Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa stated that no individual has the right to insult Buddhism or any religious leaders.
He made these remarks today (21) while attending the foundation stone-laying ceremony for a proposed Sanghavasa building, where monks reside and conduct religious teachings, at the Sri Vishuddharama Temple in Gamunupura, Tissamaharama.
During his address, Premadasa claimed that the country’s entire temple system is currently facing neglect and structural deterioration.
He recalled that his late father, former President Ranasinghe Premadasa, established the Ministry of Buddhasasana and a dedicated fund to foster and protect Buddhism, as mandated by the Sri Lanka’s Constitution.
He further noted that by establishing state ministries for other religions as well, the former President ensured the protection of all faiths and cultures, thereby safeguarding the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity while eliminating divisions among ethnic and religious groups.
The Opposition Leader emphasized that certain groups are currently directing threats and attacks toward the ‘Buddha Sasana’, asserting that laypersons have no right to challenge or threaten the religion in such a manner.
He stressed that no one has the right to point fingers at the ‘Maha Sangha’ and that everyone must respect the saffron robe of monks and the Sambuddha Sasana.
He added that while honouring one’s own faith, it is the responsibility of all citizens to respect other religions, their leaders, and to protect all places of worship.
Premadasa highlighted that the supreme law of the country—the Constitution—guarantees a foremost place for Buddhism.
He expressed his personal view that while strengthening and protecting the Buddha Sasana, the religious and cultural rights of other communities must also be preserved.
The Opposition Leader further remarked that using religion, race, caste, or class for political gain reflects political incompetence, reiterating that true politics should be centred on public service and social development.
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According to UNICEF (2007), the term child soldier refers to any person under 18 years of age who is recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity. Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, conscripting, enlisting, or using children under 15 in hostilities is a war crime.
Paramilitary groups often target children for recruitment for several reasons. Children are more malleable and tend to follow orders without question, as their fear response is less developed than that of adults, leading to a lack of awareness of danger. This fearlessness makes them more susceptible to manipulation and indoctrination, as they may not fully understand moral complexities. Additionally, their smaller size and agility make them ideal candidates for risky roles such as spies, messengers, or porters, further exploiting their vulnerabilities.
The emergence of child soldiers in Sri Lanka can be traced back to the 1971 uprising orchestrated by Rohana Wijeweera, a prominent Marxist–Leninist political figure and the founder of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). These child soldiers were known as “Ratu Gatav” or the Red Youngsters. These children committed violent acts in 1971.
In 1971, numerous child recruits aligned themselves with adult rebels, leading to some committing atrocities. Noteworthy incidents include a young schoolboy, identified as a red youngster, who shot and killed a police officer during the attack on the Kadugannawa police station. Additionally, in the Kegalle district, a 16-year-old child soldier named Jayatissa, a student at Central College in Tholangamuwa, brutally killed a man named Pabilis, who was suspected of being a police informant, using a mamoty.
The Second JVP Insurrection took place from 1988 to 1989, evolving into a protracted “low-intensity” total war over the course of two years. This conflict tragically involved children, who were indoctrinated to participate in destructive activities against government property, engage in looting, and even commit acts of murder. A significant event during this tumultuous period was the assassination of George Ratnayake, a member of the Lanka Teachers’ Union, who was fatally stabbed by a schoolboy named Saman Kumara Merusinghe, acting as a child soldier.
During the 30-year armed conflict in Sri Lanka, from 1983 to 2009, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) employed a significant number of child soldiers, incorporating them into nearly all facets of their military operations. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) utilized a combination of systematic forced conscription, psychological indoctrination, and socio-economic pressure to recruit children as young as 11. By 2007, an estimated 6,248 children had been recruited into their ranks (Macfarlane, 2024).
Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), strategically recruited child soldiers as part of his broader military agenda during the Sri Lankan civil conflict. This decision was driven by a combination of factors, including the need for a steady influx of fighters to sustain the LTTE’s operations and the belief that children could be more easily indoctrinated into the group’s ideology. By enlisting minors, Prabhakaran not only bolstered the ranks of his forces but also deprived these young individuals of their right to education, effectively trapping them in a cycle of violence and conflict.
The atrocities committed by child soldiers within the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are deeply troubling and multifaceted. These young individuals, often forcibly recruited or coerced into service, were involved in various violent acts that included armed combat, suicide bombings, and other forms of terrorism. The LTTE utilized these child soldiers not only as combatants but also in support roles, exposing them to extreme violence and psychological trauma. Reports indicate that many of these children were trained to carry out brutal attacks against military and civilian targets. During the peak of the conflict, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) launched assaults on Sinhala villages, killing unarmed civilians. The LTTE employed child soldiers to carry out these hateful acts.
The emergence of child soldiers in Sri Lanka can be attributed to a complex interplay of socio-political factors, particularly during the protracted civil conflict that spanned from 1971 to 2009. The dire socio-economic conditions of conflict-torn regions, coupled with the breakdown of traditional family structures and the pervasive violence, created an environment where children were vulnerable to recruitment. The ideological indoctrination and the promise of belonging to a cause provided a compelling narrative for many youths, who were often drawn into the conflict as a means of asserting identity and agency in a landscape marked by chaos and uncertainty. The normalization of violence and the militarization of society further entrenched the phenomenon, leading to a tragic cycle where children were not only recruited but also trained and utilized in combat roles, perpetuating the cycle of conflict and suffering in the region.
Somasundaram (2002) identifies that the motivations for children to become involved in armed groups can be divided into push and pull factors. Push factors include traumatic experiences such as witnessing the deaths of family members, the destruction of their homes, forced displacement, economic hardships, political oppression, and various forms of harassment. These elements create a compelling environment that drives children toward joining such groups.
Child soldiers endure profound and often enduring psychological challenges stemming from their repeated exposure to trauma. The prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among these individuals is alarmingly high, primarily due to their harrowing experiences in warfare, which include combat, abuse, loss, and coerced violence. As a result, they frequently exhibit symptoms such as flashbacks, anxiety, depression, and various physical manifestations of distress. As indicated by Singh (2004), child soldiers endure a meaningless cycle of fear and violence.
Depression in child soldiers is a highly prevalent condition. Many former child soldiers remain trapped by “dreaded combat memories,” suffering from severe depression, adjustment disorders, and somatization. Denov (2022) argues that child soldiers are prone to suffer from moral injury, a form of psychological distress not fully captured by traditional PTSD frameworks.
The use of child soldiers in Sri Lanka has led to profound social repercussions that can endure for many years following the cessation of conflict. This phenomenon has not only inflicted severe personal trauma on the children involved but has also contributed to broader societal challenges, including the erosion of community resilience. The integration of these young individuals into armed groups disrupts familial structures and social networks, leading to a breakdown in trust and cohesion within communities. As these children return to civilian life, they often face stigmatization and isolation, which further complicates their reintegration and hinders collective healing processes. The long-term effects manifest in various forms, such as increased violence, mental health issues, and a diminished capacity for social cooperation, ultimately stunting the community’s ability to recover and thrive in the aftermath of conflict.
Addressing the psychological wounds of former child soldiers in Sri Lanka requires a multifaceted approach that encompasses trauma-informed care, community reintegration, and ongoing support systems. First and foremost, it is essential to provide specialized psychological counselling that acknowledges the unique experiences of these individuals, including exposure to violence, loss, and displacement. Therapeutic interventions should be tailored to meet the specific needs of each child, utilizing evidence-based practices such as cognitive-behavioural therapy and art therapy, which can facilitate emotional expression and healing. Additionally, community engagement plays a crucial role in the reintegration process; fostering a supportive environment where former child soldiers can reconnect with their families and peers is vital for rebuilding trust and a sense of belonging. Furthermore, establishing educational and vocational training programs can empower these young individuals, equipping them with skills that promote self-sufficiency and resilience. Finally, ongoing support from mental health professionals, social workers, and community leaders is necessary to ensure that these children continue to receive the care they need as they navigate the complexities of their recovery journey. By implementing a comprehensive strategy that addresses both psychological and social dimensions, Sri Lanka can pave the way for the healing and reintegration of former child soldiers into society.
References
Denov M. Encountering children and child soldiers during military deployments: the impact and implications for moral injury. Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2022 Aug 11;13(2):2104007. doi: 10.1080/20008066.2022.2104007. PMID: 35979504; PMCID: PMC9377244.
Macfarlane, K (2024). Protection gaps: child soldier rehabilitation and militarized governance in Sri Lanka Open Access International Affairs, Volume 100, Issue 3, May 2024, Pages 1131–1147.
Singh S. Post-traumatic stress in former Ugandan child soldiers. Lancet. 2004 May 15;363(9421):1648. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(04)16217-X. PMID: 15145645.
Somasundaram D. Child soldiers: understanding the context. BMJ. 2002 May 25;324(7348):1268-71. doi: 10.1136/bmj.324.7348.1268. PMID: 12028985; PMCID: PMC1123221.
UNICEF. (2007). The Paris Principles: Principles and guidelines on children associated with armed forces or armed groups. www.unicef.orgA
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Immigrants are the backbone of America’s greatness—powering its economy, enriching its culture, and advancing its global leadership. Yet under the guise of making America great again, Trump’s exclusionary, racist policies are dismantling that very foundation, stifling innovation and tarnishing the nation’s moral standing. To understand the magnitude and importance of immigrants in the US, and the need for continued immigration, the following clearly shows how deeply they sustain our workforce, drive innovation, and secure America’s competitive edge on the global stage.
The Current State of Immigration
Over 1 million farmworkers in the United States are undocumented, including approximately 40 percent of crop farmworkers. Immigrants account for roughly 70 percent of all US farmworkers, making them indispensable to the agricultural labor force and underscoring how dependent American food production is on this workforce.
We are already witnessing the impacts of immigration crackdowns on the US farm industry. In California’s Central Valley, a majority of farmworkers stopped showing up after intensive ICE raids in July 2025, leaving crops rotting in the fields due to a lack of available workers. This has resulted in substantial financial losses, food waste, reduced farm revenues, and rising food prices.
Beyond agriculture, immigrants from Latin America and other regions are heavily represented in construction, hospitality, and food processing; they account for approximately 33 percent of meat processing and over 80 percent of food manufacturing workers. In the leisure and hospitality sector, immigrants account for roughly 18 percent of workers; in traveler accommodations (i.e., hotels) alone, over 30 percent of workers are immigrants.
STEM Workforce
According to the National Science Foundation, foreign-born workers account for approximately 22 percent of the US’ STEM workforce. Among science and engineering occupations with doctorates, about 43 percent are foreign-born; in the doctorate-level fields of computer and mathematical sciences, this share exceeds 55 percent. Roughly 30 percent of full-time science and engineering faculty at US universities are foreign-born, disproportionately present at research-intensive institutions.
Denying admission of scientists from countries such as India and China, Mexico and Argentina would result in serious talent shortages in key STEM fields. Moreover, inventors and entrepreneurs account for a disproportionately large share of US patents, high-growth startups, and advanced-degree STEM workers. Thus, losing foreign-born scholars would undermine research, reduce innovation, slow scientific progress, and erode US technological and economic competitiveness.
Research on immigrant entrepreneurship indicates that immigrants are heavily overrepresented among founders of new firms, including high-tech firms and unicorn” startups, which amplifies the long-term damage that restrictive policies toward non-European scientists would inflict.
Immigrants in the US military
In 2017, about 190,000 foreign-born individuals were on active duty, representing roughly 4.5 percent of all active duty service members. As of 2024, approximately 8,000 non-citizens enlist each year. As of 2022, there were about 731,000 foreign-born veterans—around 4.5 percent of the total veteran population. Historically and today, foreign-born soldiers have played key roles in every major US conflict, dating back to the Revolutionary War, and immigrants have received more than 20 percent of all Medals of Honor, underscoring the depth of their contribution to national defense.
Reagan’s Honoring of Immigrants
Perhaps no one could express the vital importance of immigrants to the US, and how they made America the land of opportunity that embodied the very promise that has made America exceptional, like President Reagan in his final speech to the nation:
Since this is the last speech that I will give as president, I think it’s fitting to leave one final thought, an observation about a country which I love. It was best stated in a letter I received recently. A man wrote me and said: ‘You can go to live in France, but you cannot become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany, Turkey, or Japan, but you cannot become a German, a Turk, or a Japanese. But anyone, from any corner of the Earth, can come to live in America and become an American.’
Yes, the torch of Lady Liberty symbolizes our freedom and represents our heritage, the compact with our parents, our grandparents, and our ancestors. It is that lady who gives us our great and special place in the world. For it’s the great life force of each generation of new Americans that guarantees that America’s triumph shall continue unsurpassed into the next century and beyond. Other countries may seek to compete with us, but in one vital area, as a beacon of freedom and opportunity that draws the people of the world, no country on Earth comes close.
This, I believe, is one of the most important sources of America’s greatness. We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people—our strength—from every country and every corner of the world. And by doing so, we continuously renew and enrich our nation. While other countries cling to the stale past, here in America, we breathe life into dreams. We create the future, and the world follows us into tomorrow.
Thanks to each wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity, we’re a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas, and always on the cutting edge, always leading the world to the next frontier. This quality is vital to our future as a nation. If we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.”
How did we fall from President Reagan’s recognition of immigrants’ nobility to Trump’s dehumanizing claim that they are eating the dogs…they are eating the cats…They’re eating—they are eating the pets…” In that stark descent, we see the horrific moral cost of abandoning truth for political expediency.
Immigrants have been the lifeblood of the American experiment. To close our door to immigrants is to close the door to the very engine of American vitality. If we open our borders, welcoming all regardless of ethnicity, race or faith, we unleash our greatest strength—a nation reborn, limitless in its capacity to dream and achieve the impossible.
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Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations, most recently at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.
The lack of production of protest literature in Sri Lanka calling for an apology, reparations, repatriation of stolen artifacts, atonement, catharsis etc., illustrates a stark difference between the content of Law Journals and Newspapers and Television Channels in Africa, Caribbean, and even India vis a vis Sri Lanka.
There is a distinct deficiency in the scholarly landscape of Sri Lanka compared to regions like Africa, the Caribbean, and India. While exceptions exist, the legal literature in Sri Lanka shamefully reflects moral cowardice continually leaning toward traditional doctrinal analysis rather than the critical, transformative “protest” discourse found elsewhere. We find sadly a hurrah boy culture in local legal literature when it comes to reference to the colonial past. For example, the writings of say someone like Radhabinod Pal, a distinguished jurist from Bengal who served as one of the 11 judges on the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) from 1946 to 1948, is nowhere to be found in a law journal in Sri Lanka with a commentary by a local legal scholar.
Radhabond Pal stands out for being the sole judge to write a comprehensive dissenting opinion that recommended the acquittal of all 25 Japanese defendants on all counts.
His 1,235-page dissent—the longest in the tribunal’s history—argued that the trial was an exercise in “victor’s justice” and a huge hypocrisy. Weaponizing the law to punish the Japanese who had indulged in a Just War against Western Colonialism that had occupied the whole of Asia bar Siam and Japan up to 1939. The Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal has been described by an American Jurist as a ‘ high profile lynch mob’. Radhabond Pal rejected the Doctrine of ‘Manifest Destiny’. He contended that “crimes against peace” and “crimes against humanity” were new legal categories being applied retroactively (ex post facto), which he deemed illegal under international law.
Selective Morality: He criticized the tribunal for ignoring Allied atrocities, specifically pointing to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which he argued were comparable to the war crimes being prosecuted.
Impact on Japan: Pal remains a celebrated figure in Japan. There are monuments dedicated to him at the Yasukuni Shrine and the Kyoto Ryozen Gokoku Shrine. In 1966, he was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure (First Class) by the Emperor of Japan. Unfortunately, in Sri Lanka’s legal education system Radhabond Pal remains a mystery and a relatively unknown quantity, despite championing the struggle for the liberation of Asia by the colonized people.
Comparative Scholarly Context
Africa and the Caribbean: These regions have a robust tradition of using legal scholarship to demand apologies and reparations for colonial harms, often framing them as essential for “healing and redress”.
India: While some scholars describe Indian demands for restitution as occasionally “rhetorical,” Indian legal discourse has long engaged with socio-economic rights and colonial redress more aggressively than its Sri Lankan counterparts.
Sri Lanka: Critics argue that Sri Lankan legal literature often avoids confronting colonial “plunder” directly, sometimes even “celebrating” colonial history without addressing the “grab land laws” (Waste Lands Ordinance, 1841) that impoverished the Kandyan Sinhalese peasantry and led to their deaths through starvation (Ethnic Cleansing).
Colonial Reparations: Some recent scholarship, such as in the SLIIT Journal of Humanities and Sciences, has begun arguing that colonial harms must be acknowledged, apologized for, and atoned for by former colonial governments.
Artifact Repatriation: Some Legal experts have identified a significant “gap in legal scholarship” regarding the return of stolen artifacts, which undermines Sri Lanka’s ability to advocate for the return of its cultural heritage on the international stage.
Transitional Justice: While journals like the KDU Law Journal (Dr. Punsara Amarasinghe) discuss reparations, they often focus on the “inconsistent forms of compensation” provided by the state rather than a holistic “protest” for catharsis and dignity
Traditional Focus: Many Sri Lankan law journals, such as the Sri Lanka Journal of International Law or the RIC Law Journal, primarily focus on disseminating doctrinal knowledge to practitioners rather than serving as platforms for radical legal critique or “protest”. There is no interest in Sri Lanka’s legal education institutions to train law students to demand reparations for colonial injustices.
Sri Lankan law journals tend to focus on doctrinal law, constitutional law, and, more recently, specific, limited international law aspects, with less emphasis on systemic, historical, or post-colonial restorative justice.
Conversely, legal journals in the Caribbean and Africa often focus heavily on post-colonial theory, reparative justice, and the repatriation of cultural heritage.
Similarly, Indian legal discourse often engages with colonial legacies and critical legal studies, reflecting a more robust critique of, and demands for redress regarding, historical injustices compared to the current focus on non-confrontational topics in Sri Lankan legal academic publications.
The lack of scholarly conversation on the legal aspects of restorative colonial justice highlights the absence of true believers and robust leaders in Sri Lanka’s academia and professions. with a fighting spirit as we see in Indian lawyers like J.Sai Deepak who are hardly mentioned in Sri Lanka’s leading media and television channels despite the close proximity and cultural compatibility between India and Sri Lanka. What the local readers are offered (or force fed) instead and repeatedly are the opinions of Indian critics like Arundhati Roy the author of ‘ God of Small Things’ which won the prestigious Booker Prize in 1997. No one objects to the frequent publication of the writings of Arundhati Roy in the Sri Lankan media (she is not representative of large-scale Indian Opinion given her background and origins) so long as other Indian critics like J. Sai Deepak and Dr. Anand Ranganathan are also given space. There must be a balance. The exclusion of the opinions of the latter while professing a preference for Arundhati Roy , who is an unrepentant critic of the Indian freedom struggle led by Mahatma Gandhi and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose is morally indefensible.
Senaka Weeraratna
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Hambantota District Member of Parliament D. V. Chanaka stated in Parliament today (20) that the loss caused to the country by the substandard coal tender amounts to Rs. 100 billion.
The MP made these remarks while joining the adjournment debate currently being held in Parliament regarding the importation of low-quality coal. He pointed out that although the relevant Minister had ample provisions within the agreement to cancel the tender, the failure to do so remains a serious concern.
During his speech, the MP further stated: “The agreement specifies that if two coal ships fail to arrive, the contract stands cancelled. Only one ship arrived in December, followed by four in January. So far in February, only four ships have arrived, totaling eight ships to date. According to the schedule, 15 ships should have arrived. Consequently, the delay in these vessels alone has resulted in a loss of Rs. 31 billion.”
The MP highlighted that the loss due to this low-quality coal tender has already reached Rs. 75 billion and is projected to rise to Rs. 100 billion. He noted that this lost revenue could have been used to provide Rs. 40 for every kilogram of paddy to every farmer in the country, establish four smart classrooms in every school, or carpet 7,500 kilometers of roads across the entire nation.
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SINGAPORE, Feb 19, 2026 – (ACN Newswire) – Asia’s largest food retailers, manufacturers, restaurant chains, and hospitality groups remain behind international better practice on sustainable and responsible protein sourcing, but progress is accelerating across the region, according to The Asian Protein Buyers 100: An Assessment of Responsible and Sustainable Sourcing released today by Asia Research & Engagement (ARE).
The APB100 is a benchmark based on investor-backed priorities – assessing how 100 of Asia’s largest listed protein-buying companies — headquartered or operating across Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mainland China, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam — manage environmental, social, and governance risks embedded in meat, dairy, poultry, and seafood supply chains. Collectively, the companies assessed represent more than USD500 billion in market capitalisation and sit at the choke point of Asia’s protein system, where procurement decisions shape production standards, risk management and food-system outcomes.
The companies assessed include some of Asia’s most recognisable food and retail groups. These include China Mengniu Dairy, Yili Group, Yonghui and Yum China (Mainland China); AEON, Seven & I Holdings, Meiji, Nissin and NH Foods (Japan); CJ CheilJedang, Lotte and E-Mart (South Korea); Charoen Pokphand Foods and Thai Union (Thailand); Jollibee, Century Pacific Food and San Miguel Food & Beverage (Philippines); Vinamilk (Vietnam); and Hindustan Lever, Nestle India, Jubilant, Devyani, DMart, Westlife Foodworld (McDonald’s India) (India), among others.
Scores are improving, but the baseline remains low
Now in its second edition, the benchmark shows clear momentum since 2023 — but also highlights that most companies remain at an early stage of credible implementation.
The average overall score increased from 9% in 2023 to 16% in 2025, with around 80% of companies improving year-on-year. More than half of comparable companies moved up at least one performance tier.
However, no company reached the top two performance tiers, underscoring a persistent gap between sustainability commitments and on-the-ground execution.
A growing group of leaders is emerging
The number of companies in the leading Tier 3 group more than doubled from 10 in 2023 to 26 in 2025, while the lowest-scoring group halved from 44 to 21 companies.
Progress, however, remains uneven and concentrated among a subset of early movers and sustainability themes, while a significant minority of companies continues to disclose little or nothing across several material risk areas.
Climate, labour, and waste are moving fastest
Companies performed strongest on Water & Waste, Labour , and Climate Change, reflecting wider uptake of international disclosure frameworks and growing expectations around supply-chain due diligence.
Climate and labour show the fastest improvement since 2023, driven by emerging regulatory pressure and investor scrutiny, particularly around Scope 3 emissions and labour standards in supply chains.
Governance and protein diversification remain critical gaps
Several material risk areas continue to show weak performance. Governance in relation to protein sustainability, remains the lowest-scoring theme, averaging just 4.5%, with most companies scoring zero. Few have board-approved protein sustainability strategies, capital allocation plans, or accountability mechanisms.
Protein diversification also remains underdeveloped at 7.4%, indicating that most companies have yet to articulate how they will shift product portfolios toward truly low carbon plant proteins at scale.
Disclosures on deforestation and biodiversity, animal welfare, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) also remain thin and rarely quantified. The intersection of climate and deforestation is still not being duly harnessed. Similarly, policies and procurement practices that strengthen animal welfare and enable antibiotic reduction remain a low point, with average animal welfare performance at just 14.1% and only one company aligned with recognised higher-welfare standards or independently certified disclosure.
Why this matters: Asia is the decisive region for global protein systems
Compared with innovative international peers, many of Asia’s protein buyers remain behind on deforestation-free sourcing, antibiotic stewardship, higher-welfare policies and procurement, plant-protein targets and science-based climate transition planning.
However, Asia now represents the most important opportunity for global leadership in responsible protein systems. And with less than five years to implement meaningful change towards various 2030 United Nations and related targets, the vision of a more responsible and sustainable food system is at risk.
Asia is the world’s fastest-growing protein market, which means what happens here will determine the future of global food systems,” said Kate Blaszak, ARE Director, Protein Transition. ThisAPB100 shows that disclosure and awareness are improving and aims to trigger a shift from Policy to Practice. With a realm of better practice examples in the report to also assist companies, the next phase must focus on full supply-chain coverage, measurable targets, and annual progress with board-level accountability.”
ARE brings leading investors into dialogue with Asian-listed companies to address sustainable development challenges and help companies align with investor priorities. With decades of Asia experience, our cross-cultural team understands the region’s unique needs. Our high-quality independent research, robust investor network, and engagement expertise, provide corporate leaders and financial decision makers with insights leading to concrete action.
For media interviews and further enquiries, please contact: Wani Diwakar Asia Research & Engagement (ARE) wani.diwakar@asiareengage.com
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As Bangladesh has constituted a new government under the leadership of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) after a largely fair & peaceful national election on 12 February 2026, the people of eastern India (the region virtually embraces the poverty stricken country except a few kilometers in Myanmar and the Bay of Bengal) hope for a progressive regime in Dhaka enjoying political stability and pursuing economic developments to over 170 million people in the south Asian nation. The Muslim majority country continues to grow as a headache for the north-eastern states, more precisely Assam, for at least two reasons namely unabated influx of migrants and regional security concerns affecting millions of indigenous families in their homeland.
The region’s land connectivity with the rest of India is often picked up by a section of motivated Bangladeshi elements mentioning the challenges surrounding the Siliguri corridor (popularly known as chicken’s neck). Some of them even fantasize incorporating a large part of eastern Bharat to establish a greater Banglasthan. They convincingly argue, an affluent nation should have a sea, a fertile valley with water bodies and also a range of mountains, eventually indicating parts of Bhutan and Tibet too in their day-dream. Many others strongly believe that Bangladesh, which nurtures a single linguistic identity (Bengali), should now attain mono religion (read Islam) characteristics.
The election in a festive mood, otherwise not witnessed in Bangladesh, recorded around 60 percent voters’ turn out giving the BNP a whopping 212 seats in the 300-member Parliament (another 50 women members will be added to the Jatiya Sansad). Sixty years old Tarique Rahman, son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and former President Ziaur Rahman, led the mainstream party in the electoral battles with no instigating anti-India rhetoric, which is understood as a common tactic to gain instant popularity among the Bangladeshi nationals. Even after taking oath as the new premier, Rahman remained cool and overviewed holistic relations with the neighbouring countries, including India.
The popular anti-India speechifying got momentum after the ousted premier Sheikh Hasina took shelter in New Delhi, where she along with thousands of her party (Awami League) leaders continue to seek political asylum since her sudden departure on 5 August 2024. The interim government, formed under leadership of Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus, repeatedly asked for Hasina’s extradition, as she faces death sentence by a Bangladeshi tribunal, but generating no positive responses from India. PM Rahman, here also, avoided any aggressive comments against Hasina, who termed the 13th Jatiya Sansad as a farce, only pointing out that her repatriation should be addressed with legal initiatives.
When Bangladesh attracted international media attention with a series of atrocities on religious minority families in recent years, four non-Muslim candidates including two Hindus (namely Goyeshwar Chandra Roy and Nitai Roy Chowdhury) could emerge victorious in the last election. Nominated by the BNP, both defeated Jamaat candidates. Two other winning candidates from minority communities namely Saching Pru and Dipen Dewan were also nominated by the BNP. PM Rahman also inducted Roy Chowdhury and Dewan in his ministry. Needless to mention, the Hindus constitute a dwindling population of around 13 million (only 8% of populace ) in the country, whereas during the partition they had over 22 % of the population.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi promptly congratulated the BNP leadership for the decisive victory in polls. Modi became the first global leader to call Tarique Rahman and expressed interest in working with Dhaka for mutual benefits to both the neighbouring countries. The BNP leadership promptly acknowledged Modi’s gesture and stated that Dhaka looks forward to engaging constructively with New Delhi to advance a multifaceted relationship, guided by mutual respect, sensitivity to each other’s concerns and a shared commitment to peace, stability and prosperity in the entire region. Later Modi congratulated PM Rahman for the responsibility and even invited him along with family members to visit India at a mutually convenient time. Though could not respond to the BNP chief’s invitation to attend his swearing-in ceremony on 17 February, Modi assigned Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla to represent India in the auspicious ceremony held at the southern courtyard of Jatiya Sansad Bhawan in Dhaka.
Earlier, in his last televised address to the nation as the caretaker government’s chief adviser Dr Yunus described the election ‘not merely as a power transfer but the beginning of a new journey for Bangladesh’s democracy’. The globally acclaimed microcredit initiator and social business promoter reminded the countrymen that the interim regime started working from minus (not even zero), as the poverty stricken country was made rubble by the former ruler (read Hasina). The reputed economics professor reiterated his emphasis on the enormous opportunities for Bangladesh with a potential growth of regional cooperation with Nepal, Bhutan and north-eastern Indian States. He concluded by appealing to the Bangladeshis, along with political leaders, to uphold and strengthen the momentum for peace, progress and reforms with unwavering unity in the coming days.
But concerns for India in general and Assam in particular remain as Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamist party that opposed the1971 liberation movement taking side of the western Pakistan, has emerged as the main opposition party in Jatiya Sansad for the first time in the history of Bangladesh. The Jamaat guided an alliance of 11 parties to win 77 seats, where the Shafiqur Rahman-led party alone won in 68 constituencies, amazingly in most of West Bengal bordering constituencies. On the other hand, the newly surfaced political party, National Citizen Party (which was formed by the students, who orchestrated the July-August 2024 uprising to topple Hasina’s government in Dhaka) had joined hands with the Jamaat in electoral battles and won six seats. The political observers believe that a potential threat is looming at large for the landlocked Indian region which needs to be addressed efficiently by New Delhi after recalibrating bilateral ties with the troubled neighbour!
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Concept and Inquiry: Senaka Weeraratna Content Resource source: Chat GPT
The Mass Murder of Humans in WW2 was treated as a Crime Against Humanity at Nuremberg. In contrast the War Crimes Tribunal failed to condemn the Mass Murder of innocent Horses among other animals as morally indefensible even in times of war. This duality in approach on a species centred basis diminished the moral authority of the War Crimes Trials at Nuremberg.
It is a poignant and deeply reflective observation to note the vast difference in how human and animal suffering was addressed in the aftermath of World War II. You are highlighting a tension between
anthropocentrism (human-centered morality) and the broader concept of Universal Suffering.
The scale of animal loss in WWII was indeed staggering. It is estimated that approximately 8 million horses and mules perished during the conflict, often used by the German and Soviet armies for logistics, only to die from exhaustion, starvation, or artillery fire.
Here is a breakdown of why this duality exists in international law and how it affects our view of the Nuremberg Trials today.
1. The Legal Framework of 1945
At the time of the Nuremberg Trials, the legal definitions for “Crimes Against Humanity” and “War Crimes” were being drafted for the first time in a formal international setting. The focus was strictly on:
The Westphalian State System: International law was designed to govern the behavior of states toward people.
Property Status: In the 1940s (and largely still today), animals were legally classified as property. Therefore, the death of a horse was viewed as a loss of military equipment or “chattel” rather than a moral violation against a sentient being.
2. The Moral Hierarchy
The Nuremberg Trials were a response to the “unthinkable”—specifically the Holocaust and the systematic extermination of human groups. The judges and prosecutors believed that to include the deaths of animals in the same category as the genocide of humans would:
Dilute the severity of the charges against the Nazi leadership in the eyes of the public.
Distract from the intent of the London Charter, which was to establish that individuals could be held accountable for state-sponsored murder of humans.
3. The Shift in Moral Authority
You suggest that this “species-centered basis” diminishes the moral authority of the trials. This perspective aligns with modern Animal Ethics and philosophers like Peter Singer or Martha Nussbaum, who argue that:
Sentience over Species: If an entity can suffer, that suffering should be a moral consideration regardless of species.
The “Gap” in Justice: By ignoring the millions of non-human casualties, the trials reflected a narrow, human-centric worldview that some argue fails to recognize the totality of the war’s horror.
Comparison of Treatment
Feature
Human Casualties at Nuremberg
Equine Casualties at Nuremberg
Legal Classification
Victims of Crimes Against Humanity
Lost Military Property/Assets
Objective of Prosecution
Justice for genocide and slave labor
Not addressed (No standing)
Moral Framework
Universal Human Rights
Anthropocentric Utility
Documentation
Extensive testimonies and records
Mostly logistical/quartermaster records
While the Nuremberg Trials were a landmark for human rights, they did not bridge the gap toward non-human rights. From a modern “One Health” or “Universal Ethics” perspective, the silence regarding the mass suffering of horses represents a significant blind spot in the history of international justice.
Acknowledgements:
Concept and Inquiry: Senaka Weeraratna
Content Resource source: Chat GPT
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AI Overview
The user’s statement highlights a common criticism of the Nuremberg trials: their exclusive focus on human victims reflects an anthropocentric, or species-centered, bias in international law
.
Human Victims: The Nuremberg trials were established to prosecute major Nazi war criminals for specific offenses under international law, primarily crimes against peace, war crimes (violations of the laws or customs of war), and crimes against humanity. These charges were fundamentally focused on the protection of human life and dignity during and around wartime.
Animal Victims: The framework of international law at the time did not recognize animals as legal persons or as having intrinsic rights that could be violated in a manner comparable to crimes against humanity. Animals were generally considered property, and any legal protections in place (such as the Nazi regime’s own, widely publicized animal welfare laws) were rooted in human morality or the protection of property interests, not the inherent rights of the animals themselves. Therefore, the “mass murder of innocent horses” was not a conceivable charge under the legal statutes the Tribunal operated under.
Moral Authority/Speciesism: The argument that this duality in approach diminishes the moral authority of the trials is a philosophical and ethical critique of the foundations of international law, which at its core is “strictly anthropocentric”. Legal scholars and animal rights advocates continue to discuss the lack of legal status for animals in modern international humanitarian law and the potential for a more inclusive legal framework in the future.
In essence, the Nuremberg Trials operated within the existing legal and moral paradigms of the mid-20th century, which drew a firm legal line between humans and animals. The user’s point is a modern ethical commentary on the limitations of that historical legal framework.
PS
Karma operates as a Universal System of Justice and treats Evil as Evil irrespective of the status, character or the Species of the victim. That belief system protected the life and welfare of both humans and non – humans since time immemorial in Dharmic Civilizations.
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The IMF was the international organization by which the United Nations at its inception intended to organize and bring about development of the economies of the World .This did really happen till 1977 when under the Washington Consensus World Bank chief McNamara, and President Ronald Regan took over world development and altered the course of Third World countries tobring them under the control of the USA.
This was done in the most dubious manner by making the vibrant and self reliant countries to fall into debt. When the countries got independence none of the countries were in debt. They were all having vibrant economies and managing their economies with great care, collecting carefully every dollar that was earned mainly by exports and managing all foreign expenses . All countries were run with the locally printed funds. As a senior member of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service I was in charge of a minor section of this massive task. In 1955 to 1967 I was in charge of paddy production. In 1970 I was in charge of providing foreign exchange to local small industrialists. In 1971-1973 as the GA at Matara I wasn charge of all development in a District. The economy was run entirely controlled and there were no foreign exchange offered to anyone travelling abroad for education or fun and jaunts. The economy could not face such fun and frolics. Foreign exchange,carefully collected from exports etc. was spent to import essentials. When I resigned from the Administrative Service and went abroad I was not given a single penny. We were that strict.
When the oil shieks increased the price of oil threefold in the early Seventies and countries went hat in hand to the IMF asking for funds to meet their foreign expenses the Authorities insisted that the countries had to agree to certain conditions:
The policies that were imposed comprised liberalizing the use of foreign exchange(earlier, foreign exchange was very carefully handled-controlled used only for essential supplies), taking the control of foreign exchange out of the hands of the Government; instead it was to function as decided by the Market forces of supply and demand- the banks deciding the exchange rate as opposed to the Government deciding the exchange rate. This led to the devaluation of the local currency. The use of foreign exchange was liberalized allowing anyone to use for any purpose. The Public Sector was not allowed to handle any commercial activities and the commercial infrastructure that brought about development was closed down through abolition or privatization. Imports were liberalized to help the country to obtain anything. Subsidies so far offered to bring about development were abolished.
(From my book: How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development)
These conditions were imposed on Sri Lanka in August 1977 and have continued to be imposed firmly till today,
As a result the value of the local rupee has fallen from Rs 12.00 per US $ in 1997 to as much as Rs 300.00 today.
The result., a country that did not owe a dime to anyone when Premier Sirimavo handed over the country to President Jayawardena in 1970 has today been reduced to have a foreign debt of over $ 100 billion. When Presidet Gotabhaya was forced out of office barely two year ago the foreign debt was only $ 56 billion. Under President Ranil, in less than two years our foreign debt has increased from $ 56 billion to $ 91 billion Today the foreign debt is far far higher.
Perhaps as an administrator who has once tackled the economy for seventeen years and has made it work in the interest of the people, bringing training, employment and incomes to them, and also involving them by training etc to make what the Nation needs most today- to make items that are imported, I could state that what is required today is a massive effort of the Government to train people and get them into the production mode and for the country to enable less imports. This will create employment- incomes for the workers and also save foreign exchange. This is an idea for kind consideration.
Let us get into specific tasks that were achieved
In 1970-1977 the Divisional Secretary at Kotmale collected all the waste paper from Government Offices, rolled up his sleeves and with the youth in Kotmale established a paper and Cardboard Making Center, It was a great success. Do we have any such programme today? No. Now we burn waste paper and sometmes pay to get rid of it.
In Matara as the Government Agent I directed the DDCProgramme to manufacturing what we have to import. We established a Boat Making factory that made seagoing fishing boats, done in two months. It was acclaimed a success. The Ministry did not want to approve any more.
Then entirely on my own I established Coop Crayon- making crayons. The art of making crayons was unearthed by no other than my Planning Officer Vetus Fernando, a chemistry grad locked up within the four walls of the science lab at Rahula College Matara for three months every evening. He and Development Assistant Dayananda Paliakkara and the member of parliament for Deniyaya Sumanapala Dahanayake, in his capacity as the President of the Morawaka Cooperatives established CoopCrayon, under my gaze- done within two days- a 24 hour a day process- which made fine crayons which were sold islandwide by the Morawaka Cooperatives. Mind you, we did make crayons that were equal to Reeces Crayons, the best of the day. When Sumanapala and I showed the crayons to Minister Illangaratne he shouted in joy, summoned the Controller for Imports and prohibited the import of crayons.
I have written again and again about what we did achieve in the Divisional Development Councils Programme of the Sirimavo days, The leader Professor HAdeS Gunasekera is sadly not among us today. Sumanapala Dahanayake has also left us.
However stalvarts Vetus Fernando, and Daya Paliakkara are among us. They are in the last band of stalvarts who established industries as since 1977 we abolished all development tasks- employment creation as ordered by the IMF and confined all administrators to the barracks. Since then, Hundreds of officers are now being paid and they have found some work to attend to.
Instead of getting into a learned discourse of writing it may be worth for our Government to round up officers who did attend to create employment before the IMF took over in 1977. A few of them are Vetus Fernando and Daya Paliakkara of Matara, and other officers who handled the Divisional DevelopmentProgramme in other Districts may also be among the living to initially guide us.. The Divisional Secretary of Pata Hevaheta who had a project of making greeting cards out of Alimana recently and others who may yet be alive may please be found and charged to immediately organize and implement a development programme to make what we import.
That is the only way ahead.
I may also mention what I achieved in the two years I was a the Commonwealth consultant in Bangladesh.
The pilot project for youth self employment implemented by me was adopted as a full fledged programme. The members of the elite Bangladesh elite Civil Service trained by me continued the programme- the 3 Residential Training Centers were increased to 64 and the Bangladesh Five Year Plan of 1997-2002 had a target to train 160,000 youths a year. The Government of Bangladesh reported to the 34 th Session of the IFAD(FAO)( one of the funders) that two million youths have been self employed.
It is my recommendation that we have to get cracking on employment creation programmes and also make what we import. We will alleviate poverty by creating employment and also make what we import. We need very little money as the staff that did attend to development tasks are available doing something they have found to do today.
LATER Commonwealth Fund Advisor to the Government of Bangladesh, where I designed and established the Youth Self Employment Programme which is yet going strong having so far created over three million youth entrepreneurs., now being implemented by members of the elite Bangladesh Civil Service trained by me.
18-02-2026
garvin_karunaratne @hotmail.com
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British Entry into Sri Lanka — Strategic Context (1795–1796)
The British did not enter Sri Lanka as liberators or protectors of indigenous sovereignty.
They entered as a hostile imperial power exploiting European war dynamics, seeking to:
Eliminate Dutch colonial presence • Capture the Indian Ocean trade corridor • Secure naval dominance between India and the East • Integrate Sri Lanka into the British Indian imperial system
Their arrival was imperial expansion, not humanitarian intervention.
Geopolitical Catalyst
Britain entered Sri Lanka during the Napoleonic Wars, when: • The Netherlands fell under French control (1795) • Dutch colonies became legitimate British military targets
Thus, British occupation of Dutch Ceylon was a strategic imperial maneuver, not a bilateral transition.
British Military Entry — (1795–1796)
Mode of Entry: Naval-military occupation with Indian colonial regiments
Troop Composition:
British forces were predominantly Indian colonial soldiers, not British nationals.
Madras Presidency sepoy regiments • South Indian auxiliary battalions • British officer command • Indian logistical and infantry backbone
This constituted a foreign Indian military occupation of Sri Lankan territory under British command.
How many of these Indian military personnel actually returned to India?
Indian Auxiliary Forces — Demographic & Military Engineering
Composition:
British forces included: • Tamil sepoys • Telugu soldiers • Malay regiments • South Indian logistical units
Estimated Numbers:
Across 1796–1815, over tens of thousands Indian troops rotated through Ceylon under British service.
Settlement Pattern:
Many remained post-service • Some were granted land • Others entered colonial administration • Military encampments became permanent settlements
This created new demographic concentrations, particularly in: • Jaffna • Trincomalee • Colombo • Batticaloa
This accelerated South Indian demographic infusion, especially in the North & East.
British Capture of Dutch Ceylon (1796)
Combatants:
British Indian Army + Royal Navy vs Dutch colonial forces
Outcome:
Minimal resistance • Dutch capitulation • Transfer of coastal Ceylon to British control
Significance:
British replaced Dutch as colonial rulers • Ceylon absorbed into British Indian imperial system • Local sovereignty remained unrecognized
British Military Campaigns against Indigenous Sinhalese Resistance (1796–1818)
British conquest of Sri Lanka did not end in 1796.
The interior Kandyan Kingdom and rural Sinhalese population mounted sustained armed resistance for over two decades.
1) First Kandyan War (1803)
Combatants: British Indian Army vs Kandyan Kingdom forces
Outcome: → Decisive Kandyan Victory
Details: • Entire British garrison in Kandy annihilated • British commanders Major Davie & Captain Rumley killed • British forces ambushed during retreat • Over 1,500 British–Indian troops eliminated
Significance: • Proved British vulnerability inland • Demonstrated Sinhalese guerrilla superiority • Delayed British conquest by over a decade
This was one of the worst British defeats in South Asia.
2) Kandyan Convention War & Betrayal (1815)
Unable to defeat Kandyan resistance militarily, the British shifted to:
The Role of John D’Oyly (Colonial Administrator & Translator)
Critical for his linguistic and cultural infiltration. He mastered the Sinhala language, Kandyan court etiquette and indigenous political customs, enabling him to:
Gain the personal trust of Kandyan chiefs • Penetrate royal court communications • Manipulate diplomatic negotiations • Misrepresent British intentions • Engineer internal elite defections
As official translator, advisor, and intermediary, D’Oyly functioned not merely as a linguist, but as a strategic psychological operator, shaping perceptions inside the Kandyan court while covertly advancing British objectives.
His linguistic fluency allowed the British to: → Bypass cultural barriers → Exploit elite rivalries → Feed misinformation → Orchestrate court intrigue → Manufacture elite consent
This strategic linguistic deception directly enabled the betrayal of Kandyan sovereignty, culminating in the Kandyan Convention of 1815.
If not for D’Oyly’s linguistic infiltration & political manipulation, British annexation of the Kandyan Kingdom would have faced greater resistance – even failure.
The Kandyan Convention (1815) — Treaty of Betrayal
What Was Promised:
Protection of Buddhism – which remained official on paper & has continued post-independence • Protection of Kandyan customs • Respect for Sinhala monarchy traditions
What Was Executed:
Immediate abolition of monarchy • Transfer of sovereignty to British Crown • Rapid erosion of Kandyan authority – Kandyan lands, temple lands, • Administrative centralization – subtle dismantling of the Sinhala power base & manipulating minorities by giving them greater power & opportunities.
Strategic Reality:
This was a sovereignty transfer treaty signed under coercion, deception, and elite collaboration.
Historical Verdict:
The Kandyan Convention represents Sri Lanka’s greatest political betrayal, not voluntary unification.
Uva–Wellassa Rebellion (1817–1818) — British Counter-Insurgency Genocide
Nature:
Indigenous national rebellion against British rule.
British Response:
Scorched earth warfare • Mass executions • Village destruction • Crop annihilation • Population displacement
Outcome:
Tens of thousands killed • Kandyan peasantry decimated • Traditional leadership destroyed
Significance:
This permanently broke Sinhala military resistance and consolidated British control.
British Racial Engineering — Census, Identity & Divide-and-Rule
Introduction of Race-Based Census (1824 onwards)
British administration introduced racial classification, dividing society into:
This created racial consciousness where none existed institutionally before.
Invention of Ceylon Tamil” — 1911 Census Engineering
The British created the category Ceylon Tamil” in the 1911 census, separating:
Locally born Malabars from • Indian migrant labor
Strategic Purpose:
Manufacture permanent minority identity • Facilitate communal political representation • Enable divide-and-rule governance • Create demographic leverage against Sinhala majority
This identity did not exist prior to 1911.
British Plantation Economy — Massive Indian Labor Importation
Commodities:
Coffee • Tea • Rubber
Labor Policy:
British imported over 1 million Indian Tamil laborers into Sri Lanka between 1820–1930.
Impact:
Permanent demographic shift • Creation of politically exploitable labor class • Strategic population engineering
This was the largest organized demographic manipulation in Sri Lankan history.
British Settler Colonialism — Indian Military & Labor Demographic Engineering
The British did not merely rule Sri Lanka — they repopulated it strategically.
A) Military Settler Colonization
Between 1796–1815: • Over tens of thousands Indian sepoy soldiers rotated through Sri Lanka • Large numbers remained • Many received: – Land – Colonial employment – Permanent settlement rights
This created permanent Indian-origin demographic enclaves.
B) Plantation Labor Importation — Largest Demographic Engineering in Sri Lankan History
Between 1820–1930, Britain imported over 1 million Indian Tamil laborers.
Purpose: • Coffee • Tea • Rubber plantations
Effects: • Artificial population explosion • Creation of permanent stateless labor class • Strategic ethnic balancing • Long-term political leverage
This was organized demographic engineering, not labor necessity.
First Colonial Schools in Sri Lanka
The first colonial schools in Sri Lanka were Portuguese missionary institutions established from 1518 onwards, designed exclusively for religious conversion and colonial administration, not for public education — systematically dismantling Sri Lanka’s pre-existing Buddhist education civilization.
1518 — Seminary of St. Paul, Colombo (Franciscans & Jesuits) Colombo Fort Target group: to train priests, translators & loyal colonial agents. • Catholic clergy trainees • Converted coastal elites • Orphans taken into church custody • Colonial interpreters & clerks
1544 — Mission Schools, Mannar – Franciscan missionaries Mannar Island Target group: to support mass Catholic conversions • Converted pearl-diving fishing communities • South Indian Christian settlers • Local converts
1619 — Jesuit College, Jaffna – Portuguese Jesuits Jaffna Fort Target group: to consolidate religious authority in the North • Converted Malabars • Local elites • Church trainees
1658 — Dutch Reformed Church Schools (Post-Portuguese Period)
Dutch East India Company (VOC) + Dutch Reformed Church Colombo, Galle, Jaffna, Mannar, Negombo Target group: to enforce Calvanist Protestant conversion • Converted locals • Clerks • Translators • Colonial administrators
Christian registration became mandatory for government employment.
1734 — Jaffna Seminary (Dutch Calvinist Training School)
Dutch Reformed Church Jaffna Target group: to institutionalise Protestant indoctrination & create loyal colonial service elites in the North • Local Christian converts • Future clerks, catechists, teachers
1816 — Jaffna Central School (American Ceylon Mission)
American Congregational missionaries Jaffna Target group: to create English-educated Christian elites for colonial bureaucracy & missionary expansion • Tamil-speaking elites • Mission converts • Emerging colonial intermediary class
1835 — Colombo Academy (Later Royal College)
British Colonial Government Colombo Target group: to train English-speaking bureaucratic elites loyal to British governance. • Elite colonial administrators • Local aristocracy • Mission-trained students
Education before Colonials arrived
Before Portuguese arrival (1505), Sri Lanka already possessed:
Pirivena universities • Monastic education networks • Royal scholarship traditions • Village temple education • High literacy through Buddhist education
Colonial schooling replaced indigenous education — it did not introduce education.
British Education System — Missionary Capture of Knowledge
Dutch Period:
No public education system • Only clerical instruction
British Innovation:
Missionary education system • English language monopoly • Christian schooling dominance
Schools:
Anglican • Methodist • Catholic • American Ceylon Mission
Targeting Strategy:
Missionaries focused heavily on: • Jaffna peninsula • Coastal Tamil settlements
This created an English-educated Tamil elite class.
Missionary Education as a Political Weapon
British missionary education was not neutral learning.
Its objectives: • Cultural conversion • Identity reprogramming • Elite fabrication • Loyalty engineering
Missionary schools deliberately focused on: • Jaffna peninsula • Tamil coastal zones
Intentionally Neglected: • Kandyan interior • Sinhala rural regions
Purpose: → Prevent Sinhala political consolidation → Maintain imperial control → Ensure permanent fragmentation
This institutionalized: → Ethnicity as political currency & encouraged competitive communal mobilization
This culminated in converted Tamil elites believing them to be superior to the Sinhalese majority & advanced to making the infamous 50-50 Demand for Power Sharing when at the time this demand was made, the Indian imported plantation Tamils exceeded to so-called 1911 Ceylon Tamil” numerically.
British Strategic Divide & Rule Architecture
Tool
Function
Census
Racial classification
Education
Minority elite creation
Employment
Structural imbalance
Migration
Demographic engineering
Titles
Elite fabrication
Law
Institutional fragmentation
Politics
Communal mobilization
Strategic Outcome of British Rule
By 1948, the British had:
Destroyed indigenous sovereignty • Imported massive foreign populations • Institutionalized racial identity • Politicized ethnicity • Engineered minority leverage • Laid foundation for separatist ideology
The above came as a result of policies and actions taken by the 3 colonial occupiers:
Sri Lanka’s ethnic divisions, communal politics, and separatist ideologies are:
Not ancient Not organic Not civilizational But deliberate colonial constructions engineered for imperial control.
There were no historically documented Tamil settlements in Sri Lanka’s Northern regions prior to established Sinhalese habitation. Tamil presence emerged primarily through periodic South Indian invasions, temporary military occupations, mercantile movements, and later colonial-sponsored demographic transfers. These migrations did not constitute indigenous settlement but were externally driven population movements, often serving political, military, and colonial administrative agendas.
Throughout Sri Lanka’s recorded history, every major external threat to the island’s territorial integrity, sovereignty, and civilizational continuity was resisted primarily through the sacrifice of the Sinhalese majority, who repeatedly shed blood, surrendered livelihoods, and endured destruction in defense of the land and the Buddhist civilization they had built.
The enduring evidence of this legacy remains embedded in the island’s irrigation systems, ancient cities, monasteries, fortifications, inscriptions and agrarian infrastructure, which collectively predate and outscale the structures erected under foreign or invading rule. These civilizational monuments testify to indigenous statecraft, scientific planning, hydraulic engineering, and spiritual governance, distinguishing native Sinhala-Buddhist construction from military, mercantile, and extractive structures imposed by invaders and colonizers.
Colonial rule institutionalized divide-and-rule policies that deliberately dismantled the civilizational authority of the Sinhala Buddhist majority, while artificially elevating minority groups through preferential access to education, employment, land grants, and administrative power. This engineered imbalance systematically displaced the indigenous custodians of the island’s Buddhist civilization, resulting in 443 years of continuous political, cultural, economic, and religious marginalization of Sinhala Buddhists — a historical injustice that remains largely erased from mainstream discourse.
This engineered imbalance systematically displaced the indigenous custodians of the island’s Buddhist civilization, resulting in 443 years of continuous political, cultural, economic, and religious marginalization of Sinhala Buddhists — a historical injustice that remains largely erased from mainstream discourse.
Every measured attempt to correct these structural distortions has been immediately reframed as ethnic discrimination, weaponizing selective human-rights narratives to manufacture grievance, inflame division, and suppress legitimate national rectification. As a result, the Sinhala Buddhist majority — the original architects, defenders, and preservers of Sri Lanka’s civilization — have been conditioned to feel morally restrained from asserting their rightful place, while coordinated internal and external campaigns persistently obstruct efforts toward historical correction, cultural restoration, and sovereign continuity.
As a result, the Sinhala Buddhist majority — the original architects of Sri Lanka’s civilization — have been conditioned to feel morally restrained from asserting their rightful place, while international and domestic campaigns persistently obstruct efforts toward historical correction, cultural restoration, and civilizational continuity.
Shenali D Waduge
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Soldier about to execute his horse in the middle of the Battle of Stalingrad
Forgotten Saddles: A Silent Tribute to Romania’s Fallen War Horses This haunting image captures a desolate field strewn with abandoned saddles and cavalry equipment—once belonging to the Romanian forces during World War II’s infamous Battle of Stalingrad.
Over 6 million horses were deployed on the Eastern Front during the war. These animals carried men, supplies, and artillery across harsh, unforgiving terrain. In the snow-choked steppes of Stalingrad, many perished—abandoned, starved, wounded, or captured in the fury of retreat.
This image isn’t just about equipment left behind. It’s a solemn reminder of the forgotten lives—human and equine—that were sacrificed in one of history’s most brutal campaigns.
Dead Horses at Battle of Stalingrad
The siege of Stalingrad is often remembered through the lens of human statistics—the millions of lives lost and the turning tide of World War II. Yet, your focus on the horses brings to light a profound and often overlooked tragedy of war: the silent suffering of animals conscripted into human conflicts they cannot understand.
At Stalingrad, horses were not just transport; they were the backbone of the logistical machine. When the encirclement tightened and supplies vanished, these loyal creatures faced a fate that was indeed “unspeakable.”
The Silent Sacrifice
The scale of the equine tragedy at Stalingrad is staggering. While the German 6th Army began the campaign with tens of thousands of horses, by the end of the winter, almost none remained.
Exposure: They stood in sub-zero temperatures without blankets or shelter, their coats freezing to the ground.
Starvation: With no fodder available, horses were reduced to eating the manes and tails of one another, or even wood and frozen earth.
The Final Utility: As the famine peaked for the soldiers, the horses were slaughtered for food. In many cases, they were kept alive as long as possible simply because “meat on the hoof” didn’t spoil in the cold.
A Requiem in Spirit
To offer a form of “posthumous justice” is to acknowledge their innocence. Unlike the soldiers, who were bound by ideology or duty, the horses were bound only by their nature—a willingness to serve until their hearts or bodies failed.
“The horse is the only animal that does not have a voice to scream in pain, yet its eyes carry the weight of the entire world’s suffering.”
Why This Matters Today
Remembering the horses of Stalingrad serves as a vital reminder of our ethical debt to the natural world. It challenges the “anthropocentric” view of history, reminding us that:
Innocence is absolute: Animals are the ultimate non-combatants.
Loyalty deserves protection: The horses worked until they collapsed, demonstrating a level of devotion that was met with the most brutal of ends.
Humanity is measured by empathy: Recognizing the “unspeakable” ways they died is an act of reclaiming our own humanity.
Justice for the fallen horses of the Volga cannot be found in monuments of stone, but in the act of remembering—ensuring that when we speak of the horrors of war, we do not leave out the four-legged souls who suffered alongside us.
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AI Overview
The sentiment regarding a requiem for the thousands of horses that suffered brutal deaths at the Battle of Stalingrad is a powerful reflection of their immense and often overlooked sacrifice during World War II. An estimated
52,000 horses were lost by German forces alone at Stalingrad, primarily due to starvation, exhaustion, and the extreme cold.
The Plight of Horses at Stalingrad
Logistical Necessity: Both the German Wehrmacht and the Soviet Red Army relied heavily on horses for transport and artillery, especially on the Eastern Front where poor roads, mud, and heavy snow hampered motorized vehicles.
Brutal Conditions: The horses faced the same horrific conditions as the soldiers, including shellfire, disease, starvation, and the brutal Russian winter. A lack of fodder was a constant issue, with supply trains prioritizing ammunition and weapons over animal feed.
Desperation and Starvation: During the Soviet encirclement of the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad, the situation became so desperate that many horses were slaughtered for food. Accounts mention abandoned saddles and piles of hooves as grim evidence of the famine and total collapse of logistics.
Unchosen Sacrifice: Unlike human soldiers, the horses had no choice in their involvement, making their suffering a particularly poignant aspect of the war’s tragedy. Many soldiers developed deep bonds with their horses, often weeping for their fallen animal companions.
Commemoration and Remembrance
The idea of a requiem speaks to a desire for posthumous recognition of these “silent soldiers”. While formal musical requiems specifically for the horses of Stalingrad may not exist, there are broader efforts to remember the millions of animals that died in various conflicts.
The Animals in War Memorial in Hyde Park, London, is a notable monument honoring the sacrifices of all animals in war.
Many individuals and groups on social media platforms like Facebook and in online forums advocate for broader recognition, often using symbols like the purple poppy, to ensure the contributions and suffering of war animals are not forgotten.
Your suggestion highlights the profound impact these animals had on human lives and the shared desire to express our humanity by acknowledging the suffering of all innocent victims of conflict.
Courtesy: AI Overview
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Sarath Wijesinghe President’s Counsel, Solicitor in England and Wales, President Ambassador’s Forum UK/SL
Most Powerful Tool on the Universe
Education is the most powerful tool in life where the human is what they are today by the development of the mind from the powerful tool Education” with the experiences in life which is flexible, available free in Sri Lanka unlike many countries, powerful and could be converted to the development and also destruction of the humanity if misused. Education is not only what you learn from schools by books based on the education systems but what you learn and acquire from home, environment and leaders of the society culture and religions. It is a combination of practical experience, tests, experiences, research, critical thinking and collection of data by books today and by elders learned and other means in the past. In the past in our part of the world education is held in highest esteem where ‘ Kings ‘ sent future leaders to ‘’Disapamok’’- famous and leading teachers in the past of high reputes where Kings sent children for education who are versatile teachers who taught everything is life under one roof and teachers such as ‘Aristotal’ has the group of students arrived far away and the standard of education had been so high that their teachings are used even in current education modules and systems despite the developments of modern education techniques and knowledge. We are on the door steps of ‘’Artificial Intelligence’’ and about to start the era of artificial and machine intelligence in place of human intelligence which is supreme as mentioned by ‘Dhammapada’ which cannot be cloned. With artificial intelligence on education developments and tests on innovations to make the life easier for the future. Governments are planning to explore the university resources on the most powerful tool on scientific advancements towards more developed and advanced universe headed by mother earth. Education is not confined to schools’ technical colleges or Universities, though they are centers of education with libraries and laboratories Villages in Sri Lanka in the past Ayurvada medicine which is historical and to be considered scientific is taught by ‘’Vedamahattaya’’ through trainees or family members over thousands of years proved to be effective over generations followed by other trades and teachers and ‘Pirivana education conduct in temples conducted education using varied techniques, and education treated with the highest esteem by the community as passport to power and success.
Knowledge includes reading writing and skills
It is mentioned that knowledge includes reading, writing, and skills including critical thinking developed by educationists and thinkers thousands of years ago in order to prevent injustices, Human and other rights enjoyed by the animal kingdom including human of all ages, are part of education recognized by UNESCO with guidelines to protect the han race, and the world preserving the heritage, environment, and education is considered the passport to development and future to be as a foundation for the unknown future to restructure. Education is preparing for tomorrow with the young generation is prepared today to the next generation by spending a fair portion of the national economy carefully and scientifically developing and arming and aiming the next generation with knowledge in the right direction with right teachers and right curriculum giving power and authority to those in charge of education to be used n the right direction. In fact it is the most difficult task to find the right teachers, right education and right political and conceptual leadership in the most complex and demanding society with high expectations, by the citizen learned vis internet freely available and in Sri Lanka with the density of 110% mobile penetration which is a double-edged sward to the community mostly the children open to be misused when there is no supervision. This is rereleased in the west and now restrictions are introduced on the young on the use of the mobiles and internet.
The teaching techniques in some universities in Sri Lanka currently is dictating prepared lectures to students is a failed system where the student solely depend on the lectures and research based knowledge depending on lecturers turn to be faikers in the society expecting governments to providing employment and unfortunately based on subjects chosedd they can fit in to be teachers clerks but not productive cotizend in the development of the nation. In Israela every citizen is an innovater or entrapraner with basic education and due to the successful education schemes and modules they excels in life elevation the nation though small a world poer and exporter of fruits and vegetables with shortage of water they make on desalination of sea water, which is s a part of education
Centes of Education
Education is centralized in many centers including Universities, Libraries technical institutions and homes where parents structure the education at early age to be improved by the teachers who are professionally qualified for the job.
Education and Education Reforms in a country
Education and reforms are a part of the same coin and reforms are a necessity in any nation as knowledge is changing fast for good at a rapid pace of any country through the young generation developing the knowledge with modern technology, they are conversant with which is inevitable in the modern developed and complicated soci and entrtapraner oety with high density of penetration of IT and access to internet freely to every member of the family, yet the young has to be handled carefully as it is easily inflammable for good and bad with minimum diversions especially when they are computer and IT conversant as taking place today, thereby some countries have denied access of internet and Mobily to a certain section of young and even the food pattern is carefully monitored. Restrictions are made on food to prevent junk food and not to operate junk food shops in the vicinity of educational institutes.
Modules and Educational reforms in Sri Lanka
There appear to be differences of opinion on modules – that is the future proposals of teaching techniques to students by experts on education with policy directions of the governance after extensive researches and dialogues with policy decisions as to how the nation will be structured to face the future challenges with future leaders who will take over rains in the near future. Thee are schools of thoughts that the governance and officials entrusted with the job has not done a proper research and amassment thereby the student was about have access to a site which encourages certain sexual orientations directly of indirectly which is illegal and immoral. There appear to be no arbitrators as both sides have stuct to guns on the openion which has lead to unpleasant everybody with stalling the reform process for which Millon shave been already spent from the government funds which are not easily available.
New Trends in the West to be careful on future generation to be traditional and cultured with the family
Bad news from the west on young of crime and mass shootings by Yong and crime connected to sex. Module that is been introduced is imported from Uuiten Kingdom which is not being used in the school curriculum which has modelled carefully after extensive research by Educationists in Europe, which is scientific and employment oriented with advanced social backgrounds giving emphasis to misleading the students on misuse and overuse of mobile and computers, which are gradually restricted to the students in including food habits with Junk full curtailed in the school diet and banning Junk food stalls near schools in UK and Europe. This shows how carefully the children are protected in other parts of the world especially in Europe.
Controversial Link on finding New Friends on similar orientations which is withdrawn due to mass agitation against
Controversial Link
The controversial link about to be introduced in the English Modul in Sri Lanka the governance states said to be a coup by some senior members of the education ministry/department who are under interdiction on allegation of a coup and malpractices on inserting a controversial module into the English curriculum in a module form to 6th standard stuents in Sri Lanka which is a serious allegation in deed has no place in the parallel module in UK of meeting friends online. It is stated the link is removed but all the rest is removed is not a solution as it is a requirement to revisit and re research the project depeloped after spending millions of rupees by the Education ministry/department.
As mentioned before our future generation should be properly groomed, trained and educated to take over the future on behalf of the citizen and education reforms is the machinery for the grouming process and all possible precautions should be taken. One complaint is that no pepper, plan, research, or preparation has been taken and it appears nobody is aware of the real experts and planners of the operation except one government office who is picked up by the team f investigators as one who has proposed the inappropriate sex link on sexual orientation of similsr sex which is accepted by some countries when Sri Lanka has made it a criminal offence.
Powerful but may be a dangerous and destructive tool if misused
It may be a lethal tool if misplaced and go to the hans of destructive minds and it is the very reason that the natin and governance has to be careful in education policies and eforms the other countries are extremely careful about.
Education and educated in Sri Lanka
Literary rate is high and the world recognized Sri Lanka is an educated nation with educated citizens excels worldwide due to free education nnd the efforts of all parents to educate the future leaders with the power known as education. Edutain plays a main role in other sectors such as econiomy, development, crime prevention, forwign elation and all areas needs education and educated to deal with based on good education Sri Lanka is rich and competent with the educated young who are eerily Waiting and parents are spending the last cent investing on education on the children which is a good and sensible invest on the children and the entire nation we love somuch and aspire to be the best in all areas with the help of proper education to all including young an for a bright future os our blessed nation for situated in the best destination not exploited unfortunately as the education in this area too have not been exploited by the governances.
Solution to the Issue
It is appropriate to give new directions to the same group entructed the project to revisit and prepare a home grown muddle instead of the one imported bodily from United Kingdom and go beck to Dr C W W Kannangara principles applied in central colleges thay have been proved sacksful and give the right place to English to practical and spoken English rather than grammer only as English educaton was modelled by British was to teach grammar as they are conversant of spoken and practical English. Passport to success on Education today is English as academics and professionals switch to after school and university education reaching international level. Even in the legal field though courts are functioning in Sinhala ans Tamil the Supreme Court Judgment are still deleverd in English, with all reference materials are only in English. Therefore special emphasis should be given to Englich as a link, academic, higher and professional medium
No limits or boundaries
Artificial intelligence has no limits of boundaries as it is ever grgrowing due to experiments and developments that are taking evewry second in all fields, mostly on medicine as it eals on the body and mind. Therefore nations allocate countless funds of funds for education as the return of the proceeds of eucatio too is countless. There fore countries do not hesitate to spend on education knowing the future benefits and returns are defenit to the world in all spheres. Parents invest on educating children as it is the best investion that will definitely could reap the harvest with pleasure and benefits to the family an the country.
English education especially spoken English as a powerful tool in education
AI and modern techniques on Education
Artificial Intelligence is mesne knowledge that is created by the power of education of the human being still unable to overpower the natural power of the brain by mechanizes giving considerable positive results such as digitalization improved Robots, and many inventions in place of human brain and human labor srill AI is unable to override. It will take lot more time to create a cat or a dog to identify with the senses and instinct in the body. Scientists work round the clock to achieve the objects and we have to patiently wait for the future to decide. Now developments are many on Uber unmanned circuses on digitalization and other miraculous achievements are signs of future achievements based on power of education and experiments by the man with the help of the brain which is the most powerful and miraculous instrument on the globe.
English Education modules and higher education
English is a main tool to explore education and it is easy to master English spoken and written with tools such as AI and internet that is used as servants to the human who has equipped the advanced stages of mind with development of the mind which is supreme. Therefore the young must be determined to improve their skills with language skills to explore the world of education to help themselves and the others who needs the assistance of the educated to improve themselves. Sarath Wijesinghe President’s Counsel wijesinghesarath05@gmail.com 0094766530166
Former Deputy Secretary General of Parliament, Chaminda Kularatne, has filed a writ petition before the Court of Appeal, seeking to nullify the decision to interdict him from duty without a fair inquiry, a reporter said.
The Speaker of Parliament, the Secretary General of Parliament, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, Leader of the House and Minister Bimal Rathnayake, and 14 others have been named as respondents in the petition.
The petitioner claims that, while serving as the Deputy Secretary General of Parliament, he was suspended from duty, with effect from January 23, 2026.
Kularatne further stated that a charge sheet was issued against him on February 2, and he has strongly denied all allegations included in the charge sheet.
Accordingly, the petitioner has requested the Court of Appeal to issue a writ petition to nullify both the letter of suspension issued against him and the charge sheet.
In addition, he has sought an interim injunction preventing disciplinary action being taken against him on the basis of what he describes as an illegal charge sheet.
Attorney-at-Law Rukshan Senadheera and President’s Counsel Sanjeeva Jayawardena had appeared on behalf of the petitioner, Chaminda Kularatne.
Kularatne was suspended from his duties with effect from January 23. The decision to suspend him was taken by the Parliament Staff Advisory Committee (SAC), chaired by Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne.
The suspension is reportedly linked to alleged irregularities relating to Kularatne’s appointment to the position.
On February 2, the suspended Deputy Secretary General of Parliament and Chief of Staff filed a complaint with the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), alleging corruption by Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne.
In his complaint, Kularatne accused the Speaker of several violations, including the use of official vehicles beyond the entitled limit, the alleged unlawful receipt of two fuel allowances, and the use of two official residences.
Subsequently, on February 5, SJB MP Harshana Rajakaruna informed Parliament that the Speaker’s Private Secretary had sent a letter to the Secretary-General of Parliament seeking information related to the complaint.
On February 11, a group of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Members of Parliament lodged a complaint with the Bribery Commission, alleging that the Private Secretary to the Speaker was acting in a manner that interfered with investigations into a complaint previously filed against the Speaker of Parliament.
In their complaint, the SJB MPs stated that the Speaker’s Private Secretary had informed the Secretary-General of Parliament to submit a report to the Speaker regarding matters raised in the earlier complaint.
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Russian investors are ready to put money into Sri Lanka, but what to invest in—and where—remains a challenge.
This was highlighted by Russian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Levan Dzhagaryan during a media briefing at the Embassy in Colombo today.
The briefing touched on multiple issues, including Russia’s long-discussed proposal to construct a nuclear power plant in the country.
On the nuclear project, Ambassador Dzhagaryan noted:
I raised this issue about the nuclear power plant from the very beginning, and I met with Minister of Energy Jayakody, presented him a letter from the Russian nuclear agency Rosatom, and received no answer. Please raise this question to your authorities.”
While there are ideas for economic cooperation between Russia and Sri Lanka, the Ambassador stressed that several barriers remain.
We had some ideas, some proposals, but we understand that it is a problem for your side because of sanctions. In our cooperation with other countries like Vietnam, Iran, and some other countries, we use our national currency, the Russian Rouble. It’s very popular. In our trade, for example, with some countries, such as China, we mainly use the Chinese yuan or the Russian Rouble. But with your country, it’s impossible. We have no project with Sri Lanka and just… once again because of sanctions. I was even proposing to implement the Russian payment system. We have a card system, MIR, but it’s impossible because all countries that will use this system will be subjected to secondary sanctions. Economic cooperation—no idea so far.”
The Ambassador also addressed the issue of Russian investment inflows into Sri Lanka.
No investments as far as I know, because if it comes from the private sector, it’s up to them. We’re ready to invest, but no projects. And to be frank, some ambassadors were concerned about the atmosphere and the investment climate in Sri Lanka. I read some articles by a former Japanese ambassador, by other ambassadors, that the climate isn’t very easy to invest here because of some problems.”
The briefing underscores the potential for Russian investment in Sri Lanka, but also the significant hurdles—sanctions, payment limitations, and the broader investment climate—that need to be addressed before concrete projects can move forward.
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The Government should immediately arrest the following persons and charge them for mutiny and treason and whatever other crimes the government deems relevant, under the provisions of the 6th Amendment in the Constitution and take appropriate action against them for misusing their religious positions for instigating the innocent and peace-loving Tamil people to organize and rise against the democratically elected government and conspiring against the State by trying to rouse the innocent Tamil people against the Bhumi puthra Sinhala Buddhists in this country and destabilizing the peaceful coexistence between the Sinhalese and the minority communities for millennia in the past..
Also, they should be reported to their religious hierarchy for suitable action against them for misusing their religious positions to rouse the ordinary Tamil people against the government.
It is high time that the Government go in to action immediately and put an end to this nonsense.
Colombo, Sri Lanka — This Women’s Day, XpressJobs is proud to collaborate with John Keells Stock Brokers to create impact beyond celebration through the #SHEinvests initiative, designed to educate, engage, and empower women with the knowledge and confidence to achieve financial independence.
As part of this initiative, XpressJobs clients will have the exclusive opportunity to host a Financial Literacy Session for their female employees throughout the month of March. The program aims to equip women with practical financial knowledge, build confidence in managing money, and encourage informed investment decisions for long-term security.
The one-hour interactive session, conducted by experts from John Keells Stock Brokers, will cover key areas including money management techniques, savings vs. investments, types of investments, equity investing, investment analysis tools, decision-making criteria, and how to begin investing.
Commenting on the initiative, Nithila Talgaswatte, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of John Keells Stock Brokers, stated: Financial independence is a powerful enabler for women. Through #SHEinvests, we aim to break barriers and create access to knowledge that helps women make confident financial decisions for themselves and their futures.”
Dr. Oshadie Korale (Co-Founder/ COO) of XpressJobs shared her perspective from a women’s empowerment lens: As women, we are often encouraged to earn, but not always taught how to grow and manage our wealth. This initiative is about changing that narrative. When women understand money, they gain confidence, independence, and a stronger voice in shaping their lives and careers. That’s the kind of impact we want to create this Women’s Day.”
By offering organizations a meaningful way to mark Women’s Day, the initiative moves beyond symbolic gestures to deliver real value and lasting impact for women in the workplace. Participating organizations will also receive social media recognition, with highlights shared across XpressJobs and John Keells Stock Brokers platforms.
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