Editorial

Mannar Wind Power Project: Sri Lanka’s Lifeline in the Face of Misguided Opposition
Mannar Wind Power Project: Sri Lanka’s Lifeline in the Face of Misguided Opposition

Mannar Wind Power Project: Sri Lanka’s Lifeline in the Face of Misguided Opposition

Sri Lanka: Where Coal Gets Love and Windmills Get Hate In Mannar, people — sadly swayed by calculated misinformation and a carefully packaged malicious agenda — once again poured into the streets to protest the windmill project. Curious about the logic behind this opposition, I asked my correspondent to call Mannar MP Selvam Adaikalanathan and bluntly inquire why he was against it. Of the many reasons he rattled off, one stood out for sheer originality — and sheer absurdity: “These windmills wi
Editorial August 2025
Kaniyan Pungundran

Kaniyan Pungundran
Two Centuries, Zero Extremists: How Bohras Became Sri Lanka's Model Muslims

Two Centuries, Zero Extremists: How Bohras Became Sri Lanka's Model Muslims

The usually bustling streets of Colombo took on a distinctly vibrant hue late last month, as over 10,000 members of the Dawoodi Bohra community from around the world descended on the city for a week-long spiritual convention. Held from June 27 to July 5, the gathering coincided with the global Ashara Mubaraka sermons led by the community’s spiritual leader, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, in Chennai, India. The Colombo leg of the event, held primarily at the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centr
Cover Story Editorial
Kaniyan Pungundran

Kaniyan Pungundran
Archbishop, Archbishop, why hast thou forsaken us in our hour of sorrow and slaughter?

Archbishop, Archbishop, why hast thou forsaken us in our hour of sorrow and slaughter?

"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." - Isaiah 58:1 His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo and chief shepherd of the Catholic flock in all of Sri Lanka, has recently marked fifty years in the sacred priesthood. As the highest-ranking prelate whose dominion spans the entire island, he now stands as a mighty voice crying for justice, calling upon the nations of the earth for interv
Editorial July 2025
Kaniyan Pungundran

Kaniyan Pungundran
Chemmani: Where Justice Was Buried

Chemmani: Where Justice Was Buried

The dead do not speak - but the earth does A few years ago, I visited Cambodia. My original aim was to see the Angkor Wat temple complex. But, as always, my journalistic instincts led me deeper into rural Cambodia, where I found myself in quiet conversations with a few former soldiers of the Pol Pot regime, now living ordinary lives as toddy tappers, farmers, and small shop owners. One of them - a former henchman of the Khmer Rouge - opened up after a few glasses of toddy. In a hauntingly calm
Editorial June 2025
Kaniyan Pungundran

Kaniyan Pungundran