Since the end of the war, Sri Lanka’s economy is being transformed through a rapid process of financialisation. Such widespread financialisation facilitated infrastructure development, a real estate boom linked to urbanisation and expansion of credit leading to increasing indebtedness of the (...)
The anniversary of the civil war’s end reveals the persisting ethnic division in Sri Lanka
Nine years is perhaps too short a time for deep wounds to heal, but it is enough time to begin to introspect. However, going by the polarised views around the anniversary of the end of Sri Lanka’s civil (...)
Sri Lankans either mourn or celebrate on the anniversary of the end of the civil depending on their narrative of the war. Many Tamils observe May 18 as ‘Remembrance Day’ to remember their dear ones who lost their lives, while the government commemorates May 19 as ‘Ranaviru (War Heroes) Day’ to (...)
Despite the stereotypical and misguided view that the youth in Jaffna, loaded with foreign remittances from relations abroad have become unproductive and lazy, the majority of the unemployed have taken to menial jobs to make ends meet due to dire economic situation.
Since the end of Sri (...)
The top professional bodies representing engineers, architects, town planners and quantity surveyors and other related professions this week charged that the government has rushed into signing the Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA) without having proper legal frameworks in place (...)
After a nearly three-decade civil war those devastated by it had to rebuild their lives and finding employment was a challenge. The strategy adopted by the Government was to expand credit and promote self-employment. But then things took a turn for the worse when their livelihoods did not (...)
The failure of “reconstruction” is pushing young Tamils to seek new leaders
Something is stirring in Mullaitivu.
For years, this corner of northern Sri Lanka was a stronghold for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The LTTE had its own police here, its own courts. Its leader, Velupillai (...)
The fallout of the local government elections continues as a political crisis. The anti-Muslim violence, the no-confidence motion and its defeat are the latest manifestations of a government that is finding it hard to govern. Amid the manoeuvring of political forces and the blame game within (...)
Saturday, 14 April, marked a year since the collapse of the garbage dump at Meethotamulla. Thirty-two lives were lost and nearly 60 houses were destroyed on that fateful New Year’s Day.
In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy much was said about the need for better waste management. Companies (...)
Why are poor Buddhists blaming Moslems for their problems? The new face of Sinhala nationalism in Sri Lanka.
The recent riots targeting Muslims in Kandy have provoked accusations on many sides. While mainstream conversations focus on what the riots entail in terms of immediate political consequences for the current Government and its tepid response, progressives have also had to reckon with the growing presence of anti-Muslim rhetoric and violence as a feature of contemporary Sri Lankan (...)
As activists engaged in the struggle for women’s rights, justice and equality for all across Sri Lanka, we strongly condemn the recent spate of violence against Muslim communities, and the communities’ homes, shops and places of worship.
As citizens in a country in only its ninth year after the (...)
The Local Government elections have sent tremors through the body politic of Sri Lanka, and the fall out of the shaken Coalition Government is yet to unfold. With the muscular re-emergence of Rajapaksa populism, nationalist political strategies are again gaining centre stage. Even as economic (...)
The singular focus on international rights intervention is killing a once-vibrant local rights movement.
From the time Sri Lanka’s civil war ended in 2009, international actors have infused narratives of the war with stories of human rights abuses. Eight years since, it has only become clear (...)
Prof. Romila Thapar once said that a serious historian should have the sharp eye of a detective gathering even minute details related to the phenomenon that she studies. Hence, she advises her research students start with reading Agatha Christie. Of course no historian can collect every (...)
Although it is not a “thunderstorm like” crisis, Sri Lanka has going through a deep structural crisis since mid-1980s. This crisis was aggravated by internal war (1983-2009) between Tamil militant groups and the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL). Partly as a consequence of the structural crisis, a (...)
Media was unusually attentive of May Day 2016 mainly because of the assumption that May Day 2016 would be critically decisive for the future of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa. Although he has been out of power for 16 months, it seems that the politics in (...)
Indo-Lanka relations have not looked this strong in decades, but renewed ties hold little hope for Sri Lanka’s northern fishermen, whose livelihoods are in serious question because of their Indian counterparts.
The new dynamic between the countries followed the dramatic regime change in Sri (...)
25 years since the eviction of 75,000 Muslims by the Tamil Tigers from Sri Lanka’s North, the livelihood concerns of this marginalised section remain neglected. It is time for the political elite — both Sinhala and Tamil — to probe their own consciences and evolve a more inclusive resettlement (...)
The report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) in 2015 is the outcome of a resolution of the Human Rights Council (HRC) in March 2014 requesting the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to “undertake a comprehensive investigation (...)
A popular ballad sung by South Indian Music Maestro Illayaraja (which was ironically released in 1990 - the year of the Muslims’ ethnic expulsion) can often be heard sung nostalgically by the Tamil Muslims of the North: “Sorgame endralum, athu nam oora pola varuma?” (even if it’s heaven itself, (...)
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