නව විපක්ෂ නායකයාට සුභ පැතුම්
The editorial welcomes Mahinda Rajapaksa’s appointment as Leader of the Opposition as a first step in freeing the SLFP from one family’s control, noting that Chandrika Kumaratunga conceded it only under pressure from party members. It urges him to modernise the party and to practise an opposition politics that supports what is good, including peace, and opposes only what is harmful.
ජේ ආර් ප්‍රේමදාස හා චන්ද්‍රිකා ආශ්‍රයෙන් රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ
Ivan compares the new Prime Minister with three presidents. J.R. Jayewardene thought big and was democratic with his cabinet though authoritarian towards the country; Premadasa was the reverse; Chandrika Kumaratunga had no national goal and was autocratic towards both. He credits Ranil Wickremesinghe’s restraint on the ethnic issue and his rapid lifting of northern restrictions, likened to John Major in Northern Ireland, but faults his hoarding of ministries and his ambivalence on the Chief Justice and holdover officials.
දැලි පිහියෙන් කිරි කැම
Ivan likens Ranil Wickremesinghe’s rapid push for peace to a Lasker-style chess attack that ignores control of the centre, in a game with many live players, from the President and JVP to Prabhakaran, Hakeem and Thondaman. He recalls how Mandela won respect across racial lines, finds international and business conditions favourable, but warns that the Prime Minister must negotiate while the army answers to a hostile President.
උතුරේ ජන ජීවිතය සාමාන්‍ය අතට පත් කිරීම
The editorial welcomes the reopening of the Vavuniya–Kilinochchi road and urges a Colombo–Jaffna bus service. It describes costly and scarce flights and sea passages, a decade and a half without electricity, and prices three to five times those in the south, and argues that normalising life in the north would build the climate needed for a peaceful settlement.
සාමය සඳහා දරන උත්සාහයට බාධා නොකළ යුතු ය.
The editorial says Sri Lanka can recover only by ending the war, and urges all parties not to obstruct the new government’s peace effort. It criticises the JVP, itself once outside the democratic mainstream, for opposing the process from the start, arguing that if Sinhala youth could leave armed struggle for democracy, Tamil youth deserve the same chance.
ගින්දර සමග සෙල්ලම් කිරීම
Ivan warns Ranil Wickremesinghe that after crossing the crocodile-infested river of the election he faces mined ground. Chandrika Kumaratunga has ceded defence but keeps appointments of the IGP, service chiefs, governors and ambassadors, an expanding presidential secretariat, the President’s Fund and a security force of some 4,000. While she quietly backs the JVP’s campaign against the peace process, he argues, she waits for an incident that will let her strike, so her powers must be curbed.
ජනවාර්ගික අර්බුදයට විසඳුමක් දිම ප්‍රමාද නොකළ යුතුයි
The editorial urges the new government to make a negotiated settlement its priority. It notes that Prabhakaran’s Heroes’ Day speech stopped short of demanding a separate state, argues that both sides have reached the limits of military action, and proposes first agreeing on principles acceptable to Tamils, Sinhalese and Muslims, with the support of the PA and JVP in opposition.
ඇනීටා, ප්‍රභාකරන් හා චන්ද්‍රිකා
Prompted by Anita Pratap’s book Island of Blood, Ivan recalls his own part in the 1994–95 peace efforts: prison talks with Tamil detainees after 1971, his view that Chandrika Kumaratunga used the peace issue for Tamil votes, his attempt to broker trust between her and Ranil Wickremesinghe, and a March 1995 Jaffna visit where he helped secure the release of fifteen police prisoners. He also recounts learning from Anton Balasingham of a secret message she sent Prabhakaran through Pratap, and the resumption of war in April 1995.
ජනාධිපතිනිය තමන් වැටුණු බොරු වළට විපක්ෂය කැඳවීම
Ivan argues that President Kumaratunga, trapped in a pit of her own lies, wants to lure Ranil Wickremesinghe in with the premiership and a national government, climb out on his back, purge the rebels in her own camp and then discard him. He urges the opposition to build an all-party interim government for reform with the government rebels, predicts she will keep Parliament shut rather than face defeat on a policy statement, and says lasting stability needs a settlement with Prabhakaran that meets Tamil grievances.
ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ පරිවාස වැඩපිළිවෙළ
Ivan questions whether the JVP can win the five independent commissions by giving oxygen to a dying People’s Alliance government. He recalls its seats on the rigged North Western Provincial Council and support for PA provincial administrations, and gives the numbers: the government fell from a majority to 109 against 115 after Rauff Hakeem’s group left, and JVP support brings it back to 119. He argues that the pact’s ban on peace talks, privatisation and price rises clashes with the IMF standby agreement and risks another LTTE attack like Katunayake.