We woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of screeching tires, booming exhausts and the smell of burning rubber recently. My cousin’s children had nightmares and could not…
Photo courtesy Deborah Philip It was my sense after May 18, 2009 when the LTTE was defeated that Sri Lanka was missing an opportunity to redefine itself as part of a kinder,…
On 4 February, Sri Lanka celebrated its 63rd birthday. After nearly three decades of armed conflict, it is now one of Southasia’s calmest and fastest-growing countries. Its social indicators, apart from the…
“Just then they came in sight of thirty or forty windmills that rise from that plain. And no sooner did Don Quixote see them that he said to his squire, “Fortune is…
“Counter-terrorism is terrorism’s best ally.” –Joseba Zulaika in “Terrorism: The Self-Fulfilling Prophesy” (2009) On April 12, 2010 the majority of citizens of the island’s two main linguistic communities celebrated the “Sinhala and…
[Editors note: Read Part 1 of this article here.] Economic and Governance Challenges in Post-conflict Areas The Rajapakse government is increasingly dovetailing its policies to make Lanka a destination of Indian and…
In the heydays of the Non-Aligned Movement Sri Lanka’s politicians and diplomats wielded an influence disproportionate to the county’s size on the international stage. However, the last 30 years of armed conflict…
Sri Lanka was once a ‘model democracy’ with a welfare state and social indicators that were the envy of the developing world. Hence, there was great optimism that life would return to…
The US government, which wields considerable influence at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has sought to delay Sri Lanka’s USD 1.9 billion loan appeal. Washington’s hesitance is tied to the context of…
Spontaneous street parties broke out, fireworks crackled in the air and strangers offered flowers to soldiers to celebrate the news in Colombo – Asia’s Idi Amin was no more! One of the…
On 24 April 2005 Dharmaratnam Sivaram, (‘Taraki’) editorial board member of the website Tamilnet, was found shot dead from gunshot wounds to the head several hours after four unidentified persons had abducted…
It looks like one of the more winnable conflicts in an age of the global ‘war on terror’. The Sri Lankan government appears to be on the brink of announcing victory in…
