The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) must undertake an independent review and verification of the statements made by Mohammed Hanzeer alias Azad Maulana concerning the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka on 21 April 2019, which killed 270 people, including 45 foreign nationals and 5 American citizens, and injured more than 500.
Azad Maulana publicly alleged, through Channel 4 in August 2023 and later statements made in Geneva, that Maj-Gen (Retd) Suresh Sallay, former Director of Sri Lanka’s State Intelligence Service, orchestrated and coordinated these attacks.
He has not produced any documentary, digital, or witness evidence to support these allegations, and refuses to testify before domestic Sri Lankan authorities, limiting the verifiability of his claims. His allegations were made public only in 2023 through a foreign media documentary, 4 years after the attacks and after multiple domestic investigative, judicial, and commission processes had already recorded findings.
He specifically claimed that Sallay arranged meetings with the National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ) leadership, including Zahran Hashim, in February 2018, and that Sallay communicated operational instructions to him on the morning of the attacks.
While every person deserves the opportunity to be heard, these allegations appear to materially conflict with the local findings and those contained in the FBI Special Agent Merrilee R. Goodwin affidavit and the U.S. Department of Justice indictment, both of which identified Zahran Hashim and his NTJ/ISIS network as the direct planners and executors of the Easter bombings.
Furthermore, the FBI and DOJ findings are based on direct access to forensic evidence, recovered devices, SIM cards, and witness interviews, whereas Maulana’s claims are largely uncorroborated.
Maulana himself has declared that he is willing to testify only before an international forum, He is currently seeking asylum in Switzerland.
Azad Maulana has already submitted a five-day evidentiary interview before a non-judicial UN evidence-preservation mechanism that lacks prosecutorial authority, this gives even greater justification for the FBI — which possesses actual criminal investigative expertise and forensic jurisdiction linked to the murder of 5 U.S. citizens — to independently test those same claims from Azad Maulana. The FBI is ideally placed to question him and test the credibility of his allegations against the evidence already gathered by U.S. investigators.
1) Timeline Impossibilities
Passport, immigration, and travel records reportedly place Sallay in Malaysia in February 2018 and in New Delhi in April 2019.
The FBI must therefore ask Maulana to provide documentary evidence, travel corroboration, communication metadata, or witness confirmation proving:
that he arranged any meeting in Puttalam in February 2018
that Sallay personally gave him instructions on Easter morning, 21 April 2019
Without such evidence, these claims remain unverified assertions.
2) Contradiction with FBI & DOJ Findings
The FBI affidavit sworn by Special Agent Merrilee R. Goodwin reportedly concluded that Zahran Hashim was the mastermind and operational commander of the Sri Lankan ISIS cell, while the U.S. Department of Justice indictment charged additional NTJ/ISIS associates with providing material support.
The FBI must therefore ask Maulana to produce specific evidence implicating Sallay in planning, directing, financing, facilitating, or executing any operational aspect of the Easter attacks.
If his claims materially contradict the FBI’s own terrorism findings, the discrepancy must be resolved transparently.
3) Witness Credibility Must Be Tested
Maulana was a former TMVP propaganda officer, with no publicly established operational role inside the NTJ network.
The FBI must therefore require him to substantiate:
how he obtained access to NTJ members
why Zahran Hashimwould trust him
what direct links existed between him and Sallay
which portions of his allegations are based on direct personal observation and which are based on statements allegedly made by third parties
whether he possesses messages, call logs, notes, location records, financial trails, or witness support
This is especially important because he has refused to testify before Sri Lankan courts. The FBI should also clarify why these allegations did not surface before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry, CID investigations, or earlier judicial processes if they were genuinely based on direct knowledge.
4) Channel 4 Must Also Be Questioned
Channel 4 aired Maulana’s allegations globally, significantly influencing public perception.
It is publicly known that the broadcaster sought Sallay’s response before airing the documentary and that he rejected the allegations as false.
The FBI should therefore obtain:
all raw interviews
editorial notes
source communications
legal review memos
fact-checking material
corroborative evidence used before publication
timeline verification records
travel-location corroboration
independent witness validation
The key question is simple:
On what evidentiary basis did Channel 4 decide to broadcast allegations of complicity in mass murder after the principal accused party categorically denied them?
5) Victims’ Families Deserve Facts, Not Endless Narratives
The families of the Easter Sunday victims have been subjected to years of competing narratives, political theories, media sensationalism, and bizarre claims.
These must now be buried by facts.
Given that Mohammed Hanzeer alias Azad Maulana is currently in Switzerland, the FBI may lawfully seek his testimony through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty mechanisms and Swiss law-enforcement authorities under its established international terrorism investigative mandate based on what FBI has already investigated regarding Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday attacks.
telecom data
recovered SIM cards
device forensics
ISIS communications
witness interviews
crime-scene evidence
DOJ prosecution materials
Unchecked dissemination of unverified allegations risks:
misattributing responsibility
damaging reputations
distorting the historical record
undermining media credibility
compromising the integrity of international justice discourse
We trust the FBI will take this request seriously and act with the diligence, neutrality, and professionalism that the victims (both local & foreign) deserve.
The families of the Easter Sunday victims, and indeed the people of Sri Lanka as a whole, have for years been forced to endure an endless cycle of competing narratives, political theories, media sensationalism, and bizarre floating claims that resurface annually around the tragedy. These repeated attempts to weaponize the memory of the dead for political ends have only deepened public grief and eroded trust.
Today, the people stand increasingly united in their loss of faith and confidence in all those who continue to use Easter Sunday as an annual instrument for political agendas rather than truth and justice.
It is precisely for this reason that the people now look to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), with its internationally recognized expertise in terrorism investigations, forensic analysis, and evidentiary verification, to finally bring clarity to these unresolved contradictions.
The victims’ families deserve facts.
The nation deserves closure.
And the truth deserves to be separated from narratives that have drifted too far from the evidence.
We trust the FBI will take this request seriously and act with the diligence, neutrality, and professionalism that the victims, their families, and the people of Sri Lanka deserve.
By independently questioning the central witness whose claims have redirected public understanding of the attacks, the FBI has the opportunity to determine whether those claims are supported by admissible evidence or whether they have merely prolonged confusion and distrust.
We are confident that the FBI will provide long-overdue clarity and closure to the victims’ families in Sri Lanka & abroad as well as to the people of Sri Lanka.
Shenali D Waduge
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During the 1990s, particularly under the government of Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (CBK), Sri Lanka moved toward privatization and foreign investment.
The Colombo Gas Company, which handled LPG distribution, was privatized.
Shell plc entered Sri Lanka by acquiring a controlling stake.
This was part of a broader policy shift to bring in foreign expertise, capital, and technology.
It was an unsolicited proposal aligns with how many privatizations and BOI-era investments were structured at the time.
2. Infrastructure Development – Storage & Engineering
The construction of LPG storage was a major technological leap for Sri Lanka.
Key features:
Installation of pressurized spherical LPG tanks (highly specialized engineering structures).
Initial land identified near Bloemendhal / Port Road industrial areas.
Final relocation to Muthurajawela, which was more suitable due to:
Safety buffer zones
Availability of larger land extent
Distance from dense urban settlements
3. Role of
Colombo Dockyard
My own contribution here is significant from an industrial policy perspective.
I ensured local participation by pushing for Colombo Dockyard to construct the tanks.
This had multiple benefits:
Technology transfer
Skill development
Foreign exchange savings
Industrial capability building
Challenges faced:
Sri Lanka lacked coded welders for high-pressure LPG tank fabrication.
Skilled welders were imported, likely under supervision of foreign consultants (as you mentioned, Dutch expertise).
The project resembled a Middle Eastern industrial camp, reflecting:
Strict safety protocols
Temporary worker accommodation
High engineering standards
Spillover Benefits
This project created a multiplier effect:
Dockyard later secured overseas work (e.g., tank construction in Maldives).
Sri Lanka gained exposure to:
Pressure vessel fabrication
International welding standards (ASME, etc.)
Industrial project management
This is a textbook example of learning by doing” industrialization.
5. Transition to Litro Gas Lanka
Later developments took a different turn:
The government restructured the LPG sector.
Shell plc exited Sri Lanka.
Litro Gas Lanka was established as a state-owned entity.
Likely reasons:
Political pressure to regain control of strategic assets
Pricing and subsidy issues
Nationalistic policy shifts
Patronage-based employment (as you pointed out)
6. Strategic Analysis
Following observation highlights a recurring issue in Sri Lanka:
What went right:
Successful FDI attraction
High-quality infrastructure built
Local capacity development (Dockyard)
What went wrong:
Policy inconsistency
Weak long-term investor confidence
Political interference in commercial operation
Big Picture Lesson
This case is similar to missed opportunities in:
Trincomalee oil tank farm
Hambantota industrial investments
The key lesson:
Sri Lanka is good at initiating high-value projects—but struggles with policy continuity and long-term strategic discipline.
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The global economy is increasingly shaped by conflict-driven disruptions—energy shocks, food insecurity, and supply chain fractures. For a small nation like Sri Lanka, survival demands not ideology, but adaptation.
When Lee Kuan Yew took charge of Singapore in 1965, he inherited a poor, divided society. His solution was not abstract theory—it was discipline, housing, jobs, and food security. Sri Lanka today faces a similar inflection point.
1. From Welfare to Productivity: A Social Contract Reset
Sri Lanka must shift from a consumption-driven welfare model to a productivity-linked social contract.
Provide basic housing, food access, and healthcare
In return, require participation in productive sectors:
Agriculture
Fisheries
Manufacturing
This is not authoritarianism—it is structured national discipline.
2. Affordable Living: The Singapore Hawker Model Adapted
Singapore’s early hawker centres ensured cheap, hygienic food for workers.
Sri Lanka can replicate this by:
Creating state-supported food courts in urban and semi-urban areas
Standardizing low-cost meals:
Rice + fish curry + vegetables
Manioc (cassava), sweet potato alternatives
Supporting small vendors with subsidies and regulation
This reduces household costs and increases workforce participation.
3. Food Security Revolution: Eat What We Can Grow
Rice dependency is a strategic weakness.
We must:
Promote alternative staples:
Manioc (cassava)
Sweet potatoes
Kurakkan (finger millet)
Launch a Grow Your Own Food” campaign
Encourage:
Home gardening
Backyard poultry
Small-scale aquaculture
This is how rural India survived poverty—not comfortably, but sustainably.
4. Blue Economy: Sri Lanka’s Untapped Goldmine
As an island, Sri Lanka has a natural advantage.
A national Blue Economy Mission should include:
Coastal fish farming zones
Seaweed cultivation for export (pharmaceuticals, food industry)
Lagoon-based aquaculture (prawns, crabs)
Public-private partnerships for offshore fisheries
This can generate foreign exchange quickly.
5.Chemical & Pharmaceutical Innovation – With Caution
Your idea of converting illegal substances into pharmaceuticals is conceptually similar to how some controlled drugs are used in medicine.
However:
It must strictly follow international law and safety standards
Focus should be on:
Licensed pharmaceutical research
Value-added herbal and marine-based products
Sri Lanka could build a niche in natural medicine exports, not unsafe shortcuts.
6. Decentralized Micro-Production Economy
Instead of relying only on large industries:
Encourage home-based production units
Provide:
Micro-financing
Tools and training
Focus areas:
Food processing
Garments
Fisheries-related products
This spreads income across the population.
7. Governance: Strong State, but benevolent dictatorship
While decisive leadership is essential, history shows that unchecked power often leads to corruption and inefficiency.
Sri Lanka needs:
Efficient, technocratic governance
Clear targets and accountability
Reduced bureaucracy
Digital monitoring of production and subsidies
The goal is not dictatorship—but disciplined democracy.
8. Cultural Shift: Living Within Means
A difficult but necessary transformation:
Reduce dependence on imports
Encourage simple diets and lifestyles
Promote dignity in labor
Economic recovery begins with behavioral change.
Conclusion
Sri Lanka cannot copy Singapore entirely, but it can learn from its pragmatism and discipline.
The future lies in:
Feeding ourselves
Producing more than we consume
Using our natural advantages—especially the sea
Building a society that values work over entitlement
This is not a return to poverty—it is a transition through austerity toward resilience.
Regards
Dr Sarath Obeysekera
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The World Bank Group and the Government of Sri Lanka today (03) launched a new five-year Country Partnership Framework (CPF) to support Sri Lanka’s continued recovery, help achieve its 7% medium-term economic growth target, and support job creation.
We are committed to building on the continued macroeconomic stability, strengthened governance and revenue-based fiscal consolidation that we have already achieved. Our goal is to confidently steer our economy towards strong, sustainable and inclusive growth. We are working towards an economic growth rate of over 7% in the medium term,” said President of Sri Lanka Anura Kumara Dissanayake. The World Bank Group has been with us for more than 7 decades. This partnership will further strengthen that relationship.”
Private sector-led job creation is at the heart of the new partnership. Nearly one million young Sri Lankans are expected to enter the job market over the next decade.
Without stronger growth and greater private investment, the economy will create only around 300,000 new formal jobs — leaving roughly 7 out of every 10 young job seekers without access to a quality job, according to a statement issued by the World Bank Group.
Sri Lanka’s recovery over the past three years has been hard-won and impressive. This new partnership framework is designed to ensure that the benefits reach everyone,” said Johannes Zutt, World Bank Vice President for South Asia. By pairing public resources with private capital and innovation, we aim to help Sri Lanka create quality jobs, including for women, young people, and communities that have been left behind.”
The partnership will mobilize significant resources from the World Bank Group, including more than $1 billion in direct and mobilized investment over five years by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and up to $1 billion in low-interest financing over the next three years from the World Bank.
It will deploy the full range of WBG instruments — financing, guarantees, advisory services, and private capital mobilization, the statement said.
Sri Lanka’s next phase of growth will be driven by a private sector that can compete, innovate, and create jobs for all,” said Sarvesh Suri, IFC Vice President for Asia and the Pacific. With its strategic location and skilled workforce, Sri Lanka is well-placed to expand its role in the region—and we are committed to supporting the private sector as a catalyst for progress.”
The partnership focuses on four key areas:
Making it easier to do business. Simplifying government regulations, modernizing trade processes, and bringing more government services online will make Sri Lanka a more attractive place to do business and invest. These reforms will support Sri Lanka’s ambition to double annual export earnings to $36 billion by 2030.
Stronger infrastructure that benefits everyone. Investments will expand the capacity of the Port of Colombo and attract private operators to help it remain one of Asia’s leading maritime hubs. In the energy sector, a phased program will help Sri Lanka generate 70% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, adding 1 gigawatt of new clean power. This aims to lower electricity bills for households and businesses, which are currently among the highest in South Asia.
More and better jobs in tourism and agriculture. Recognizing that tourism and agriculture are two of Sri Lanka’s greatest assets and offer strong potential to create jobs across the island, the partnership will support Sri Lanka’s Tourism Strategic Plan 2026–2030, as well as connect farmers to new technologies, markets, and financing. The Northern and Eastern Provinces, with remarkable natural and cultural endowments, yet representing less than 10% of the national economy, will receive dedicated investment and advisory support.
Preparing for future shocks. Following Cyclone Ditwah in November 2025, which caused an estimated $4.1 billion in damages and affected 2.2 million people, the partnership will fund stronger early warning systems and resilient infrastructure to help communities recover faster from future crises and with greater support.
Implementation begins immediately. The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has just approved the first major project under this framework: the Regional Empowerment through Vibrant, Inclusive, and Viable Economies (REVIVE) Project — a $100 million investment in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
REVIVE will boost local economic opportunities in key areas like Jaffna, Pasikuda, Trincomalee and Arugam Bay, spanning the tourism and fisheries sectors that are central to the region’s economic revival; provide targeted support to small businesses, with a particular focus on women entrepreneurs; and is expected to create 3,000 new jobs and benefit around 260,000 people by 2031, the statement said.
The World Bank Group has been working alongside Sri Lanka for more than 70 years. Today, it supports 13 active projects worth over $1.5 billion spanning education, health, energy, transport, agriculture, and social protection. The IFC has committed nearly $1.8 billion in both long- and short-term financing to Sri Lanka’s private sector from 2021-2026, it added.
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A total of 30,898 candidates failed all subjects according to the results of the 2025 G.C.E. Advanced Level examination, Commissioner General of Examinations A. K. S. Indika Kumari Liyanage says.
This group includes 19,301 school applicants and 11,597 private applicants.
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Failure of the UN system is a failure of member States to maintain and foster its objectives. Inequality of the powers of member States, and the partiality shown by some States in decision making have contributed to the overall impotence of the system. Erosion of objectivity to uphold the charter approved by Member States appears to be the main cause of this impotence. Decline of the UN system is a manifestation of the impermanence of all things. However, a system vacuum in the world order is not the answer as it could lead to anarchy and greater suffering throughout the world. Perhaps regionalism and collective decision making by regions and regional groupings could be the new Order that should replace the old Order.
With all its blemishes and shortcomings, the World order as one knew it, provided some degree of respect for human lives and the sovereignty of Nations before a new order that is unfolding before the world came into being. At this stage, the new order is dominated by a few over many and the many does not have any power or a voice in how the new order is attempting to determine rules for the rest.
At the end of World War II, the world was desperate to avoid such a conflict in the future and after an unsuccessful attempt to drive multilateral cooperation through the League of Nations after World War I, national leaders came together to create the United Nations (UN). Designed as a forum for international engagement, the UN was founded to defuse international conflicts and to stop aggression from escalating into a full-scale war. Underpinning this new world order was a respect for sovereignty—the principle that no country can interfere in the domestic affairs of another.
For decades, the United Nations maintained that sovereignty must be respected. But after the Rwandan genocide and wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, scholars and diplomats reevaluated this thinking. In 2005, UN members endorsed the responsibility to protect (R2P) doctrine. This idea asserts countries have a fundamental sovereign responsibility to protect their citizens. If they fail to do so, the UN has the responsibility to protect vulnerable people. R2P allows the UN (and its member countries) to violate another country’s sovereignty if needed to protect innocent and engaged people. In other words, countries acting within the UN system can use all means necessary—including military intervention—to prevent large-scale loss of life and violation of their basic rights as humans.
In the context of the ongoing conflict involving Iran, the USA and Isreal, and preceding this, the annihilation of Palestinians in Gaza, it appears that the R2P doctrine has been consigned to history. Activities of parties like Hamas, Hezbollah on the one hand and the Iran Revolutionary Guard on the other have been used as reasons for military intervention by Isreal in Gaza and Lebanon, and by the USA and Isreal in Iran. In either case, there is no indication that the UN has been involved in any effective way within the ambit of the R2P doctrine to defuse the unilateral Military activities of Isreal and the USA and prevent the large-scale loss of lives. Overall, the system has failed as evident from these recent events. While this is not a reflection on individual leaders, it is a reflection on a system that has failed and which has provided avenues for some leaders to act in their country’s self-interest at the expense of the rights of others.
While the United Nations (UN) has a mandate to involve itself in countries with repressive regimes, they are constrained by the influence of superpowers who are members of the UN Security Council with veto powers to prevent any such intervention if they feel such action will be against their self-interest. While the UN Charter is built on the principle of state sovereignty and non-intervention in domestic affairs (Article 2(7)), it is balanced by obligations to uphold international peace, security, and human rights although recent events have not been consistent with this policy (https://main.un.org/securitycouncil/ en/content/purposes-and-principles-un-chapter-i-un-charter#:~:text=E.-,Article%202%20(7)%20%2D%20Non %2 Dintervention%20in%20domestic %20affairs, a%20particular%20situation%20was%20questioned)
The UN’s involvement in such countries is primarily handled through the Security Council, which can authorize actions ranging from diplomatic pressure to military intervention when a regime’s actions pose a “threat to international peace and security,” a definition that has broadened over time to include mass atrocity crimes. Readers are left to ponder whether the UN Security Council took any concrete action, diplomatic or Military, to intervene in the above-mentioned situations.
The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect does so by mobilizing the international community to act in situations where populations are at risk of mass atrocity crimes. The limitations faced are many and the selective, self interest motivated decision making by countries that hold veto powers is one on the key limitations as stated by the Council on Foreign Relations (https://education.cfr.org/learn/timeline/rise-and-fall-responsibility-protect#:~:text=To%20help%20facilitate%20a%20transition,2011%20amid%20Libya’s%20civil%20war.)
While the UN has the legal mandate (via Chapter VII and the R2P norm) to intervene in repressive regimes, the practical execution of this mandate has been limited by the geopolitical interests of the Veto power holding members and the threshold selectively applied to deem a domestic situation a threat to international peace.
When it comes to protection of human rights, and loss of innocent lives in member countries, it is very unlikely that the failed UN system could be resurrected as its flaws are many. The overriding power given to the Security Council with veto power given to some members of the council over the wishes of member countries is one of them. Even if an attempt is made to resurrect the UN system, it is extremely unlikely that the security council itself and its powers will be changed. In this context, a system that distributes this power and responsibility will have to be considered to protect the citizens of the world from human rights abuses and loss of lives.
A regional model is suggested as an option to replace the UN system. In such a model, the global “police” role could shift from a central UN Security Council with individual country membership, to a council with membership of organizations like the African Union (AU), ASEAN, the European Union (EU), the Organization of American States (OAS) and similar regional groupings (current groups and ones that may be formed) focused more on trade and commercial activities rather than security interests, without any individual country membership. As a norm, the responsibility for ensuring basic human rights in any country within a regional grouping are upheld and no lives are lost in defending that basic right, should first and foremost be with the specific regional grouping. In such instances, negotiations and diplomacy should always be the first and main option, but the grouping should have an option to intervene through trade sanctions, and as a last resort, militarily if diplomacy and sanctions fail.
This approach is built on three main pillars:
1. Local Solutions
The core logic is that neighbours understand a conflict’s history, culture, and key players better than a bureaucrat in New York. Regional bodies have a higher stake in stability because refugee flows and economic spillover hit them first.
2. Legitimacy and Peer Pressure
Regimes that ignore UN resolutions often find it harder to ignore their neighbours. It is reported that for example:
ECOWAS (West Africa) has a history of successfully using military intervention and trade blocks to reverse coups in its member states.
The African Union has a “non-indifference” policy, allowing it to intervene in war crimes or genocide, unlike the UN’s stricter “non-interference” rule.
3. Avoiding superpower gridlock
If no country or regional groupings have a veto power, action will be determined by regional consensus rather than global geopolitics.
Some challenges
Resource Gaps: Some regions (like Europe) have the money and military hardware to self-police, while others (like Southeast Asia or parts of Africa) often rely on UN funding to launch missions.
Regional Hegemony: There is a risk that a dominant local power (like Brazil in South America or Nigeria in West Africa) could use the regional body to bully smaller neighbours under the guise of stability in a particular region.
Inconsistency: Human rights might be protected fiercely in one region but ignored in another if the local bloc prioritizes non-interference (as ASEAN often does)
In all these cases, at the core is the wealth and military power of one or more countries within a grouping. It will be almost impossible to overcome such situations in all instances. However, if economic development of all countries within a region for the benefit of each other rather than acquisition of wealth to fund military power and superiority becomes the key focus of each group, there could be a more equitable governance model in each region. No doubt cultural practices in some countries within regions too will have an impact on the cohesiveness of the grouping, but these are matters that each grouping should discuss and arrive at as consensual solutions.
The bigger picture for regional groupings will be the ability to do collective bargaining as smaller nations will have a greater voice when the regional group they belong to acts as a unified bloc whether it’s a trade matter or a human rights impingement. In many instances, they could function outside the dome of superpower rivalry.
The military vs economic development challenge
The biggest hurdle for this model is that superpowers often view these independent regional blocs as a threat to their sphere of influence. They may try to weaken them from the outside through bilateral deals (offering aid or weapons to a single member to break the bloc’s unity). To survive, these regional groups would need their own independent funding and defence capabilities as otherwise, they will remain at the dictates of whoever pays the bills
One way to overcome such situations would be for trade and economic development to underpin the ethos of the regional grouping over military expansion. UNCTAD has stated that as of early 2026, global trade is increasingly fragmenting into regional hubs as nations seek to insulate themselves from superpower rivalry and supply chain shocks.
This market expansion within regions is already showing signs of reducing traditional dependencies and as reported by ESCAP, ASEAN has matured into one of the world’s most resilient trade systems, reaching a value of nearly $4 trillion in 2024. Its trade is now split roughly evenly between intra-regional flows and global linkages and by strengthening internal manufacturing and digital trade, ASEAN has outperformed global growth averages, maintaining its own momentum even when the U.S. or China slows down. As reported by NWU news, the African Union’s African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is being treated as a “strategic imperative” to end the continent’s reliance on narrow export baskets to major powers. In 2026, industries like textiles in East Africa and pharmaceuticals in Southern Africa are using pooled regional demand to achieve the scale needed to compete globally without superpower backing and the AU’s 2026 budget shows a marked increase in self-financing, reflecting a move to reduce donor dependency on international partners. The Institute for Global Dialogue reports that the expansion of BRICS (now including 10 members) has significantly reshaped trade flows with merchandise exports between developing countries reaching $6.8 trillion by 2025 and by establishing their own financial institutions and trade frameworks, BRICS members are aiming to bypass Western-dominated systems like the IMF or World Bank, and as reported by UNCTAD, the European Union has moved towards strategic autonomy, implementing tools like the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) starting in 2026. This allows the EU to set its own standards for trade based on environmental priorities, rather than purely following the industrial lead of the U.S. or China.
At the end of the day, some powers will be more super” than others with their economic and military might. By giving priority for trade and economic development over military spending, regional groupings could replace even the ethos of such superpowers and shift their strategic thinking towards economic development over military superiority. The recent mid-east conflict has shown the more effective power of cheaper weapons like Drones over extremely expensive military hardware. Costly military expansion could well have reached its redundancy and an opportunity now to value improving the lives of people through collective economic development as a far greater investment for all countries. Competing for resource ownership for economic development need not happen if they can be shared amongst all to avoid conflicts with each other. Regional groupings have a far better chance of facilitating this rather than a system like the UN system.
Digital currency that can strengthen regional groupings
A factor that could provide substantial advantages would be technical advances and digitalisation, including the introduction of digital currencies. If a region produces goods the world needs and manages its debt well, its digital currency could become akin to a hard currency because of its utility. It is understood that regions like ASEAN are already using a real-time digital system that swaps currencies instantly. Sound economic governance is the only real backing for a currency rather than say gold reserves. as without it, even a gold-backed currency will eventually see its gold depleting to pay for trade deficits arising from poor economic management. Regions could take the lead in transforming trust in assets (Gold/USD) to an era of trust in architecture (Algorithms/Code).
In this potentially possible new regionalised world, digital rules can offer three things gold cannot:
Programmable Neutrality: An algorithm doesn’t have a national interest. In a regional bloc like ASEAN or the African Union, member states might trust a pre-set digital rulebook for currency issuance more than they trust a dominant neighbour’s central bank.
Instant Settlement: Digital rules allow for simultaneous settlement where the trade and the payment happen at the exact same micro-second, removing the need for a superpower middleman to guarantee the transaction.
Data-Backed Value: Instead of gold, these regional digital currencies can be backed by real-time data on a region’s industrial output, energy reserves, and trade balances. The algorithm adjusts the currency value based on the actual health of a country’s economy and its strength in the regional market, making it a reflection of economic governance.
A new balance of power?
The strength of regionalism could usher a new balance of power over time. Power would be shared rather be concentrated amongst a few. There could be less in-country confrontations as well as between countries, with regions taking greater initiatives to avoid them. Through such initiatives, hopefully, human rights abuses will be lessened and wanton killing of innocent people avoided. The existing system has failed on both counts, and it is time for a new system to replace it. Regionalism could be that new system.
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Consider the chronology given below: count how many warnings, attacks, and radical activities directly linked to Zahran Hashim prior to Easter Sunday 2019? From the repeated intelligence reports, the public preachings, the recruitment of associates, the Sufi attacks, to the growing network of potential operatives — the pattern is unmistakable. If these incidents were visible to the highest offices of government and security, why was decisive action not taken to neutralize the threat? The failure to respond to repeated signals by those seated in top positions raises questions about prioritization, awareness, and accountability. There is no similar case scenario where so many warnings were repeatedly given while those who were sent the warnings were well aware of Zaharan’s extremism but did nothing. Were these non-actions part of a bigger action plan to introduce new anti-terrorist laws that do not necessarily answer to the problems but silence those raising valid concerns? Let us not forget, the 2015 government came after regime change orchestrated by US & India. It is in this backdrop the readers must critically analyze below chronology.
2016–2019: Intelligence Known Before the Attack
Intelligence reports on ISIS radicalization, including Zahran Hashim & network, ran from 20 April 2016 to 30 April 2019, with 97 reports to the IGP and lists in 2017/2019 containing suspects according to the Supreme Court determination.
2012 – Zaharan establishes his own mosque in Kattankudy
2014 — one future bomber investigated by Australian JCTT for ISIS travel links Abdul Latheef had already come onto the radar of Australian counterterror authorities for links to ISIS operative Neil Prakash
2014–2017 — Sustained anti-Sufi hate campaign
Zahran and NTJ spent several years targeting Sufi Muslims in Kattankudy through speeches, pamphlets, monthly publications, and public meetings, repeatedly branding Sufis as non-Muslims and urging social and religious isolation. Sufi leaders later told the PSC that at least 11 police complaints were lodged in 2016–2017, with earlier complaints to the Army in 2015.
2016 – Zaharan Hashim started preaching violent extremism publicly, releasing online videos advocating jihad and violent actions
Zahran uploaded his sermons and extremist messages to Facebook and YouTube.
These videos included calls for violence against non‑believers and rejection of pluralism, and drew followers across Sri Lanka.
Social media was a primary medium for spreading his radical views beyond local mosque audiences.
His online media outlets (sometimes attributed to what was called Al‑Ghuraba media”) helped him build a larger virtual network of supporters and transmit his views to people who never met him in person.
20 April 2016–April 2019 — Early Warnings & Intelligence on Zaharan Hashim
The State Intelligence Service (SIS) sent at least 97 intelligence reports to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) warning about ISIS‑inspired radicalisation and activities linked to National Thowheed Jama’ath (NTJ) and its leader Zahran Hashim — including lists of suspects — according to affidavits presented in court.
20 Jul 2016:
Sisira Mendis → Secretary Defence, concept paper on countering ISIS threat
12 Sep 2016 / 17 Feb 2017 / 2 Mar 2017
documented extremist speeches
At public meetings in Kattankudy, Zahran allegedly declared that all non-Muslims in Sri Lanka should be killed, while continuing anti-Sufi incitement.
These speeches were later submitted on CD to senior state offices as advance warnings
18 November 2016
Then Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told Parliament that around 32 Sri Lankans from four wealthy families had joined ISIS in Syria, highlighting the presence of foreign fighter networks and suggesting radicalisation beyond local actors.
Muslim Parliamentary MPs, including AHM Azwer, objected in Parliament to Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe’s claim that 32 Sri Lankans from four families had joined ISIS,. The Muslim Council of Sri Lanka (MCSL) issued a strong statement rejecting the claim as misplaced and urging that peaceful Muslims not be conflated with extremists, calling for factual investigation and action against any lawbreakers irrespective of religion.
10 March 2017
Armed attack on Sufi gathering, Kattankudy
Zahran’s followers attacked a Sufi religious event with swords, knives and metal rods, injuring participants. Several NTJ members including his father and brother were arrested, while Zahran went into hiding soon after. This incident is one of the clearest early transitions from hate speech to organised violence.
March 2017:
1st arrest warrant was reportedly issued against Zaharan Hashim based on earlier police intelligence.
SIS maintained detailed lists of radicalised individuals, including 94 names by October 2017 and 129 names by January 2019, continuously tracking Zahran Hashim and his associates.
Sufi leaders sent CDs and written complaints to the President’s Office, Prime Minister’s Office, Justice Ministry, Law & Order Ministry, State Defence Ministry, IGP, AG’s Department and TID, warning that a disaster would follow if Zahran was not stopped.
7 June 2017: (TID/AGs Dept)
TID opens file on Zaharan and sends it to AG’s dept for necessary legal advice/actions.
Azard Navavi (Deputy Solicitor General) testified before the PCoI that the TID file on Zahran Hashim was received by him on 7 June 2017 and that he assigned it to State Counsel Malik Aziz to handle because video clips were in Tamil.
Navavi admits the file was ignored until 3 weeks AFTER the attacks when TID reminded them about the file.
Malik Aziz testified that the file was sent in 2017 & updated in 2018 but it did not include 2 arrest warrants or statements from Zaharans family until March 2019. He claims the file did not have a strong legal case.
NOTE: TID file to AG’s Dept ignored until after attacks with exact delay (Azard Navavi → Malik Aziz, file received 7 Jun 2017, acted only 3 weeks after 21 Apr 2019)
Jayantha Jayasuriya was AG till 29 April (during Easter attacks) Dappula de Livera was AG from 29 April to May 2021.
9September2017: Shani Abeysekara was appointed Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) — Sri Lanka’s main investigative arm — and held that post through to 21November2019.
31 Oct 2017:
SIS sends list of 94 radicalised individuals to IGP (includes Zahran, Rilwan, Milhan, Jameel)
Nov 2017:
Further ISIS threat report Sisira → IGP
Early April 2019 — Panadura operational meeting
Zahran reportedly met more than a dozen operatives in Panadura where the final attack plan was discussed and targets confirmed.
Noteworthy is that the Channel 4 star witness Asad Maulana was also living in Panadura while after marriage he lived in Ebenezer Place, Dehiwela where Jameel the Taj/Tropical Inn suicide bomber came to a mosque before blowing off his suicide vest.
By 2017–2019, Zahran had expanded his influence beyond a single mosque in Kattankudy:
He lectured in locations across eastern and western Sri Lanka even in Nuwara Eliya to attract young people to his views.
Community reporting notes he spoke at NTJ‑affiliated gatherings and mosque rallies — including a mosque set up in a private house used by local NTJ coordinators (e.g., in Kuliyapitiya and Hettipola).
2 July 2018
TID files B report at Colombo Magistrates Court against Zaharan Hashim
August 2018
arrest issued against Zaharan Hashim.
September 2018
TID investigation disrupted when TID Head Nalaka de Silva removed.
1 Nov 2018 → 25 Apr 2019:
Around 11 reports sent to Hemasiri Fernando (Secretary Defence) via SIS/intelligence chain
December 2018
Buddha Statues vandalized in Mawanella by Zaharan’s gang (2 brothers)
Early 2019 — Zahran Hashim actively associated with and recruited the Ibrahim brothers (Ilham & Inshaf), convincing them across months via personal contact and private online forums to join his extremist network.
14 January 2019
1st NSC meeting chaired by President Sirisena
18 January 2019
100 kg explosives in Wanathawilluwa near Wilpattu
31 Jan 2019:
Second SIS list of 129 radicalised persons
19 February 2019
2nd NSC meeting chaired by President Sirisena.
19 Mar 2019:
Weekly ICM agenda explicitly mentions Zahran, NTJ
4April2019:
Indian intelligence shared specific warnings about planned attacks targeting churches and hotels with Sri Lankan authorities.
Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) later found that this intelligence was not shared promptly with operational units, delaying preventive action despite the clear threat.
5 Apr 2019:
Confirmed in writing twice (09:00 and 12:15)
6 Apr 2019: Initial briefing; further verification sought by Nilantha J
7 Apr 2019: Escalation by Nilantha J to Sisira Mendis (CNI) → 3-day delay
8 Apr 2019:
Sisira Mendis forwards foreign warning to Hemasiri Fernando and IGP (formal awareness established)
9 Apr 2019:
ICM – Chaired by Hemasiri Fernando, attended by SIS, CNI, IGP, tri-forces, intelligence heads
(perfect opportunity to discuss threat but Hemasiri: did not take any initiative to open discussion” / Sisira: failed in coordinating intelligence.
16April2019:
A motorcycle carrying explosives detonated accidentally in Kattankudy — a clear signal of imminent violence.
SIS submitted additional detailed intelligence reports on 18, 19, and 20 April 2019 regarding Zahran Hashim and his network; these reports were inadequately acted upon prior to the attacks.
No ICM or NSC convened.
20 April 2019–SIS informs→ SDIG/CID Ravi Seneviratne, copy to IGP (no action taken)
20 Apr 2019:
SIS → Hemasiri Fernando
16:53 → attack imminent, 8 targets
18:23 → Hemasiri well received”
21:10 → Discussed with IGP”
21April2019 —Easter Sunday Attacks
Coordinated suicide bombings occurred across Sri Lanka — killing nearly 270 people and injuring hundreds.
The nine suicide bombers were part of a coordinated NTJ/JMI operational cell led by Zahran Hashim. Identified members included Ilham and Inshaf Ibrahim (hotel attacks), Naufer Maulana (St. Sebastian’s, Katuwapitiya), Mohamed Nasser Asad, Mohamed Azzam Mubarak Mohamed, Abdul Latheef, and other associates, linking them directly to the extremist operational network surrounding Zahran.
Dematagoda housing complex suicide blast
When police entered the home of the 2 suicide bomber brothers one of the wife blew off her suicide vest killing herself, 2 children and the baby in womb alongside 3 policemen.
21 Apr 2019: IGP appended endorsements of previously received warnings only on 21 Apr; called for report by 5 May
Supreme Court called this action by the IGP nothing is more lackadaisical than this approach”
22 April 2019 — President Sirisena appointed the Malalgoda Committee to investigate the Easter attacks; final report submitted on 10 June 2019.
23 April 2019 – ISIS‑linked media released footage of Zahran and other attackers pledging allegiance to ISIS, illustrating ideological and operational alignment beyond Sri Lanka’s borders.
26 April 2019 — Sainthamaruthu Safe House Raid
Sri Lankan security forces raided an NTJ hideout in Sainthamaruthu (Ampara District) . During the raid, three detonated suicide devices, killing themselves along with multiple family members including women and children (15 DEAD)
Rilwan Hashim Suicide Detonation – brother of Zahran Hashim, detonated a suicide device at the Sainthamaruthu safe house, killing several family members.
Sarah Jasmine (Pulasthini Mahendran) wife of Easter Sunday bomber Atchchi Muhammadu Hasthun (St. Sebastian’s Katuwapitiya), died in the Sainthamaruthu safe house explosion.
Zahran’s father (Mohamed Hashim), his two brothers (Rilwan and Zainee Hashim), his mother (Abdul Sakar Siththi Umma), his eldest son (Mohamed Zahran Wasim), and his pregnant sister (Mohamed Cassim Hidiya).
Zahran’s wife (Abdul Qader Fathima Hadiya) and daughter (Mohamed Zahran Rusaina) survived with injuries.
This shows that Zahran’s immediate and extended family were directly part of the Easter Sunday attacks — reinforcing that he was more than an ideologue, but a leader whose network included close family members involved in the same militant activities and sheltering together when confronted by security forces (note they moved from Kattankudy to Sainamaruthu after discovering their photos appearing on tv)
26 April 2019
Sammanthurai logistics cache discovered
Security forces recovered over 150 gelignite sticks, ISIS flags, uniforms, a drone, detonator materials, and a laptop from another linked property
27 April 2019
Government formally bans NTJ, JMI and related extremist entities
May 2019 — AG directs CID to investigate former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and IGP Pujith Jayasundara for failures to act on intelligence.
2 May 2019 —
Mathaniya Mohammed Hashim, a sister of NTJ leader Zahran Hashim, was *arrested by police with Rs 20 lakhs seized from her residence in New Kathankudy,
22 May 2019 — Parliamentary Select Committee appointed to probe intelligence/security lapses related to Easter attacks.
22 September 2019 — Presidential Commission of Inquiry (Janak de Silva) appointed to probe the attacks.
23 October 2019 — PSC presented its final report to Parliament.
21November2019:
Shani was transferred out of the CID and reassigned as Personal Assistant to the Deputy IGP (Galle Range)
27 November 2019
AG recommends disciplinary action against Azard Navavi and Malik Aziz to the Public Service Commission for failure to provide formal legal advice to TID on Zaharan. PCoI did not permit publication of the PSCs decision. There is no public record they were punished or dismissed
11 December 2020 — FBI affidavit formally identifies Zahran Hashim as the mastermind of the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, based on extensive investigation including forensic evidence, communications, and witness accounts
December 2019 / 7January2020:
Shani Abeysekera interdicted (suspended) from the police service by the National Police Commission citing leaked phone conversation with former Minister Ranjan Ramanayake as the reason.
Subsequent Parliamentary and Supreme Court scrutiny documented intelligence lapses, delayed responses, and failures to act on prior SIS reports, highlighting gaps in the handling of Zahran Hashim’s threat network.
Shani Abeysekera files 4 FRs
20 Dec 2019 – challenging removal/transfer from position as Director CID
15 July 2020 – challenging National Police Commission interdiction & seeking reinstatement (this petition was withdrawn by him on 30 July 2020)
21 February 2022 – file to prevent arrest/detention based on B report filed in Kuliyapitiya Magistrates court (B report No 1411/2022) sought immediate release and compensation if detained.
8 October 2025 – SC grants leave to proceed alongside petitions by Sudath Mendia & H D M Premathilaka (former CID officers) challenging their arrest by CCD in 2020 claiming arrests were politically motivated.
8 January 2021 — U.S. Department of Justice publicly announces terrorism charges against three Sri Lankans for conspiring to provide material support to ISIS linked to the Easter Sunday attacks; the underlying criminal complaint was filed on 11 December 2020.
1 February 2021 — Final report of the Presidential Commission submitted to the President.
24 April 2021 –
Rishad Bathiudeen and brother arrested by CID under the PTA over alleged links to the Easter Sunday attackers.
Muslim MPs resign following arrest.
12 January 2023:
Supreme Court FR determination on Easter Sunday attacks by multiple petitioners. The Court found the following guilty of lapses and ordered to pay compensation – former President Sirisena, former IGP Pujith Jayasundera, former CNI Sisira Mendis, former Defense Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and former SIS Head Nilantha Jayawardena.
Whether the earlier sectarian attacks were carried out by others or by Zahran personally is secondary. The continued pattern across the world is what needs to be analyzed. It is the same violent themes, same targets and same extremist ideology that begins with hate speech, includes sectarian intimidation and then elevates to organized terror attacks which includes suicide terrorism as martyrdom
The chronology therefore shows that the principal driver was not a single individual alone, but an evolving extremist doctrine capable of being preached by one actor, adopted by another, and operationalized by future recruits into mass-casualty violence.
This shows that the real mastermind” is the ideology and indoctrination system itself: the path from hate to violence and suicide attacks will repeat unless stopped early. If individuals can be indoctrinated to kill, the source that indoctrinates them must be stopped first.
If not, multiple individuals may emerge as successive operational masterminds following the same ideological cause. Unless the root of the ecosystem network is identified there will be more masterminds.
The persistent public fixation on identifying a single mastermind, obscures and obstructs the more important security reality: identifying extremist ecosystems capable of repeatedly generating new leaders, planners, facilitators, and attackers.
Focusing solely on a single ‘mahamolakaru’ actually obscures the real danger and obstructs efforts to identify and disrupt the underlying extremist ecosystem that breeds potential killers.
Shenali D Waduge
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Ever since slavery was abolished in the Caribbean in the 1830s and in the broader Americas in the 1860s and 1880s, the victims of slavery and their progeny have been struggling for justice to repair the damages wrought by this most horrific of crimes against humanity.
This struggle has ebbed and flowed over the decades of the 19 th and 20 th centuries but has always been consistent in the demands for restitution and recompense for the crimes of chattel slavery in the Western Hemisphere. Reparations has been part and parcel of other liberation movements over the years i.e. the anti-colonial, anti-imperialist, Pan-Africanist, civil rights and human rights movements in the Caribbean, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean especially during the decades from the 1930s through the 1990s.
The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA) , a mass-based coalition organized for the sole purpose of obtaining reparations for African descendants in the United States was launched in September, 1987.
N’COBRA defines reparations as a process of repairing, healing and restoring a people injured because of their group identity and in violation of their fundamental human rights by governments or corporations. Those groups that have been injured have the right to obtain from the government or corporation responsible for the injuries that they need to repair and heal themselves. In addition to being a demand for justice, they argue that reparations is a principle of international human rights law.
In January 1989, US Congressman John Conyers of Detroit, the dean of the Congressional Black Caucus and the longest-serving member of the entire US Congress, introduced H.R. 40, a bill that calls for the establishment of a Commission to study the need for reparations for the descendants of slaves in the USA. And, every year since 1989, Cong. Conyers has re-introduced his H.R. 40 bill in Congress.
This landmark piece of legislation represented a crucial milestone in the long struggle for reparatory justice in America.
In 2001 at the UN’s World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, the demands for reparations featured prominently in the discussions and debates at this global forum.
Since the launch of the CARICOM Reparations Commission (CRC) in July, 2013, the global movement for reparatory justice has been re-energised and over the past three years the CRC has inspired the formation of the National African American Reparations Commission, the European Reparations Commission and similar formations in Canada and Great Britain.
In April, 2015, hundreds of reparations advocates from some 22 countries, including representatives from the CARICOM Reparations Commission, assembled in New York City for an International Reparations Conference organized by the US-based Institute of the Black World 21 st Century.
Since then, conversations and debates about reparations and reparatory justice have intensified across the world. Scholars and journalists in the USA, Europe and the Caribbean are now publishing more books and essays on these subjects than ever before.
Recent public opinion polls in the USA have indicated a substantial increase in the percentages of African Americans and young white Americans who now support the call for reparations.
The State Legislature of Illinois recently passed a unanimous resolution calling on US President Barack Obama to use his executive authority to commission a study to detail the economic impact” of enslavement and the failure of the nation to create a system that guaranteed equality to newly freed African descendants upon emancipation. In addition, the study would look at how others who received reparations in America have benefited from them and offer reparation proposals that address the legacy of enslavement among current African descendants in the areas of education, employment, housing, health care and justice.”
And, in the wake of the national conventions of both the Republican and Democratic Parties in the USA, a broad coalition associated with the Black Lives Matter movement released a platform of its own, demanding reparations and an end to the wars against Black people.” The list of demands from the Movement for Black Lives platform also includes the abolition of the death penalty, legislation to recognize the impacts of slavery, as well as investments in education initiatives, mental health services and employment programs.
The Reparations idea is resonating beyond the boundaries of the Caribbean and the United States. In early 2016, the prime minister of India said his country needs to seriously examine a claim for reparations for the suffering inflicted on the people of India from decades of British colonial rule prior to independence. The indigenous peoples of Australia and New Zealand are also voicing reparations demands, as are the large communities of African descent in Brazil and Colombia in Latin America.
By all objective indications, the global movement for reparations has turned a corner and will continue to strengthen and expand in the years ahead. And, the Chairman of the CARICOM Reparations Commission Prof. Sir Hilary Beckles has predicted that the movement for reparatory justice will become the greatest political and historical justice movement of the 21 st Century.
……………………………..
10 Point Reparation Plan
1. Full Formal Apology
2. Indigenous Peoples Development Program
3. Funding For Repatriation To Africa
4. The Establishment of Cultural Institutions And The Return Of Cultural Heritage
5. Assistance in Remedying the Public Health Crisis
6. Education Programmes
7. The Enhancement of Historical and Cultural Knowledge Exchanges
8. Psychological Rehabilitation as a Result of the Transmission of Trauma
9. The Right to Development through the Use of Technology
Attorney-at-Law Senaka Weeraratna has called for the sharing of revenue earned by Western colonial countries from exhibiting stolen artifacts with former colonies, particularly within the context of the 2023 repatriation of stolen artifacts from the Netherlands to Sri Lanka
.
Key Details of the Call and Context:
Context: The call was made in relation to the return of six colonial-era artifacts stolen from Sri Lanka (including Lewke’s cannon, a Golden Kasthane, a Silver Kasthane, a Sinhalese Knife, and two guns) which were returned by the Netherlands in December 2023.
The Demand: Weeraratna argued that Western countries, specifically in Europe, have benefited financially by exhibiting looted items (such as the “Cannon of Kandy”) in museums for over 200 years.
Revenue Sharing Principle: He stated that sharing profits with the victims of Western Colonialism is a “universal principle” and called on the Government of Sri Lanka to actively pursue this matter, advocating for the return of revenue generated from exhibiting stolen goods.
Justification: He linked this demand to the need for compensation for damages during the Dutch occupation of Ceylon (1658–1796), noting that the Netherlands must pay for looting treasures, including those taken from the Temple of the Tooth (Dalada Maligawa).
The Sri Lankan Archives (National Museum of Colombo) became the venue for the handover of these stolen items in December 2023.
Senaka Weeraratna proposed that Western colonial countries should share the revenue earned from exhibiting stolen artifacts with their former colonies.
He argued that this principle of sharing profits should apply to revenue collected over centuries from displaying looted items, such as those taken from Sri Lanka, Africa, and Asia. Weeraratna specifically referenced the “Unjust Enrichment” principle of Roman-Dutch Law to support his call for financial compensation, noting that Sri Lanka is a financially struggling nation that has received “not one cent” from the long-term exhibition of its treasures in Dutch museums.
Context of the Meeting
The proposal was made during events welcoming a Dutch delegation for the repatriation of six significant artifacts:
Ornate Cannon of Kandy (Lewke’s Cannon): A bronze, silver, and gold ceremonial weapon inlaid with rubies, looted by the Dutch Governor Baron van Ecyk in 1765.
Other Repatriated Items: A Golden Royal Kasthane (sabre), a Silver Royal Kasthane, a Sinhalese Knife, and two Wall Guns (Maha Thuwakku).
The Dutch delegation was led by
Dewi van de Weerd
the Dutch Ambassador for International Cultural Cooperation, and the formal handover took place at the
Das Buddhistische Haus in Berlin – Frohnau ( The Entrance)
Photo taken in the Garden of the Berlin Vihara with 40 monks attending the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Das Buddhistische Haus
(1924- 2024) on August 3-4, 2024. Mr. Tissa Weeraratna, nephew of Asoka Weeraratna (founder of the German Dharmaduta Society), and current Manager of the Temple is seen seated in front of the monks.
Asoka Weeraratna
Dr. Paul Dahlke
Photo – Senaka Weeraratna, Hony. Secretary, German Dharmaduta Society, (which is a Regional Center of the World Fellowship
of Buddhists) (WFB) on the premises of the Vajiravudh College, Bangkok, Thailand at an event organized by the WFB IN 2012
The celebrations of the100th Anniversary of the Das Buddhistische Haus (Berlin Vihara)
concluded with an International Buddhist Conference held on August 04, 2024 at the Zehlendorf Community Hall, Berlin.
The Conference discussed Buddhism’s role in Peace, history of Das Buddhistische Haus, and relevance of Buddhist teachings today. Picture shows in the front row, Ms. Varuni Mutukumarana ( Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Germany), Mr. Nadahavathna Krishnamara ( Ambassador of Thailand) and his wife, Tissa Weeraratna, among a large section of high level dignitaries including Buddhist monks and Nuns.
A First Day Cover and a Commemorative Postage Stamp (Rs. 25 stamp) issued by the Postal Department was presented to the Prime Minister Hon. Dinesh Gunawardena (Chief Guest) at Temple Trees on August 03, 2024.
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War economies don’t just enrich weapons manufacturers. A whole ecosystem benefits: logistics, reconstruction, energy, finance—and yes, pharmaceutical and
1. Do drug companies profit from war?
Yes—but indirectly, not in the same obvious way as arms companies.
They benefit from:
Treatment of wounded soldiers and civilians
Increased demand for:
antibiotics
painkillers
trauma care drugs
vaccines (especially in conflict zones)
Post-war:
rehabilitation drugs
mental health treatments (PTSD, depression)
disease outbreaks in unstable regions
However:
Governments and NGOs often control pricing in war zones
So profits are less direct and less dramatic than weapons sales
2. Biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world
Here are the global giants (2025–2026): 🇺🇸 United States (dominant player)
Johnson & Johnson
Pfizer
Merck & Co.
AbbVie
Eli Lilly and Company
Bristol Myers Squibb
👉 The US dominates due to:
strong patents
high drug prices
massive R&D investment
🇨🇭 Switzerland (very powerful for its size)
Roche
Novartis
Switzerland punches above its weight in biotech innovation.
🇬🇧 / 🇸🇪 United Kingdom & Europe
AstraZeneca
GSK
🇩🇪 Germany
Bayer
🇫🇷 France
Sanofi
🇩🇰 Denmark
Novo Nordisk
🇯🇵 Japan
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company
These companies generate tens of billions annually, with leaders like Merck and Pfizer each making over $50–60 billion in drug sales
3. Which countries dominate pharma?
Top countries by influence:
🇺🇸 United States – largest and most powerful
🇨🇭 Switzerland – innovation hub
🇬🇧 UK – major R&D and vaccines
🇩🇪 Germany – strong industrial pharma base
🇫🇷 France – large European player
🇯🇵 Japan – advanced research
4. Hidden giant: India
Even though not top by revenue,”:
India produces a huge share of the world’s generic drugs
Supplies affordable medicines globally (including war zones
Western companies = high-profit patented drugs
India = mass production, low-cost supply
5. Who REALLY makes money from war (beyond pharma)
1. Energy companies
Oil & gas prices surge in conflicts
2. Construction & engineering firms
Post-war rebuilding (billions in contracts)
3. Logistics & shipping companies
Military supply chains
4. Private security contractors
Mercenaries, protection services
5. Finance & insurance
War-risk insurance, reconstruction funding
6. Tech & surveillance companies
Drones, AI, cyber warfare tools
Sri Lanka should get ready to be fit from the war
Fast track training of vocational training to train shilled workers to work in redevelopment
Jou with heavy construction engineering firms with construction equipment to deploy I was zoned
Export doctors and health care walkers to postwar zones
Colombo, April 1 (Daily Mirror) – Those who pasted posters calling for the execution of late President J. R. Jayewardene in the 1980s have failed to change the policies of Mr. Jayewardene though they have remained in power for more than a year, a senior media personality said.
Regional Advisor (Asia) International Media Support Dr. Ranga Kalansooriya who was speaking at a launch of the book. The J.R. I Disliked” penned by former Minister Imthiaz Bakeer Markar said those in power in Sri Lanka have failed to bring a system change as per the pledge they have made in their electoral manifesto.
I requested information from AI on late President Jayewardene. I was told he had a strategic political vision. We have not been able to move out of his vision to this date. Mr. Bakeer Markar once said that those who criticized Jayewardene have not been able to change the constitution and it has become a twist of fate. Those who pasted posters calling for JR’s death have been in power for more than a year and they have not been able change it. His economic policy has not changed. There were at least five to compete as Mr. Jayewardene’s successors. Today there are no potential successors for political leadership.
Political figure Rehan Jayawickrama who also spoke stressed the need for giving space for the young Young should be nurtured to become leaders,” he said.
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Oceanic Pivot: As Diego Garcia becomes a frontline target, Washington turns its gaze toward Colombo’s strategic neutrality
Iran’s apparent use of intermediate-range ballistic missiles in the attack has startled the West, showing a reach far longer than the medium-range capabilities previously assumed.”
The shifting tides of the Indian Ocean have placed Sri Lanka at the heart of a high-stakes geopolitical gambit. As Iran’s intermediate-range ballistic missiles successfully challenge the perceived invulnerability of the UK-US base at Diego Garcia, the Pentagon faces a crisis of geography and diplomacy. With British Prime Minister Keir Starmer wavering under the shadow of Operation Epic Fury,” the strategic necessity for an alternative regional foothold has never been more acute. Recent rebuffed requests for US fighter jets to land at Mattala Airport underscore a tightening knot: Washington is no longer just observing Sri Lanka—it is eyeing it as a vital insurance policy against a fractured Chagos lease and an increasingly long-reaching Tehran.
Iran’s targeting of the UK-US military base on Diego Garcia island becomes the second incursion into the Indian Ocean since the US-Israel war on Iran began – the first being the sinking of the Iranian ship IRIS Dena by a US submarine off the coast of Sri Lanka, on March 4. Iran’s apparent use of intermediate-range ballistic missiles in the attack has startled the West as it showed Iran has missiles with a far longer reach than the medium-range missiles it was thought to have. With the UK wavering over permission for the use Diego Garcia, is the US eyeing Sri Lanka – another strategically located island in the Indian Ocean – as a potential alternative foothold in the region? US interest in Sri Lanka on account of its strategic location is nothing new, but recent events have brought the issue sharply into focus.
Diego Garcia, the largest island in the British colonial territory of Chagos Archipelago – has housed a massive joint UK-US military base since the 1960s. Iran fired two ballistic missiles targeting the base following a re-set of UK’s position regarding the use of its bases in the war. The UK said yesterday the bases could be used for strikes on Iranian sites targeting the Strait of Hormuz,” the BBC reported, on March 21. UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer had adopted different positions on the matter twice already. When the US-Israel attacks on Iran first started Feb. 28, he had opposed the use of UK’s military bases, making a statement in parliament on UK’s decision ‘not to get involved in international strikes.’ But the very next day (March 01), the BBC’s live blog reported him saying that permission had now been given for defensive” strikes on Iranian missile sites from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.” The position finally adopted on March 20, allowing strikes on Iranian sites targeting the Strait of Hormuz, signaled UK’s participation in ‘Operation Epic Fury,’ and seemed to set the stage for Iran’s attempted missile strike on the base.
Before Mauritius gained independence in 1968, the Chagos Islands had been separated from it by Britain. The move was held to be illegal in a 2019 ruling by the International Court of Justice in the Hague, that recommended their return. In May last year, Prime Minister Starmer had signed an agreement whereby sovereignty over Chagos Islands was to be returned to Mauritius, with Diego Garcia to be immediately leased back to the UK for 99 years. The deal was about to be made into law, when US President Donald Trump urged the UK not to proceed with it. According to available information, it appears the bill is stalled.
Self-fulfilling prophecy?
Trump had conveyed his displeasure with the UK a full month earlier, in a post on truthsocial.com Feb. 19, ending in capital letters ‘DO NOT GIVE AWAY DIEGO GARCIA!’ At the time, he said: Should Iran decide not to make a Deal, it may be necessary for the United States to use Diego Garcia, and the Airfield located in Fairford, in order to eradicate a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous Regime — An attack that would potentially be made on the United Kingdom, as well as other friendly Countries.”
Could Trump’s prophecy become self-fulfilling?
With Britain giving permission for the use of Diego Garcia to strike Iranian targets, Iran’s foreign minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi posted on ‘X’, saying:
Vast majority of the British People do not want any part in the Israel-US war of choice on Iran. Ignoring his own People, Mr Starmer is putting British lives in danger by allowing UK bases to be used for aggression against Iran. Iran will exercise its right to self defense. (12.37am – 21 March 2026)
When Araghchi warned that Iran will exercise its right to self defense,” what he was saying was, if a UK base is used to target Iran, Iran will hit back at the UK. The trajectory of the war has made it clear that when Iran makes a warning, the threatened action is carried out, unlike some of Trump’s bombastic threats.
Days after the US-Israel strikes started, Trump complained, at a joint White House press briefing with German Chancellor Frederik Merz, that he was ‘not happy with the UK’ which, at that point in time, had not lifted the veto on striking Iranian sites. They didn’t allow us to use that island that you read about,” he said, without naming it. The lease – for whatever reason he made a lease of the island – somebody came and took it away from him – and it’s taken three-four days for us to find out where we can land.. It would’ve been much more convenient landing there, instead of flying many extra hours, so we’re very surprised,” he said, adding the much-reported line This is not Winston Churchill we’re dealing with.”
US envoy visits
So it’s clear, Diego Garcia had been part of Trump’s war plan from the start, to carry out bombing raids on Iran. The base had earlier been used by the US to launch long range missile attacks against Iraq and Afghanistan. The missiles fired by Iran – neither of which reached their target – are believed to have been intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) which are said to have a range between 3000 and 5500 km. One was reported to have failed in midflight, while an interceptor had been fired at the other from a US warship. Whether the interception fully succeeded remains unconfirmed” according to the Indian Express. Be that as it may, the targeting of Diego Garcia, 4000km away, has caused concern among Iran’s attackers.
Is it a coincidence that Commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Admiral Stephen Koehler visited Sri Lanka from 19 – 21 February? The US embassy issued a press release the same day, saying the visit was to highlight the strategic importance the United States places on Sri Lanka’s role at the crossroads of global maritime routes and underscores our shared long-term commitment to a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific.” (emphasis added) President Anura Kumara Dissanayake did not meet the USPACOM chief, who only met military officials.
From 19-24 March US Special Envoy (the US ambassador to India) Sergio Gor was in Colombo, and did meet President Dissanayake. But apart from an ‘X’ post by the president, with a formal ‘handshake photo,’ there was little other publicity regarding this visit on the Sri Lankan side.
Request to use Mattala Airport
The emphasis in the US press releases on ‘sea lanes’ and ‘maritime routes’ is of interest, given the backdrop of conflict in the Gulf. It’s also notable that these visits were arranged when attacks on Iran and counter attacks in the Gulf had peaked. (Israel hit Iran’s South Pars – part of the world’s largest natural gas field – and Tehran retaliated with strikes on Ras Laffan LNG complex in Qatar and other energy targets in the Gulf, during this period.)
President Dissanayake made a revelation in parliament on March 20, when he said that on Feb. 26 – the same day that the government received a request from three Iranian ships to make goodwill visits on March 9th and 13th – there was a request also from the US for two fighter aircraft, that he said were near Djibouti, to be allowed to land at Sri Lanka’s Mattala International Airport. Even at that time there were signs of imminent war. We took the position of protecting our country’s neutrality (‘madyastha bhavaya’). We turned down both requests” he said.
The US has already made an unwelcome military incursion in the Indian Ocean, to sink a ship thousands of kilometres away from the Gulf, in international waters just 19 nautical miles from Sri Lanka, within its E.E.Z.
Any use of Diego Garcia to launch attacks against Iran will be responded to in a way that will extend the geography of the war with unpredictable consequences. A strike from a UK base will drag Europe into a conflict that has already spun out of control.
Diego Garcia
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Russian Deputy Energy Minster’s visits will provide positive results
Russia mostly transact in national currencies instead of US dollar: if there is a will, there is a way
Russia’s natural resources are not also unlimited,
There is quite a line of countries who want to have access to our crude oil and energy
Ready to start talks on nuclear power if requested
International dynamics keep changing in the present climax. The countries’ roles fast evolve. Sri Lanka is making fresh approaches in its engagements, particularly for energy security. Against the backdrop, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko is visiting Sri Lanka for a five-day diplomatic trip. The Deputy Minister participated in a discussion organized by Pathfinder Foundation in Colombo and took questions from participants who represented the media and the think tanks. He said the situation is quite serious and unpredictable. He said the role of the global south is obviously increasing, and countries like China, India, some entities like ASEAN countries, play a much stronger role economically, politically, and in the security area, which would not let the United States or its allies to do whatever they want. Russia in this changing world positions itself as one of the key elements of the new world order. He said, Russia in this changing world positions itself as one of the key elements of the new world order. It does not pretend to be a leader of this new world. It will be ready to share all responsibilities for what is happening with other countries. But at the same time for us the matter of principle is preserving our own certainty and independence- not only political, but also security-wise, economy -wise. It is not that easy now. You see under what kind of pressure Russia is living at the moment, but our choice is deliberate, our choice is of principle, and we would not deviate from this policy. There are many aspects of our relations with other countries, with the United States, with China, with India, with the nations of South Asia,” Excerpts of the dialogue.
QMany countries in the global south are experiencing the secondary effect of the conflicts that we are facing right now, particularly in the energy markets, food security and supply chains. How does Russia see its role in mitigating these impacts, if there is an opportunity to do so, especially in relation to the partners in Asia and in particular South Asia?
I guess it’s one of the fundamental issues the world is facing- how to overcome the consequences of this unfortunate event which happened in the Middle East and affected all countries, not only in the Middle East, but beyond the region.
Russia is not affected by this conflict so far greatly, although, of course, some longer-term consequences may also take it all on us. For example, Iran is our neighbour, with whom we develop quite extensive cooperation in different areas. If there is a negative outcome of the whole thing, it will affect the Russian economy, immigration policies etc.
We are very much interested in ending this conflict as soon as possible. As far as the countries of Asia are concerned in terms of economic and energy security, of course, Russia is ready to provide its resources to all those who wish to have them. You know, we haven’t deleted our good neighbouring relations with the countries of Asia.
Our policy is of principled nature. We would be ready to deepen our cooperation in all spheres, but sometimes the countries themselves are reluctant to deepen this cooperation with Russia because of the threats of secondary sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union. To our regret, this has caused for a while a decline in our energy cooperation. These countries are quite reluctant to be targeted by the American restrictions.
Now our situation has changed. The United States has lifted the so-called ban on the purchasing of Russian energy, first of all, of crude oil. I think it’s a good opportunity for the countries of Asia to take advantage of this moment. But of course, what will happen after this one-month term expiry. We would strongly prefer that our relations with all countries in Asia are based on the long-term context, not on spot trade of oil and gas.
QIt’s a good thing that the ban has been lifted, at least temporarily. Would the Russian Federation take payments in rubles, US dollars or Chinese Yuan?
We are not as selective as some may think, actually. Our trade now with other countries is moving fast from major currencies like the dollar or Euro to the national currencies . For example, 99 percent of our trade with China is done in Yuan or rubles.
Our trade with India is also done mostly in rupees and rubles. We actually see the clear trend of decline in the role of the dollar worldwide. For example, just a few years ago, the dollar consisted of about 67 percent of world trade. Now its share has declined up to about 40 percent, and other percentages of trade are done in the national currencies. If there is a desire, there is a will. We can find a way to address this issue. We are happy to find flexible means which will be beneficial to all of us.
QYour Deputy Prime Minister recently announced that a ban on gaso line exports will come into effect today. Could you take us through that and the potential impact of that on energy cooperation?
Yes, to tell you frankly, Russia’s natural resources are not also unlimited. There is quite a line of countries who want to have access to our crude oil and energy, for example. But I guess we will implement all contracts which were concluded in full.
We will, of course, do our best. A recent visit by Deputy Minister of Energy Roman Marshavin has shown that there will be a deal. Hopefully the follow-up of this visit will see some positive results concerning the supply of energy from Russia. The sooner we end the conflict, the better it will be for everyone.
QWhat is really stopping the proposed nuclear
power project?
I know that there is a strong interest to develop nuclear capacity in this country- nuclear capacity for peace. I’m not aware of particular parameters. But there is a strong interest from many countries of Asia, for example, from Southeast Asia, to take advantage of the Russian expertise in a small modular nuclear station.
For example, we have one project which is very attractive and could be used by other states. For example, we have a floating minor modular nuclear plant which is now providing energy to our Siberian region. It’s just a huge ship on which there is a nuclear station.
If the countries want, this ship can come closer to them and provide energy to them. Many countries want to have this facility. Russia is the only state which has this technology. It not only has this technology, but also realized it in the real projects.
If there is an interest here, of course, we can have the relevant negotiations started. It’s clear that it’s not a very cheap endeavor. But it’s very useful because such a facility has unlimited resources and power.
QHow has Russia taken note of Sri Lanka’s strategic importance at this juncture? Secondly, Russia-Sri Lanka economic cooperation remains way below the potential. So why it is way below the potential, and what are the plans for increasing them?
All these issues of bilateral cooperation will be discussed. The recent crisis and the pandemic took effect. The current crisis also contributed to this. Unfortunately, we saw a decline in bilateral trade over the last year.
But we think it’s a kind of a temporary trade which we need to revert. I’m sure it will be. Sri Lanka is a very attractive place for us, and it will continue like that, especially now when all other destinations are closed for Russian citizens. The Persian Gulf countries will be popular, but they will not remain peaceful for a while. The European Union got to close their borders for the Russian citizens. Therefore, Sri Lanka and some other countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia, are becoming even more attractive places for our citizens.
If we manage to maintain the frequency of our direct flights between the two countries, it will also contribute to an increasing number of our people coming here. If we manage to establish a reliable system of payment between our countries, our tourists can use their bank cards here in Sri Lanka- just to feel comfortable, not to bring cash with them. It will play a role.
After tourists, the real business may come here not only in trade but also in technological service investment. But again, for this, you need to know each other better now—not to limit our communications or restrict some support deals on energy when the United States allows it, but to build it on a solid legal and economic foundation.
QWhy does Russia not condemn Iran’s attacks on neighbouring countries?
On Russia and Iran, we did not join those countries who condemned Iran for shelling its neighbours. We don’t like what is happening there. But if you approach this issue, you should approach it from a world in a general context. Who started the war? It’s not Iran. Iran was attacked, clearly attacked, surprisingly, conveniently. This is implementation of its right of self-defence. Iran has warned its neighbours not to provide access to the U.S. military to the airspace and the military facilities.
If that is the case, Iran will not retaliate. However, I understand that this view is not widely supported. We participate quite actively in the deliberations on the relevant UN Security Council resolution to stop the war once again.
There is often a one-sided view and a one-sided approach to this issue. The demand is that Iran should stop fighting and stop shelling its neighbours. But why is there no demand that the United States and Israel stop bombing Iran and its infrastructure?
If you want to approach this issue properly, you need to consider it from all angles, not in the way some countries prefer. That is why we cannot support the idea that Iran is the only country to blame for what is happening there.
The conflict has quite extensive root causes that have existed for many years. It is now very difficult to determine who is responsible for what has happened. But obviously, Iran was not the country that initiated the catastrophe currently unfolding in the region.
The war must be stopped, and the shelling from either side must cease. Peace should be restored, including the right of countries to have their cargo ships pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
If the situation escalates further, and if there is a prospect of land operations, the conflict will spread and spill over into other areas that we have not seen before. That is why our position is clear. First of all the United States and Israel—should stop the aggressive war against Iran. Then the whole situation could change for the better.
Iran is interested in maintaining better relations with its neighbours, particularly the Arab countries. Over the past few years, we have seen improvements in these relations. For example, we saw the signing of the agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia to re-establish diplomatic relations. This was an event of great significance for the region. Unfortunately, this process of maintaining peace in the Persian Gulf has now been disrupted by the current conflict.
The eventual solution must be comprehensive in nature. There are many aspects to the situation in the region — the security environment, the nuclear issue, ballistic missile concerns, and economic cooperation. For example, Russia proposed many years ago the creation of a system of collective security in the Persian Gulf. At that time, this initiative was not taken on board, but now it’s becoming more and more. So, let’s call on those perpetrators of the war to stop it.
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The new reality is that the war has de facto created a gas and oil hegemon who now controls 20% of Gas and oil as we read this, with significant impact on the fertilizer industry as well.
The reality is that no matter how many bombs each party has, disruption is only going to keep the strait shut and the price of oil and gas high
If there was one thing that was sure to happen as an external factor that would affect the economy of Sri Lanka, it was the turmoil in the Middle East. This has been a constant since 1948 when Israel was established. All governments and organizations that have existed in this country have either had to deal with a war or some kind of disruption in the Middle East. Historically most of them have completely and utterly failed to deal with this issue preemptively, which now in all probability is going to becoming a long term certainty. The current government, government owned business undertakings and the other private businesses in Sri Lanka at this time is no exception; no contingencies only reactive crisis mitigation action at the cost of the public.
The usual risks for Sri Lanka are inward remittances and tourism and some export of tea. Sri Lanka has nearly 2 million people working in and around the Middle East and sending their hard earned salaries back home. Now, any disruption to this is going to have a massive effect on the economy of Sri Lanka. It is sad that over the years no government has been able to enhance this English illiterate, unskilled and low-skilled migration to the Gulf to an English literate, upskilled migration where people could be working across the world rather than in one region where there is a high demand for low-skilled and no-skilled jobs.
In addition to this, a significant amount of tourists had started to come from the Middle East. Not only was the Middle East becoming a hub that brought in tourists to Sri Lanka from other regions but the Arabian Peninsula was fast becoming a significant source market for Sri Lankan tourism. Now with this turmoil, all these are going to get disrupted and have a major negative impact on our economy. Even though there does not seem to be immediately actionable contingencies, Sri Lanka may be well be able to bring in tourists, flights would operate circumventing the geographic region where the conflict is happening and take them back to their home countries without major issues. However, the number of tourists that originated from the Arabian Peninsula will have to be replaced by another market.
Today, due to global connectivity and inter-connectedness of industries, conflicts do not distinguish among ordinary people, it really doesn’t matter to which race, religion you belong to, or which country you belong to, or which political opinions you have. At the end of the day, the amount of money you pay for your fuel at the pump and everything else is going to cost more due to this conflict. Who started it and how it ends will be inconsequential as we will probably never go back to those low oil and gas prices.
Was Iran gifted an unexpected victory?
The reason why I say this is that prior to this conflict, Iran was only a major producer of oil. It had its global share of 9% to 12%, however it did not have influence over 20% of the oil and natural gas that went through the Strait of Hormuz. The new reality is that the war has de facto created a gas and oil hegemon who now controls 20% of Gas and oil as we read this, with significant impact on the fertilizer industry as well. The reality is that no matter how many bombs each party has, disruption is only going to keep the strait shut and the price of oil and gas high.
It has also brought in to the limelight the cost of shipping and the fees charged by many such choke points around the world.
Panama Canal: Charges fees based on vessel size and weight, and charges high premiums for last-minute booking slots.
Suez Canal (Egypt): A primary, high-cost route connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas. It charges tolls that have increased following the Red Sea crisis.
Turkish Straits (Bosphorus & Dardanelles): Türkiye regulates passage and has increased fees for international ships transiting these straits.
Kiel Canal (Germany): Connects the North Sea to the Baltic Sea and charges tolls to avoid the longer route around Denmark.
Corinth Canal (Greece): A narrow waterway that charges fees, primarily for smaller vessels and tourist traffic
Even though currently the Bab el-Mandeb Strait is open to international shipping, with no fees levied for crossing it. The strait has the potential to become the next flash point in this crisis creating duel choke points to international trade.
In the current context, the only alternative to small countries that cannot project maritime power across the world is to agree to Iran’s terms and start trading oil and gas at a now higher price which includes a levy for passing through the Straits of Hormuz; paid in Chinese Yuan.
No matter how powerful a country may think they are and they may very well be, they won’t be able to put this Genie back in the bottle. The Iranians who as the aggrieved party having suffered from unilateral sanctions (again I am not judging the right or wrong of it) would see this as their opportunity and right to apply unilateral sanction as a result of this illegal war. In fact they may feel that they have nothing to lose. The world know that a low intensity asymmetric war can go on for decades keeping shipping away from this area and the prices of oil and gas high. Many countries would gladly pay the tax and get the oil and gas at a higher price than not have gas and oil and face instability within their own countries.
What’s next for Sri Lanka?
Not wanting to sound like a broken record on a repeat loop, the choices for Sri Lanka remain very simple and limited and has not changed since independence.
What has been consistent is successive governments have abandoned these strategically important activities to engage in petty politics which has resulted in the population being pulverized when these risks become real.
Let’s face it we will not be able become petroleum independent in the foreseeable future. No country or company is going to come and drill for oil and gas in Sri Lanka with a multiple billion-dollar investment when there are cheaper source options available around the world. Since we don’t have the technology, having our own petroleum is way over the horizon. Having said that, diversity of power sources is a must to be power-independent in the future.
It is sad that many learned economists make bold predictions of SL GDP growing at 4 – 5 %. However most don’t mention that for the economy to grow at that pace the power sector has to grow at least at double the pace in a stable manner.
1. Upgrading the national grid. How long and how often have we heard this from the previous to current government, the CEB and experts in the field? For any country to grow a major requirements is to have an efficient and manageable grid which is able to deliver power to areas that require it. Be it a factory (even oil and gas extraction and refining) a hotel or any other business, foreign or local investment will not happen in areas that does not have reliable power and a stable grid. If Sri Lankan electrical engineers are not knowledgeable and able to do this upgrade the state must intervene and get the expertise from countries such as India, China etc. and resolve this immediately before it becomes a major obstacle standing in the way of development of the country.
2. Invest in nuclear power energy to provide the base power need of the country. It is sad that since 2009 (end of the war) Sri Lanka has delayed implementing a nuclear power plant. Had we started in 2009, by now we would have a fully operational power plant. Moving the entire railway network into electric mode as well as moving all the buses into electric buses will help Sri Lanka considerably reduce the demand for diesel fuel. It should also help the country to manage the cost expectation of the public transport.
3. Within a period of 5 years ban all petroleum engine based three wheelers in the country and ensure that all new imports are done only for maintenance and new electric three wheelers.
4. QR Codes should only be issued to those with TIN Numbers to ensure those tax evaders and fuel hoarders are brought to book/eliminated
5. Maximize solar and wind projects to the level where all excess energy can be used to pump water back into the reservoirs to create and maintain a natural battery system and the balance of natural resources.
6. Adjust the vehicle import tax system to bring down the price of electrical vehicles and reduce the demand for petrol.
7. Enact a new Petroleum Retail Act so that it allows the petroleum retailers to be mandated to hold storage of three months’ supply of fuel (all types of fuel) in their retail establishment. This way all price fluctuations can be smoothed out.
8. Apply this same philosophy to all government institutions, such as the Central Transport Board, Railways, Airport and Aviation Services, the Tri-forces, police and other security agencies and any other organization that has their own pumps above ground to hold three months of fuel supply.
9. Leverage the utilization of all available and repairable tanks at the Trincomalee tank farm to store oil for our consumption.
Why Sri Lanka is still unable to become an air hub?
A weird dichotomy often pondered and discussed at various local and international fora. This elusive hub status for Air Line activity in Sri Lanka seems to evade us at every turn. Even during this current crisis there was a lot of hope on the much-debated white elephant down south in the name of Mattala International Airport. This crisis was perhaps seen as its salvation. However it turns out that we have only built half of a white elephant, which is completely unsuitable for any kind of hub operation with wide bodied or large aircraft. Aviation experts are of the view that the operational capacity it is less than ten wide-body aircraft that can be operated simultaneously at the Mattala airport. Whereas the requirement for a hub operation is much greater. In addition the lack of taxiways along the runway and so on, the list of should have beens seems to be greater than the list of could have beens. Which means that, most probably, Mattala will have a few more flights landing and taking off, especially cargo flights. However in terms of major passenger operations we are unlikely to get any large traffic through Mattala and will continue to have a few of those Russian planes landing in the foreseeable future.
So far there is only one Gulf Air aircraft which is parked (probably) on a long term basis at Katunayake. However, Authorities must take steps to move these aircraft to Mattala in order to prevent further congestion and denial of access to revenue generating activities at Katunayake.
Katunayake Airport it seems have more requests for transit flights at this time. The last thing we need is that flights will divert to India or Maldives due to the lack of space at Katunayake due to the negligence and lack of foresight of the officers’ operating the airport.
With regard to our national carrier; simple things such as air service agreements for emergency landings, refueling, and technical assistance that bypass the Middle East on a southerly route (Kenya, Nairobi, Ethiopia, Addis Ababa) connecting to Southern and Western Europe servicing hubs such as London; and easterly route (flying through the CIS countries to Turkey and into the Eastern and Central European destinations and hubs such as Amsterdam) should have been pre-entered and should have been ready in our books. When such an event occurs we could leverage on those air service agreements to fly to Europe and keep our tourism industry going at the level required by the country.
It is so sad and embarrassing to see the elites in the aviation industry fumbling about, not knowing what to do, when to do, how to do. Whereas these are fundamental conclusions that one can get to if one had followed a simple tool such as a SWOT analysis.
Another opportunity has come our way due to current congestion at the Katunayake airport where all the operations of the small business aircraft could be moved to Rathmalana. This is the ideal opportunity to rebrand and re-launch the Rathmalana airport (Another white elephant created by us since the construction of the KIA) as the Colombo City Business Airport of Sri Lanka with easy access to the Port City and connectivity to the expressways.
Once again it seems that the Sri Lanka is held, back by our own apathy. It is almost ubiquitous with Sri Lanka that most projects that are started are never completed. The same goes for the baseline road extension connecting the Kelaniya Bridge to the Rathmalana Airport. The road was terminated in Kirulapone and never extended to Rathmalana Airport. It seems that some sanity has prevailed and the current government is hoping to extend it maybe a couple of kilometres until it reaches Dutugemunu Street.
I hope that, given this current crisis, the government will expedite this project and extend it to the gates of the Rathmalana airport to ensure that we are able to make best use of this strategic connection between Rathmalana Airport and the city of Colombo to facilitate business and high net worth individuals (HNI’s) travel.
The fact that this road has been planned and designed and not executed for the last 20 years should be a source of national embarrassment and all necessary steps should be taken to quickly fulfill this need for the business community and investment flow.
The Rathmalana airport is also of great significance in terms of the rest of the infrastructure of the country. In terms of connectivity to the expressway and the Makumbura multimodal transport hub the distance is only 12 to 13 km.
While nations look for the silver lining in these dark cloud” times, Sri Lanka would be better served by looking inward for its silver lining and expediting and finishing projects so that we can avail of their strategic intention as well as enjoy the maximum economic benefit.
About the Author
Roshanga Wickremesinghe is the author of book How Small Countries Can Compete and Grow – A Case for Sri Lanka”. He is the founder of Think Tank Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. – a Strategy think tank and R & R Associates Consulting, a sector-independent Strategy Consulting practice.
Comments Off on The turmoil in the Middle East = Sri Lanka in economic trouble
Make the economy scream,” wrote Henry Kissinger in a note to CIA forces involved in efforts to oust President Salvador Allende in Chile in the early 1970s.
The same strategy was applied in Venezuela in 2002. A coup d’état that briefly succeeded, but then failed, was followed by an economic sabotage that shut down the oil industry and depleted the nation of basic consumer products, causing more than $20 billion USD in damages to the economy, but failing to remove Chavez from power. The business, labor, media and political groups backing the coup and the sabotage received direct funding and support from Washington and its agencies, including USAID, National Endowment for Democracy, International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.
In 2007, they tried again, causing major product shortages nationwide, which spiked inflation, while at the same time taking protests to the streets and garnering international media attention that attempted to portray the Chavez government as dictatorial, repressive and in crisis.
Former US Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, explained the US strategy and role at the time on Fox News, [Chavez’s] ability to appeal to the Venezuelan people, only works so long as the populous of Venezuela sees some ability for a better standard of living. If at some point the economy really gets bad, Chavez’s popularity within the country will certainly decrease and it’s the one weapon we have against him to begin with and which we should be using, namely the economic tools of trying to make the economy even worse so that his appeal in the country and the region goes down.”
Eagleburger, also advisor to President George W. Bush at that time, went on to state that Anything we can do to make their economy more difficult for them at this moment is a good thing, but let’s do it in ways that do not get us into direct conflict with Venezuela if we can get away with it.”
Sabotage
Shortly after Eagleburger’s statements, Venezuela’s economy plummeted. But the Chavez government’s swift nationalization of several industries and companies, along with firm legal action taken against those businesses hoarding products and illegally raising prices, saved the country from recession. The year 2007 in Venezuela was incredibly difficult, even toilet paper was hard to find, along with basic food staples like sugar, milk, flour and coffee. But it wasn’t because these products were lacking in the country. Discoveries were made of tons of products, hidden from consumers in warehouses belonging to national and transnational corporations. Other products were illegally transported across the border into Colombia and Panama for resale at higher prices.
During the past several years, the sabotage has continued in waves. Sometimes sugar is absent from supermarket shelves, causing panic, other times it’s milk, or corn flour, napkins or black beans. Then, mass quantities of these products are found in some container or warehouse belonging to a private corporation or overseen by a corrupt government official.
Just recently, 32 tons of decomposed food products, including oil, coffee, sugar, butter, rice, pasta, meat and milk, were discovered by Venezuela’s intelligence agency, Sebin, in 1,300 containers sitting in Port Cabello, on the north-central coast. The products were destined to be sold in the government subsidized markets, Mercal and Pdval, but corrupt officials had purposefully left them there to rot in order to provoke product shortages. Several government officials have already been detained and are under investigation for their role in this and other acts of corruption and sabotage in the food industry.
War on corruption,” declared President Chavez on Wednesday, adding that These are vices of the past, and we have discovered many public officials involved in corruption and will investigate and bring them to justice. No one is protected from corruption here, whoever falls, falls.” Chavez revealed that more than 30 public officials had already been tried and imprisoned for corruption in the food industry during the past few years.
Economic Warfare
In an event on Wednesday at a new socialist processing plant, Diana Oil, President Chavez responded to his private sector critics, diminishing their accusations. They say Chavez is destroying the country, that the workers don’t have the capacity to manage companies and that worker-run production is a crazy idea. They say the government destroys all the companies we run.”
Chavez also called for a response to what he perceives as a declared economic war” against the people and the Revolution. I call on the true working class in Venezuela to battle in the economic war against the bourgeoisie,” he exclaimed, adding, I was born for this battle. They have declared economic warfare against me and I call on all workers to join with me in the fight to take back our economy.”
The Venezuelan President had particular words for the owner of the nation’s largest food and beverage producer and distributor, Lorenzo Mendoza. One of the wealthiest men in Venezuela, and a Forbes billionaire, Mendoza runs Empresas Polar, which produces and distributes products such as Polar beer, PepsiCola and all kinds of juices, vinegars, sauces, ice creams, cereals, canned and frozen foods.
Chavez responded directly to Mendoza’s claims that the Venezuelan President is destroying the country, stating, I accept your challenge. Let’s go. You with your millions and me with my morals. Let’s see who lasts longer, you with your Polar and your riches, or me with my people and the dignity of a revolutionary soldier.” Chavez also warned Mendoza that if his company continues to hoard products, speculate and violate price regulations, Empresas Polar could be nationalized.
I’m not afraid to nationalize Polar, Mendoza, so be careful. The law is the law,” declared the Venezuelan head of state.
Polar has been one of the principal companies propelling product shortages in the country during the past few years, by hoarding the consumer goods in its hundreds of warehouses nationwide until enough panic and discontent has been generated in the country. Then the products are released at higher prices, violating financial regulations, causing inflation and attempting to cripple the economy.
But this week, President Chavez called on all sectors, private and public, to resist and combat this economic warfare. We are working for the well being of everyone, even the upper classes and private businesses. You won’t be stable until the rest of the country is, so let’s work for that together.”
Despite the economic turmoil affecting Venezuela, unemployment rates have decreased over the past few years, and poverty has been reduced from 70% to 23% since 1999.
The Reply of David Becker (Head of Legal, ICC) to Senaka Weeraratna was dismissive, disrespectful and patently wrong in the interpretation of law.
The reply of the South African lawyer David Becker (Head of Legal, ICC) to Senaka Weeraratna in May 2010on the question of the intellectual property rights over his brainchild ‘Player Referral’ which was rebranded by the ICC as the UDRS (Umpire Decision Review System), was dismissive, disrespectful and patently wrong in the interpretation of law. The legal doctrine of Constructive Notice was overlooked in Becker’s response. Constructive Notice acts as a legal presumption that a person has received notice, even if they actually have not, provided the information is public or easily accessible. Furthermore Becker’s reply was legalistic when the context demanded equity, fair play and simple Justice.
” This was the first occasion in world history that a case was made (in 1997), using the analogy of the appellate function of the legal system, to press home the point that we needed to adopt it on the playing field in a modified form in combination with modern technology, i.e. video play back in the hands of Third Umpire, to determine the accuracy of a decision made by an on field or ground umpire by way of a Review System.”
, then-Head of Legal for the International Cricket Council (ICC), to
Senaka Weeraratna on May 9, 2010, is a central point of contention regarding the origins of the Decision Review System (DRS).
The ICC’s Position
Becker’s response fundamentally denied Weeraratna’s claim to the Player Referral” concept based on several legalistic arguments:
Waiver of Confidentiality: Becker argued that by publishing his idea openly in newspapers and journals between 1997 and 1999, Weeraratna had waived his right to confidentiality” and effectively placed the idea in the public domain without securing a patent.
Lack of Prior Knowledge: Becker stated that the ICC Cricket Committee members who eventually developed the UDRS in 2006 were not, and are not, even aware of who you are”. He claimed their deliberations did not involve any information originating from Weeraratna.
Requirement for Formal Registration: The ICC maintained that if Weeraratna sought ownership, he should have registered a relevant patent” rather than addressing the public through mainstream media.
Overlooked Legal and Moral Arguments
Critics argue that Becker’s interpretation disregarded key legal and ethical principles:
Constructive Notice: Critics argue that widespread, prior publicity of the Player Referral” concept in major media outlets means the ICC is legally presumed to have known of it, a concept detailed in discussions of the case, such as this Lankaweb article.
Professional Responsibility: It is argued that a committee reviewing technical improvements to the game has a duty to be aware of existing public discourse, making the claim of ignorance implausible.
Moral Rights and Attribution: Supporters assert Weeraratna holds moral and economic rights, arguing that the ICC failed to attribute the core Player Referral” mechanism to its original creator.
Precedent for Recognition: The case of the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method is often cited as a precedent for properly crediting innovators, suggesting a double standard in the ICC’s action.
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Decolonize Cricket: Re-name UDRS as the Weeraratna Rule
The Netherlands occupied parts of Ceylon from 1658 – 1796 as a Dutch Colony. Its legacy as an occupying power is a mixed bag. Ceylon was administered by the Dutch from Batavia (Indonesia), until the British replaced the Dutch in 1796. As a Colonial power the Dutch vandalized the treasures of the native Sinhala people, including the Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the Tooth) in Kandy, which was plundered by the Dutch led by the Dutch Governor Baron van Eck. A notable artifact seized was the ornate “Cannon of Kandy,” which was later sent to the Netherlands as a trophy (and returned to Sri Lanka in 2023). The Sinhalese fought and retook Kandy forcing the Dutch to retreat. Van Eck returned to Colombo but fell ill with malaria. He died on April 1, 1765, while still in office at the age of 46 years.
A large number of artifacts looted from Ceylon have been exhibited in famous Dutch Museums such as the RijksMuseum (for over 250 years) with not one cent given to Sri Lanka from the revenue earned from the visitors to these Museums. Sri Lanka has proposed to the Government of Netherlands to consider sharing the profits ( Revenue) earned from the time of display (250 years back) to date. Sri Lanka is a financially struggling country most of the time. The law of Unjust Enrichment is a part of Roman Dutch Law which is still extant in Sri Lanka ( though not in the Netherlands). Whatever the name of the law, ‘ Fair play’ is required here in the interest of Justice.
An Apology, Reparation, Repatriation of Stolen Artifacts, Atonement, Catharsis, and the like still figure in the negotiations for a Restitutio in integrum (or ad integrum)( Latin legal term meaning “restoration to original condition) between the Western colonial powers and the former colonies including Sri Lanka.
Senaka Weeraratna
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The question of whether the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have acted within the
Spirit of Cricket regarding the ownership of Decision Review System (DRS) intellectual property (IP) is a subject of significant debate and public criticism, particularly within Sri Lanka. While the ICC maintains that it followed internal processes to adopt the technology, critics and legal representatives of the claimant argue that the current handling of these rights lacks fairness and transparency.
Core Claims and Allegations
Original Concept: Sri Lankan lawyer
Senaka Weeraratna
claims he conceived the “Player Referral” concept—the foundation of DRS—in 1997. He published these ideas in major newspapers in Australia, England (London Times), Pakistan (Dawn), Malaysia (New Strait Times) and Sri Lanka, and ‘International Cricketer’ Journal ( Edited by Richard Hutton), nearly a decade before the ICC formally moved toward the system in 2006.
Lack of Recognition: Critics highlight that while inventors of the rain-rule system, Duckworth and Lewis, received global recognition and naming rights, Weeraratna has received no such acknowledgement or compensation, or even basic courtesies such as being invited to major public functions of SLC, ICC or International Cricket Tournaments. This is what the political analyst Shenali Waduge in a breath taking article categorized as ‘Eerishiyawa’ (Envy) that afflicts not only the decision makers of SLC but the country as a whole. Not a single President of the country, political party, parliamentarian (Member of Parliament) have taken up this cause of injustice to Sri Lanka, except the brave young MP Mr. Yadamini Gunawardena, who wrote a letter to the Secretary, Ministerial Consultative Committee on Sports & Youth Affairs dated July 25, 2024
Economic and Moral Rights: Proponents for Weeraratna argue he holds both “moral” and “economic” copyright, and that the ICC’s use of the system without consent or royalties constitutes a failure of “fair play and justice”.
Institutional Positions
ICC’s Stance: Former ICC legal counsel (South African lawyer Mr. David Becker) has stated that the committee members were unaware of Weeraratna’s work during their own deliberations. The ICC has reportedly argued that by publishing his idea openly without a patent, Weeraratna “waived his right to confidentiality”.
SLC’s Role: While SLC did make a submission to the ICC on behalf of Weeraratna in 2008, critics within Sri Lanka have accused the SLC board and the government of “cowardice” and “betrayal” for not more aggressively pursuing these claims for the benefit of the nation.
Ongoing Requests: As recently as 2024, there have been renewed calls for the Sri Lankan government and SLC to appoint a Commission of Inquiry or seek Third Party Arbitration to resolve the dispute in a manner consistent with the “Spirit of Cricket”.
Arguments Regarding the “Spirit of Cricket”
The debate often hinges on whether the “Spirit of Cricket”—which emphasizes respect for opponents and the game’s heritage—extends to the equitable treatment of those who innovate for the sport’s benefit.
Against the Spirit: Critics describe the ICC’s stance as “daylight highway robbery” and compare it to historical colonial attitudes where intellectual property is robbed and taken without any form of redress or accountability. The insensitivity of Euro – centric Administrators of the ICC to this righteous claim from a man from an economically struggling (almost bankrupt) country and former colony i.e., Sri Lanka, is shocking, to say the least. Shame on them.
The ICC has been accused of acting like a Multinational corporation which visits Third World countries and exploits the heritage of the poor indigenous people.
see
Authorship of Umpire Decision Review System: Sri Lankan claims recognition from ICC
Legal vs. Ethical: Legally, the ICC may be protected by the lack of a formal patent; however, ethically, many argue that the spirit of the game demands formal recognition of the individual who provided the solution to “umpiring howlers”.
The Government of India which acts like an elder brother of Sri Lanka in many difficult situations like the COVID crisis where a large sum of money was given to help salvage the country from total collapse has remained totally silent on the DRS issue. The President of ICC is Mr. Jay Shah who is the Chair of the International Cricket Council (ICC), having taken office on December 1, 2024.
In both India and Sri Lanka Cricket is treated next to religion but why is India silent on a matter that requires fair play and equity and not legal bluff like some within the ICC are using to prevent Justice being done.
India’s silence on who owns the intellectual property of DRS gives rise to charges of tacit acquiescence to a Daylight Robbery on the Playing Fields of Cricket. Player – Referral system ( basis of DRS) is Sri Lankan. Make no mistake. Not ICC.
The stocks of India and particularly that of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi will rise to astronomical heights in the entire cricket world particularly in Sri Lanka if India were to help Sri Lanka gain due recognition and adequate financial compensation from the ICC for use of DRS without the consent of the inventor of the Player – Referral system in Cricket (and an increasing number of other Sports) Mr. Senaka Weeraratna.
https://share.google/aimode/MQDf4i4KoSTdvPHrq
Source: AI Overview ( Chat GPT) with input from Senaka Weeraratna
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See also
https://share.google/aimode/muI3FAluNAHO6RbUu
Whether the ICC and SLC acted within the “Spirit of Cricket” regarding the Decision Review System (DRS) intellectual property is contentious. While SLC formally moved to push the ICC to review claims that a Sri Lankan (Senaka Weeraratne) invented the system
Critics argue the ICC has used bullying tactics, failing to acknowledge authorship to avoid royalty payments, and that SLC hasn’t pursued this vigorously.
Claims of Authorship: It is argued that the Player Referral concept was invented by a Sri Lankan in 1997, nine years before the ICC implemented the UDRS in 2006, and should be recognized as such.
ICC Position: The ICC has stated that its committees developed the DRS concept independently and were unaware of prior publications, essentially bypassing legal doctrines of constructive notice.
“Spirit of Cricket” Concerns: Critics argue that using a system invented by a citizen of a financially struggling nation (Sri Lanka) without proper recognition or royalties violates the “Spirit of Cricket”.
SLC Involvement: While SLC CEO Ashley de Silva agreed to submit these claims to the ICC for study in 2020, there has been public frustration within Sri Lanka regarding the lack of, or ineffective, follow-up action to get the invention recognized.
The situation remains a complex dispute between intellectual property claims and the ICC’s development of its own technology.
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National Development Bank PLC (NDB) has been named Sri Lanka’s Best Trade Finance Bank at the Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2026, securing the #1 overall domestic ranking among local banks. This prestigious recognition determined through votes from corporate clients underscores the confidence placed in NDB by businesses across the country and reaffirms the Bank’s commitment to strengthening Sri Lanka’s trade and export ecosystem through innovative, future-ready financial solutions.
Presented by Euromoney, a globally respected authority in banking and financial market intelligence, the award reflects direct feedback from corporate clients, exporters, and international trade-focused enterprises. Its client‑voted nature makes the accolade particularly significant, signalling strong endorsement from organizations that rely on NDB’s trade finance solutions daily. Achieving the top domestic position highlights the Bank’s ability to deliver reliability, strategic value, and consistency in a rapidly changing global trade environment.
Commenting on the achievement, Kelum Edirisinghe, Director and CEO of NDB Bank, stated,Being named Sri Lanka’s Best Trade Finance Bank and securing the number one domestic ranking is both an honour and a responsibility. Trade finance is fundamental to our economy, especially for exporters and growth-driven enterprises. This recognition, driven by the voice of our clients, validates the strength of our transactional banking capabilities, the expertise of our teams, and our commitment to delivering solutions that are resilient, responsive, and globally connected. We remain focused on enabling Sri Lankan businesses to compete confidently in international markets while navigating evolving trade dynamics.”
NDB’s success is underpinned by its comprehensive suite of transaction banking and trade finance solutions, designed to support businesses across the full trade lifecycle. The Bank’s dedicated Client Services Unit, supported by specialized Transaction Banking sales teams operating islandwide, ensures clients receive personalized attention, rapid turnaround, and seamless support. With extended service hours and streamlined processing frameworks, NDB provides businesses with the operational agility required to manage time‑sensitive trade transactions efficiently.
The Bank’s proposition is further strengthened by its network of industry specialists and subject-matter experts across key regions. These professionals bring deep sector expertise, enabling NDB to structure financial solutions that align with supply chain patterns, project cycles, and export market dynamics. Through close engagement, regional specialists provide advisory-led support that is both practical and strategically aligned with client needs.
For exporters, NDB offers a robust suite of trade facilities that includes, structured trade finance solutions, and supply chain financing tailored to facilitate seamless cross-border operations. The Bank’s expanding network of correspondent banking partners enhances global connectivity, supporting efficient settlements across major trade corridors. This blend of global reach and local expertise empowers Sri Lankan exporters to enter international markets with confidence and operational clarity.
NDB’s integrated Treasury services further complement its trade finance strengths by helping clients manage foreign exchange exposure, interest rate volatility, and liquidity planning. Through competitive FX solutions, hedging instruments, and advisory services, the Bank enables businesses to safeguard margins and maintain financial stability amid global market fluctuations. The alignment of treasury and trade solutions ensures a holistic approach to both transactional execution and financial risk management.
Digital enablement remains central to NDB’s evolution in transaction banking. Platforms such as NEOS Corporate and NEOS BIZ provide secure, real-time access to accounts, payment authorizations, and transaction monitoring, while TradeLinc digitizes supply chain financing and enhances collaboration between buyers and suppliers. These digital platforms enhance efficiency, transparency, and control, enabling enterprises to manage local and cross-border trade operations with greater precision and speed.
NDB’s continued emphasis on service excellence, sector expertise, digital innovation, and global connectivity has strengthened its position as a leading trade finance partner in Sri Lanka. Securing the number one domestic ranking through direct client endorsement reflects both trust earned and sustained momentum. As Sri Lankan businesses expand exports and deepen global partnerships, NDB remains committed to facilitating trade, supporting enterprise growth, and advancing national economic development.
Businesses seeking to enhance their trade capabilities are encouraged to connect with NDB’s Trade specialists or visit the nearest NDB branch to explore tailored solutions designed to meet evolving commercial needs.
NDB Bank is the fourth-largest listed commercial bank in Sri Lanka. The Bank was named Sri Lanka’s Best Digital Bank for SMEs at Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2025 and was awarded Domestic Retail Bank of the Year – Sri Lanka and Islamic Banking Initiative of the Year – Sri Lanka at the Asian Banking & Finance Retail Banking Awards 2025. NDB is the parent company of the NDB Group, comprising capital market subsidiary companies, together forming a unique banking and capital market services group. The Bank is committed to empowering the nation and its people through meaningful financial and advisory services powered by digital banking solutions.
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‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’
e-Con e-News 22-28 March 2026
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‘The [USA] wanted to bring 2 warplanes armed with 8 antiship missiles
from a base in Djibouti… We turned down the request to maintain
Sri Lanka’s neutrality’, he added to applause… Dissanayake said he had
received another request that same day, on Feb 26, from Iran to seek
permission for 3 naval vessels to make a goodwill visit to Sri Lanka:
‘With 2 requests before us, the decision was clear,’
– see ee Sovereignty, SL says it denied US request
to land 2 aircraft at Mattala airport
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‘It is unclear as to why the request made by one country
was made public earlier & the other 2 weeks later.
So far there has been no comment from the US side
on their request made to Sri Lanka.’
– Sunday Times (see ee Sovereignty,
QR code & West Asian war…)
Ceylon Today Deputy Editor Sulochana Ramiah Mohan had her notebooks seized by police officers while she was interviewing Iranian sailors being treated at the Karapitiya Hospital, Galle, after the US attack. She lodged a complaint with the Galle Police, but they say no such complaint has been received. Apparently, Mohan was not provided with a complaint reference number at the time of filing. Maybe she should ask the US Embassy (see ee Media).
For it is the US embassy who has got Sri Lankan & Indian officials to prevent witnesses to the bombing of Iran ship IRIS Dena from speaking in public (especially about the hours & days preceding the attack, & what took place during & afterwards). There are also charges that Indian officials informed the USA of the ships’ movements, and Sri Lankan officials delayed the entry of the Dena to enable the USA to launch its attack, with both feigning ignorance about the bombing (see ee Focus).
The US insists the attack was legal, yet cannot explain ‘why the USA left its premier submarine-hunting aircraft to fly drills [in India] alongside the Dena one week before a submarine killed her’. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Minister of External Affairs Subramanyan Jaishankar had already promiscuously sided with the US (& their catspaw Israel) against Iran just before the latest invasion on February 28.
Both India and Sri Lanka are now attempting to proclaim neutrality as the US war is being fiercely resisted, and essential oil, gas & fertilizer on which economies depend are being shut off. Hence, the inflated claims that Iran & Russia are both willing to help Sri Lanka & India midst the genuflection before imperialist dictate. ‘Iran has released only token Indian oil & gas cargoes from the Persian Gulf.’ Meanwhile, Modi purportedly begged President Trump on March 24 to realize ‘that the Strait of Hormuz remains open, secure & accessible is essential for the whole world’. EAM Jaishankar also has kept emphasizing Indian positions against Iran, while meeting this past week with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Undersecretary of Defense Elbridge Colby, and Arab foreign ministers. Vande Mataram! – I bow to thee, Mother India!
‘Our message to our neighbouring countries…
Please don’t be complicit in the crimes
of the US & Israel regime.’
– Iranian Ambassador Alireza Delkhosh
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• EurAsia Times analyst Sumit Ahlawat reported on March 26, under the headline Iranian Sailors Trapped in SL: Tehran Demands Return, US Pressure Mounts – Can Colombo Stay Neutral? that he interviewed Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath. Herath told him that 252 Iranian sailors remain in Colombo’s ‘custody’. In fact, they are also being held ‘incommunicado’. Herath says there is intense US government pressure not to allow the repatriation of the Iranian crews. The pressure includes threats to reverse the US trade tariff & other concessions.
This explains the largely hurried & unheralded visit of US Special Envoy for South & Central Asia, Sergio Gor, who called on President AK Dissanayake at his Secretariat on Thursday, 19 March. During the special envoy’s stay in Colombo, the President ‘chose to drop a diplomatic bombshell in Parliament’, announcing that Sri Lanka had also turned down a request from the USA to land 2 armed military aircraft with ‘8 anti-ship missiles’ at the Mattala International Airport.
Yet, the Sri Lanka President had told ‘a select group of journalists on March 5’, a day after the sinking of one Iranian ship, that he had only refused a request from Iran for 3 Iranian navy ships to visit Sri Lanka on March 9 and 13. He did not mention anything about armed US aircraft. Why did the President wait 2 weeks to tell the country that the USA had also made a request on the same day, previous to the Iranian request, and then turned both down to display the country’s neutrality? Why did he have to await the ingress of Mr Gor? The Indian media, and such US media as the New York Times, and much, but not all of the Sri Lankan media commentariat, then went into great paroxysms of ecstasy about how a ‘small’ country had dared exhibit such ‘neutrality’ & ‘independence’ (see ee Quotes, US & Indian Chorus Line). Other observers are not so sure.
Responding to accusations that his undisclosed defence agreement with USA inevitably makes Sri Lanka party to the conflict, Dissanayake told Parliament there is no provision that obliges the government to take part in US warmongering. The President said the USA made the request for their aircraft to land at Mattala the same evening as Iran’s request for safe harbor. However, he had made no mention of this before, and apparently had to await Mr. Gor’s go ahead last week.
This ee reproduces the Moscow correspondent John Helmer’s equally if not more explosive claim: the Indian government, which had invited the Iranian ships, had kept track of them after their departure, informing the US government of their movements (see ee Focus). Moscow-based Helmer & his website Dances with Bears have thus been banned from appearing on Gunners Shot, the strategic & military analysis website ‘widely read by the national security & military staffs around PM Narendra Modi’.
Helmer also adds to the local media’s incendiary claim that the Sri Lankan navy (Vice Admiral Kanchana Banagoda) had verbally invited the ships to visit, but later the Sri Lankan government kept delaying permission to enter. This delay had given the US government enough time to dispatch the US Navy destroyer USS Pinckney from Singapore, to ambush the Iranian ship, mostly a navy band of saxophonists & violinists. Australia military officials also took part in the attack. The involvement of the USA, India & Australia suggest this was a ‘Quad’operation. News of the sudden visit of the Australian High Commissioner to meet the SL environment minister this week to ‘boost green cooperation’ does not mention if Canberra will pay for the cleanup. Meanwhile, to perhaps reinforce the US claim about Mattala, there has been further speculation about the much-maligned Chinese-built airport being allowed ‘resurrection’. There has also been diversionary speculation about the need for a skewed and already compromised neutrality, inspired by English media, that Iran’s purported attack on Diego Garcia signals its ability to attack Sri Lanka & Europe as well!
` On 16 March, Rear Admiral (retd) Sarath Weerasekara, former Sri Lankan navy chief of staff and presidential advisor, told a London newspaper, the Dena ‘was left waiting for more than 11 hours, a delay that would prove deadly by the morning of 4 March’. It is unclear what course the Dena took after the Indian exercises ended. Indian media speculate there was a direct meeting between India’s PM N Modi and the Indian Navy chief Admiral Dinesh Tripathi, either just before the March 4 sinking, or just after. There has been no confirmation of this. Their last confirmed meetings, reported in May 2025, included such officials as National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, & chief of the Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan. Modi, Doval, Jaishankar & the military & intelligence chiefs would ‘certainly have met’ immediately after the US-Israeli attack on February 28, states Helmer, when the Iranian squadron was seeking sanctuary. Modi met India’s Cabinet Committee on Security on March 1 & 2.
The Iranian squadron departed Visakhapatnam port in Andhra Pradesh, in southeast India, on February 25 to take the most direct course south and then west for their return to Iran. Ordered to remain as close to the coastlines as possible, their most likely route through the Bay of Bengal to the Indian Ocean would have been through the Palk Strait, between India & Sri Lanka. If the squadron had avoided the Palk Strait and turned on to a southeast bearing to go around Sri Lanka’s eastern coast, the target destination would have been Trincomalee, entering there within 24 hours (Feb 26) when the request for sanctuary was first recorded by the Sri Lankan presidency. From there to Kochi, on India’s western coast, the estimated voyage time required at Dena’s cruise speed was 24 hours.
Indian EAM Jaishankar has confirmed February 28 as the date the Iranian request for sanctuary. India record that only one vessel, the Lavan, had been granted access to Kochi, but is unclear when exactly the Lavan entered Kochi. The Indian press report claims that the Lavan did not enter Kochi until March 4 – after the Dena had been sunk. Jaishankar has not explained the delay nor why the Lavan was permitted, while the Dena & Bushwehr were not. There is no clarity in the Indian or Sri Lankan record – the public record which government officials have produced after the US attack – on where each of the Iranian trio was on Feb 28. There is also no evidence on what happened in the almost 4 days at sea for the Iranian squadron between Feb 28 and the sinking of the Dena on March 4.
Why the 4 days of delay? Helmer asserts that the Iranians understood that the Indians & Sri Lankans were under pressure from the USA to delay and refuse. Admiral Weekaseera has commented that the Sri Lankan Security Council’s delay was a betrayal. Tehran is likely to have suspected Indian betrayal after the support Modi had declared for the Israeli & US war. The Dena’s orders were not to attempt to head westwards to Bandar Abbas. It is therefore concluded that off Kochi, the Dena reversed course to sail eastward away from the war. It was then heading either to Tuticorin (Thoothukudi), India, or Galle. Refused entry again by Modi & Jaishankar for any Indian port, the Dena must have been hoping for safe harbor at Galle. The sea distance between Kochi & Tuticorin is 172.3 nm – that is half the distance for the Dena to have reached Galle; at 20 knots, 8 hours 39 minutes. The Indian Navy knew the vessel was sailing away from the war. The USA knew, yet decided to kill the Dena & its crew, before – minutes before – they reached safety.
An anti-Tehran propaganda agency in London, Iran International claims the USS Charlotte had issued a warning to the Dena’s captain to abandon ship before the attack, and that he had refused. A Reuters report claims ‘a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters… the USA did not provide a warning before carrying out the strike’. Reuters(a private-public partnership!) also was allowed to access a ‘secret’ State Department cable from ‘Jayne Howell, the chargé d’affaires at the US embassy in Colombo, [who] had emphasized to Sri Lanka’s government that neither the Bushehr crew nor the 32 Dena survivors should be repatriated to Iran’, adding ‘Sri Lankan authorities should minimize Iranian attempts to use the detainees for propaganda… There is a press blackout on the negotiations between the Indians, the Sri Lankans, Iranians & US officials on what will happen to them’, says Helmer.
Jaishankar & Modi have also been ‘applying pressure on Sri Lanka to stay in line’. According to a Modi tweet on March 24:
‘Spoke with President Dissanayake & discussed the evolving
situation in West Asia, with particular focus on disruptions
affecting global energy security. We reviewed progress on key
initiatives aimed at strengthening India-SL energy
cooperation & enhancing regional security. As close &
trusted partners, we reaffirmed our commitment to work
closely together in addressing shared challenges.’
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• The last line is being interpreted as an Indian threat to Sri Lanka ‘to do what it is told’. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan officials have appealed to Russia & China for their help. The Kremlin responded by sending Russian Deputy Energy Minister Roman Marshavin to Colombo on March 27, also expressing ‘a willingness to share know-how in the area of digitalization & cybersecurity in the fuel & energy sector’. A photograph of Sri Lankan officials at the meeting shows Central Bank chief Nandalal Weerasinghe (expecting an added pension in Washington?) reading a book during the meeting with the senior Russian minister. It is unclear if it’s the Bible, Koran or a Russian dictionary? Perhaps it was to display nonchalance or disapproval. He knows this government is trapped by his sponsors.
Yet, will the CB governor take refuge in the US embassy or flee to a Washington suburb soon? He has been fending off demands to restrict Dollar outflows, while playing the role of chief local native optimist conjuror, offering palliatives astrologizing that the IMF is about to offer ‘significant’ balms to anesthetize us through the IMF prescriptions. How does he know? Perhaps it was in that book! However, whether he likes it or not, a war economy is on its way (as the Asia Progress Forum, in fact recommends, see ee Random Notes), and he should read up on what the English did here in fear of the Japanese blockade in their World War II. In the end, considering the CB governor’s rote announcements on the economy, he could easily be replaced by a robot, much as war has been outsourced to their algorithms…
Blame for the US bombing of a girls’ school is being assigned to the US military’s Maven Smart System (MSS), built by data mining company Palantir (owned by Trump’s ventriloquists Alex Karp & Peter Thiel, who also supply him with soundbytes). ‘MSS generates ‘insights’ from vast amounts of classified data from satellites, surveillance and other intelligence, to provide real-time targeting and target prioritization for military operations. Embedded into the system is Anthropic’s AI tool Claude, that is in daily use across most parts of the military. Maven, powered by Claude, suggests 100s of targets, issuing precise location coordinates, and prioritizing targets according to importance. The pairing of Maven & Claude has created a tool that is speeding up the pace of the campaign, reduces a country’s ability to counterstrike and turning weeks-long battle planning into real-time operations. Yet current AI system, based on Large Language Models, are inherently unreliable. Their underlying algorithms guarantee that they produce errors. The percentage of errors increases with the size of the models. OpenAI’s o1 reasoning model hallucinates 16% of the time. Their newer o3 model? 33%. Their newest o4-mini? 48%! Nearly half of what their most recent model tells you could be fabricated. The ‘smarter’ models are actually getting worse at telling the truth.’ (ee Security, AI Targeting) And so is the Central Bank governor! His panaceas will take us nowhere, just like the used-hardware sold to us by the USA & Indians, that has been proven ineffective by the asymmetrical warfare of the Iranians,
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‘They are signalling to us. & to China [that] we [US]
have a global presence. Don’t mess with us anywhere.’
– Retired Indian Lt General Raj Shukla
(see ee Focus)
• The Strait of Hormuz is open. The USA is on its way to closing it. It is not Iran who has ‘effectively’ blocked it (see below Shiran Illanperuma’s otherwise excellent article claims – we again changed his title to ‘keeping energy in national hands’ from ‘public hands’, for the ‘public is the people’s worst enemy’). The main culprits, who are part of the US strategy, are the shipping insurance companies aka the International Group of Protection & Indemnity Clubs (see Insurers Make a Killing,ee07 March 2026).
So full of free this & free that, free market & free trade, the numerous US-funded thinktanks – the US Advocatas, the Verités, the Margas, the Groundviews, and the IPSs, do not seem to have factored in the possibility of their capitalist patrons setting the world on fire. Their tanks have clearly not thunk too deeply. The thought that now that their cars may run out of fuel, has set them afire. And they are running about listing the percentages of this & that their import-export quality economy is about to run out of. While Catholic Action’s Fernandos and the Borah’s Jafferjees have taken to pushing real-estate and wealth funds, the rest of the Hayekian crew have taken to lamenting the nightmare of rationing, warning about QR codes & ‘black’ markets etc. Yet it is not a matter of price controls (promoted by those who seek to manage capitalism’s crises more fairly, see ee Quotes, Not Only), or no price controls (which the English were happy to impose during WW2).
The current round of chaos in West Asia, is not just the result of the US invasion, it is part of the US plan. In fact, it is part of the old English plan to block industrialization in our countries. Industrialization needs ‘an affordable & stable supply of energy’. And most importantly, socialism is not possible without industrialization. Many argue that the US wars on Iraq, Libya, Syria, Venezuela, Ukraine, etc, have been strategic blunders – but they have a single goal: total energy control to prevent any such modernization. They left Vietnam in shambles for this reason. Perhaps only China & DPRK have been able to thwart them.
The Angry Ghost of Wimalasurendra – With threatened power cuts, there is growing pressure to furtherprivatize the petroleum sector, writes Shiran Illanperuma in ‘The Case for Keeping the Petroleum Sector in National Hands’ (see ee Focus). The government has acceded to the US- & English-backed Ceylon Chamber of Commerce’s demand to allow 11 private companiesto import fuel. This takes us back to the 1950s, when the import & distribution of fuel in Sri Lanka was an oligopoly of 3 private Euro-US companies – Standard Vacuum Oil Co, California Texas Oil Co or Caltex, and Royal Dutch Shell Group. Shell alone controlled 60% of the market, while Standard & Caltex controlled the remaining 40%.
It is Shell & others who sabotaged Wimalasurendra’s early vision of energy self-sufficiency. These 3 private fuelsuppliers, actually a price-fixing cartel, drained foreign currency, increasing the costs of industrial development, and refused to lower the price of fuel. Ilanperuma provides 4 reasons why the Government ‘must hold the line on public ownership’. He concludes by stating, ‘The record of industrialising Asia shows that it is public ownership, not private enterprise, that gives the State the tools to manage energy supply in the national interest.’
Ilanperuma’s next essay should track what happened to Sirimavo Bandaranaike and TB Illangaratne’s Petroleum Corporation Act No 28 of 1961. It led to US Hickenlooper Amendment sanctioning Ceylon, & the attempted coup d’etat of 1962 & the expulsion of the US Peace Corps who are back teaching us (yes, us!) English!! And PCA 1961 also led to… Cuba… & Venezuela… & back it all went to Shell! So, yes, it is an update on the Wimalasurendra tale. In fact, all these ghosts are so angry… (see ee, 20 April 2020).
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• This ee Focus continues with obliterating the myths about the supposed antipathy of the Sinhala worker to hard work. Why were the English (& the kalusuddhas who they created to rule on their behalf) opposed to the creation of a working class in Sri Lanka? Why couldn’t or didn’t they replicate those policies from England, using advanced technology, to wrench out the livelihoods of independent peasants by the competition of the factory and by land enclosures, etc? This ee ends Chapter 8 of SBD de Silva’s 1982 classic, The Political Economy of Underdevelopment, which throws out the prevailing myths about the so-called ‘non-availability’ of village labour in the plantations due to ‘attitudes, values & mores or the innate racial characteristics of people’. He details trade & monetization, showing the ‘prevalence of wage labour in Sri Lanka before and during the period which saw the establishment of plantations’. He then points to Japan, which mobilized rural labor within the rural economy, by getting them to make component parts for urban-based industries, enabling employment by accommodating the agricultural cycle of rice production. This excerpt, which also examines, ‘why the peasant economy in the underdeveloped countries failed to evolve on capitalist lines’, by shifting ‘labour outside the family workshop or farm’, has some classic lines about how the wage worker loses their ‘freedom to decide the pace & pattern of work’. Also, on why the ‘growth of capitalist relations in paddy production has been extremely tardy’, due to the development of capitalism in agriculture being a ‘far more complex and slower process than in industry.’ While the stupid merchant media in Sri Lanka ignores Sinhala agriculture, SBD’s book offers incredible insights into the ‘specific sequential pattern governed by the natural crop cycle’, where the ‘paddy economy consequently requires a large labour force employed at various degrees of intensity during different times of the year’. He details Wet and Dry Zone agriculture, and examines the Eastern Province & Hambantota district.
SBD de Silva suggested the absence of landless wage labour was also due to specific pressures on the peasant economy. The English invasion and the growth of the plantations undermined the infrastructure of the paddy economy, their destruction and subsequent decline of irrigation facilities and the loss of access of the peasants to forest land and pastures. He then compared all this to what happened in the settler countries in Africa…
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‘How the Great River Quartet of
Mahaweli, Kelani, Kalu, & Walawe,
& their attendant mid-level streams,
behaved before Ditwah masks the reality
that they are not the loving & smiling
beauties, poets claim them to be…’
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• Irrigation is also the subject of Lokubanda Tillakaratne’s lyrical (though he claims not to like the ways poets romanticize nature) examination of the ancient Sinhala system. He discusses the Village Tank Cascades in relation to what he calls the ‘Great River Quartet’ and why Cyclone Ditwah was able to do what it did (see ee Focus). He compares the destruction to the relative resilience of the village tanks in the Dry Zone – Northern, North Central, Northeast & Eastern provinces, which ‘weathered that onslaught, sustaining only manageable damage’. He shows how tanks were the result of ‘1,000 years of experiment & experience,’ and how ‘ancient tank builders took advantage of the flat and undulating topography of the NCP to make chains of tanks in the valleys.’ He also points out how it was ‘founded on the feeling of solidarity among the villages along an ephemeral stream’.
He makes no mention of the destruction of irrigation systems, as being basic to the English invasion of Sri Lanka, or how the imposition of tea plantations made erosion worse and turned the Mahaveli brown. Conversely, he offers no program for the reconstruction of irrigation systems, or that rural industry is also basic to a renaissance.
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• The fattest & heaviest & glossiest section of the weekly Sunday Times is its ‘Education’ supplement. But it is most educational in what it doesn’t say. Sri Lankans are rightly proud that we once hosted one of the oldest universities in the world, Abhayagiriya, but such grandeur is not what such supplements seek to resurrect. Instead, the pleasures of getting a chance to study in the white world, and possibly a visa to go with it, is driven along with images of ‘darkies’ mixing freely & gaily with mortar-board-wearing airbrushed white girls & boys, complete with images of gold-rimmed certificates, etc. ‘A Question of Integrity & Corporate Liability in Transnational Higher Education’ is the subject of Janadari Wijesinghe’s look into this ‘higher education’ game (see ee Focus). She laments how fake foreign degrees are granted & real jobs obtained, with the apparent connivance of imperialist (tho she doesn’t call them that) embassies, whose employees (diplomats included) front for them.
While the appellation ‘doctor’ & ‘professor’ liberally prefixes the names of people offering prolix advice in the media, we actually do not give a damn about their qualifications unless they are operating on our body parts. SBD de Silva once refused to enter his office at the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research & Training Institute (ARTI), when he found a painter inscribing on the glass door his name with ‘Doctor’ added on. His objection? He could be disturbed by patients seeking immediate relief for their agues & pains! Economics like ayurveda requires long-term application apparently.
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• The tremendous upsurging of fake news, especially by the so-called ‘legacy media’, the BBC, New York Times, Reuters, etc, as well as by so-called social media, which is dominated by the manipulations of the Magnificent 7 or 10, uses the latest technologies, to both misinform & disinform, tweaking new items about real events to insert & inject their biases. The use of familiarized tropes that do not make sense when examined – Western, Middle East, etc, also serve to mislead & confuse. Or the use of the passive voice: ‘Iranian Ship Sunk’, ‘The War Continues…’
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‘Authorities determined that the ship would not be kept at Colombo
Port because the harbor is the country’s main commercial maritime
hub, & the presence of a belligerent state’s naval vessel could
affect shipping activity & insurance costs.’
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Diverse ‘belligerents’, including India & Pakistan, USA & Japan, park their ships in our ports. The USA & Iran are both being called ‘belligerents.’ A belligerent is described as an English adjective, meaning ‘hostile & aggressive’, and a noun: ‘a nation or person engaged in war or conflict, as recognized by international law: ships & goods captured at sea by a belligerent’. Was Sri Lanka a belligerent when it resisted repeated attacks by Portugal, Holland & England for over 500 years?Further, we repeat, that it is not an ‘Iran War’, no more than the English wars on Sri Lanka that are often called ‘Kandyan Wars’. It is not a US-Israeli invasion, either, but a US invasion. Nor is it just a Trump or Republican, Jewish or Epstein invasion. These wars have long been in the planning, tranversing administrations, political parties & their leaders.
In order to maintain white supremacy, as their Secretary of State hysterically announced in Munich as an urgent necessity, the USA aims to monopolize energy sources, and not just oil. It has instructed its lip-services (aka foeda labiorum ministeria – ‘base services performed with the lips’) in Colombo (EconomyNext etc) to attack electric vehicles & renewable energies, but their aims go beyond mere electricity… (see ee Quotes, Attack Dogs)
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• Sri Lankans who have either been prevented from knowing their own history, or do not care to know about it, can still catch a glimpse of our past from the images brought to us from Palestine & Iran. Hidden US history is also on display for those with their heads in the white snows, who take seriously what the USA says about themselves, or look upon the USA as a model of democracy. They apparently do not know or care to know how the ‘West’ was really won, or lost or destroyed. The story of the settler colonies is a story SBD de Silva has sought to tell by contrasting them to our own sorry tales as non-settler colonial states. What is happening now exposes clearly to us, history we either ignored or was deliberately hidden from us. We recall the sheer arrogance of our intellectuals who rushed to declare post-coloniality to become masters (minus slaves) & non-medical doctors. Meanwhile, we barely recognized what independence actually entailed. SBD de Silva noted it is the genocidal white settlers who remind us what independence actually entails. Israel is its latest manifestation in Asia, but it is not at all as independent as it claims to be.
US-led white supremacism has decided to wage war on the world, to at least maintain or even better, advance colonialism. Their allies include the honorary whites, the house kneegrows, who are like the remora who live below the lips of the shark feeding off the excess droppings, or like the tapeworms live off the excesses undigested and unexecreted. These are the people who rule Sri Lanka…
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• Readers (see ee Comments) have many questions about our (really: SBD de Silva’s) take on the plantation system & the garment trade. Yes, there have been tea-plucking machines for a long time in the world (Russia, Japan, etc), and some estates supposedly use them, and one or 2 may ‘assemble’ them, but we are talking of 100,000s of workers, and after over 150 years of this plantation game, there is no mass adoption of mechanization. Also, a measure of an advanced (not only, agricultural) economy, is not a question of output per hectare, but output per worker? Readers have challenged ee before about how the tea plantation owners used to make their engines, but it did not change the main relations of production, did they? And it did not lead to horizontal or vertical integration, or where one thing leads to another? As for the ‘rag trade’, again, there may be some fabric makers, but what percentage of output do they provide? ‘MAS Holdings, Sri Lanka’s largest apparel manufacturer, announced… Texco Ltd, a cotton fabric processing mill, and Noyon Lanka, a knitted lace manufacturer’. But where are machines & the cotton etc from? and look at why they are howling now about the lack of fabric materials from West Asia! Also, the measure of an economy, is not what is made, but how it is made! Have the plantations (Unilever just opened a new HQ, but are hiding their plantation game behind local oligarchs now, Brown’s, etc) or have rag traders made one machine that makes machines to make their products? A pin-making machine? Unilever appears to be the main researcher into & producer of plantation & FMCG chemistries and has been tampering with the ‘Ceylon Tea’ brand to dilute it with teas & chemicals from other locations? Sri Lanka appears to have no control over its ‘brands’, let alone its sovereignty….
Sri Lanka should initiate following project in Trinco in parallel with the proposed development of Oil Tanks in Trincomalee
A. Deep Water Oil Jetty (POP Model) • Public–Private Partnership with Plug-in Operator Participation (POP)” • Capable of handling VLCC / ULCC tankers • Linked via subsea or onshore pipelines
Investor appeal: • Long-term throughput guarantees • Strategic location near East-West shipping lane
B. Slop & Residue Processing Hub
This is actually a high-margin niche often ignored. • Reception of: • Sludge • Tank bottom residues • Oily water mixtures • Processing into: • Recovered fuel oil • Waste treatment products
Why it works: • Environmental regulations (IMO) force ships to dispose safely • Few facilities exist in the region • Recurring revenue stream
C. Tanker Retrofit & FPSO Conversion Yard
This is the most ambitious—and potentially transformative. • Convert aging tankers into: • Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO) • Provide: • Hull repairs • Life extension retrofits • Offshore conversion engineering
Market drivers: • Rising offshore energy projects • Cost advantage vs building new FPSOs • Demand in Africa, Southeast Asia, and India
3. Competitive Advantage for Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka can differentiate itself from competitors like Singapore or Dubai by offering: • Lower operating costs • Neutral geopolitical positioning • Natural deep harbor (Trincomalee is one of the deepest in the region) • Existing tank farm potential (underutilized assets)
4. Key Risks (Must be addressed upfront)
Let’s be blunt—this is where past efforts failed: • Policy inconsistency • Hidden bilateral constraints (especially energy agreements) • Port Authority resistance / bureaucracy • Lack of transparent tendering Without fixing governance, investors will not commit capital.
5. What we Should Push For (Action Plan)
To make this real, our proposal should demand:
1. Cabinet-Level Strategic Classification
Declare Trincomalee as:
Energy Maritime Industrial Zone”
2. Ring-Fenced PPP Framework • Independent regulatory body • Transparent concession agreements • No political interference
3. Indian Partnership – But Balanced
Engage India (given proximity and demand), but: • Avoid exclusivity clauses • Keep multi-country investor access (Japan, Korea, Middle East)
The “slave mindset” within Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is a phrase frequently used by critics, fans, and former players to describe a perceived culture of subservience, systemic incompetence, and lack of professional dignity within the administrative structure, rather than the players themselves.
According to various commentaries and reports, this mentality is characterized by the following:
Administrative Subservience and Politicization
Dependency on Foreign Power Dynamics: Critics have argued that SLC sometimes behaves as a “slave to the BCCI” (Board of Control for Cricket in India), bowing to the influence of larger cricket boards rather than acting in its own best interests.
Politicization: The administration is often described as being heavily influenced by politicians who use the sport for popularity and financial gain, rather than merit-based development.
“Carousel of Convenience”: SLC is accused of constantly changing coaches and captains to deflect blame from administrative failures, rather than implementing long-term, professional strategies.
Mismanagement and Lack of Professionalism
Neglect of Talent and Infrastructure: Despite possessing high reserves, the investment strategy is criticized as weak, with 85% of national talent originating from only four districts, suggesting poor scouting.
Inadequate Support for Players: Players have historically been reported as being underpaid, poorly supported, and mistreated compared to other top-tier teams.
Exploitation: Former players and staff have, at times, been used as pawns in internal power struggles and political agendas, rather than being allowed to lead development.
Loss of Dignity and Identity
Alienation of Stakeholders: The administration is seen as detached from its fanbase and the grassroots of the sport.
Fear of Authority: Commentators have noted that, occasionally, players and officials act with a “colonial mentality,” failing to stand up for their rights or professional dignity in the international arena.
The Need for Reform
“Bitter Pill” Requirement: Critics argue that SLC needs an aggressive, independent restructuring to move away from cronyism and toward professional governance.
Succession Planning: The lack of a proper, professional succession model has resulted in a leadership vacuum following the retirement of legendary players.
The core of this debate centers on whether the administrative leadership acts with independence and professional fortitude or if it serves external, political, or personal agendas.
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The term “slave mindset” in the context of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is frequently used by critics, former players, and fans to describe a perceived culture of
subservience, lack of independent thinking, and an inferiority complex within the national team and its administration.
This critique typically centers on three main areas:
argue that modern players have developed an “inferiority complex,” becoming easily swayed by the allure of money, social media fame, and luxury over the integrity of the game.
Prioritizing T20 Leagues: Some players are accused of favoring lucrative T20 leagues (like the IPL) over Test cricket, which is seen as a shift from playing for national honor to serving commercial “bosses”.
Lack of Mental Resilience: The team is often criticized for “panicking” under pressure, which observers attribute to a lack of mental strength and a “slave-like” reliance on rigid, top-down instructions rather than on-field intelligence.
2. Administrative and Systemic Failures
The “mindset” issue is often blamed on the governing body, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), which has faced ongoing allegations of corruption and mismanagement.
Political Interference: The ICC has previously suspended SLC due to “political meddling,” where government intervention replaced the board with interim committees. Critics suggest this creates an environment where players and officials focus on pleasing political masters rather than developing the sport.
Stagnant Leadership: Long-tenured officials are blamed for a “leadership deficit” that fails to evolve with modern international standards, keeping the system in a state of perpetual crisis.
3. Coaching and Discipline
The coaching environment has been described as “autocratic” or “controlling,” which can suppress player autonomy.
Rigid Tactics: A “win-at-all-costs” mentality or highly demanding coaching styles can lead to players being more focused on pleasing the coach than playing instinctively, causing high levels of stress and “competitive anxiety”.
Discipline Issues: Reports of players engaging in all-night parties before crucial matches suggest a lack of professional discipline, further fueling claims that the team lacks the “brains” or “shame” to represent the nation with dignity.
The prolonged 30-year armed conflict in Sri Lanka has left many military veterans and former members of the LTTE grappling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Many individuals suffering from PTSD remain undiagnosed and without treatment. The individuals affected by the conflict carry deep psychological wounds and haunting memories of war-related violence. There is a tendency for these PTSD victims to engage in violent acts.
Police reports suggest that former soldiers and some ex-members of the LTTE are involved in criminal activities and exhibit social aggression. The involvement of former military personnel, especially deserters, in criminal activities poses a considerable security threat. Authorities have observed that individuals with military training who exit the armed forces are often targeted by organized crime groups for participation in serious offences. A notable number of these individuals engage in drug-related crimes, further complicating the nation’s security landscape.
As of April 2025, Sri Lankan authorities report the arrest of approximately 1,700 individuals who deserted the military and became involved in organized crime (Balasuriya, 2025). A significant number of these individuals are likely suffering from combat-related PTSD. The increase in violent behaviour and criminal activities among former combatants presents a serious threat to civil society. Therefore, it is crucial to take immediate measures to mitigate the violence and criminality linked to these ex-combatants.
Research has consistently demonstrated a significant link between Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and aggressive behaviour (Blakey et al.,2018). According to Orth & Wieland (2006), individuals suffering from PTSD often experience heightened emotional responses, which can manifest as irritability, anger, and impulsive actions. The stress and anxiety associated with PTSD can exacerbate feelings of frustration and helplessness, further contributing to aggressive outbursts (Saffari et al., 2021).
According to Taylor and team (2020), combat veterans with PTSD face a roughly 60% higher risk of justice-system involvement. Soldiers experiencing combat trauma often face significant challenges in adjusting to civilian life. The shift from a highly structured military setting to the unpredictability of civilian life can foster feelings of isolation and disillusionment. The psychological wounds inflicted by their experiences can hinder their ability to function effectively within society. Moreover, the lack of sufficient support systems and rehabilitation programs intensifies these difficulties, sometimes driving individuals toward illicit activities as a means of coping and survival.
Research has shown that military veterans of the Vietnam War often experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which contributed to their involvement in violent and criminal behaviors (Beckham et al.,1997). One alarming case study is that of Andrew Brannan, a highly decorated Vietnam veteran who received the Bronze Star. He struggled with combat-related PTSD and was charged with the murder of a police officer in 1998. Ultimately, Brannan was executed in 2015 for his crime.
Some Soviet veterans who served in Afghanistan and experienced Afghan Syndrome, a form of PTSD, upon their return to the Soviet Union, found themselves drawn into organized crime and criminal gangs. This transition was often a response to the psychological trauma they faced, as they struggled to reintegrate into society and cope with their experiences (Schuck, 2020).
Valery Radshchikov, a former Soviet veteran of the Afghan War, was a highly decorated paratrooper who tragically lost both legs in a landmine explosion during the conflict. After returning to the Soviet Union, he became involved in criminal activities, ultimately leading a gang that orchestrated a remote-controlled bombing at the Kotlyakovskoye Cemetery in Moscow on November 10, 1996, resulting in the deaths of 14 individuals.
According to Elbogen and colleagues (2010) Some U.S. soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which has led to their involvement in violent crimes. A particularly harrowing case is that of Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, who, after being diagnosed with PTSD and a traumatic brain injury, perpetrated a horrific act by killing 16 Afghan civilians, including many women and children, while they slept in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Research indicates that Sri Lankan war veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may exhibit a propensity for violent behavior and criminal activities (Jayatunge, 2013). A specific case example may provide valuable insights into this issue.
Rathnayaka Mudiyanselage Jinadasa, known as Army Jine, was a courageous soldier in the Sri Lanka Commando unit, recognized for his remarkable combat abilities. However, the psychological toll of combat led to significant behavioral issues, resulting in disciplinary charges against him. Subsequently, Jine went absent without leave (AWOL) and engaged in a series of serious crimes, including highway robberies, murders, and rapes, while evading law enforcement by utilizing survival skills he had acquired. Reports indicate that he was responsible for nearly 27 rapes during his time on the run. His criminal activities came to an end in 2003 when he was fatally shot by police. There is substantial evidence suggesting that Army Jine suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to his military service.
Research into the factors that lead some war veterans with PTSD to engage in violent and criminal behavior has identified several key theories. One prominent explanation is the impact of trauma on emotional regulation, which can result in heightened aggression and impulsivity (Miles et al., 2015). Additionally, social and environmental influences, such as isolation and lack of support, may exacerbate these tendencies, pushing veterans towards maladaptive coping mechanisms (Elbogen et al., 2014). Furthermore, the interplay between PTSD symptoms, such as hyperarousal and re-experiencing traumatic events, can create a cycle of violence as individuals struggle to manage their distress (Chemtob et al.,1997). Exposure to trauma and its subsequent reenactment can lead military veterans with war-related psychological issues to engage in violent behavior (Van der Kolk, 1989). Understanding these theories is crucial for developing effective interventions and support systems for affected veterans.
Preventing veterans with PTSD from resorting to violent or criminal behavior is a vital concern that necessitates a comprehensive strategy. Tailored treatment and rehabilitation programs are essential to address the specific experiences and challenges these individuals face. This approach should include extensive mental health services that combine medication with proven psychological therapies, such as cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) and exposure therapy, both of which have demonstrated effectiveness in reducing PTSD symptoms (Watkins et al., 2018). Additionally, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) has also proven to be highly effective for veterans suffering from PTSD (Hurley, 2018).
Additionally, integrating support systems that involve family members and peer support groups can foster a sense of community and understanding, which is essential for recovery (Hundt et al.,2015). Furthermore, vocational training and employment assistance can provide veterans with a sense of purpose and stability, reducing the likelihood of resorting to negative coping mechanisms Davis (et al.,2018). It is also vital to ensure that these programs are accessible and culturally competent, recognizing the diverse backgrounds and needs of veterans. By implementing a holistic approach that combines psychological support, social reintegration, and practical skills development, we can significantly improve the outcomes for veterans struggling with PTSD and help them lead fulfilling lives free from violence and criminal behaviour.
Beckham, J. C., Feldman, M. E., Kirby, A. C., Hertzberg, M. A., & Moore, S. D. (1997). Interpersonal violence and its correlates in Vietnam veterans with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 53(7), 659–669.
Blakey, S. M., Love, H., Lindquist, L., Beckham, J. C., & Elbogen, E. B. (2018). Disentangling the link between posttraumatic stress disorder and violent behavior: Findings from a nationally representative sample. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 86(2), 169–178. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000253.
Davis, L. L., Leon, A. C., Vogel-Scibilia, S., Resnick, S. G., Kurz, C. P., & Drake, R. E. (2018). Effect of evidence-based supported employment vs transitional work on outcomes for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA Psychiatry, 75(4), 316–324. doi.org.
Chemtob, C. M., Novaco, R. W., Hamada, R. S., Gross, D. M., & Smith, G. (1997). Anger, hostility, and aggression in combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder: Dynamics and interventions. In A. J. Marsella, M. J. Friedman, E. T. Gerrity, & R. M. Scurfield (Eds.), Ethnocultural aspects of posttraumatic stress disorder: Issues, research, and clinical applications (pp. 319–347). American Psychological Association. doi.org.
Elbogen, E. B., Johnson, S. C., Wagner, H. R., Newton, V. M., & Beckham, J. C. (2014). Protective factors and risk modification of violence in Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 75(11), e1189–e1196. doi.org.
Elbogen, E. B., Fuller, S., Johnson, S. C., Brooks, S., Kinneer, P., & Moore, S. D. (2010). Improving risk assessment of violence among military veterans: An evidence-based approach for clinical practice. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 71(9), 1154–1160. doi.org.
Hundt, N. E., Robinson, A., Arney, J., Stanley, M. A., & Cully, J. A. (2015). “It made me realize I wasn’t alone”: A qualitative study of peer support for veterans with PTSD. Psychological Services, 12(4), 430–438. doi.org
Hurley, E. C. (2018). Effective treatment of veterans with PTSD: Comparison between intensive daily and weekly EMDR approaches. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1458. doi.org.
Jayatunge, R. M. (2013). Shell shock to Palali syndrome: PTSD Sri Lankan experience. Sarasavi Publishers.
Miles, S. R., Menefee, D. S., Wanner, J., Thompson, K. E., & Young-Xu, Y. (2015). The relationship between emotion dysregulation and impulsive aggression in a military veteran sample. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 30, 139–144. doi.org.
Orth, U., & Wieland, E. (2006). Anger, hostility, and posttraumatic stress disorder in trauma-exposed adults: A meta-analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74(4), 698–706. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.74.4.698.
Saffari, M., Lin, C.-Y., Koenig, H. G., O’Garo, K.-G. N., Broström, A., & Pakpour, A. H. (2021). Mediating role of anxiety and depression in the relationship between PTSD and aggression. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 26(1), 74–91. doi.org.
Schuck, E. (2020). Combat Brotherhood: Disabled Soviet-Afghan War Veterans, Traumatic Masculinity and the Mafia State (Doctoral dissertation). This work specifically examines how traumatized veterans became the foundation for criminal organizations in the 1990s.
Taylor, E. N., Timko, C., Nash, A., Owens, M. D., Harris, A. H., & Finlay, A. K. (2020). Posttraumatic stress disorder and justice involvement among military veterans: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 33(5), 804–812. doi.org.
Van der Kolk, B. A. (1989). The compulsion to repeat the trauma: Re-enactment, revictimization, and masochism. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 12(2), 389–411. Watkins, L. E., Sprang, K. R., & Rothbaum, B. O. (2018). Posttraumatic stress disorder: Review of evidence-based treatment protocols. Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 18(10), 767–780. doi.org
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A discussion on expanding foreign employment opportunities for retiring Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) personnel in the shipping and marine sector was held today (30 Mar), co-chaired by the Deputy Minister of Defence Major General Aruna Jayasekara (Retd) and Deputy Minister of Ports & Civil Aviation, Hon. Janitha Ruwan Kodithuwakku at the office of the Deputy Minister of Defence in Colombo.
The discussion focused on the lack of internationally recognized professional qualification certificates required for employment in the global maritime industry and the need to establish a mechanism to help retiring naval personnel obtain such qualifications.
Attention was drawn to the large number of highly trained and efficient personnel leaving the Navy each year with valuable technical expertise and experience. The participants emphasized the importance of utilizing this expertise to improve their employability in the international shipping and marine sector.
It was further noted that creating more foreign employment opportunities for these personnel would help generate valuable foreign revenue for the country in line with the Government’s policy. The need for a local mechanism to assist these retiring naval personnel to obtain internationally accepted competency qualifications was also discussed.
The meeting was also attended by the Commander of the Navy, the Additional Secretary of Defence, and the Director General of Merchant Shipping (DGMS), together with senior officials from the SLN, the Ministry of Defence (MOD), and the Merchant Shipping Secretariat (MSS).
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The claim that Senaka Weeraratna , a Sri Lankan lawyer, is the original architect of the Decision Review System (DRS) centers on his 1997 proposal for a “Player-Referral” system. While this concept is now a cornerstone of international cricket, both the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have faced significant criticism from Weeraratna and his supporters for failing to formally acknowledge his role.
The Basis of the Claim
Original Proposal (1997): Weeraratna first published his idea in a letter to The Australian on March 25, 1997. He proposed that players should have the right to challenge an umpire’s decision, which would then be reviewed by a third umpire using video technology.
Core Elements: His original plan included the four pillars of modern DRS:
Allowing players to challenge decisions.
Routing appeals through the captain or dismissed batsman.
Review by a third umpire.
Limiting the number of unsuccessful appeals per innings.
Global Publication: Between 1997 and 1999, his concept was featured in major international outlets, including The Times of London, Dawn (Pakistan), and Time Magazine.
The Dispute with the ICC
Independent Development Claim: The ICC asserts that its committees reached the concept independently and were unaware of Weeraratna’s publications.
Legal Arguments: Supporters argue the ICC is bound by the Doctrine of Constructive Notice, meaning they should be legally presumed to have known about the concept due to its extensive media coverage years before the ICC adopted the system in 2008-2009.
Lack of Named Inventor: Unlike the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method, the DRS has no officially recognized individual inventor, which critics view as a deliberate omission.
Role of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC)
Allegations of Inaction: Critics and Weeraratna himself have accused Sri Lanka Cricket and the Sri Lankan government of a “laid-back attitude” and failing to vigorously champion the claim at the ICC level.
Past Efforts: In August 2008, SLC did make a formal submission to the ICC on Weeraratna’s behalf, providing a folder of his published contributions, but the ICC proceeded with trials without granting him credit. An Appointment was made in 2008 by SLC for Weeraratna to meet David Richardson (CEO of ICC) in Colombo when he was visiting Sri Lanka. Having agreed to meet Weeraratna, Richardson reneged on his promise and left the country (Sri Lanka) on the night before the day of the appointment. No follow up. No apologies for being in breach of a promise made to both SLC and Senaka Weeraratna. Lack of sensitivity to people of colour is a standard behaviour in South Africa, the home country of David Richardson.
Internal Criticism: Some observers such as Shenali Waduge suggest that “jealousy” or “spite” within local administration may have hindered more forceful advocacy for this national intellectual achievement.
Wider Impact
Beyond cricket, Weeraratna’s supporters claim his “Player Referral” concept served as the fundamental blueprint for technology-based review systems in other major sports, such as VAR in soccer and Hawk-Eye challenges in tennis.
Evidence suggests that the Decision Review System (DRS) has strong roots in a “Player-Referral” concept proposed by Sri Lankan lawyer Senaka Weeraratna in 1997, yet the ICC has not officially acknowledged him, nor has Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) strongly campaigned for this recognition
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Key Aspects of the DRS Credit Controversy:
Original Proposal: Weeraratna proposed the “Player Referral” concept—allowing players to challenge on-field umpire decisions—in a letter to The Australian on March 25, 1997, nine years before the ICC’s 2006 adoption of the system.
Evidence of Authorship: Weeraratna argues that the fundamental elements of the DRS (now in use globally) are adapted from his published ideas, which were circulated internationally.
ICC’s Stance: The ICC has denied knowledge of the 1997 proposal and maintained that its committees independently developed the DRS, a position that supporters say ignores the legal “Doctrine of Constructive Notice” given the extensive media coverage at the time.
Missed Recognition: Unlike the Duckworth-Lewis method, which is named after its creators, the DRS does not credit its original author, leading to allegations of “bullying tactics” by the ICC to avoid acknowledging a Sri Lankan inventor.
SLC’s Role and Alleged Inaction:
Lack of Proactive Support: Critics argue that SLC has often been “neutral or indifferent” to the issue, despite Weeraratna providing evidence to the board.
Initial Action Followed by Lull: While SLC did make a submission to the ICC on behalf of Weeraratna in August 2008, subsequent follow-up has been described as weak.
Political Factors: Some observers allege that former SLC officials “shied away” from pushing the case to avoid damaging their personal relationships or securing “perks” from the ICC.
The Struggle for Credit:
“WDRS” Proposal: Supporters suggest renaming the system the “Weeraratna Decision Review System” (WDRS) to ensure recognition.
Call for Government Action: Advocates have urged the Sri Lankan Sports Ministry to force SLC to actively pursue this matter, arguing it is a significant intellectual achievement for the country.
Legal Action: Legal teams have been instructed to pursue formal acknowledgement of authorship.
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If there was one thing that was sure to happen as an external factor that would affect the economy of Sri Lanka, it was the turmoil in the Middle East. This has been a constant since 1948 when Israel was established. All governments and organizations that have existed in this country have either had to deal with a war or some kind of disruption in the Middle East. Historically most of them have completely and utterly failed to deal with this issue preemptively, which now in all probability is going to becoming a long term certainty. The current government, government owned business undertakings and the other private businesses in Sri Lanka at this time is no exception; no contingencies only reactive crisis mitigation action at the cost of the public. 
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