My faith is not threatened by the faith of others whose beliefs are different from my own. Neither my race nor my culture is under threat of being engulfed by another. I am now a migrant and a traveller. My land is no longer confined by any arbitrarily drawn state or national border. I am a custodian of the whole Earth and a brother to all of humanity. Yet, as I sit to pen these thoughts, 8, from home, I realise how difficult it is to draw conclusions about how widespread the religious intolerance in Sri Lanka is and whether i

Nearly four years since the end of the country’s civil war, Sri Lanka remains a divided, post-war society, as the ethnic conflict burns on. It has been fifteen months since the Final Report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) was made public. In July 2012, the GoSL released an Action Plan to implement the LLRC recommendations, yet little progress has been made on this front. Instead, a host of problems related to the judiciary, governance and militarization, among other issues continue to plague the island na

Dr Ranil Senanayake, Systems Ecologist and Public Intellectual, in conversation with science writer Nalaka Gunawardene
In late 2011, I read an uncommon book with an unusually long title, written by an unorthodox author whom I’ve known and admired for a long time.
The book, ‘Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right and Here I am Stuck in the Middle again: 30 years of attempting policy change in Sri Lanka’ Ranil is a rare public intellectual in Sri Lanka: well informed, analytical, multidisciplinary, a

The Arabic word halal simply means permissible and is the direct opposite of haram meaning prohibited. In between these two extremes there are several shades of permissibility and prohibition, and in none of which, including the two extremities, there is unanimity of opinion among Muslim religious scholars. (I know one instance where a Muslim lady in Australia asked an imam whether food bought from Kentucky Fried was halal or not. The imam told her to mention the name of Allah before eating and that would make it halal.

But instead of politicians, it was a large contingent of senior Buddhist monks that alighted at the entrance and made their way towards the hotel’s Ivy Room. There, the monks took their seats alongside Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Chief Susantha Ratnayake and senior Muslim clerics to address a massive joint media conference, where they proudly announced a win-win compromise on the Halal controversy that has been sweeping across the country.

The United States has submitted its resolution on Sri Lanka to the UNHRC in Geneva.
Head of the Amnesty International office in Geneva Peter Splinter informed the BBC that even though the resolution has been tabled, there is opportunity to make amendments to the resolution till 1 p.m Geneva time following unofficial discussions held between various parties.
BBC reported that the United States had confirmed that the resolution was included in the agenda to be discussed and approved during the 22nd Session of the council while an

Sri Lanka recognizes that corruption constitutes one of the obstacles to the effective promotion and protection of human rights, as well as to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) was told.

The Sri Lankan delegation at the Council said in a statement that a negative consequence of corruption is the violation of human rights, particularly of the most vulnerable sectors of society. The statement said that it is noteworthy that corruption and its proceeds are not confined within

Sri Lanka and the United States held separate informal meetings at the UN Human Rights Council premises yesterday (Wednesday) on the US sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka.

Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe was to brief the Asian Group last afternoon on the progress made in Sri Lanka by the government on addressing post war issues.

The Permanent Mission of Jordan was hosting the meeting on behalf of the Asian Group attending the 22nd session of the Human Rights Council.

Top US Congressman Eliot Engel has written to US Secretary Of State John Kerry expressing serious concerns regarding the deterioration of democracy and the lack of progress on reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka.

Citing indications that the Government of Sri Lanka appears unwilling to implement the recommendations of Sri Lanka’s own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, Engel told Kerry that now is the time for the State Department to support calls for an Independent International Investigation into al

India summoned the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commissioner in New Delhi Mahishini Colonne today to discuss the arrest of a group of Indian fishermen, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told the Colombo Gazette.

The Indian government has urged the Sri Lankan authorities to treat the fishermen humanely and free them as soon as possible.

The navy had arrested 53 Indian fishermen who had entered Sri Lankan waters illegally both yesterday and today.