ජනාධිපතිනිය යන්නේ කොයිබටද?
The President’s reply to the Prime Minister signals that she will ignore her opponents’ mandate and may reshape the Development Lottery Board or even the Cabinet at will. The editorial rejects the government’s rowdy resistance but also her claim that the President’s Fund was endangered, noting she diverted Mahapola scholarship money to it, and contrasts her with Mitterrand and D.B. Wijetunga, who ceded domestic power under cohabitation. It blames the government’s own inaction, including leaving the Chief Justice in place.
රටේ පැවැත්ම සමග සෙල්ලම් නොකළ යුතුය
The LTTE’s temporary withdrawal from talks does not mean imminent war, yet the President appears to be stoking public fear of one, ordering roadblocks back in Colombo and extra guards for Anuruddha Ratwatte and state television. The editorial argues that she has no right to risk bloodshed for political advantage and that the LTTE must be kept within the negotiating process.
රැලේ සාමාජිකයින්ට පිස්සු නටන්නට ඉඩ හැර බලා සිටීම
The editorial credits Ranil Wickremesinghe with opening roads, keeping calm in the face of the President’s outbursts and internationalising the peace effort, but faults him for failing to discipline his team. It lists reports of ministers and MPs assaulting police, freeing detained supporters and demolishing a Matara sports club building, with endless inquiries and no action, and warns that repeating the lawlessness tolerated under Chandrika Kumaratunga would be ruinous.
ස්වාධීන කොමිෂන් සභාවල ගෙල මිරීකීම
The 17th Amendment was meant to make the police, elections, public service, judicial service, human rights and bribery bodies independent, but the PA distorted it and the UNP government is now quietly strangling the commissions. The editorial notes that the Police Commission has no staff, the Bribery Commission cannot function, the Human Rights Commission has not met, the Judicial Service Commission is left to the Chief Justice and no Elections Commission has been appointed.
සාම කතාවල අනාගතය
With the talks stalled but likely to resume, the editorial calls the ‘carrot’ approach, peace for aid, the weakest element of the process: peace is needed because relations between communities have been uncivilised. It argues that a settlement must address wider democratic problems, since anti-democratic conduct is not confined to Prabhakaran, citing the PA’s Wayamba poll and J.R. Jayewardene’s 1982 election, and must reach the grassroots and win UNP–PA agreement.
අහස උසට නැගි ජීවන වියදමට පිළියමක් නැද්ද?
At the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, shoppers say prices are the highest ever. For two decades governments blamed war spending for high prices and poor services, the editorial notes, but with over a year of ceasefire and aid flowing, excuses about defence costs no longer hold, and the government must explain whether the problem is inability, indifference or mismanagement.
ඉරාක යුද්ධය
The editorial welcomes a Supreme Court ruling, on a Batticaloa voter’s petition over 55,000 people in an LTTE-held area being prevented from voting, which ordered compensation from the army commander and censured the Elections Commissioner, recalling that the President was allowed to vote from her residence in 1999. It argues that senior officials such as the Elections Commissioner and Attorney General, who served ruling parties and stood by during Tony Fernando’s jailing, have done more harm than politicians.
දේශපාලන අස්ථාවරභාවය
Although a sea clash did not wreck the peace talks, uncertainty persists over whether the President, now allying with the JVP, will dissolve Parliament. The editorial argues that an early election is unlikely because the PA lacks a firm base, victory with the JVP could bring a worse war, and the international community backs the peace process. It adds that the government has failed to win respect beyond the peace effort, and that lasting peace requires deep reform of the political system rather than a mere truce.
ස්වාධීන කොමිෂන් හා ජවිපෙ
The editorial reminds the JVP that it claimed the 17th Amendment as its own victory, yet it stays silent while the President undermines the independent commissions by refusing to approve their nominees, in breach of the Constitution. It asks why the JVP, which talks most of an early election, does not use its new friendship with the President to get the Independent Elections Commission set up, and whether it would accept a repeat of the Wayamba poll operation.
විය යුත්තේ කුමක්ද?
Opposition to the ceasefire is growing: the JVP wants the LTTE destroyed militarily, and the PA, including Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, joined a protest against Ranil Wickremesinghe’s ‘treacherous pact’. Recalling the JVP’s violent response to the Indo-Lanka Accord, the editorial argues that the memorandum’s flaws should be debated, not used to return to war, that neither side will give up readiness to fight overnight, and that the country needs a policy of untangling the knot.