Last year, Covid dominated all conversations and contributed to the further exacerbation of a multitude of existing man-made environmental and conservation disasters. “Sadly, conservation management decisions seem now to be made at…
Hobson’s choice is not that bad because it offers you two options: you can either take what is offered or take nothing at all. However, the tradition of parents indoctrinating children with…
This article explains a framework for analysing Sri Lankan state formation and understanding the current challenges that the country is facing. My interest in state formation began when trying to make sense…
We cared for Indira Gandhi. She understood Lankan Tamil plight and the need for redress, return of lands, control over local affairs. And how could a liberation movement win without…
My Lunches with Orson is the title of a collection of interviews that Henry Jaglom, a US avant-garde filmmaker, did with Orson Welles over a period of two years (1983-1985). It is…
Panama is a remote village at the southern end of the eastern province in the Ampara district. The slogan often used in land struggles, land is life, is true for most people…
A Supreme Court judgement, a new US law, Canadian sanctions and United Nations evidence gathering are making it increasingly hard for Sri Lanka’s past and present rulers to avoid accountability for large…
Religion doesn’t exist in the singular in reality. In the real world it exists only in the plural – over 4,000 religions although some place the number as high as 10,000. With…
Braving sharks, venomous snakes and their own human frailty, the pearl fishers of the Gulf of Mannar would plunge deep into the depths of the Indian Ocean to secure their prizes; pristine,…
Speaking in Parliament in 1996, Anura Bandaranaike dwelt on the legacy of his father and mother. He spoke of how the world had viewed Sri Lanka in their time and how it…
The past few weeks have seen a rapid escalation of justice and accountability mechanisms on the national and international landscape for Sri Lanka’s gross human rights violators; the nooses are tightening around…
Sudden death has been at the centre of my life the past few weeks. Two deaths that required me to navigate the legal systems of four countries. This entailed multiple visits to…
January is usually a grim indication of the perilous state of human rights in Sri Lanka. It is reminder of the many cases that have gone unpunished with perpetrators still at large….
A murder of crows peck at a katta karawala carcass outside a stretch of fishing wadiyas as the sun sets, leaving a long shadow over the Mullaitivu beach. Every now and again…
Among the reprisals faced by prominent leaders of the people’s uprising last year were arrests, detentions, travel bans and continuing court cases. Many leaders have multiple court cases pending against them despite…
