Sri Lanka - challenges and opportunities

The Jaffna peninsula has a climate which is particularly suitable for the cultivation of exotic fruits and vegetables. Sri Lanka has more varieties of mangoes than most countries have varieties of fruits. We have placed a very sharp emphasis on agricultural activities, and on education which is very important to the people of the North. What you’re seeing is the singular transformation of a society which just five years ago was gripped by fear. And today, wherever you travel in Sri Lanka, what you will encounter is a new mood of emancipation and of confidencein our people and in their future,

Full Story

‘Priests’ in politics and freedom of religion

Wijedasa Rajapakse MP, front-bencher of the United National Party (UNP) and President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), is bringing before Parliament a radical private member’s bill, which is intended to deny priests of any religion the right to sit in the legislature.

Full Story

Gotabhaya humbles BBC on threat to Tamil position in North

The usually affable Charles Havilland was certainly not at ease at the response of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, as one saw from the frames of the interview. But that is a price a journalist has to pay, and also what a media institution has to suffer when it raises issues without the necessary research, and an overall view of the issue that is being discussed,

Full Story