Muditha Dias of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2 June 2019, where the title is “The search for religious harmony in Sri Lanka after the Easter Sunday attacks”
“Who exactly is the NTJ?” I asked our cameraman. We were filming at the Temple of the Tooth Relic, or the Dalada Maligawa, the holiest Buddhist temple in Kandy, Sri Lanka.
Religion and Ethics Report journalist Muditha Dias filming in Sri Lanka… RN
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ONE: T. Ramakrishnan: “Sri Lanka’s poet-writer, Jean Arasanayagam, passes away,”
Jean Arasanayagam, one of Sri Lanka’s leading contemporary English literary voices, died in Kandy, Sri Lanka, on July 30 evening after a brief illness. She was 87. She is survived by her husband, Thiagarajah Arasanayagam, also a writer-painter-playwright, and two daughters. Her funeral will take place in Kandy on Friday, August 2. The civil war was one of the main subjects of the author of 50 books and recipient of several awards
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It is difficult to watch the concluding moments of a 2015 “intelligence squared” live debate between philhellene Boris Johnson and academic Mary Beard on the subject of Greece v Rome and not be concerned by the new British Prime Minister’s inability to prevail. Of course, Greece bests Rome in anything other than a contest of arms, or perhaps an aqueduct building competition. You don’t have to be a classicist to realise that.Chandre Dharmagunawrdena, in Island, 26 July 2019, where the title is “Genocide Claims, Number Games and their margins of error”
June 23, 1983 known as “Black July” was a day of shame for Sri Lanka where a government calling itself a “Dharmista Rajya” (a Righteous Regime) permitted, aided and abetted armed mobs to attack a section of its defenseless citizens — civilian Tamils. The fact that there were looters, or the possibility that other forces fished in troubled waters (http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=74181), or that most DIG’s of the time were Tamils (http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=74047), etc., are irrelevant to the very clear-cut main issue. That state-aided terror happened in the CAPITAL itself is a FACT and not some allegation based on a numbers game of guessing how many Tamils lived in the Metropolis before and after the event.
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Edward Gunawardena, in Island, 22 July 2019 where the title is “The National Security Council and police intelligence”
Since the happenings on Easter Sunday 2019, much discussion has been focused on the National Security Council – the premier decision making body on matters concerning National Security. With obscure beginnings, commencing in the early years of the Sirimavo Bandaranaike regime in the sixties, the NSC has a history of over six decades. Concerned persons in governance, particularly the political stakeholders, appear to be clueless as to the composition, responsibilities, functions and the manner of operation of this organization.
http://www.dailymirror.lk/news-features/What-went-wrong-with-the-NSC-/131-168808
Gerald Peiris,
I was in error (albeit an inaccuracy regarding the date) when I said in my earlier message to you that there was no attack on the Muslims in Gintota on 12 November 2017. There was, in fact, a riot which began several days later.
Initial unrest was triggered off by a traffic accident along the Galle-Colombo highway on 12 November involving a motorcyclist (Sinhalese) and two pedestrians (a Muslim woman and her daughter) which ended with police mediation and the motorcyclist made to pay Rs. 25,000 as compensation to the victims (treated for minor injuries as ‘OPD patients’ at Galle).
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C. A. Chandraprema, in Island, 22 July 2019, where the title is “13A: SL never got what India has: Four decades of constitutional folly and failure – 2
“Upon the making of a proclamation under the Public Security Ordinance or the law for the time being in force relating to public security, bringing the provisions of such Ordinance or law into operation on the ground that the maintenance of essential supplies and services is, threatened or that the security of Sri Lanka is threatened by war or external aggression or armed rebellion, the President may give directions to any Governor as to the manner in which the executive power exercisable by the Governor is to be exercised …”
President J. R. Jayewardene and Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi after signing the Indo-Lanka Accord, which paved the way for the provincial council system
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Minnete de Silva: Aficionado and Architect Extraordinary
Minnette de Silva (Sinhala: මිනට් ද සිල්වා;Tamil: மினிட் டி சில்வா; 1 February 1918–24 November 1998) was an internationally recognized architect, considered the pioneer of the modern architectural style in Sri Lanka.[2][3] De Silva was a fellow of the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects.
De Silva was the first Sri Lankan woman to be trained as an architect and the first Asian woman to be elected an associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1948. De Silva was also the first Asian representative of CIAM in 1947 and was one of the founding members of the Architectural publication Marg. Later in her life, she was awarded the SLIA Gold Medal for her contribution to Architecture in particular her pioneering work developing a ‘regional modernism for the tropics’….. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnette_de_Silva
Minnette de Silva with Pablo Picasso (left) at the World Congress of Intellectuals in Defense of Peace, 1948
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thuppahi
