Blog Archives

Religious harmony and the unity of the Sri Lankan nation

A Sri Lankan Muslim man holds a placard during a protest after Friday prayers outside a mosque in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, April 27, 2012. Muslims in Sri Lanka gathered to protest a government decision to demolish a mosque in Dambulla and demanded authorities arrest those who attacked the mosque last week. Sri Lankan officials announced that the mosque and a Hindu temple would be demolished and relocated under pressure from Buddhist monks who demanded their removal from a Buddhist sacred area in the central town of Dambulla. Placard left reads "Don't remove the sixty year old mosque from Dambulla."

So many Gods, so many creeds,
So many paths that wind and wind,
While just the art of being kind,
Is all the sad world needs
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox-The World’s Need
It was reported that the Minister for land and land development Janaka Bandara Tennekoon had said a situation has arisen now
where the Muslim mosque situated in the Dambulla ‘sacred […]

By Lakshman Indranath Keerthisinghe | Published on May 8, 2012 at 11:59 pm

Of political appointments and disservice to the nation

Jaliya Wickremasuriya Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the US with his cousin President Rajapakse

Let none presume to wear an undeserved dignity,
Of that estates, degrees and offices were not derived corruptly
And that clear honour were purchased by the merit of the wearer
William Shakespeare –The Merchant of Venice disservice
The recent defeat of Sri Lanka at the vote taken to pass the US sponsored resolution on the protection of human rights […]

By Lakshman Indranath Keerthisinghe | Published on April 23, 2012 at 11:42 am

A snake may lurk in the UN grass

(Sri Lankan Buddhist monks march towards the US embassy after handing over a petition during a protest amid ongoing discussion at UNHRC sessions in Geneva on Sri Lanka's war crimes, in Colombo March 14, 2012

‘A snake lurks in the grass’ - Virgil, Aenid
US backed resolution
It was reported in the media that the US backed draft resolution presented to the UNHRC inter alia :
1. Calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to implement the constructive recommendations in the LLRC report and additionally to take immediate steps to fulfill its relevant legal […]

By Lakshman Indranath Keerthisinghe | Published on April 22, 2012 at 7:45 am

Of Abductions, Disappearances and Ransoms

I never saw so many bad hats in my life - Arthur Wellesely –Duke of Wellington-1769-1852 (On seeing the first Reformist Parliament)
The statement quoted at the outset was made by the Duke of Wellington regarding the members of the then British Parliament. I leave it to the readers to decide whether the same statement would hold […]

By Lakshman Indranath Keerthisinghe | Published on March 14, 2012 at 3:40 am

Of Confidence Tricksters and Ponzi Schemes

lalith kotelawela Deshamanya the padmini (2)

Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow-Aesop-Fables, Deception
Duped
Recently a rich old lady residing in Colombo 7 had been duped by a con woman who pretended to be a rich owner of a business dealing in garment exports. The lady met this woman at the Hotel Hilton and soon developed a friendship. […]

By Lakshman Indranath Keerthisinghe | Published on March 11, 2012 at 2:38 pm

The Powers of the National Police Commission

Sri Lankan police officers stand guard in front of the Maldivian High Commission in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Feb. 10, 2012

Politics are now nothing more than a means of rising in the world - Samuel Johnson Boswells Life of Johnson.
The National Police Commission, was inaugurated in November 2002 on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council. under the 17th Amendment to the Constitution. It became defunct due to the failure to appoint new
Commission members after the terms […]

By Lakshman Indranath Keerthisinghe | Published on February 29, 2012 at 2:14 pm

Political Interference with Judicial Independence- Lessons from the Maldivian Experience

He is not just if he decides a case arbitrarily, the wise man should decide after considering both what is right and what is wrong -The Dhammapada-Justice
It was reported in the media recently that the Maldivian President had resigned following events that took place in the Maldives subsequent to the arrest by the
Maldivian army of a […]

By Lakshman Indranath Keerthisinghe | Published on February 19, 2012 at 1:40 am

Humility-The Hallmark of a Great Human Being

President Obama with India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

Gandhi dressed to be accepted by the poorest person in India, advocating the use of homespun cloth (khadi). He and his followers adopted the practice of weaving their own cloth. President of the United States Barack Obama in an address to a Joint Session of the Parliament of India said that:”I am mindful that I […]

By Lakshman Indranath Keerthisinghe | Published on February 8, 2012 at 11:58 am

Youth Unrest and Parental Guidance

Student monks clash with police. File photo taken from jds

We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow; Our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us so - Alexander Pope-An Essay on Criticism
This column dedicated to the notion of making Sri Lanka the Wonder of Asia turns its spotlight today on the presently prevailing youth unrest in Sri Lanka as the Sri
Lankan society would aspire to […]

By Lakshman Indranath Keerthisinghe | Published on January 31, 2012 at 9:48 am

The Expropriation Act has resulted in great injustice

The Supreme Court Complex Colombo, Sri Lanka

‘A ruler with a depleted treasury eats into the very vitality of the citizens and the country. A ruler, who impoverishes his own people or angers them by unjust exactions will also lose their loyalty Impoverishment, greed and dissatisfaction are engendered among the subjects, when the ruler among other things
(i) fails to give what ought […]

By Lakshman Indranath Keerthisinghe | Published on January 15, 2012 at 11:20 pm