OP-ED

By M.R. Narayan Swamy The killing of a former Tamil Tiger in Paris by the police has brought to the fore psychological issues that still affect a huge mass of ex-combatants who mostly lead broken lives after fighting one of the world’s bloodiest insurgencies, which at one point almost broke up Sri Lanka. A large but mostly undocumented army of former guerrillas of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) now eke out a low-key existence in Sri Lanka, India, and several countries in the West,

Professor Mahesh Nirmalan MD, FRCA, PhD, FFICM, University of Manchester, United Kingdom “திரை கடல் ஓடியும் திரவியம் தேடு” is an age-old saying by the Tamil poet Avvaiyar (ஔவையார்) in the collection of poetic moral statements known as “Konrai Venthan” (கொன்றை வேந்தன்). Directly translated it reads “Acquire wealth even if you have to cross the stormy seas”. As such the desire to travel to distant lands seeking prosperity is very much part of the South Asian psyche. It was this spirit that d

By M.R. Narayan Swamy “Sir, why don’t you talk to me at length about your early political history?” I made the plea to Appapillai Amirthalingam, leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), while he was perched on a sofa at the Tamil Nadu government guest house in Chennai. The year was 1988 when Indian troops were battling the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka’s north and east. I was on my way to Colombo, a trip I made frequently then. With no direct Delhi-to-Colombo flights, I used to take s

By: Kazem Gharibabadi, Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs of Iran Prelude For a long period, maritime navigation through the Strait of Hormuz did not proceed on the basis of exercising an asserted right, but rather within the framework of an interaction founded upon comity and mutual good faith. Over years, the Islamic Republic of Iran, as the coastal State, facilitated the passage of vessels through a continuous and peaceful practice. However, this practice was never

(Dr) Jayampathy Wickramaratne, President’s Counsel Sri Lanka’s constitutional journey remains marked by unresolved dilemmas: entrenched executive dominance, fragile fundamental rights, unfulfilled reform promises, and the persistent national question. These challenges have deepened inequality, strained ethnic relations, and weakened democratic accountability. The writer argues that constitutional supremacy must be firmly secured above transient political majorities, with judicial review extend