Archive for Anuradhapura
November 6, 2009 at 7:00 am · Categories: Advocacy, Ampara, Anuradhapura, Batticaloa, Colombo, Districts, Galle, Gampaha, Hambantota, Human Rights, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Jaffna, Kalutara, Kandy, Kegalle, Kurunegala, Mannar, Matale, Matara, Media and Communications, Moneragala, Nuwara Eliya, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Pollonnaruwa, Post-War, Puttlam, Reconciliation, Trincomalee, Vavuniya, War Crimes | by Dr. P. Saravanamuttu
Whilst it is not clear as to whether we would be voting in both the presidential and general elections on the same day, it is clear that we will be voting in at least one of them in the next three months, followed soon thereafter by the other. Most likely it will be the presidential elections since it is the president who has to decide and since he is much more popular than his party. Moreover, we have been told that he is willing to sacrifice, if necessary, two years of his first term in order to secure a second and a parliamentary majority nearest to the heart’s desire.
All elections are important and these will be no exception. It is worth …
September 1, 2008 at 7:00 am · Categories: Anuradhapura, Kurunegala, Politics and Governance, Pollonnaruwa | by Pradeep Peiris
Introduction
The United People’s Freedom Party (UPFA) claimed its second consecutive provincial electoral victory on the 24th of August by winning a clear majority of seats in the North Central and Sabaragamuwa Province. This election was more competitive than the previous Eastern Provincial Council election, where the government managed to get the Tamil and Muslim votes by their crafty handling of Pillayan and Hisbulla. Unlike in the Eastern province, the government contested in the North Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces with relatively unpopular politicians and more importantly on a platform where the opposition politicians too enjoyed almost equal access to votes. However, election results proved that the desperate United National Party, has once again failed to shake up the electoral support of …
January 30, 2008 at 2:55 am · Categories: Anuradhapura, Peace and Conflict | by Prasanna Ratnayake
Anudhradapura District, mid October 2007
The huge, busy conurbation of Anudharapura—once a sacred city—has become the major transit centre for military forces en route to and from the current war zones. The ancient archeologically important ruins for which Anudharapura is famous are dwarfed by the sprawling modern developments. An informal economy has grown up in which small traders sell the debris of militarism: single T56 bullets for 15 rupees each. Many young girls have come to the city to sell their favours to the military personnel. Guesthouses built for tourists who rarely come any more are now informal brothels. A trader approaches asking, “What do you want? Bullets? Weapons? Girls?” If you want a bullet, he takes one from his pocket. …
November 6, 2007 at 11:31 am · Categories: Anuradhapura, Colombo, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance | by Groundviews
By Satheesan Kumaaran
The LTTE’s two-pronged attack on the Sri Lankan airbase, located at Saliyapura, in Anuradhapura, which is a north-central province of Sri Lanka, on Monday, October 22, 2007, and the air raid of the Sri Lankan air force on November 02, 2007, which killed six LTTEers, including the their political wing chief, have created panic among the Sri Lankans and anxiety among the global community. This mounting panic could push Sri Lanka intent on crushing the LTTE prowess and the LTTE in turn to to launch military operations aim at dividing the country into two nations within one island. The profile of the LTTE has risen, both militarily and politically, following the aerial and land attacks on …
October 31, 2007 at 5:32 pm · Categories: Anuradhapura, Colombo, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance | by Dr. P. Saravanamuttu
The LTTE attack on the Saliyapura airforce base has reminded those who wanted to think otherwise, that a quick, cheap and/or certain military victory is by no means assured. The attempt to achieve one will take time and cost quite a lot more in human and other resources. In the meantime, the preoccupation with military victory is also underpinning the steady erosion of democracy. Take the last week for instance.
The Wamanan case and the shutting down of the ABC network constituted further assaults on media freedom. The former is an example of crude and shoddy intimidation in response to the exposure of corruption and the latter, one of over reaction prompted by embedded hostility towards media …
April 23, 2007 at 4:07 pm · Categories: Anuradhapura, Batticaloa, Colombo, Galle, Human Rights, Matara, Peace and Conflict, Trincomalee, Vavuniya | by Groundviews
වර්ෂ1996ෙය්දි ඔස්ෙටුිලියාවට එෙරහිව ශුි ලංකාව ලද ෙලා්ක කුසලාන ජයගුහණය දැන් දැන් අපෙග් මතකය අඑත් කරනවා ෙනාඅනුමානයි.ෙමි දිනවල බටහිර ඉන්දිය ෙකාෙදවි දුපත්හි පැවැත්ෙවන 9 වන ෙලා්ක කුසලාන තරගාවලිෙය් අර්ධ අවසන් තරගය සදහා ෙමම මස 24 ෙවනිදා ශුි ලංකාව සහභාගිවන තරගය පැවැත්ෙවන ෙහයිනි.
තත්වය ෙමෙස් තිබියදි සුපුරැදු පරිදි ශුිලංකානු කුිකටි කණ්ඩායමට එෙරහිව ෙකරිෙගන යන උද්ෙඝා්ෂණයන් සහ මඩ පුහාරයන් අාරමිභවි තුිබිම අප කවිරැත් පුදුමයට පත් ෙනාවන බව මාෙග් අදහසයි.1995 වර්ෂෙය්දි ඔස්ෙටුිලියාෙවිදි පැවැත්වු ෙබන්සන් ෙහජස් තරගාවලිෙය්දි ඔස්ෙටුිලියානු විනිසුරැ ඩැරල් ෙහයාර් විසින් මුත්තයියා මුරලිදරන් පන්දුව දමා ගසන්ෙනක් බව පුකාශ කරන ලදි. අවසානෙය්දි කුිකටි කවුන්සිලය පැවැත්වු පරික්ෂණයකින්්් පසුව මුරලිදරන් නිෙදාස්කරන ලදි.1999 වර්ෂෙය්දි එංගලන්තය ෙටස්ටි තරගයකින් පරාජය කිරිෙමන්පසුව එංගලන්ත පුවත් පත් වලට සහ කුිකටි ෙලා්ලින්ට පින්සිදු වන්නට ශුි ලංකානු …
March 9, 2007 at 8:46 am · Categories: Anuradhapura, Colombo, Galle, Hambantota, Kalutara, Kandy, Kegalle, Kurunegala, Mannar, Matale, Matara, Moneragala, Nuwara Eliya, Peace and Conflict, Pollonnaruwa | by Pradeep Peiris
The latest survey conducted by the Social Indicator, the survey research unit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives reveals that Sri Lankans express mixed opinion on the recent crossover by the 18 UNP parliamentarians along with 6 Muslim Congress MPs. 37% of people approve of this move while the same percentage disapproves. Interestingly, a quarter of Sri Lankans are either unaware of the crossover or do not have an opinion on whether to approve or disapprove of it; despite the chaos it has triggered in many corners that is yet to be settled.
In the wake of numerous interpretations and reinterpretation of the present political situation as a result of the recent crossover by the political elites, the authors of …
