Taliban’s aspirations for legitimacy – and a UN seat
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) — The suicide bombings that claimed the lives of over 170 Afghans, and wounding more than 200, along with the deaths of 13 US servicemen and 18 wounded, marked a devastating blow to Americans. The deaths were one of the highest American casualties in the 20-year US occupation of Afghanistan, with an [...]
Whither the fate of Bamiyan Buddhas under Taliban?
The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two 6th-century monumental statues of Vairocana Buddha and Gautama Buddha. Today these Buddha statues are not to be seen as they were blown up by the Taliban by using mortars, dynamite, anti-aircraft weapons and rockets in March 2001. When the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 1996, they imposed an [...]
Organic fertiliser: Circular economy for urban waste
By Mohamed Esham (Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka), Nilanthi Jayathilake (IWMI), Damitha Samarakoon (Janathakshan) and Keren Winterford (Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney) The import ban on chemical fertilisers and other agrochemicals is slowly starting to draw investments into alternative fertiliser systems. There is an opportunity for Sri Lanka to use this policy [...]
Senior Police Officers’ plea to Mahanayakes: A breach of EC
There is media uproar over senior-most police officers visiting Kandy and Anuradhapura to meet the Mahanayakes. The purpose of the visits has been to beg of the prelates to save them from court action recommended against them over the Easter Sunday attacks in April 2019. The conduct of these police officers has given rise to [...]
The case for a food systems stability board
LONDON – The COVID-19 pandemic, rising rates of global poverty and inequality, persistent conflict, and the escalating climate and biodiversity crises are shocks and stresses that together contribute to increasing hunger, as well as growing food and nutrition insecurity. To help tackle this urgent problem more effectively, and make the global food system more stable [...]