අගමැතිනියගේ හතළිස්වැනි අගමැති සංවත්සරය
Marking forty years since Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the world’s first woman prime minister, the editorial honours her but questions her holding office at 84 when her health prevents her from performing the duties of a post that, though diminished, still answers to Parliament and acts for the President. Citing Roosevelt and Mandela on fitness for office, it calls the practice a waste of public money and an indignity to her, and notes the similar case of bedridden deputy minister P.B.G. Kalugalla.
වත්කම් හා බැරකම් නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස්ගේ වගකීමක්
The editorial points out that candidates at every level must declare their own, their spouses’ and children’s assets and liabilities to the Elections Commissioner, as must party office-bearers, yet the law has not been enforced since 1994. It attributes this to fear of politicians and urges the Commissioner to demand overdue declarations by public notice, prosecute defaulters, and collect them from all candidates in the coming election.
මේ මොහොතේ වඩා වැදගත් නිදහස් හා සාධාරණ මැතිවරණයකි
With six weeks left in Parliament’s term, the editorial finds the government’s rush to amend the constitution suspicious and says any PA–UNP reform draft should be tabled as a white paper and left to the new Parliament. It calls for an independent elections commission and domestic and foreign observers as the EU proposed, urges the Elections Commissioner to collect assets declarations from candidates and party officials, and asks unions, professional and religious bodies to help monitor the poll.
ප්‍රශ්නය විසඳදිමේ හැකියාවක් ඉන්දියාවට ඇත්නම් මැදිහත්වීමත් යහපත් ය
India says it has a package to end the war based on an undivided Sri Lanka and a fair settlement of Tamil grievances. The editorial welcomes any Indian solution acceptable to both sides, since mutual hatred rules out an internal settlement, and sets out the cost of the war: defence spending doubled from Rs 25 billion in 1994 to 50 billion and has risen to 75 billion since Elephant Pass, dwarfing health, education and transport budgets.
ගජ මිතුරු ධනවාදය ඒකාධිකාර මතවාදයකට
The editorial objects to Harry Jayawardena using banks and companies he controls to buy a controlling stake in Sampath Bank, against banking ethics and with the Central Bank silent. It describes him as a close Bandaranaike family friend and PA campaign financier shielded from customs cases, appointed to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and seeking monopolies in arrack, tea and banking, and calls for anti-monopoly enforcement.
හෘද සාක්ෂියක් නැති සමාජයක්
The editorial says Sri Lanka’s crisis is one of conscience. Intellectuals who spoke out under Jayewardene and Premadasa are now silent or defend injustice, and the Civil Rights Movement founded by S. Nadesan fell silent over the North Western provincial poll, as have peace, rights, professional and religious bodies and the Bar Association. It lists basic wrongs, from extending Parliament to judicial interference, that organised society should publicly oppose.
පොන්නම්බලම් ඝාතනයේ ඇත්ත යටපත් වීමට ඉඩ නොතැබිය යුතුය
The editorial recalls that Ravaya named the criminal ‘Moratuwa Saman’, arrested on 6 April, as Kumar Ponnambalam’s killer and linked a reserve police constable holding the victim’s phone. Senior police officer Bandula Wickramasinghe first blamed the LTTE and now says the constable ordered the killing, apparently to close the case. It demands that police identify the political hand behind the murder and the Rohana Kumara killing.
තීන්දු ගැනීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය සර්ව පාක්ෂෂික කළ නොහැක්කේ ඇයි?
The editorial argues that a crisis threatening the country’s survival demands that opposition parties share in decisions, not merely be briefed as at the 15 May all-party meeting. It calls for a temporary all-party administration, criticises concealment of events in the North, and notes the double standard by which cartoons of the President are banned while state media ridicule opposition politicians.
ජනතාව අඳුරේ තබනු එපා
The editorial contrasts the army spokesman’s claim that only 72 soldiers died at Elephant Pass with the Deputy Defence Minister’s later figures of 358 killed, 346 missing and 2,568 wounded. It argues that hiding the truth during a national crisis is dangerous in a modern society where information cannot be fully controlled, and criticises censors for suppressing material unrelated to national security.
අර්බුදයක විෂම චක්‍රයක්
The editorial traces a vicious cycle of ever larger crises from the 1958 riots, the 1971 insurrection and 1983 to the 1988–90 revolt, and says the country now stands at the threshold of a bigger one as the army faces decisive defeat in Jaffna. It weighs the fate of the troops there, the likely collapse of the People’s Alliance government, Prabhakaran’s push into the East, and the prospect of two de facto states at war.