Asma: One Strong Story – Well Said
Many knew Asma Jahangir for her brilliance, and for the celebration of diversity that she always was. She was a beacon of hope as a dogged defender of human rights and a…
Author: Dilrukshi Handunnetti
Remembering Lasantha, eight years on
Photo via Way back in 2007, when I was assigned one of the biggest investigative stories I were to ever undertake, our editor Lasantha Wickrematunge sent me a text message with a…
Presidential polls 2015: An electoral trial on biased fortunetelling
AFP PHOTO STR/AFP/Getty Images via The Guardian I don’t know much about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reliance on astrology, despite India being a land full of astrologers – those with credibility…
Why people seek a change
Photo courtesy IPS Today, January 8, approximately 15 million Sri Lankans will seek to elect the island’s next president at a tightly-contested presidential election. The chosen day is a special one. It…
Five years of vanquished journalism: A self critique
Image courtesy Grassrooted For nearly three decades, it remained Sri Lanka’s biggest story. Over the years, the resplendent island became known, not for its human development indicators or as a vibrant democracy,…
Archiving multiple drafts of history
Presentation by Dilrukshi Handunnetti delivered at panel discussion on 25th August 2013, as part of the ‘30 Years Ago‘ exhibition. Photograph courtesy The Ravaya Collection. My first memories of July 1983 remain vivid. There…
Putting paid to the Government’s false claims: The new IDPs in Sri Lanka
Editors note: On the day Menik Farm was officially closed, an urgent memo was circulated widely on the fate of the IDPs from Keppapilavu. The memo adds vital context to the following…
Excellence in exile
Battered and bleeding, journalist Poddala Jayantha lay on his hospital bed when we visited him on June 2, 2009. He was lucky to be alive after being brutally assaulted by a group…
Beyond the war psyche in Sri Lanka
Dust is finally settling on the euphoria generated by last year’s military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Old concerns naturally give way to the new and a year…
Post-presidential elections: The new challenges before Sri Lanka
Citizens are living through a politically decisive week with just days to elect Sri Lanka’s next Executive President. The next elected Chief Executive, unlike his predecessors, will acquire a unique place in…
A bitter feud and an ugly media spectacle in the lead up to Presidential elections
This presidential election is unlike any other. There are no manifestos published yet to augment a healthy political debate and policies do not appear to concern the two main candidates. At this…
The wages of passivity
Sri Lanka’s Muslims have long kept quiet while Tamil militancy has made its own demands. Now they are becoming restive, fearing that silence may have cost them too much. By | Dilrukshi…