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Home » ColumnsDebate over Ranil’s arrest: Where does ‘official’ end and ‘private’ begin?
With a wide range of criticisms pouring in on the arrest of former President Wickremesinghe, one counter-response came from Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Arun Hemachandra yesterday, shedding more insight into what is meant by “official” and “personal” when one serves in office while stressing that there is no such thing as “semi-official” or “partially official”. [...]
A steadying influence
My dear Uncle Ranil, I am writing to you at a time of great uncertainty for you. Despite the publicity about you providing a statement to the Police, many reacted with shock when they heard you were remanded – and the lights went out in court too! We can only reflect on what a roller [...]
Prevailing laws inadequate, leading to PTA being used: FM tells parliament
By Sandun Jayawardana With the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions in Geneva looming early next month, the National People’s Power (NPP) Government used Friday’s adjournment debate on the “Human Rights Concerns of the Country” to announce a timeline for the repealing of the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Participating in Friday’s debate [...]
Half-truths and political theatre: Sri Lanka’s crisis of accountability
Sri Lanka’s politics has never been calm, but recent events have revealed something more troubling: a crisis of credibility. Three seemingly unrelated developments—the explosive claim by former President Maithripala Sirisena about the Easter Sunday attacks, the silence of Catholic bishops after meeting President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, and the arrest of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe—have converged [...]
Overcoming economic challenges from US tariffs, trade uncertainties and global recession
The Sri Lankan economy is facing severe external shocks and challenges such as US tariffs, trade uncertainties, and the prospect of a global recession. The escalation of the war in West Asia is another potential threat. These external shocks could undermine the country’s trade-, tourism- and remittance-dependent economy. Trade dependence Sri Lanka has been, is, [...]
The travels (or travails) of an ex-president; thorny questions and risky precedents
The National Peoples’ Power (NPP) Government may well have achieved the impossible by a clumsily handled arrest and remanding of former Executive President of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe this Friday (August 22nd 2025) over alleged misuse of public property in expending LKR 16.6 million on a ‘diversionary’ transit in the United Kingdom while returning from state visits [...]
Justice will prevail for martyred Ranil, swear UNP and opposition supporters
FIRST TIME IN SRI LANKAN HISTORY, A FORMER PRESIDENT HAS BEEN ARRESTED As former Sri Lankan President, the 76-year-old Ranil Wickremesinghe was led to Welikada jail to spend the next four nights on its remand floors or until freed on bail, a shocked nation, bewildered at the dramatic happenings of the day, could only wonder [...]
Is NPP now ready to take the UN plunge?
In the good old days when my Peradeniya University colleague Thalif Deen and I sought refuge at Lake House—I, a couple of months ahead of Dino, as we called him then—it was in hope that the roots of journalism would penetrate us as quickly and deeply as those who sat there around us on the [...]
Ranil’s bombshell arrest sends shockwaves through Lanka’s political landscape
UK trip in 2023 at centre of probe; CID tells court public funds misused for private travel In show of support, Rajapaksa, Premadasa among leaders visiting prison hospital Govt adopts hardline stance on postal strike; unions hold ground; strikes spread to other state sectors By our Political Desk The first salvo was fired in March [...]
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