12 Years of Seeking Hope After Three Decades of War
May 18, 2021 marks 12 years since the end of the war. It must be an occasion for us as Sri Lankans to assess progress we have made in addressing root causes…
Politics and Governance
Understanding Covid-19 Variants
Photo courtesy of Financial Times Sri Lanka, similar to many other countries in the region, is facing a rapid surge in the number of COVID-19 cases. On May 9, Sri Lanka recorded…
Extra-Judicial Killings – Dud Grenades and Smoking Guns
Photo courtesy of The Daily Star Last week brought the news of the deaths of two underworld figures – Melon Mabula alias Uru Jawa and Tharaka Perera Wijesekera, alias Kosgoda Tharaka. Both…
Powerful and Connected? Go to the Head of the Queue
Photo courtesy of Think Global Health After much persuading from friends I finally went to get my Covid vaccine. The whole of last week I tried to book a time and place…
Working for Peace and Pluralism: A Sisyphian Task
Photo courtesy of World of the Written Word Today is the International Day of Living Together in Peace According to Greek legend, Sisyphus has the wretched task of rolling a huge boulder…
The Case of the Poet Without a Voice
Photo courtesy of WSWS “We will grit our teeth and with submission to god, wait, even if the adversary aims at us the stone in the catapult sling, and aims the arrow…
Won the “War” but Lost the Law
Calling a civil conflict or a civil war, a war itself, is very misleading. Wars are fought with external enemies. However, civil conflict or a civil war is a fight that takes…
Ban on Chemical Fertilizer a Threat to Food Security
The ban on the import of chemical fertilizer makes sense to some and not to others; however it has far reaching implications for food security. In the pre independence era, the population…
Why States Must Not be Left to Their Own Devices
Image Courtesy of The Sunday Observer It is a curious thing to imagine the state of human rights around the world if national leaders were simply left to their own devices. Fortunately,…
Burqa Ban Undermines National Security and Human Rights
Photo courtesy of The Telegraph The Sri Lankan Cabinet has agreed a ban on wearing burqas and other full face veils in public, which is almost certain to be approved by Parliament….
Human–Elephant Conflict: Lessons Not Learnt
Photo courtesy of Rohan Wijesinha “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” George Santayana In 1949, a year after Sri Lanka gained independence, a Committee on the Preservation…
Freedom of Expression: Where Do We Stand?
Photo courtesy of Sri Lanka Brief Today is World Press Freedom Day with the theme “Information as a Public Good” “Stifling the peaceful expression of legitimate dissent today can only result, inexorably, in…
Has the Animal Welfare Bill Fallen by the Wayside?
Photo courtesy of NY Daily News The images are harrowing and all too familiar – an electrocuted baby elephant, a caged dog, a leopard caught in a trap, a butchered dolphin; accounts…
Ramadan with a Ban: Face Masks On, Niqabs Off
Photo courtesy of Twitter Ramadan for many of us Muslims is a month of peace and spirituality, a month of tolerance, speaking good words, sharing good thoughts and connecting with God and…
Commissions of Inquiry: Grave Threat to Democracy and Judicial Independence
Photo courtesy of Sri Lanka Mirror Several initiatives have already been taken to implement the recommendations of the final report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into political victimization (the CoI) including…
