U.S. and Sri Lanka Hold Disaster Response Drill in Galle, Drawing Lessons From Cyclone Ditwah

U.S. and Sri Lanka Hold Disaster Response Drill in Galle, Drawing Lessons From Cyclone Ditwah

GALLE, Sri Lanka — Disaster-management officials from the United States and Sri Lanka concluded a three-day workshop in the southern coastal city of Galle on Thursday with a simulated emergency exercise aimed at strengthening coordination during major natural disasters and humanitarian crises. The workshop, held from June 16 to 18, was organized by the U.S. Embassy in Colombo in partnership with the U.S. military’s Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, the Mo


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Trincomalee Site Long Linked to Wartime-Era Abductions Is Sealed

Trincomalee Site Long Linked to Wartime-Era Abductions Is Sealed

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department has sealed an underground detention facility inside the Trincomalee Navy Camp, a site long known as the “Gun Site,” in a major development in one of the country’s most disturbing unresolved disappearance investigations. The Trincomalee magistrate is expected to visit the site for an official inspection, a step investigators believe could help preserve evidence and clarify how the facility was used during the final years of Sri L


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

‘I’d Rather Die’: Ex-Spy Chief Refuses to End Hunger Strike or Return to CID Cell

‘I’d Rather Die’: Ex-Spy Chief Refuses to End Hunger Strike or Return to CID Cell

By M.R. Narayan Swamy Sri Lanka’s former intelligence chief Suresh Sallay, detailed for alleged links with Islamists who unleashed the Easter bombings in 2019, refuses to give up his indefinite hunger strike or return to CID custody, which he dubs a “hellhole”. Sallay made this clear to his lawyer, who called on him at the National Hospital in Colombo, where he was admitted on June 7, two days after he launched a fast in protest against his degrading treatment, his wife Manori said on Tuesday.


M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy

A Day After His Uncle Sought Shelter From Arrest, Mahinda Rajapaksa's Son Is Detained

A Day After His Uncle Sought Shelter From Arrest, Mahinda Rajapaksa's Son Is Detained

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A day after former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa asked a court to block his possible arrest under Sri Lanka’s anti-terrorism law, another member of the country’s once-dominant political dynasty was taken into custody. Yoshitha Rajapaksa, the second son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, was arrested on Wednesday by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption after appearing before investigators in connection with a probe into his recruitment and tr


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Our Reporter

Unafraid and Unbowed

Archbishop, Archbishop, why hast thou forsaken us in our hour of sorrow and slaughter?

Archbishop, Archbishop, why hast thou forsaken us in our hour of sorrow and slaughter?

"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." - Isaiah 58:1 His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo and chief shepherd of the Catholic flock in all of Sri Lanka, has recently marked fifty years in the sacred priesthood. As the highest-ranking prelate whose dominion spans the entire island, he now stands as a mighty voice crying for justice, calling upon the nations of the earth for interv


Kaniyan Pungundran

Kaniyan Pungundran

Jaffna Library Burning: The Day They Burned the buddha and his dhamma

Jaffna Library Burning: The Day They Burned the buddha and his dhamma

Why South Asia Reveres Books-and Fears Their Destruction Irrespective of religion, across the Indian subcontinent, books have long held an exalted status. In the indigenous spiritual traditions that emerged from this land-Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism-knowledge is not merely valued; it is venerated in the highest order. In homes, temples, and schools across the region, people treat books with profound reverence-never touching them with their feet, and if done accidentally, offering a


Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Chemmani: Where Justice Was Buried

Chemmani: Where Justice Was Buried

The dead do not speak - but the earth does A few years ago, I visited Cambodia. My original aim was to see the Angkor Wat temple complex. But, as always, my journalistic instincts led me deeper into rural Cambodia, where I found myself in quiet conversations with a few former soldiers of the Pol Pot regime, now living ordinary lives as toddy tappers, farmers, and small shop owners. One of them - a former henchman of the Khmer Rouge - opened up after a few glasses of toddy. In a hauntingly calm


Kaniyan Pungundran

Kaniyan Pungundran

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Why Only Easter? Why Not Mullivaikkal?

Why Only Easter? Why Not Mullivaikkal?

By Kumulan Sri Lanka is suddenly brave. The state has found courage. It has found investigators, files, witnesses, travel bans, detention orders, and dramatic whispers about former presidents and former spy chiefs. It now speaks of the Easter Sunday bombings as though justice has finally entered Colombo, barefoot and late, carrying a torch. Good. Let every room be opened. Let every liar sweat. Let every priest, widow, parent, orphan, and survivor hear the truth. If senior officials enabled,


Kumulan

Kumulan

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Who Wielded the PTA for a Decade, Now Seeks the Court's Protection From It

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Who Wielded the PTA for a Decade, Now Seeks the Court's Protection From It

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whose years as defence secretary coincided with the extensive use of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, has petitioned the Court of Appeal to prevent his arrest under the same law, which became a central pillar of the security apparatus he helped shape. The petition, filed through Attorney-at-Law Sanath Wijewardena, seeks an order barring investigators from arresting Mr. Rajapaksa under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, or PTA, in connectio


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Defenders of Bharatanatyam Record Say Costs Were Disclosed and Agreed in Writing

Defenders of Bharatanatyam Record Say Costs Were Disclosed and Agreed in Writing

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The organizers of a Bharatanatyam performance that set a Guinness World Record in the Sri Lankan capital recently have found defenders among people familiar with how the event was arranged, who say that the costs borne by participants and the process for obtaining official certificates were spelled out well in advance and accepted in writing. The pushback follows criticism from social activist Rajkumar Rajeevkanth, as well as several parents and activists, who argued in a s


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

CID Names Pillayan a Suspect in 2008 Killings as Easter Case Remains Uncharged

CID Names Pillayan a Suspect in 2008 Killings as Easter Case Remains Uncharged

BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka — The Criminal Investigation Department told a magistrate’s court in eastern Sri Lanka on Monday that Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, the former Eastern Province chief minister widely known as Pillayan, is one of three suspects in a string of shootings that left five people dead in Batticaloa District in 2008. According to details presented before Batticaloa Magistrate Annathurai Darshini, investigators are examining a series of fatal shootings carried out in 2008, several


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

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