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Home » ColumnsSmall party making giant strides with help from Western embassy: SLPPers told
Several worried ministers and MPs of the SLPP met with one of the party’s senior-most officials this week to raise concern over the delay in making preparations for the upcoming presidential election. The ministers and MPs pointed out that one particular opposition party, though small in size, was making hectic preparations for the election. This [...]
In you go
My dear Dumi, I thought I must write to you when I saw you on the news again. Even though you have been out of action and away from the limelight for a number of years, you somehow manage to capture headlines every now and then, thanks to your long-drawn-out court case and that remarkable [...]
Voters facing a confusing political landscape as country heads for elections
Most Sri Lankans believe that 2024 will be election year although it is not very clear whether the presidential election will be held first or the parliamentary elections. Whichever election is held if the voters are to make informed choices the issues before the country must be presented with clarity by the parties aspiring to [...]
Foreign debt obligations: The challenging task of strengthening external reserves
The repayment of about US$6 billion of foreign debt this year is a challenging task. Inadequate foreign reserves, widening of the trade deficit, downside risks to inward remittances from Arab countries, and threats to booming tourism owing to higher costs of air travel could incapacitate the country’s repayment of the foreign debt. Trade balance The [...]
‘The power of pardon is not a private act of grace’; a fit and proper judicial slap to Sri Lankan presidents
When bare-faced lies are uttered by the President of a country to the apex court of the land, of what worth is the Constitution? The murky circumstances of the Silva pardon This question arises in the wake of Wednesday’s ruling by the Supreme Court holding that the pardon granted in 2021 by former President Gotabaya [...]
Duminda gets return-to-jail card while Gota gets flayed for pardon
A daughter’s lone brave battle for justice finally ends in court triumph Hirunika Premachandra was a mere 23 year old slip of a girl when she learnt that her father, staunch SLFP trade unionist Bharatha Lakshman had been killed in cold blood by the then all powerful Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s protégé Duminda Silva [...]
Building a school in Gaza; that’ll teach them a lesson
I wonder how many remember the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II way back in 1953. My memories are somewhat vague about it. But one thing comes to mind. Sri Lanka, then called Ceylon, a dominion in the British Commonwealth, sent its only ship to Britain in 1952 to represent the Royal Ceylon Navy at the [...]
Suspense over SLPP position on presidential candidate
Mahinda differs from General Secretary Kariyawasam who put forward Dhammika Perera and three others as possible candidates Party may back Ranil’s ‘neutral’ candidacy through Grand Alliance In Kampala, President expresses strong support for Palestinian statehood Weerawansa launches campaign to oppose Truth, Unity, and Reconciliation Bill By Our Political Editor It was nearly two centuries [...]
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