A Stake Through the Ideological Heart
Hours after losing the presidency, Mahinda Rajapaksa climbed on to a windowsill in his ancestral home and informed a crowd of grieving supporters, “We must remember they got their majority vote from…
Search Results for: digana
Is COVID Only an Interlude in Cycles of Violence and Conflict?
The European Union threatening our precious garment exports to that rich market? As we sit at home stuck in front of various video screens while the curfews, so-called ‘travel restrictions’ and ‘lockdowns’,…
Patriot, Bared
The Rajapaksas are at war. Not with the pandemic but with those who inform the public about the pandemic. Sudharshini Fernandopulle, the only minister who seems to possess a brain, a vertebra…
Ramadan with a Ban: Face Masks On, Niqabs Off
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 religion. There’s much I…
Playing With Fire
As he watched his son’s body being placed in the crematorium, Mohammed Fahim stood outside the cemetery, weeping. “How could I watch my baby being burned,” demanded the Muslim man, whose faith…
Democracy: The Sri Lankan Way
The democratic ideal sounds simple enough. All citizens have a say in their system of governance, typically through elected representatives. The concept has been a part of Sri Lankan politics since as…
Disappearances in Sri Lanka: Struggles by Families and Reprisals
In different parts of Sri Lanka, families of the disappeared came together to hold events to commemorate the UN Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances on August 30. In Digana (Central province), families held…
In Defence of Dissent: Before, During and After COVID-19
There is a clear global trend of curtailing freedom of expression under the guise of controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time of writing, 34 countries have been recorded as taking executive…
Ramzy Razeek: An extraordinary struggle for an ordinary life of service upended by an arrest
Image courtesy Ramzy Razik was arrested on April 9, 2020 at his home off Katugasota in Kandy by the CID. The next day, he was produced before the Colombo Magistrate where the…
2019: A Recap
Photo courtesy The last year of this decade, 2019 is possibly a turning point in Sri Lankan history. When looking back on the year that passed, what looms above all else is…
Ranil’s Recalcitrance and Liberal License
Photo by Reuters, via South China Morning Post The term ‘Colombo liberal’ is one that’s almost always used as a pejorative. Elitist, out of touch, NGO-kaarayas and foreign agents are among the…
Counterterrorism and the Rule of Law
Whenever the topic of counterterrorism is raised my mind goes back to the 2012 film ‘The Gatekeepers’, directed by Israeli filmmaker Dror Moheh. The documentary was shortlisted for an academic award. The…
Lest History Repeat Itself
As multi-coloured Buddhist flags fluttered in the breeze and perennially catchy tunes on the nobleness of the Gautama Buddha wafted in the air, rows of houses and shops belonging mainly to Muslims…
Testing Muslims in the Month of Patience
Ramadan, the month of abstinence is when Muslims observe fast, voluntarily depriving themselves from all that are permitted to them on ordinary days. These abstentions are replaced with worship and acts that…
Secularism or Barbarism
The blue, red, yellow, orange and white lights are on, as are the makeshift stalls selling lanterns. Yet few pause to see, haggle, buy. Vesak, so near chronologically, had never seemed so…