Dilrook Kannangara Mahela is correct. It is the unpalatable truth. Team Sri Lanka did play the best available players. They performed at their actual capability level (albeit 11 runs short on their batting average) and crashed out of the tournament. Based on batting averages, the achievable total in 50 overs is 257 runs. However, within […]

Dilrook Kannangara Dismal performance of Sri Lankan cricketers in Asia Cup 2023 and ICC CW 2023 can be attributed to many things. However, what is most intriguing is the bizarre circumstances they have put themselves in. Getting all out for 50 odd runs in both last encounters with India is a very strange fluke as […]

Dilrook Kannangara Hamas has killed at least 2 Sri Lankans so far. These were not collateral damage of war. Both these incidents involved Hamas deliberately targeting civilians and civilians only. They were in no way connected to the war and were not connected to warring parties either. Hamas must be condemned for their terrorism of […]

Dilrook Kannangara From 1969 to 2016 Tamil Nadu was mainly ruled by firebrand politicians including Karunanidhi, MGR and Jayalalitha. They had a tremendous impact not only on Tamil Nadu politics but by extension Tamil politics in Sri Lanka. Over 90% of Tamils in the world live in India; mostly in Tamil Nadu. Only 5% of […]

Dilrook Kannangara Indian pitches are designed for cheap commercial ventures like IPL. These are unsuitable for international tournaments. CWC 2023 has broken batting records for the sole reason that cricket pitches are for slog-cricket and not for professional cricket. Bowlers can’t get any real support from these slog pitches. Good cricketing pitches balance between support […]

Dilrook Kannangara Sri Lankan people are also parasites to an extent.  Sri Lankans pay Ethiopian level of very low taxes (9% of the economy) but expect a Swedish level of welfare (they pay 32% of the economy as taxes)!

Dilrook Kannangara There is no way India, Pakistan and Bangladesh could have existed as one independent nation. They did the right thing by partitioning it ultimately into 3 nations. Similarly, there is no way Israelis and Palestinians can coexist as one nation. A two-state solution was proposed for Israel and Palestine. Though parties have agreed […]

Dilrook Kannangara IMF facility for Sri Lanka looks more and more like a bigger trap than a solution. Recent Pakistani experience shows there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes to get IMF facilities approved than what is openly discussed. USA as the largest stakeholder of IMF, calls the shots and never misses to […]

Dilrook Kannangara Easter Sunday terrorist attack must be investigated and all involved must be punished. Due to the absence of a credible investigation and justice, various conspiracy theories have emerged. That is natural and the only way to silence them is through justice. The allegation that the Easter Sunday terrorist attack was carried out with […]

Dilrook Kannangara Representative democracy is all about government through elected representatives. This is the only form of democracy in the world. Sadly, the top two elected representatives have been removed from their positions (and many other top vote winners too). The president and the prime minister currently serving have no mandate to rule the country. […]

Dilrook Kannangara A wrong view is circulated by some claiming that China, BRICS or the New Development Bank of BRICS would help Sri Lanka. They don’t and they shouldn’t. For very good reasons. Over 81% of Sri Lanka’s loan creditors are in NATO-QUAD military alliance countries or those countries themselves! NATO includes USA, UK, France, […]

Dilrook Kannangara Modi is a remarkable political success story in the world’s largest democracy. He has not only protected his vulnerable vote base from the threats of terrorism, separatism, poverty, external threats and demographic challenges, India has made unprecedented and even unbelievable progress under Modi’s leadership. His strategic thinking and visionary skills have turned him […]

Dilrook Kannangara 13 Plus has the best chance of passing parliament this time as all parties desperately try to win minority support. However, since all parties support 13 Plus, no party can gain political mileage over others using it. Ranil won most Tamil and Muslim votes whenever he contested for president (1999 and 2005), however, […]

Dilrook Kannangara Anagarika Dharmapala is undoubtedly one of the greatest strategic thinkers; certainly the best ever in his community. His ability to strategize his plans for the optimum impact baffles an inquisitive thinker even today and is at times beyond belief. None of his contemporaries seems to have understood him fully as he was light […]

Dilrook Kannangara It has been 14 years since Sri Lanka promised 13 Plus to the UN (May 29, 2009) but no government since then implemented it as a Constitutional amendment. For good reasons. When the President visited India recently, the Indian PM made it very clear that Sri Lanka must devolve more powers to Tamils. […]

Dilrook Kannangara What is termed as the ethnic problem (started in 1911) was never about problems faced by an ethnic group. It was always about profiting from sympathy and bankrupting the nation and its majority. By holding hostage the majority’s desire for one-nation-in-the-island, shrewd tribal politicians skimmed them to the maximum until the national economy […]

Dilrook Kannangara Provincial Councils are again in the news. These useless, money-guzzling and inefficient white elephants must be put to rest to reduce governance costs, corruption and bring Sri Lanka out of bankruptcy. However, India and Indian minorities want provincial councils to continue so that the island nation will be economically doomed forever. Instead of […]

Dilrook Kannangara Sri Lankan government spend on public health is not the same across the provinces. There is acute discrimination against some provinces. Healthcare cost is measured in per head (per capita) spend so it is a fair and comparable measure. When per head public healthcare cost is compared across the provinces, a terrifying and […]

Dilrook Kannangara The West is in a death spiral. Unable to sustain demographic, military and economic dominance over the rest of the world, the West has resorted to beef up its population with the help of Asians and Africans. A massive push to bring millions of Asians and Africans is underway in many Western nations. […]

Dilrook Kannangara බෞද්ධ සිද්ධස්ථාන පිළිසකර කිරීමට එරෙහිව දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ මන්ත්‍රීවරු සහ අනෙකුත් දෙමළ පුද්ගලයන් කල්ලි ගැසී ඇත. ඔවුන්ගේ ක්‍රියාකාරකම් රටේ නීතියට සහ සංහිඳියාවට පටහැනි වෙතත් ඔවුන්ට විරුද්ධව කිසිම දඬුවමක් ක්‍රියාත්මක නොවීම රටේම කරුමයකි. දෙමළ ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් පවා අත නොතැබූ කුරුන්දි බෞද්ධ විහාරයේ නටබුන් වැනසීමට තැත්කිරීම සාපරාධී වරදකි. මෙම බෞද්ධ විරෝධයට වක්‍රාකාරයෙන් දායක වන පිළිලයකුත් සිටියි. […]

Dilrook Kannangara Sri Lanka’s central government long term debt, excluding the debt of government entities, amounts to $84 billion as of 2023. About half of it is foreign debt and the other is domestic debt. After months of negotiations, foreign debt holders agreed to debt restructure. However, holders of domestic debt are dragging their feet […]

Dilrook Kannangara The Vallipuram Inscription or Vallipuram Gold Plate is an important ancient artifact that busted fake homeland claims of a certain ethnic group found. It was unearthed as part of archeological excavations carried out during the British era. It states that the Sinhala Buddhist temple in the area now known as Vallipuram (Veli Pura […]

Dilrook Kannangara There is a concerted attempt to hand over ancient Buddhist shrines to Tamils today including the Kurundi Vihara. If this unfortunate attempt succeeds the fate of those Buddhist shrines will be as catastrophic as the fate of a number of ancient Buddhist shrines in the Eastern and Northern provinces – they have been […]

Dilrook Kannangara For over 50 years since 1947, USA and India didn’t have many things in common in the defence space. There was a time when USA and India were close to war and Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program was supported by USA. The current iconic Indian PM was once branded a war criminal” by US […]

Dilrook Kannangara What changed?” demands anti-Sinhala and anti-Buddhist elements in Sri Lanka when the ICCPR Act is implemented. They have been used to a life of hate speech against Sinhala and Buddhist interests for the past 200 years. Instead of changing to the new world norm of human rights, they blame the Act and live […]

Dilrook Kannangara There is a wrong view in some sections of Sri Lankans that India will never allow an Independent Tamil Eelam as that would trigger separatism in India. This belief cannot be more wrong. In fact, the opposite is true. Both Bangladesh and West Bengal state of India are mostly habituated by Bengali people. […]

Dilrook Kannangara Last year (2022) saw some unprecedented events in Sri Lanka. For the first time in history, a president and a prime minister were removed and replaced without a vote. Although the parliamentary composition remains same, the direction, policies, events, decision-making, priorities and international standing have changed for the better. While some lament their […]

Dilrook Kannangara Those who allege local and foreign conspiracy in 2022 regime change have a responsibility to their people. If their allegations are true, it is a very serious violation of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty, the Constitution (on many counts), the franchise, fundamental rights of individuals, the Penal Code and many other laws. Internationally, it is […]

Dilrook Kannangara India’s sudden interest in Buddhism seems to be driven by militarization than anything noble. India uses Buddhism as a weapon against China, a bargaining tool against Burma and Bhutan and as an extortion tool against Sri Lanka. All this happens while India’s Buddhists endure acute discrimination, marginalization and deprivation. This has many learnings […]

Dilrook Kannangara Sri Lanka needs anti-terror and anti-subversion laws. Sadly, the seven decades since Independence are dotted with subversion, violence, disruption and terrorism. Current Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) introduced in 1979 has its use but falls short of many security risks the island faces. Parts of it are outdated. Singapore’s Internal Security Act is […]