Defeating MR: All but impossible
By Victor Ivan The forthcoming budget will be decisive to the United National Party (UNP) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). The 1978 Constitution gave absolute power to the president. Defeating an…
Year: 2007
Are we winning hearts and minds?
“The guerilla fights the war of the flea, and his military enemy suffers the dog’s disadvantages: too much to defend; too small, ubiquitous, and agile an enemy to come to grips with,”…
Consensus building for peace
By Godfrey Gunatilleke What are the fundamental principles that should govern a process that seeks to achieve a lasting peace? How does the public view the present military strategy of weakening the…
Views of the Periphery – A presidential candidate with a transitional programme
By Sumanasiri Liyanage Somewhere in 2003 when the issue of interim administration for Northern and Eastern Provinces was raised, some, including myself, argued that the country should adopt an interim or transitional…
The fear of Jaffna
By Shanthi Sachithanandam “Last night was full moon Oh you Sinhala Buddhist For whom breaking even an egg on a full moon day is Adharma How come lives of Tamil people became…
The JVP in Sri Lanka – Where to now?
Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, JVP MP, speaking at a party conference in Gampaha, reported in , 17th October 2007 I associate the JVP with darkness. I remember how my mother stitched thick, black…
Too tired to say ‘human rights’
I got a glimpse of Louise Arbour last Thursday, late in the afternoon. She had just completed her meeting with Mano Ganeshan and some family members of the disappeared. Arbour peered out…
Post Arbour
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour has concluded her visit to Sri Lanka. At the conclusion of her visit she released a press statement, the highlights of which are worth…
Louise Arbour and Mahinda Rajapakse
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is finally in the island, due, in no small measure, to the campaign of local civil society and international human rights organisations to get the…
Disappearance
As a family we lived amidst many challenges in the past few years never wanting to leave the peninsula which will always be our home. Even though we witnessed very many battles…
FEDERALISM AND THE UNP
Much has been said and written about the UNP’s supposed abandonment of federalism during the past week. Much of it completely misses the point. Whatever are the politics and motivations behind the…
One step forward, two steps back
Pradeep Peiris, Anupama M. Ranawana October 2007-10-03 Ranil Wickremasinghe has been labelled as the United National Party’s most unsuccessful leader to date. Whether you agree with this statement or not, it is…
The Government’s farcical international relations
The traditional Sinhala press has failed to report on the unmitigated farce that constituted the President’s recent visit to New York and the United Nations and the dire state of Sri Lanka’s…
On the UNP’s “Repositioning”
The announcement by the United National Party (UNP) that it is “repositioning” itself on the issue of a political settlement of the ethnic conflict has been received with praise for pragmatism in…
Federalism or Nationalism? Fears and Promises
Many states, especially in the developing world are torn between entrenched mononationalism and the need to keep with the changing world. It is precisely because the ultimate aim of all human efforts…