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.
ප්රශ්න සමග චත්ගුඩ ගැසීම
With talks stalled and the LTTE rejecting the government’s proposed authority in place of an interim administration, the Japan aid conference will go ahead without it. The piece argues that Ranil Wickremesinghe’s strategy of holding on without resolving anything until the President’s term ends in 2005 cannot satisfy the LTTE or Tamils, that using American backing as a threat is futile, and that he should have reached an honest deal with the President or pro-peace PA forces and informed the public.
බූරුවා සහ කැරට් අලය
The LTTE’s withdrawal from talks is a setback the government must resolve quickly. The piece argues that an undefeated adversary cannot be handled with the carrot of aid, warns against using American backing to intimidate the LTTE or irritate India, and says the government should not seek LTTE help for southern electoral ends as Chandrika Kumaratunga did in 1994. It faults the exclusion of the LTTE from the Washington pre-aid meeting and the failure to implement resettlement and rehabilitation.
The Donkey and the Carrot
This article critiques the Sri Lankan government’s flawed approach to peace negotiations following the LTTE’s temporary withdrawal from talks. Author Victor Ivan argues that the government treats the conflict using a simplistic “carrot and stick” model appropriate for a defeated adversary, rather than treating the LTTE as an undefeated entity requiring parity and genuine trust. The piece warns against over-relying on international clout—specifically the U.S. factor—to intimidate the LTTE, which risks alienating both the Tamil rebels and neighboring India. Additionally, it highlights critical administrative missteps, such as excluding the LTTE from the Washington pre-aid conference and failing to implement post-war rehabilitation and resettlement programs due to bureaucratic inefficiency.
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.
නීතියේ පාලනය ඔලුවෙන් සිටුවීම
Eighty days after Tony Fernando was jailed, the Bar Association has done nothing despite Param Cumaraswamy’s appeal, though his case was raised at the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva and the Asian Human Rights Commission’s petition has gathered over 3,000 signatures. Ivan argues that the President cannot act because she appointed Sarath N. Silva to control the Supreme Court, and that responsibility therefore falls on the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
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.