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Home » ColumnsFanning the eternal flame
My dear Unknown Soldier, I thought I should write to you at a time when the nation is remembering you for making the greatest sacrifice, and ending a terrible war that had torn apart our country for nearly 30 years. We are eternally grateful for your heroic deeds which allowed us to defeat terrorism and [...]
Retired officer’s terror alert draws flak
A retired Lieutenant Colonel of the Army, now serving as Security Manager of a revenue-earning state corporation, caused a sensation this week. In a signed message to his bosses, he said, that ISIS was planning attacks in Colombo taking advantage of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Such a threat, if true, would have raised not only [...]
Playing pandu with cricket and politics
That is all we needed — another cricket stadium. There they were, Sri Lankan’s citizenry suffering from weeks or months of lockdown or lockup or whatever to stop them straying from their abodes and running smack into a passing virus at the first street corner. With little to do at home day in and day [...]
A new path to sustainable inclusive economic growth
Many eminent economists have veered to the view that the global economy cannot be the same as before the COVID-19 pandemic. They contend that a “New Model” of economic development is needed after the unprecedented economic disaster caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a search for a more sustainable economic growth model. Pathfinder Foundation [...]
On militarisation and the remembrance of war
Unsurprisingly but nonetheless worryingly, a seismic shift in positing the military front and centre of Sri Lanka’s governance framework was pronounced in Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s statement this week, issued on the eleventh anniversary of the military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Powerful imagery and symbolic thrust Lost in the general [...]
Black money gets the ‘no questions asked’ whitewash
Two weeks ago, the Lankan branch of a worldwide anti-corruption monitoring body raised the alarm over the Lankan government’s decision to allow the inflow of foreign exchange into the country on a ‘no questions asked’ basis that runs contrary to the existing legal framework. Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) the local chapter of Transparency International [...]
Polls in balance: SC ruling vital for major parties
President Rajapaksa threatens to pull Sri Lanka out of organisations and world bodies if they continue witch-hunt on war heroes Former UNHRC chief Pillai makes outrageous charges against Sri Lanka at Tamil Sangam meeting in US; Congressman makes startling revelation An alert Military Policeman’s action saved the day. The Sri Lanka Navy’s two female sailors [...]
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