Fundamentalism

By Kishali Pinto Jayawardene  Religious fundamentalists of all faiths have just one attribute in common. The beliefs that they profess are a mere cloak, hiding maggots crawling around in their minds feasting on hate, bigotry and ignorance. These are not new tales but rather the lessons taught by humankind’s devastation through millennia as a result […]

It sounds like an oxymoron, but it is starting to smell that way. The controversy over destruction of a mosque near the Golden Temple of Dambulla—a Buddhist cave-temple in central Sri Lanka which has been a pilgrimage destination since the third century, and is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site—bears echoes of the 1992 destruction […]

”This is not the time for a blame-game. The crying need is to restore our lost values and marginalize the fascist forces who try to re-create communal and religious tensions in the country. The need is for all democratic forces to get together and seek a consensual approach to meeting these threats.” by Shanie “I many […]

Global Tamil Forum (GTF) strongly condemns the Sri Lankan Government’s complicity in the orders for the removal of the Muslim mosque in Dambulla, central Sri Lanka. GTF is profoundly disturbed by the attacks on the mosque by a minority, yet in their thousands as reported, of extremist Sri Lankan Buddhists led by monks on 20 […]

An alliance member of the Sri Lankan government on Saturday decided to support protests against a decision to relocate a mosque in central Sri Lanka.  The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress which has members in the Sri Lankan cabinet, met for several hours to decide its position on the mosque issue.Following the meeting, party leader and […]

The JHU, a key partner in the UPFA government, says it is keeping a close watch over whether the order by prime minister D.M. Jayaratne for the removal of a mosque in the Dambulla sacred area is implemented.In a statement, JHU leader Ven. Omalpe Sobhitha Thera says certain politicians and others have made statements, challenging […]

Screen Shot 2012-04-24 at 11.08.16 PM The Mahanayaka of the Rangiri Dambulu chapter Inamaluwe Sumangala thero, one of the key figures in the on-going tensions in Dambulla over the presence of a mosque and kovil near his Temple, perhaps in response to the public outcry against the violence instigated by him, has told the BBC […]

”He warned that the latest effort of this conspiracy was the tension caused between Buddhists and Muslims regarding the mosque that has been located within the Dambulla sacred zone. He claimed that this was a clear sign of a Muslim invasion which has been endorsed by certain people in the government whom he claimed should […]

Sri Lanka’s government has advised the trustees of a 60-year-old Muslim mosque north of the capital to relocate the structure after angry protests by Buddhist monks. Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne reacted after demonstrations by monks and their followers on Friday triggered tension in the pilgrim town of Dambulla.“The prime minister as minister of Buddhist and […]

A new inter-ethnic and inter-confessional conflict has broken out In Sri Lanka – a country where a bloody civil war had ended only three years ago. On Friday, a crowd led by Buddhist monks gathered near a mosque building in the town of Dambulla, thus interfering with the Muslims’ Friday prayer. Muslims were forced to […]

Sri Lankan officials have decided to demolish a mosque and a Hindu temple under pressure from Buddhist monks who demanded their removal from a Buddhist sacred area.Ruling party lawmaker Lakshman Perera said Monday that the places of worship and other buildings will be relocated to sites outside the designated sacred zone within six months. Thousands […]

Patali Champika Ranawaka Some years ago, the question of the ownership of the Kachchathivu Islands was raised in the chamber of India’s Lok Sabha. Opposition lawmakers demanded to know why India was bowing down before a small nation like Sri Lanka and having its pride insulted. In reply, the leaders of India’s Congress party said […]

Nalin de SilvaThe UNHRC wants Sri Lanka to implement the LLRC report and to monitor the implementation. The UNP shouts from roof tops that if the government had implemented the LLRC report then nothing would have happened in Geneva as far as Sri Lanka is concerned. It is true that the LLRC was appointed by […]

All provincial councils, excepting the Sabaragamuwa PC, have rejected a Health Ministry plan to raise reproductive health awareness among schoolchildren.The other PCs are of the view that the subject is irrelevant for schoolchildren. Deputy minister of health Lalith Dissanayake said these PCs have mixed up reproductive health education with sex education. He said the government […]

The Alliance of Media Organizations is disturbed by the recent wave of hate speeches and slanderous personal attacks directed against media personnel and human rights activists in the country, in the aftermath of the United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution on Sri Lanka.Last week, Minister Mervyn Silva, addressing a public rally, threatened to ‘break the […]

Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh is an American agent, who is an accomplice to the plot against Sri Lanka, alleges the Patriotic National Movement.Speaking to the media in Colombo today (Mar. 21), PNM chairman Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekara said the imperialist conspiracy by the US and India has now been revealed. Meanwhile, the National Sangha Conference […]

Minister Wimal Weerawansa hit headlines in international media yesterday when he urged the nation to boycott American products such as gmail, google, McDonalds, KFC and beverages to show Sri Lanka’s resistance to the impending US resolution on Sri Lanka which is to be presented at the 19th session of the UNHRC in Geneva.  Addressing a […]

Minister Wimal Weerawansa says he is asking bishop of Jaffna Rev. Rayappu Joseph by the name of God not to further fuel hatred or sabotage country’s peace.Thirty one northern catholic clergy, including the Mannar bishop, have issued a very serious statement, claiming war crimes in Sri Lanka, contrary to the statement by the catholic bishops, […]

Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities Minister, Wimal Weerawansa said the resolution to be moved against Sri Lanka by the US at the UNHRC sessions is the first ‘experiment’ by the US and other human rights fighters to interfere in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka. The Minister in an interview with the Sunday […]

The nominated parliamentarian of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) M.A. Sumanthiran faced the brunt of public enragement in Jaffna on Wednesday, for reflecting the stand of the USA and India, in handing over even the last of the trumps of Eezham Tamils to Sri Lankan state, by internalizing war-crimes accountability and political solution. Washington allegedly backs […]

 Dr.Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri The end of the war is certainly not the end of the conflict that led to the military confrontation between the military forces of Sri Lanka state and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). This conflict surfaces in different guises, the military episode being only one. It is well-known that conflicting […]

Senior lawyer Gomin Dayasri yesterday warned that the role played by the Maldivian police in ousting democratically elected Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed, early this week, had highlighted the danger of giving in to the TNA’s demand for devolution of police powers.“Vesting the Northern and Eastern Provinces with police powers will cause unprecedented chaos and such […]

Leader of the Plot party Dharmalingam Sidhrathan stated international intervention cannot be stopped until the continuation of major communal problem in this country. Commenting on the statement released by the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) Sidharthan stated According to JHU  government should not implement the proposals made by the LLRC commission.While speaking this regard he further […]

National Freedom Front Leader and Housing Minister Wimal Weerawansa said yesterday that he and his party were awaiting the decisions of the Parliamentary Select Committee to decide whether to continue as a constituent party of the government.Weerawansa, responding to a question as to whether he and his party would leave the government in the event […]

Interview   Udaya Gammanpila, legal advisor JHUQ: There have been numerous attempts to solve the so-called ethnic issue through initiatives such as the Indo-Sri Lanka peace accord, the ISGA, and the CFA. What is your solution to this issue?The first pact between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil leaders took place in 1958, which was […]

 JHU’s Patali Champika Ranawaka has said that time has come for Sri Lankans to rise up against western countries who are trying to create havoc in the island.  He was addressing a recent seminar on the LLRC report.  Mr. Ranawaka said India nor any western nation believed Sri Lanka would win the war, and after […]

Tiger fascism and Sinhala supremacism: two inimical but mutually sustaining extremisms which have been the bane of post-independence Ceylon/Sri Lanka. Sinhala supremacism created a language issue, prevented its resolution and enabled its metamorphosis into an ethnic problem.  Tiger fascism rendered a negotiated settlement of the war impossible and murdered many Sinhala and Tamil moderates who […]

Continuing its strong line against the LLRC report, the JHU warns of a strong political decision if the government goes ahead with implementing the commission recommendations.JHU spokesman Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe said they have already made their strong objections known to the LLRC report.He was responding to a question by ‘Srilankamirror’ over a remark by UNP’s […]

 (AP) — A Roman Catholic nun from Mother Teresa’s charity who had been accused of running a “baby farm” has been cleared by a Sri Lankan court of any potential charges.Judge Yvonne Fernando discharged Sister Mary Eliza on Thursday without presenting charges. Eliza, from Mother Teresa of Calcutta’s Missionaries of Charity, was arrested last month […]

Last weekend I received a call from a friend who was understandably outraged. On the way to her estate to join her husband who had been working there for some days, she was instructed by him to stop and buy a bottle of old arrack en route. She went to the Chilaw Food City only […]