separate group [...]