Word: lanka
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...please stop the Sri Lanka bashing and turn to supporting a nation with a mosaic of cultures that was sadly beset with over a quarter-century of separatist war. Journalists often ignored the atrocities committed by the Tamil Tigers - a group that assassinated two heads of state. Your article should have clearly congratulated Rajapaksa for having the strength of character to stand up to the protests of the international community and rid his land of the scourge of terror. Chandri Gunawardhana, Singapore...
...Rajapaksa professes his buddhist faith, which is based on nonviolence. Yet, by some accounts, his army behaved like butchers. Is it wrong for the Tamils in Sri Lanka to save their language and their culture? The whole world watched as the Sri Lankan army racked up significant civilian casualties on the grounds that it was fighting terrorism. Even now, Rajapaksa does not allow international observers to visit and see for themselves what happened. The press is gagged there. But the dreams of the Tamils will remain undimmed and Rajapaksa's successors will still have to wrestle with that quest...
...world, Aug. 15 is among the holiest of feast days. It marks the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, when the mother of Jesus is believed to have been physically taken into heaven after death so that her body would not suffer earthly decay. For the Catholics of Sri Lanka, Aug. 15 this year marked a similar miracle: the survival of a 500-year-old statue of the Virgin, through the fiery tumult of a quarter-century of civil war, which was re-ensconced in a jungle church that was once again safe to travel...
...Difficult to Read That lack of conviction has angered Rajapaksa's opposition and deeply troubles Sri Lanka's peace activists, who worry that Tamils may face even worse repression and hardship than they did before the war. Their original concerns - for the protection of Tamil language and culture and self-governance in Tamil-majority areas - are not even on the agenda...
...However unlikely it may seem, Rajapaksa could reinvent himself once again as a champion of pluralism and economic liberalism. With few other political options, that may be Sri Lanka's best hope for the future. There is a hint of it in the President's dining room. Three years ago, he co-opted two former leaders of the LTTE, who fed intelligence to the army and helped bring the eastern provinces under its control. They had spent their whole lives fighting for the destruction of the Sri Lankan state but are now ministers in Rajapaksa's government. They stood...