KAMALIKA PIERIS In 2012, the Department of Immigration and Emigration   had   asked  Mobitel   to establish and operate an online gateway for those wishing to apply for visas to Sri Lanka.  Mobitel   provided the  Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA)  system  for  the Department . This was  tried out on a trial basis  on 1 October 2011 and […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS   Revised 12.20.25 The contract for issuing on-arrival visas at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) was  taken over by    VFS Global   on April 17, 2024. This matter had previously been satisfactorily  handled by the officers of the Sri Lankan Immigration Department , without any complaints. After VFS Global  took over, those applying for […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The tourist industry protested  vehemently over  the VFS take over  at Katunayake. but the Ministry ignored the protests and allowed VFS to continue regardless. Then something happened  and the  issue went public .  On 3 May 2024,   television news  showed  an enraged Sri Lankan at the Katunayake International Airport complaining loudly over denial […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Department of Immigration ignored the Supreme Court order and continued with VFS.   Minister Alles held a special  media conference after the Supreme Court order to explain why they could not obey the Supreme Court Order. He was flanked, I think, by the Permanent secretary,  Vyani Gunatilaka and  Harsha Illukpitiya, Controller General  of […]

 KAMALIKA PIERIS During  the Eelam war, the Navy was heavily  engaged in escort duties. The cargo and fuel shipped to Jaffna from Trincomalee to Colombo were escorted by the navy.   The passenger ferry carrying civilians sailed under navy security. [1]   The LTTE closed the A9 road to Jaffna and the  government  forces had to take […]

 KAMALIKA PIERIS Karannagoda   in his book The turning  point ‘ provides us with a detailed account of the arms procurement method of the LTTE . Navy intelligence knew about these movements, but lacked the strength to stop them.  Initially, most of the explosives and weapons LTTE used were obtained from Tamilnadu and also from the […]

 KAMALIKA PIERIS Intelligence reports indicated that the LTTE’s strategy was to demoralize the navy.[1] The more they target the navy the more the navy resolved to fight back, said Karannagoda .[2]   Navy  listed all the  vulnerable   naval targets and took precautions. [3]   Despite the many precautions we took LTTE always managed to find  ways to […]

 KAMALIKA PIERIS LTTE  established small  Sea Tiger bases the north- eastern  and north- western coasts  in lagoons opening to the sea. They were approx. 10-15 km apart along the coast.    In 1994  LTTE went into the Vanni, it was pushed out of Jaffna. In Vanni, they freely used all the lagoons that opened to the […]

 KAMALIKA PIERIS Wasantha Karannagoda, former Commander of the Sri Lanka navy, has written a book titled, ‘The Turning Point,  the navy’s role in Sri Lanka’s war” published by Penguin India in 2025. The book  records the experiences of the  Sri Lanka Navy ,  at two specific periods of  the Eelam war,  first when  Karannagoda  was […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS  In 2005,  When Karannagoda became Commander of the navy, the navy was mostly engaged in escort  functions for the army and merchant vessels, said Karannagoda in his  book The Turning Point”. Karannagoda turned the navy into a successful fighting force. To do so, he had to  improve many aspects of the navy service. […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The book The Turning Point ’has a separate chapter titled  ‘The evolution of the Sri Lanka navy and the LTTE’s Sea Tigers”. This  give us much first hand information on the development of the LTTE Sea Tiger force and the measures taken  by the navy to combat them.  We are told that the  […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS UNESCO recently announced that it has accepted for its Memory of the World Register 2025, the Trilingual inscription” found in Sri Lanka. The tablet   containing the inscription was brought to Sri Lanka from China by Chinese Admiral Cheng Ho.  The item was therefore submitted to UNESCO jointly by Sri Lanka and China. UNESCO […]

Kamalika Pieris  2nd  REVISION.  5.4.2025. The theatre enthusiasts, who saw Maname in its maiden presentation in Colombo and before that at rehearsals in Peradeniya, saw its significance and artistic value. Many years later, this group wrote up their recollections for Sunday newspapers. They also provided contributions to publications issued to mark Maname anniversaries, such as […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS MADURU OYA FIASCO 1. The Maduru Oya  settlement project   of September 1, 1983, led by Dimbulagala Hamuduruwo started well. Gamini Dissanayake, Minster of Mahaweli Development  had suggested it and the Mahaweli Ministry staff responded enthusiastically. It was a  settlement created at Ministry level.  It should  have been a great success. But it was […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS MADURU OYA FIASCO 2 Tamil Separatist Movement  was not able to  nip the Maduru Oya  project in the bud.  India   sent  an envoy, G Parthasarathy in August 1983 to scuttle the project. His visit was secret. He met Gamini Dissanayake   and discussed the issue of  Mahaweli settlements. [1]    But Gamini   did not give […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS TAMIL SETTLEMENTS  Tamil Separatist Movement steadily  established new Tamil settlements in the north and east   after Independence. The purpose was to strengthen the  Tamil population   on  the Eastern coast. The northern and eastern provinces were under populated   and there was lot of empty space which had to be filled up. J. D. Arudpragasam’s […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS ATTACK ON KENT AND DOLLAR FARMS 1984 Revised 10.3.25 The Kent and Dollar farms were located near Manal Aru.  Kent and dollar farms are 11 minutes drive from  Kurundi vihara and  8  minutes drive from  Tannimuruppu kulam. The farms were bought on a 99-year lease from the state by a wealthy Tamil in […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS    LTTE MASSACRES AT KOKILAI AND NAYARU   1984, 1985 Revised 10.3.25 On 1 December, 1984 LTTE cadres, including women fighters, attacked two Sinhala Catholic fishing villages, Nayaru and Kokkilai, killing 59 fishermen. [1]  Kokkilai lagoon is an estuarine lagoon on    north-east Sri Lanka .The town of Kokkilai is located on a sand bar […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS ARMING SINHALA SETTLEMENTS, 1984 The Tamil response to the Maduru Oya settlement was an eye-opener for the small coterie of Colombo elite who had taken an interest in the matter. They found that settling Sinhalese in Eelam needed much more strategy than they thought.  Tamils who arrived here through settler colonialism were determined […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS MADURU OYA SETTLEMENT PROJECT 1983 When work started on Maduru Oya Right Bank construction Mahaweli officials and engineers found that the Tamil Separatist Movement was quietly settling estate Tamils on the land intended for the new settlements. They were filling it up so that the Sinhalese could not get in. The UNP government […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS YAN OYA SETTLEMENT PROJECT 1983 The aborted Maduru Oya Sinhala settlement of September 1983 was part of a much grander Sinhalisation plan suggested by an officer at the Mahaweli Authority in 1983.T.H. Karunatilleke Director of Planning in Mahaweli [1] had studied the Eelam strategy and had come up with a plan to thwart […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS If Maname was  Sarachchandra’s  first experimental drama, then his next play Sinhabahu with its rich dramatic text, the powerfully complex tragic characters he created around the popular yet simple folk legend, their singing of his poignant poetry was,  I think the high point in his dramatic career, said Ranjini Obeyesekera.  Sarachchandra remained a dramatist to the end of […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Theater enthusiasts in the newly independent states of South Asia were finding it difficult, if not impossible, to move away from the proscenium arch” theatre introduced by the western rulers. There were two types of theatre going on, traditional and modern, rural and urban. The main challenge faced by them in the 20th […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Sarath Amunugama observed that one of the many items which made Maname special was its melodious music. [1]Sarachchandra was an   accomplished musician. He had gone to Santiniketan in the 1940s to study music.  However, in his Pin ati Sarasavi, he spoke of ‘veenawa ata pata gawa,’ so I thought he was a dilettante […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS In ‘Pin Eti Sarasavi Waramak Denne’, Sarachchandra described an incident he faced on the second or the third night at the Wendt. He was seated in the foyer while the play was in progress and all of a sudden a limousine came to a halt at the entrance and a well dressed woman […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Revised 26.12.24 The theatre enthusiasts, who saw Maname in its maiden presentation in Colombo and before that at rehearsals in Peradeniya, saw its significance and artistic value. Many years later, this group wrote up their recollections for Sunday newspapers. They also provided contributions to publications issued to mark Maname anniversaries, such as the […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS K.W Devanayagam held a second press conference on 16th September, 1983 and announced that the situation was worsening. He said the Tamils of the Batticaloa district were getting agitated and a confrontational situation was developing. [1]  He told the press that a massive attempt was on by Sinhala farmers, led by the Dimbulagala priest, […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Ven. Kitalagama Sri Seelalankara, chief priest of Dimbulagala Raja Maha vihara (Dimbulagala Hamuduruvo, hereafter Dimbulagala)   was a political monk. He had a continuing battle with Tamil officials and politicians of Batticaloa on illegal settlements in Maduru oya. He himself had tried to settle Sinhala farmers at Wadamunai, (Koralai Pattu west, Batticaloa district) in […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS When the Accelerated Mahaweli project started, Gamini Dissanayake, Minister for Mahaweli had asked Ven. Ellawela Medhananda    to do a history of the Mahaweli region. While engaged on this, Medhananda had met Ven.  Kitalagama Seelalankara of Dimbulagala. Dimbulagala and Medhananda decided that the best way to prevent Tamilisation of the east was to settle […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS After the colonization schemes of the 1950s and 1960s,   the government started doing Development Schemes. Tamil Separatist Movement viewed these development schemes   with great alarm, because they brought Sinhalese settlers into the area they had reserved for Eelam. State-sponsored colonization would lead to a change in the demography of the Northern and Eastern […]