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Home » ColumnsA week of many firsts amidst hits and misses on social media
It has been a historic week for Sri Lanka in its post-colonial history. It was the first time a popularly elected President resigned after two and a half years in office. Secondly, the President fled abroad due to protests at home. Unlike other heads of state, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is the first one to resign [...]
Our great ‘runner’ viruwa
My dear Gota maamey, I thought I should write this letter to you, after the entire country waited for several days for a letter from you. That much anticipated letter finally arrived on Thursday. While we as a nation look to the future, I am sure you must be reflecting on the events of the [...]
If no consensus, postponing July 20 election may be an option
Nearly hundred days of relentless struggle by the people in the form of an “aragalaya” forced President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down from the office of the Executive Presidency on July 14. Unfortunately for the country, despite the widespread and increasing loss of confidence in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa across the island, the absence of provisions [...]
Will the changes usher in political stability and proper economic management?
The current political confusion and constitutional uncertainty could worsen the economic crisis and lead the country into chaos and anarchy. The immediate need is to establish a stable all party interim government. This is the most immediate national need. The country cannot be allowed to drift from a political upheaval to confusion to uncertainty, chaos [...]
Verily, a pox upon the Rajapaksa house
Carefully choreographed images of Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe hovering solicitously over injured soldiers in the Army hospital on Friday following clashes with protestors on the road to Parliament, is telling at several levels. Flagrant disregard of constitutional niceties Widely televised as his first act in office, this followed the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s [...]
Lanka comes of age but still has a long way to go
9 JULY 2022: THE DRAMATIC TURNING POINT IN NATION’S CHEQURED HISTORY The nation awaits Parliament’s new President on July 20 after peoples’ peaceful struggle forces Gotabaya to resign from office The Lankan Lion Flag proudly fluttered from the rooftop of the President’s House last Saturday but this time it was held by its true owners: [...]
Oh, what a fall was there my countrymen!
Quoted above are Mark Antony’s words to the citizens of Rome at the fall of the mighty Caesar. And the citizenry shed copious tears. If the citizens of Sri Lanka, particularly those who joined the “Aragalaya” protesters islandwide and stood in queues to obtain their essentials, shed copious tears at the fall of their ‘pocket’ [...]
The story behind Gotabaya’s dramatic escape from Lanka
After his failed attempts to use two commercial flights, an Air Force troop transport plane takes him to the Maldives Plans kept changing in Male till Saudia flight with Hajjpilgrims took him to Singapore When protesters were at the gate of the President’s House, he was still there discussing exit strategies with security forces chiefs [...]
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