The Jaffna University brawl has regressed into a he-says-she-says case, simply because the media has taken sides. The only unambiguous factor in this case is where the law is standing on this matter. That law must be enacted to arrest this brawl from snowballing into something worse. While some sees this as nothing more than […]
The name board, ‘Office of Missing Persons’, whose bill that is now before the Parliament, sounds innocuous. One might even assume, it is a government run office run in collaboration with an organization like the International Committee of the Red Cross. An office, where those with missing relatives come and the officials try and match […]
Joint Opposition MP, Shehan Semasinghe is thoroughly baffled by the proceedings of the Electoral System Committee, in which he is a member. “The government,” he states, “is still not clear whether executive powers should continue with the President or transfer to the Prime Minister and for the President to be ceremonial. If we don’t first […]
Malabe Private Medical College (South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine) is the biggest bane for Medical Faculty undergraduates. Derided as the ‘degree shop’ and viewed as a threat to free education, they have been protesting over the years. Their latest protest have been sustained for more than 150 days. Social media recognizes their regular […]
“A bad president is bad, as opposed to the system per se been bad,” states Presidential Counsel Manohara de Silva. The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government came to power on the pledge of abolishing the executive presidency. Since securing power, there is a marked reluctance to fulfill the pledge. However, they are not the first to hesitate. Presidents […]
Since last week, local media is plastered with news and muse over Brexit. In Sri Lanka too, politicians, professionals and other pundits are as intensively divided into ‘doom’ and ‘boom’ camps as the British. Five days later, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein renewed its call for a war crime probe […]
Silencing of the Good for Evil to Prosper By liner: labels like ‘dictator’, ‘authoritarian’ seems only to stick to leaders who are irritants to the West. While the West have ‘administrations’, we have ‘regimes’. Yet, are ‘good’ guys really the good guys and ‘bad’ guys really the bad? ——————————————————————&
Colonization days maybe history, but whether the West is through with their conquering days is indeed questionable. It is also debatable whether the countries that bore the brunt of colonization ever regained their true independence. The West of course insist that the mess these countries still find themselves in the post-independent era is due to […]
The Rajapaksa Administration had been categorical that irregularities from the military did not occur. Despite the mounting pressure by the U.S.-led sect of the International Community, they refused to blink. Yet, even with the Sri Lankan society, some have taken the terminology used such as ‘humanitarian’ operation, ‘zero civilian casualties’ with a pinch of salt. […] ...
Former ambassador Kalyananda Godage’s analysis of the causes of the 30-year war against terrorism, ‘Genesis of Lanka’s ethnic conflict’, on Daily News, May 30 deserve a closer examination. His statement in the opening paragraph, “Tamils are also our people,” is indeed eyebrow raising. This seems to follow John Kerry’s own misconception, that the war against […] ...
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam mean different things to different people. To all Sri Lankans, including the LTTE political proxy, LTTE meant terror. To the Tamil expatriate community, LTTE was a nuisance with their threats and intimidations and demands for monetary and other support. To India, a means to destabilize Sri Lanka. To the […]
May 19 came and went, literally without much of a flutter. Very few Sri Lankans remembered that on this historic day, seven years ago, we defeated terrorism – a feat not accomplished so far elsewhere in modern history. Hence, not many hoisted the National Flag. The incumbent Defense Secretary, Karunasena Hettiarachchi, explaining the government position, […]
‘Heavy military presence’, ‘military occupied land’, ‘irregularities of the military’, ‘prolonged detention’, ‘signs of torture’ are phrases we frequently hear nowadays with concern to our military. We are again confounded with the one question whether our military are heroes or villains. The Tamil National Alliance-led Tamil politicians along with India and the West-led International Community […] ...
We received free education three years before we got our Independence. The whole idea behind free education was that no child is deprived of education. Yet, annually close to half a million children are forced to drop out of the education system, when they fail to get through their Ordinary Level, Advanced Level exams or […]
Terrorism raised its ugly head when this writer was about six or seven. Since then, terrorism had been a pervasive factor. The bomb scare was such, at one time, school rule was that our books and stationary must be translucent polytene ‘shopping bags’. Prefects at the gate checked our snack boxes to ensure that we […]
“Post conflict starts the moment the conflict stops,” states General Daya Ratnayake, as he explains the challenges Sri Lanka faced as the war against terrorism wound to an end. “According to the Western theories and beliefs and their military doctrines, a serious and a protracted conflict as the one we just went through will definitely […]
How do you rehabilitate a terrorist? A terrorist has not signed any convention or agreed to any code of conduct. Until the law catches up with him, he commits terrible misdeeds as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) did for 30 years in Sri Lanka. Their crimes against humans and humanity were so horrifying […]
“Are contract killers, war heroes?”, asks Saman Rathnapriya, representative of the Trade Union’s Collective. His question reflects the confusion of the Nation, including that of the government. The confusion is so serious that the investigations of the suicide kit found in Chavakachcheri was handed over to the police, when it is the military intelligence that […]
The war against terrorism ended on May 19, 2009. On November 16, 2009, the then General Sarath Fonseka left the services and 10 days later formally announced his candidature in the 2010 Presidential Elections. Fonseka was the Army Commander during the final war and at the time of retirement the Chief of Defense Staff. He […]
Proportionality, as per the laws and customs of warfare, is one of the three main factors any military operation must consider. Professor Michael Newton, an international expert on the legal aspects on warfare, explains the Proportionality Principle (PP) as the calculation of the expected military advantage against the anticipated civilian casualty. The PP provides protection […]