H. L. D. Mahindapala One of the main reasons that exacerbated the North-South relations in the post-independent era has been the total distortion of historical realities by a sizeable segment of our intellectuals who believed that history was a train of events, somewhat like the Yal Devi, that ran up ONLY (emphasis mine) to the […]

By Gandara John (With Apologies to Sir Walter Scott) Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land! Whose heart hath ne’er within him burn’d, As home his footsteps he hath turn’d From wandering on a foreign strand! Alas, there breathes such a […]

Shenali D Waduge To understand the danger of what those drafting the new constitution is plotting to do, it is important to understand the features that make a Unitary, Federal & Confederal Constitutions. The countries that initially had confederacies abandoned them in view of its weaknesses and impending dangers. Why is Sri Lanka then walking […]

තේජා ගොඩකන්දෙආරච්චි ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ වැස්ස හා නියඟය මාරුවෙන් මාරුවට රට කළඹවා දමන්නාක් මෙන්, විවිධාකාරයේ මිනිස් ලේ ධාතුව කුපිත කරවන වර්ගයේ පුවත් විසින් දේශපාලනික වායුගෝලයද කළඹවා ලයි. මේ දිනවල මෙසේ කතාබහට වඩාත්ම ලක්වූ කාරණා නම්, මත්තල ගුවන් තොටුපල ඉන්දියාවට පවරා දීමට එරෙහිව පැවති විරෝධතාවකදී සහකාර පොලිස් අධිකාරීවරයෙකු විසින් මාධ්‍යවේදියෙකුගේ කණට ගැසූ පුවතත්, පසුගිය ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී ජයග්‍රහණයකල, හංසයා […]

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island October 17, 2017, 8:32 pm The US recently twice commented on Sri Lanka-China relations, in an extremely negative way. There hadn’t been such highly controversial and critical US statements regarding Sri Lanka-China relations during the war, or after the successful conclusion of the conflict, in May 2009. One statement was […]

By Dr Kamal Wickremasinghe Courtesy The Island October 17, 2017, 8:28 pm The fundamentally flawed nature of the draft constitution to be debated in parliament makes a clause by clause analysis an exercise in futility. The basic problem, in a nutshell, is that the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly (the committee) is asking the Sri […]

Editorial Courtesy The Island October 17, 2017, 9:04 pm The SLFP is apparently in the suicidal mode. What may be described as a bloodless version of the Night of the Long Knives has debilitated it as never before; several popular party organisers, in the dissident group, have been sacked. The mega purge is far from over. […]

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about the extra-judicial killing of Mr. D P Premasiri (65) of Stace Road, Grandpass, Colombo 14 in the Colombo District. On 9 August 2017, Premasiri was illegally arrested, severely tortured at his house in front of […]

By Yusuf Ariff Courtesy  Adaderana Anika Wijesuriya, a key witness who had testified before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry probing the treasury bond scam, has fled the country due to receiving threats to her life. This was revealed to the commission today (17) by President’s Counsel Yasantha Kodagoda, Additional Solicitor General at Attorney General’s Department, during the […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror The registration period for the US diversity visa (DV-2019) has been revised due to technical issues, the US Embassy said today. In a statement, it said the new entry period would be open for electronic entries on October 18 from 11:00 am to November 22 until 11:00 am. Due to the […]

By A. Abdul Aziz. Press Secretary, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at – Sri Lanka. On October 10, Captain Safdar, the son-in-law of the former Prime Minister, who was ousted by the Supreme Court on corruption charges,made a fiery speech in the Pakistan National Assembly, Islamabad against the persecuted Ahmadiyya Community. He instigated the Judiciary, Armed Forces, Government and other […]

By Yusuf Ariff  Courtesy  Adaderana Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa today urged the government to abandon its ‘destructive’ proposal for a new constitution and to bring forward proposals to implement the original constitutional pledges they made. He said that the government has tabled in Parliament, proposals for a new constitution and that however the constitutional reform pledges […]

Dr Hector Perera      London Turmeric contains bioactive compounds with powerful medicinal properties. Now we know that turmeric is the spice that gives curry its yellow colour. It has been used in India for thousands of years as a spice and medicinal herb. Recently, science has started to back up what the Indians have known for […]

By Rohana R. Wasala 16-10-2017 The media reported today (October 16, 2017) that Ven. Pitiduwe Siridhamma Thera  (self-styled  Arahant Siri Samanthabhadra)  called on the Ven. Mahanayake Thera of the Malwatte Chapter and formally apologized to him over his recent offensive conduct, and insulting remarks attacking the Dalada and criticizing the Mahanayake Theras. He said he […]

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ පසුගිය ලිපියේ අප මෙසේ සටහන් කළෙමු. රට පාලනය කරන්නේ, මාසිකව මේ රුපියල් බිලියන 250ක මුදල හසුරවන බලවේගයයි. මේ මුදල හැසිරවීමේ කාර්යය මෙරට පරමාධිපත්‍ය අතට ගත්විට රට පාලනය කරන්නේ ජනතාවයි. මේ මුදල් රජයට දෙන ජනතාවට එය දෙන ආකාරය හැසිරවිය හැක. 1.සෑම මසකම ඩොලර් මිලියන් 600ක් මෙරටට එවන ජනතා පරමාධිපත්‍යට එය එවන ආකාරය හැසිරවිය හැක. […]

Kanthar Balanathan, Australia While being silent on the interim report of the steering committee, as a mark of respect the author gives to the members of the committee, it is a time dilated event, and request people of SL come forward to make comments, so that repeated slipups and bungles does not happen in the […]

By M D P DISSANAYAKE The final decision of the Sri Lankan Cricket authorities to select an alternative team headed by Kusal Perera to travel to Pakistan to play a T20 match on 29 October, in Lahore  is deplorable. It was in a location  near Lahore the Sri Lankan cricketers were attacked on 3 March […]