Kamalika Pieris In the 19th Amendment, the main blow to the powers of the President came with the Constitutional Council.  The Constitutional Council was first established in 2001 in the 17th Amendment. The idea was imitated by the civil society, led by the Organization of Professional Associations (OPA). The 17 Amendment was certified on 3rd […]

By Rohana R. Wasala The true barbarian is he who thinks everything barbarous but his own tastes and prejudices. -William Hazlitt Sunday Island columnist Sanjana Hattotuwa (‘What we are today’/June 23, 2019), as if stoned on the drug of racist hatred and prejudice against the majority Sinhalese Buddhists who constitute 70% of the Sri Lankan […]

පේශල පසන් කරුණාරත්න කළුතර දිස්ත්‍රික්කය නිවර්තන සදාහරිත වනාන්තර කීපයකටම හිමිකම් කියන්නා වූ ජෛව හා පරිසර පද්ධති විවිධත්වයෙන් පොහොසත් දිස්ත්‍රිකකයක් වේ. වර්තමානය වන විට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ වනාන්තර පද්ධතියට විශාල වශයෙන් මානව ක්‍රියාකාරකම් නිසා තර්ජන එල්ල වෙමින් පවතින අතර කළුතර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ වනාන්නර පද්ධතිද විශාල වශයෙන් හායනයට ලක් වෙමින් පවතී. මේ නිසා මෙම සංවේදී පරිසර පද්ධති රැක ගැනීමට […]

Dr Sarath Obeysekersa  I flew in to Colombo on Saturday. Sri Lankan air line flight was full  but there were hardly any European guests  flying in to Colombo .It was full of transit passengers.  Easter  Sunday attack ,is the main reason for lack of tourists arriving in Colombo. When we read news items people are […]

Janaka Perera It is erroneous belief that Sri Lanka and most other European colonies were granted Independence by the Atlantic Charter the US and the UK agreed upon in 1941. There was no formal document called Atlantic Charter with signatures of Heads of States as a Treaty. It was only a discussion paper.  The two […]

Janaka Perera Dilrook has said that ‘ Japan was the only country that bombed Sri Lanka” Here is my reply: The Easter Sunday Raid (or Battle of Ceylon) was an air attack by carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy against Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), on Easter Sunday, 5 April 1942, during the South-East Asian theatre of World War II. This attack was part of the Indian Ocean Raid, and […]

Janaka Perera Having read the responses to the article in ‘Lankaweb’ under the caption, ‘Did Japan contribute to Sri Lanka’s Independence,’ I, as the writer who attended the public lecture and subsequent discussion at the Mahaweli Centre Auditorium, Colombo, on June 24, wish to state the following. At the outset the Speaker Senaka Weeraratna said […]

Courtesy Adaderana

Courtesy Adaderana Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says that he cannot support the death penalty because harming lives is against the policy of the United National Party (UNP). The UNP, as the main party in the government, the Opposition led by Mahinda Rajapaksa, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) are all against […]

by Amal Jayasinghe Courtesy The Island President Maithripala Sirisena is facing fresh legal challenges in his attempt to end a 43-year moratorium on capital punishment and start executing drug convicts, officials said Sunday. Two petitions were filed in the Court of Appeal Friday seeking an order quashing any move by Maithripala Sirisena to resume executions, […]