Local Features

The function to honour 501 Tamil-Muslim students who have passed the ‘Grade V’ Scholarship Examination in Tamil Medium from the Ampara, Batticaloa and Polannaruwa districts is held today at the Hisbullah Cultural Centre in Kattankudy. 185 students from the Ampara district, 307 students from the Batticaloa district and 09 students from the Polonnaruwa district will be honoured at this function …

Police stations in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, have opened special units to take down statements in the country’s main minority language, Tamil. So far, Sinhala has been the language overwhelmingly predominant in the police force. Tamil-speaking Sri Lankans had to rely on a friend to translate their complaints into Sinhala. The move has been hailed as a small but vital …

Election fever is running wild, with the presidential election scheduled for January 26th. After that, the parliamentary election will be held, these elections will run more wild than the present presidential election underscoring that democracy is very much alive in our island. One community which has unstintingly contributed to the development and welfare of this country which had stalwarts like …

Early this year it was reported that Kifaya Ifthikar, a social worker, who met Rizana in prison, said the maid looked sick and that the doctors had advised her to undergo surgery for hernia. Prolonging the anxiety and worry of an innocent, poor house-maid is abominable. It was indeed heatening a couple of years ago to see the concern for …

Three perspectives on Sri Lankan identity [Slightly revised version of the 12th Bakeer Markar Memorial lecture on ‘Challenges to Strengthening Sri Lankan Identity’, delivered on Nov 17, 2009 by Dr Dayan Jayatilleka, former Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations at Geneva]. (December 02, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) When Imthiaz extended this invitation to me, it was impossible …

One after the other political leaders from the west, especially Britain and France, rushed to the island to show their humanitarian concern for the displaced Tamils who were used as human shield by the now defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam, LTTE, which claimed to fight for the interest of this very same people. However, these Western politicians’ humanitarian concerns …