Survivor’s Tales

I’m a survivor with battle wounds I’m an orphan from the bombers tools I’m a husband with no wife to love

Help Comes from Adoptie Sri Lanka Belgium VZW

Most of the developing countries in the third world receive almost unlimited assistance for local social development from international non-government organizations (NGO). Sri Lanka is one among those recipients scattered in the third world. Most of these NGOO are ready and willing to assist the developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and even in the developed

After Boccaccio and Lawrence Sri Lankan readers discover sex

“Colombo” by Mohan Raj Madawala is an ambitious book, set in the early part of the 20th century with a story line that spans three generations. This is his fifth novel, and he has four previous novels and three short story collections to his credit.

Refugees become refugees again in Sri Lanka

There was a collective anguish over helplessness and isolation inside the garage of a police station in Negombo, Sri Lanka where dozens of asylum seekers and refugees, having fled Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Yemen, were staying for 17 days fearing retaliation for the Easter Sunday terror attacks.

How do we move forward after the violence?

Nearly two week have gone by, and yet we cannot overcome our shock and disbelief that such dastardly acts were committed in this country.

“Polluter Pays” Delving into the Chunnakam Landmark Judgement Role of CEA and the health of residents

In a much hailed landmark judgment delivered in early April, the Supreme Court ordered the Northern Power Company to pay compensation amounting to Rs. 20 million to residents in Chunnakam who have been adversely affected by the contamination of ground water by its thermal power station.

Unity: Now or never

If Sri Lankan communities are going to unite NOW, it is the time. In fact they must do so and defeat the purpose of ISIS or whoever was behind the Easter bombings that rocked our beautiful island. We all have close Muslim friends. Those who are my age (many decades old) have had lifelong Muslim friends who are as near and dear to us as our own relatives sometimes. I know I have one. She is Jezima Ismail – as close to me as a sister.

Dharmaloka: A school, and a lesson

“What have they planned for us?” the boy next to me asked, bewildered, as the van we all were in drove up past the gates. He got the answer immediately: a procession of students lined up before a budhu medura, boys on one side, girls on the other. It was charming, but perhaps a little too much to take in, since nothing I, or we, had done had warranted a retinue which had obviously been arranged for us. We got down clumsily, some so confused that

Put aside personal and political differences

Open Letter to the President, the Prime Minister, members of the Cabinet and Members of Parliament regarding the situation in Sri Lanka Your Excellencies, We, the undersigned women and men, are members of civil society....

WHERE IS WILDLIFE CONSERVATION TODAY?

In celebration of its 125th Anniversary, the Wildlife & Nature Protection Society (WNPS) hosts a special for its members, interactive edition of its monthly lecture series with short presentations (15 minutes each) to be made by four experts....

Flashes of Inspiration: Good read on morality of love

It was in the mid-1980s, I joined The Island newspaper as Deputy Features and Culture Page editor. At that time prominent journalists were working for the paper. Most of them are or were Editors in Chief of various English language papers and some of them turned academics.

Post Easter Sunday attacks: Reflections

Over the past several days, I have reflected prayerfully on what happened in three Christian churches in Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa and also in some of our city hotels on Easter Sunday. It is sad that humans have arrogated to themselves the right to commit mass murder in the name of God Almighty the giver of life, also injuring,

R. Premadasa Great sports promoter and benefactor

Every single footballer in Sri Lanka as well as thousands of the games’ fans and fanatics will remember the great sports promoter, benefactor and trusted poor man’s helper President R. Premadasa whose 26th death anniversary fell on May 1.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith His words of wisdom calmed the nation

The Easter Sunday calamity on April 21 in Sri Lanka is undoubtedly one of the greatest destruction of world peace.

A State of – and in – denial

A series of articles penned by civil society outfits and activists try to shift the blame from the Prime Minister, who wasn’t informed and can’t resign, to the President, who was but has decided not to resign.

Responding in a post-trauma situation

The Easter Sunday attacks have been extremely traumatizing to one’s eye. As photos, videos and subject matter relating to these events continue to circulate on mainstream and social media, it may be difficult for certain people to grab everything at once.

Battle of Sainthamaruthu

Sri Lanka’s security forces have engaged in many battles and armed confrontations during the long war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The military defeat of the LTTE in May 2009 brought an end to the conflict. Thereafter for ten years, the country has been experiencing peace and relative tranquillity. The armed forces too were confined to

Unveiling the face-veil ban

It was almost a decade ago that countries across Europe began wrestling with the issue of the Muslim veil – in its various forms. The debate encapsulated religious freedom, female equality, secular traditions and even fears of terrorism. The conversation explored the multiculturalism in Europe, as many argued that there needed to be a greater effort to assimilate

Goonesinha was a national leader

Born on 1 May 1891 in Kandy, A. E. Goonesinha was educated at Dharmaraja College and at St. Josephs College in Colombo. He commenced his professional career as a journalist and publisher of the Journal “Search Light” to support the National Movement in Ceylon.

Remembering President Premadasa A man who walked the talk His 200 Garment Factories Programme is today the largest export earner

I am an individual who had the opportunity to serve under the late President Premadasa as the Chairman and Director General of the Greater Colombo Economic Commission and also as the First Chairman of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka from 1991 to 1993 and prior to that as the Chairman of the Peoples Bank, State Mining and Mineral Development

The veil and the ‘Arabanisation’ of Lankan Muslims

Girls too young to understand the essence of religion adorn the Nikab. Some forced due to cultural imposition, and others too young to know why. Madrasas spread across the island ignore history, art culture, literature and theology which form the core of religious education.

Are Laws to Combat International Terrorism adequate?

In the wake of the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks, a question has emerged regarding the inadequacy of the existing laws to combat terrorism, and whether new laws should be brought in to counter international terrorism. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Skynews that there were no laws in Sri Lanka to arrest those who joined foreign terrorist groups and returned to the country.

Taking a look at the lacuna in our law

Lacuna here, lacuna there, lacunae everywhere! “Here, There and Everywhere”

A quick snapshot of Sri Lankan Muslims

The earliest recorded engagement of a Muslim with Samantakuta, according to Senerath Paranavitana, occurs in 851 CE in a travel account by an Arab merchant called Soleyman. However, Soleyman does not refer to it as aadam malayi, the name we see in the later Muslim reconstruction of the Peak. Instead he alludes to it as “Al-Rohoun”, a term the 9th century Indian poet Rajasekhara

An expat account of Sunday’s terror attack: Easter Sunday blasts bond many hearts together

I didn’t know at the time that the noise that woke me up on Easter Sunday morning was the explosion at the Kingsbury. Living across from the Port City development, there were always loud noises coming from the construction. This was different though, after a loud bang was heard; a long alarm sounded. “Is this a tsunami warning?” I asked my Sri Lankan partner. As an Australian expat, who had lived in Colombo the past four years, a tsunami was the

“One form of extremism breeds other forms of extremism” : HRC

The Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Sri Lanka has urged all citizens to refrain from engaging in hate speech or inciting violence, and to act responsibly against all forms of extremism, in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday terror attacks....

We should not read too much into Islamic State claim for responsibility: Bulk of the work of Easter Sunday carnage was done locally by the locals

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the bloody Easter Sunday attacks against churches and luxury hotels. However, one should be careful in reading too much into these claims. That is not just because the Islamic State has a history of owning up responsibility for sake of glory. But more specifically, the local involvement in the multiple suicide attacks on Easter Sunday is extensive; networks of Islamist cells, some non-violent and o

Authoritarian instruments of governance cannot be the solution for mindless democratic leadership

The current national security crisis should essentially be managed within the Democratic framework of governance. Inability to protect the citizenry is not a condition that arose due to our collective faith in democratic governance, but because of an indisciplined leadership that proved to be attitudinally bankrupt in the past and in the present.

A national tragedy: After the bombs stopped

“Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.”

Letter to the killers of Easter Sunday massacre in Sri Lanka

Appreciate that you made the effort to find out the timing of our mass. Appreciate that you learnt more about our religion to know that Sundays are the days we go to Church for the congregational prayers and Mass. But I guess there were some things you, rather unfortunately, didn’t get to learn. Perhaps you didn’t know that what you did