Was there an invisible hand behind the Easter attack?
Cardinal Ranjith goes to the Pope and to Geneva, and Shani Abeysekera sits in a cell. Victor Ivan lays out what he calls the puzzle behind the Easter Sunday attack and asks who benefited from it.
එල්ටීටීඊ තහනම ඉවත් කිරීම ජනාධිපතිවරණ දිනය හා පාප්තුමාගේ ගමන
After the cabinet spokesman hinted at the election date, Ivan examines the constitutional timetable and the clash with the Pope’s January visit, which the Catholic Church had asked to keep apart from politics, and the astrologer’s role. He then discusses a European court ruling of 16 October 2014 on the LTTE’s listing, arguing that bans cannot last forever, that the LTTE was defeated militarily but remains strong in the diaspora, and that only a political solution will end its appeal.
ජනාධිපතිවරණය, සුභ නැකත හා පාප්වහන්සේගේ සංචාරය
Ivan argues that the Eighteenth Amendment, poorly drafted, did not remove the two-term bar in a way that clearly lets the President stand again, and that a law-abiding leader would seek the Supreme Court’s opinion rather than rely on a friendly ruling. He criticises plans to time the election by an astrologer’s auspicious date despite the Pope’s planned visit in January 2015, and examines the history of presidential nominations and the Commissioner of Elections’ role.