Editorial

Cyclone Ditwah and the NPP Government's Storm of Failure

Cyclone Ditwah and the NPP Government's Storm of Failure

Nearly two weeks after Cyclone Ditwah claimed 644 lives and wreaked destruction on a scale larger than the 2004 tsunami, one question continues to demand an answer: how did a second-category storm—tracked for sixteen days in advance—become Sri Lanka’s deadliest weather disaster in recent memory? From Natural Disaster to Man-Made Tragedy Sri Lanka's encounter with Cyclone Ditwah has moved beyond natural disaster into man-made catastrophe. Official figures confirm 644 deaths, 183 people still m
December 2025 Editorial
Kaniyan Pungundran

Kaniyan Pungundran
Why Tamil Politics Cannot Be a Pensioner's Hobby
A cut-out portrait of Judge M. Ilancheliyan from his farewell ceremony.

Why Tamil Politics Cannot Be a Pensioner's Hobby

If you trace the arc of Tamil political leadership from Independence to today, one pattern repeats with stubborn persistence: our fate has been decided almost exclusively by lawyers. From Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan and G.G. Ponnambalam to Thanthai Chelva and Amirthalingam, and now to Sumanthiran and Gajendrakumar—the legal profession has monopolized Tamil political space for more than a century. Nothing personal against lawyers. But their craft is built on argument, narrative construction, and
Editorial November 2025
Kaniyan Pungundran

Kaniyan Pungundran
WE ARE SORRY

WE ARE SORRY

Editorial Thirty-Five Years of Silence, Thirty-Five Years of Shame On October 30, 1990 — thirty-five years ago — the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, with we Tamils as mute spectators, committed an atrocity that erased whatever moral or ethical ground our struggle once stood upon. In an orchestrated act of ethnic cleansing — not in scale, but in spirit comparable to the mass expulsion of the Rohingya from Myanmar; reminiscent of the 1948 Palestinian Nakba; echoing the forced displacement of
Editorial October 2025
Kaniyan Pungundran

Kaniyan Pungundran
Nepal in Flames: The Shadow War Between Washington and Beijing

Nepal in Flames: The Shadow War Between Washington and Beijing

The defiant yet turbulent “Gen Z” protests that toppled Nepal’s government last week demand an analysis that goes beyond the surface narrative of a spontaneous youth uprising. While Gen Z undoubtedly played a leading role, the parallels with Sri Lanka’s Aragalaya in 2022 and Bangladesh’s student-led movement in 2024 are striking. Yet sources inside Nepal—including journalists and close contacts of mine—insist the story runs deeper. They argue the upheaval was not merely an outburst of youthful d
Editorial September 2025
Kaniyan Pungundran

Kaniyan Pungundran
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
Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Aruliniyan Mahalingam
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