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Home » ColumnsPolitical drama before curfew was declared
It was Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who persuaded President Maithripala Sirisena to impose a curfew after last Sunday’s Easter massacre, a UNF source said yesterday. The source described the sequence of events as follows; On Sunday at 9.05 am, the Prime Minister called his Secretary Saman Ekanayake informing him that he was returning to Colombo [...]
A pathetic House belittles a national tragedy with its finger-pointing
If the country’s citizens were looking to their elected representatives to project a unified front and reassure them of their security, they were bitterly disappointed, as this week’s special Parliamentary sessions, called in the wake of the barbaric Easter Sunday terrorist attacks, saw accusations and counter-accusations from both sides. Parliament was originally due to convene [...]
Why, why Mother Lanka?
My dear Mother Lanka, It is with profound grief and sadness that I write to you as we try to recover from the horrors of the bloodbath last week and come to terms with the fact that this land of ours may not be a safe haven any more. As we do so, we have [...]
A larger balance of payments surplus essential to reduce external vulnerability
The horrendous terrorist attacks on Easter Sunday make the achievement of a balance of payments surplus this year very unlikely. Last Sunday’s attacks on churches and hotels and the consequent insecure conditions would once again plunge the country’s economy into a state of instability and low growth. It would certainly have a serious adverse impact [...]
A bloody Easter Sunday and political prevarications
There is a special kind of atavistic horror when terrorists attack places of worship. These strikes aim at decimating not only the life and limb of innocents but also destroying a community’s faith and spirituality, the very qualities that distinguish human beings from barbarians. As bombs ripped through churches and top end hotels on Easter [...]
Sunday Bloody Sunday
They were not at war on the battlefield but at prayer in the Temple of God, come to celebrate the resurrection of their Lord Jesus Christ when tragedy struck on Easter Sunday morning, leaving more than 250 innocents dead. Many of them had observed Lent for forty days in steadfast faith and fast, sacrificing some [...]
Death strikes on the holiest day
Improvised white flags hang along the streets where last week’s dead once lived. Families grieve for fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters who only a week before brought joy and laughter to their homes. Now they have nothing but tears to offer. The nation mourns for its people snatched away on the [...]
Easter Sunday massacres: Where do we go from here?
Bureaucratic inefficiency, political mishandling and lack of action on intelligence reports led to the deaths of more than 250 people Sirisena further isolates himself by hitting out at the UNF government and Rajapaksa’s SLPP Overall Muslim community gripped by fear over the actions of a small group; widespread belief that ISIS chose Sri Lanka because [...]
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