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Home » ColumnsICJ ruling on Diego Garcia: Boost for Lanka’s Indian Ocean Peace Zone plan
Last week Sri Lanka’s longstanding, much-touted UN proposal for an Indian Ocean Zone of Peace (IOPZ) got a much-needed boost as Mauritius’s claims over the decolonisation of the strategically important Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, was upheld by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague. The ICJ said Britain must hand over [...]
An epic fall from grace
My dear Sanath, I thought I must write to you when I heard the worrying news that you had been suspended from all forms of cricket for the next two years – and more disturbingly, that you had accepted those charges without challenging them or defending yourself, because of your ‘love for the game of [...]
Crime’s a crime in Diyawanna House or in Wanathamulla’s ghetto grime
If clear evidence was wanting, if further proof was required, as to the impudent manner Lanka’s members of parliament hold themselves as sacred cows above the law of the land, it came this month in unambiguous clamour when some UPFA members called upon the Speaker to turn a blind eye to the violent scenes that [...]
The terrible mess that politics makes
Somebody — I cannot quite remember who — once said that hypocrisy is the audacity to preach integrity from a den of corruption. The more I read the evidence presented before the Presidential Commission inquiring into SriLankan Airlines, Mihin Lanka and connected issues, the more I am reminded of the words quoted above by whoever [...]
Fiscal outcome of 2019 Budget important for economic stability and growth
The final financial out-turn of the 2019 Budget will have a significant bearing on economic stability and growth. It is not the budgetary figures that will be presented in parliament on Tuesday, March 5 that matters but the final fiscal outcome. Far too often the budgetary out-turn is significantly different from the budget presented in [...]
That ‘political hot potato’ of the CTA
Verbal gymnastics indulged in by Sri Lankan politicians in respect of the draft Counter Terrorism Act (CTA), now before Parliament awaiting amendments from the sectoral oversight committee, are vastly entertaining in truth. The ‘political hot potato’ Unlikely champions of constitutional rights are emerging from the Rajapaksa-led opposition. This week, the de jure head of the [...]
SLFP-SLPP joint committee to discuss common alliance
There will be no joint May Day rally but SLPP will go it alone Dispute over ETI deal may explode like the CB bond scandal as CB and NEC officials argue A relative lull in political activity this week does not mean woes are receding for President Maithripala Sirisena, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party [...]
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