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Home » ColumnsForeign Minister says no change in “rich and varied” personal laws specific to Muslim, Kandyan and Tamil communities
These days, it is evident the Government is using available avenues at its disposal and diplomatic channels to attract foreign direct investment or currency swaps as the country’s economy has plunged into the worst crisis since Independence. The latest attempt in this regard was made by Foreign Minister G. L. Peiris who hosted a working [...]
Leading by example
My dear Imran, I thought I must write to you at this time when both our countries are in a state of shock and disbelief at what happened in Sialkot last week, when Priyantha, a Sri Lankan manager at a garment factory, was brutally beaten to death and his body set on fire, apparently for [...]
Govt. sees little to cheer in thumping budget victory
The Third Reading of Budget 2022 was passed in Parliament on Friday by an overwhelming majority of 93 votes. Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa’s maiden budget received 157 votes in favour and just 64 against, once again asserting that, despite being battered by various crises both within and without, the Parliamentary dominance of the Sri Lanka [...]
Will Indian assistance resolve Lanka’s balance of payments crisis?
Has India agreed to provide a currency swap and trade credit for essential imports? The requested aid from India does not appear to have been finalised yet. The requested aid from India is of crucial importance in the current critical bind in external finances of the country and inability to import essential commodities. However, it [...]
The plight of Sri Lanka’s elephants mirror the plight of the land
Recent observations by the Supreme Court regarding the importance of the Attorney General independently exercising the enormous array of powers conferred on that Office by statute are, by a cynic’s perspective, nothing very new. Elephant smuggling and the law Reportedly, these cautions had been issued during the recent granting of leave to proceed by a [...]
Sialkot tragedy shakes Pakistan
The horrifying incident in Sialkot where Sri Lankan citizen Priyantha Kumara was murdered by a mob has shaken all right thinking people in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the world at large. While Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has called it a day of shame for Pakistan there has been outright condemnation of the incident among [...]
From handout to handout, Lanka’s hand-to-mouth life
As Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa headed off to New Delhi last week bowl in hand to beg brother India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi for money to buy a few months stock of fuel from Oman, it brought starkly home, more than any bleak Fitch or Moody report ever could, the perilous state of Lanka’s hand-to-mouth [...]
Right to know, not to ignore
Over five years back the then Government enacted one of the most vital pieces of legislation that was hailed both in Sri Lanka and internationally as filling a yawning gap in the country’s democratic system and governance. That was the peoples’ right to know, to ask questions about the functioning of government and its institutions, [...]
Secret pact: JVP leader’s bombshell exposé deals more blows to Govt.
Yugadanavi agreement not with New Fortress Energy, but with NFE Sri Lanka Power Holdings LLC AKD says only through him, Govt. ministers got to know of the contents; non-disclosure clause a shocker SJB’s Parliament boycott over MPs’ security ends; Speaker appoints probe committee For weeks now, Opposition MPs have been calling on the Government to [...]
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