Situation Analysis

The return of an authoritarian oligarchy in Sri Lanka could be stopped by a united stand of democratic forces Sri Lanka is again at the crossroads with presidential elections due before December 9, 2019. The political drive since the newly formed Rajapaksa-led Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), which swept the local government polls in February […]

A Madarasa in Kathankudy, SLB photo. Islam is a religion of peace: the word, a verbal noun meaning submission (to God), is etymologically related to the word salaam, meaning peace. So, how is it that a religion of peace practiced by traditional Sri Lankan Muslims for thousands of years in harmony and co-existence with Buddhists, Hindus […]

Another story about ragging in universities had made headlines last week. 19 senior students of Ruhuna University were remanded after being arrested over an incident where a new student from Gampaha had been inhumanly tortured during ragging. They had been arrested after the victim student, seemingly a courageous boy had published the nightmare he had […]

In Sri Lanka, injustice takes manifestly queer twists and turns. A State signs an international convention on the solemn understanding that it will conform to those obligations. It passes a Constitution or enacts a law consequent to a pact entered into with citizens promising that narrow interests of one specific power bloc or agitators will […]

(UCAN ) Catholics in Sri Lanka have protested after a stone was allegedly thrown at a statue of St. Sebastian at a church where more than 100 people died in the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks. Police and soldiers were deployed to Katuwapitiya on Aug. 6 when about 100 protesters gathered outside St. Sebastian’s Church to demand […]

06th August, 2019. Civil Society Statement in support of Reforming the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act We, the undersigned civil society organisations and individuals urge the Government of Sri Lanka to take immediate steps to reform the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA). The failure to reform the MMDA has been a long-standing issue that successive […]

After visiting Shakthika Sathkumara in prison, I sat down to write about this writer who should never have spent a single day behind bars, let alone four months, for a short story he wrote. Then I reconsidered. Self-censorship — that is the real enemy of freedom of expression and that is what governments and other […]

Image: Political prisoner Thevathasan Kanagasabai . Early this week, Tamil political prisoner Thevathasan Kanagasabai (62) alias Nadan incarcerated in the high-security Welikada Prison agreed to suspend his fast unto death protest following the intervention of Minister Mano Ganesan. Kanagasabai was into the ninth day of a hunger strike demanding that he be granted bail to […]

By Ana Pararajasingham. In view of its strategic location in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka is of interest to both Washington and Beijing as they seek to increase their presence in the Indian Ocean. Washington’s latest attempt to improve its position in Sri Lanka involves renegotiating the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) originally signed in mid-1995 when […]

In the last few weeks there has been hype about reforming the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA). Irrespective of three decades of struggle to reform this archaic Act by Muslim women, Muslim Members of Parliament (MPs) have only now come forward to iron out differences in the two sets of recommendations given by Justice […]

Image courtesy of The National: During the anti-Muslim violence in places like Kurunegala, Hettipola and Minuwangoda where 29 mosques were damaged. (Asiantribue.com) Sri Lankan business chambers have failed to stand with Muslim owned SMEs at a darkest hour. “It was very sad for me to see the silence of Chamber of Commerce as the backlash on Muslim owned […]

Image: “So, please remember this and the earlier  you do it, the better. If you do not do it and abstain from doing the right thing, I do not think the Tamil people will take it lying down for too long,” Sampanthan tells the govt. NEW CONSTITUTION WITH NATIONAL CONSENSUS. R. Sampanthan. Mr. Deputy Speaker, […]

Today in this House it is the UNP that is in Government. The responsibility is with you. The Prime Minister became the Chairman of the Steering Committee that has met over 80 times and has brought two comprehensive reports. The second one includes a draft of the constitution made by the experts to the steering […]

By reportedly asking the nation’s rulers to resign, Archbishop of Colombo, His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith may have crossed the Rubicon on politicising his Catholic faith more than already in this weeks and months after the Easter Sunday serial-blasts. By mentioning State Minister Ranjan Ramanayake’s Catholic faith while seeking action against him for his criticising […]

  In April this year, Ahimsa Wickrematunge filed a lawsuit against former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the District Court of Central California, alleging his involvement in her father Lasantha Wickrematunge’s 2009 assassination. In response, on 27 June, a petition was filed on behalf of Rajapaksa before the District Court, requesting a dismissal of Ahimsa […]

A woman hangs dresses at Timex garments factory in Wattala, Sri Lanka ,June 13, 2018. Credit: Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters. By Sandya Hewamanne. The Modern Slavery Act was seen as a big achievement for combating the issue of forced labor. But since it was passed by the UK government in 2015, many have pointed out its shortcomings. In […]

Image: Anti-Muslim riots at Digana, March 2018 file photo/SO. The recent Easter attacks targeting a number of churches and hotels devastated Sri Lanka. Over 250 people were killed, and many more injured. Within days of the attack, it emerged that the perpetrators of the attack were affiliated to radical Islamist groups in Sri Lanka. However, the […]

By Bilesha Weeraratne. Remittances make an indispensable contribution to the Sri Lankan economy. In 2018, despite experiencing a decline for the second consecutive year, the country received remittances of over $ 7 billion, accounting for 7.9% of the GDP. Often, remittances to Sri Lanka are attributed to temporary migrant workers and viewed from a national […]

Image:BBS Secretary Gnanasara Thero. The 7 July ‘Rally of the Un-Enlightened’ (Colombo Telegraph, 4 July), that fizzled out without the expected turnout of 10,000 Buddhist monks, was the most emphatic demonstration yet by the majority Sinhala Buddhists that they would not allow hatred and bigotry to hijack the millennial legacy of peaceful coexistence of different […]

Speech delivered by Hon R Sampanthan MP, at Matara on 7th July 2019, at the event to felicitate Hon Mangala Samraweera MP, Minister completion of 30 years in active politics. Hon Mangala Samaraweera my dear friend for a long time, Hon Sajith Premadasa Minister, Hon Ministers Hon State Ministers, Hon Deputy Ministers Hon Members of […]

There is palpable confusion in the air. Is Sri Lanka’s Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujitha Jayasundara, arrested this week along with former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando on a range of offences under the Penal Code, including murder and causing death by negligence, still holding the position of head of the police force, albeit being […]

Image: Sri Lankan security officers inspect vandalized shops owned by Muslims in Minuwangoda, a suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, May 14, 2019.  © 2019 AP Photo/Chamila Karunarathne (New York) – Authorities in Sri Lanka should end arbitrary arrests and other abuses against Muslims and appropriately protect the community from violence, Human Rights Watch said today. Since the Easter […]

Vishwamithra. “A Boss in Heaven is the best excuse for a boss on earth, therefore If God did exist, he would have to be abolished.’’ ~ Mikhail Bakunin  Being born a Buddhist, educated at one of the leading Buddhist schools in Colombo and for that matter by one of the greatest erudite scholarly monks at […]

Image: Dr. Seigu Siyabdeen Mohammed Shafi . By The Sunday Morning News Desk. Severe shortcomings and irregularities including the submission of fabricated and falsified facts by high-level Police officials in relation to the case filed against Dr. Seigu Siyabdeen Mohammed Shafi attached to the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital, have been unearthed by the Police Criminal Investigation Department […]

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) categorically condemns Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena’s endorsement of death warrants of four people convicted of drug-related offences. Today, the ICJ urged the President to stop the imminent execution of these four  convicts and to respect the de facto moratorium Sri Lanka has observed on capital punishment that over the past 43 […]

The Easter Sunday attacks compelled local Muslims to engage in self – introspection of the unfolding wave of radicalization and Arabization of their community. That is a welcome development in an otherwise heinous carnage. Especially so since, until the serial monstrosity on the Easter Sunday, a vocal group of Muslims were defending the on-going transformation […]

Image; Shakthika Sathkumara When protective laws turn offensive -Tharumalee Silva. Even though we cannot declare Ardha a successful short story, Sathkumara’s arrest threatens writers and artists’ right to freedom of expression. Furthermore, if he was in the wrong, he should’ve been tried under the Penal Code rather than under the ICCPR Act – Writers’ Organisation […]

“Muslim people don’t love us… I say don’t go to those shops. Don’t eat or drink from those shops…. It is clear that they are a group who gave poison to our people, who tried to destroy our people… I think that the younger generation who eats (from them) will not have children in the […]

Image: The child’s home, a ramshackle shack. (ST) This week, a small child died of malnutrition in Tissamaharama at the same time that Sri Lanka’s Parliament debated the passing of millions of public funds to purchase luxury vehicles for Ministers as well as former President and current Opposition Leader, Mahinda Rajapaksa. Laid out in her white […]

Image: President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Asgiriya Chapter temple in Kandy, to open a new Pirivena building on the premises in 2009 (File photo) It is generally assumed we have passed the stone age, the bronze age, the iron age, the industrial age and the space age. After a breathtaking dive in to the digital age, […]