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Home » ColumnsTime for a Peni Emathi
My dear Mahinda maama, I am writing to you not only because I couldn’t write to you to wish you on your 75th birthday – because that was eclipsed by Gota maama’s first anniversary – but also because I couldn’t decide who I should write to about this issue of the ‘corona peniya’ that is [...]
Where have all their loved ones gone?
The next of kin of inmates who were at the Mahara Prison during the November 29 catastrophe are on the lookout for their loved ones. Most of them have not been able to trace their whereabouts. The result has been a collective effort by the Committee to Protect the Rights of Prisoners headed by Senaka [...]
Pavithra’s syrup gulp sparks frenzy for quack COVID cure
GOVT. MPS JOIN THE PARTY SWALLOWING KAPUWA’S MIRACLE SYRUP Will it boost false sense of invincibility in those who take it and make them shun safety guidelines? The frantic way the nation’s Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi seems to be running about these days trying to find exotic cures for the coronavirus is heart wrenching to [...]
Mr. Minister, that is justice done
Poor Hon. Mr Ali Sabry, Minister of Justice, Attorney-at-Law and President’s Counsel. What other hidden assets he has not declared, the modest man that he is said to be, I do not know. At least he did, with much reluctance one would venture to surmise, admit that he has been 25 years at the Bar. [...]
Silver linings amidst dark clouds over Sri Lanka’s economy
The repayment of the country’s debt obligations next year is a national anxiety. The low external reserves, a balance of payments deficit this year and the impact on the economy of the spreading COVID are serious concerns. On the other hand, there are some bright spots in the economy that lend hope to a better [...]
The cremation of a baby and Lanka’s season of cruel misery
Given deeply worrying abuse of power historically by the Sri Lankan State under states of emergency with national security as justification, the covid-19 global pandemic must not be employed, much like conflict in the North and the South was utilised, as a cover to trample on civil liberties. A rare and brave intervention When a [...]
End of nightmarish year in mythical Shangri La
Questions about how COVID-19 pandemic is being handled; controversy over Kegalle witchcraft doctor’s concoction and Health Minister’s conduct Mahara Prison catastrophe: Ministers talk in different tongues while official committee says prisoners made reasonable demand Though Shangri La , a name synonymous with an earthly paradise or a mythical Himalayan utopia, the event at the five-star [...]
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