Beauty
What beauty in camps? I sit in my favourite chair listening to Beethoven’s last sonata, slient breezes in time. to the music. My world creates a sonata The other shatters all possibility…
Year: 2009
Exclusive video interview with Somawansa Amarasinghe, the Leader of JVP, in English
Two weeks after I had interviewed Prof. Tissa Vitharana on, among other things, the full implementation of the 13th Amendment, I spoke with the Leader of the JVP Somawansa Amarasinghe for his…
Interview with Prof. Tissa Vitharana on the 13th Amendment, Constitutional Reform, IT and English language
I began my conversation with Prof. Tissa Vitharana, Minister of Science and Technology and Chair of the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) by asking him about the state of play in Information…
Liberation
You claimed to liberate hostages, to conduct the largest rescue operation in history. In other countries people robbed of freedoms, rescued, are treated by doctors, then sent home to be greeted usually…
Sri Lanka: Spice Island or Bland Nation?
Located strategically in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka was a hub in the maritime silk and spice routes for millennia. It drew traders from the east and west for both business and…
Responses and clarifications on Sri Lanka: Is the war really over?
[Editors note: This is a detailed response to over 30 comments left on and read over 2,500 times to date.] Though several comments made on my article were not directly related to the…
An eye-witness account of IDP camp conditions in Sri Lanka
[Editors note: The dire conditions of internment in camps that are home to well over a quarter of a million fellow citizens are unknown to many. Fears of inflammatory and inaccurate journalism,…
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Belonging
The island belongs to centipede, rat, butterfly, lots of species each with their own habitats, and supervising all arable and fallow land the president king. Minorities may enjoy clean living in freshly…
Re-founding Sri Lanka: Reform and Renovation
We have a once –in-generations chance to re-found Sri Lanka, to build Sri Lanka anew. To do so, we must be both hard and soft; and vigilant as hawks and as conciliatory…
The IDP situation in Sri Lanka: Let’s keep things real and a response to Rohini Hensman
[Editors note: This article was published in , also on Sunday. Update – Rohini Hensman’s response to this article is now featured on here.] Rohini Hensman is absolutely right when she asserts…
Sri Lanka: Is the war really over?
The end of the conventional war in the north and the east of Sri Lanka witnessed the almost total annihilation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) including its leadership. However,…
The Politics of Post-War Sri Lanka
As Paul Berman once wrote, “somewhere in the world it is always 1941”. There comes a time in the life of every society when it is faced with an existential threat or…
Trial of the Potato Farmer
A trial takes place in a tent at the foot of the mountain. It is me, your potato farmer on trial. Accused of being an intellectual who failed to play a role…
Why are the Vanni civilians still being held hostage?
Image courtesy Throughout the last stages of the civil war, the government of Sri Lanka claimed to be engaged in a hostage rescue mission on behalf of civilians in the Vanni who…
