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Home » ColumnsAllegations against Lankan and Bangladesh peacekeeping troops: UN defends screening process
Following the release this week of an investigative documentary alleging that Bangladesh and Sri Lanka sent officers implicated in torture and extrajudicial killings on United Nations peacekeeping missions, the world body has been forced to defend its screening process for peacekeepers. The joint investigation by German broadcaster DW, Sweden-based investigative outlet Netra News, and German [...]
The state of the state minister
My dear ‘Miris Kudu’ Prasanna, I thought I should write to you when I saw that you were in the news again, this time for assaulting a worker at the airport. At first many thought it must be some kind of joke because ministers are not supposed to go around assaulting people in that manner, [...]
Economic recovery hindered by political uncertainty and social unrest
The coming months could be a period of social unrest, political uncertainty and political instability that would hinder economic recovery and growth. Widespread strikes and protests could hamper the economic recovery in many ways. The implementation of the government’s reform programmes is likely to be stalled. Already, about 40 percent of IMF conditions are assessed [...]
Whose ‘national security’ is the state supposed to safeguard?
Amidst the not-so-happy transformation of Vesak from the serene marking of an incomparably sacred event in the Buddhist calendar to an indulgent if not excessive race to compete with the ‘biggest pandal’ or the largest ‘dansal’ (generous gifting of food to the public), President Ranil Wickremesinghe has sublimely remarked that the long lines of Sri [...]
Govt. pushes for 2 ‘economic bolstering’ bills while Opposition points to economic crimes
By Sandun Jayawardana The government on Wednesday (22) presented two more key draft bills which it said is essential to continuing the country’s economic recovery. The opposition however, used the day’s adjournment debate to attack President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s administration over what it claimed was a serious breakdown of the rule of law. The Economic Transformation [...]
Siddartha’s great renunciation to free mankind from sorrow’s siege
In the far-off plains of northern India, Prince Siddartha sat on his gold gilt seat, wrapped in deep thought. Gone was the cheer. Gone, too, the exuberant spirit, restlessly searching for new avenues of adventure in his four seasonal palace gardens. In these last few days, a brooding melancholy had laid siege on his lively [...]
Disappearing Diana, govt. dalliance all ruin nation’s image even more
It is bad enough when Sri Lanka’s image in the outside world has been blackened increasingly over the last couple of decades or more. With corruption, bribery, and political chicanery ruining a country that once stood tall on the world stage and earned encomiums for its diplomatic dexterity, Sri Lanka is today grovelling in the [...]
Presidential Polls: EC Chief Gets Rs 10 Billion
SLPP raises issue during Joint Strategic Committee over elections President Wickremesinghe thereafter makes a statement to ministers Assures he will hold presidential elections first Developments came after dinner discussion by government MPs Basil rubbishes Udayanga’s remarks about dissolution of Parliament, says there is no truth in his claims By Our Political Editor President [...]
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