The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) on 12 June questioned former President Mahinda Rajapaksa regarding the USD 2 Mn bribe allegation directed at the late SriLankan CEO Kapila Chandrasena, whose body was found on 8 May in a close relative’s home in Kollupitiya. Chandrasena’s alleged suicide sent shock waves through political circles and interested parties questioned the circumstances leading to him being granted bail on 6 May on cash bail of Rs. 500,000 with three sureties of Rs. 10 million each. The Colombo Magistrate court also imposed a travel ban. The issue at hand is as to how Mohamed Riswan and Mohamed Irshan stood as sureties for Chandrasekera. Of all the investigations undertaken by the CIABOC, the USD 2 Mn bribe case is the most politically charged probe.

Of the Rajapaksas, former State Minister Shasheendra Rajapaksa is so far the last to be indicted. CIABOC on 19 June filed indictments before the Colombo High Court against him and two others Sepalika Saman Kumari and Keerthi Bandara Kotagama. According to the charges, the accused are alleged to have committed the offence of corruption and aided and abetted the commission of the offence by using official influence to pressure certain government officials, attached to the Office for Reparations, to obtain compensation amounting to Rs. 8.85 million for a property built on a state land by Shasheendra and destroyed by marauding Aragalaya mobs.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

The ruling National People’s Power (NPP) government last week emphasised, in no uncertain terms, that it wouldn’t tolerate the growing Opposition challenge.

Amidst the growing controversy over the continuing detention of retired Maj. Gen. Suresh Sallay. in terms of the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), under humiliating conditions, in connection with the ongoing investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage, police arrested Sugeeshwara Bandara, leader of the New People’s Front (NPF). The Central Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) apprehended him on 18 June and the Fort Magistrate’s Court remended him till 1 July..

The CCIB also apprehended Binoy Hettiarachchi who was accompanying Bandara. Hettiarachchi served as a media coordinator at the former President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Flower Road Office. Police intercepted their vehicle at Kollupitiya where the arrests were made like in an action-packed movie. Hettiarachchi was freed four hours later.

But, it would be better to identify Bandara as the former private secretary to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa as well as the Director General of Special Projects at the Presidential Secretariat in the wake of Ranil Wickremesinghe taking over the presidency.

Accused of receiving two salaries simultaneously, under the President’s Expenditure Head, Bandara who managed the media for Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in the run-up to the 2019 presidential election, is under investigation for abuse of government vehicles and employing government workers for political work.

Having launched his political career as the Colombo District organiser of the alliance New People’s Front, a breakaway faction of the UPFA, in February, 2024, Bandara contested the November, 2024, parliamentary polls on the New Democratic Front (NDF) ticket. But, of late, Bandara, as the leader of NPF, became one of the most active opposition activists, aligned with the political grouping, dubbed People’s United Opposition, operating from Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Flower Road Office.

Bandara drew the wrath of the government when he launched a noisy protest outside Finance Secretary Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma’s residence at Akuregoda, Pelawatta, on 26 April, where he and his protesting supporters were given a shower of excreta. The group, led by Bandara, demanded the Finance Secretary’s resignation over the theft of USD 2.5 mn from the Treasury. No less a person than President Anura Kumara Dissanayake reacted angrily to Bandara’s actions.

Acknowledging the right for legitimate protests, the President warned against protests directed at residences of officials. On 18 April, Bandara led a protest outside Agriculture Minister K.D. Lal Kantha’s recently built luxury residence at Weliwita, Kaduwela, where he questioned how the JVPer managed to build such a home as he was on record as having repeatedly said that he lived a difficult life.

The police apprehended Bandara as he was returning from a meeting between senior representatives of the People’s United Opposition and the IMF Colombo at the Tiki Bar, Shangri-La. In spite of negligible parliamentary presence, with those elected on the NDF ticket at the last parliamentary election not really speaking in one voice, the Flower Road project has become a headache for the government.

In fact, the Flower Road operation has been causing continuous harassment to the NPP, while the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) struggled to play its anticipated role as the main Opposition. Instead of conducting a cohesive campaign against the cocky NPP government, members of the SJB seem to be pulling in different directions at the expense of the common opposition front.

Regardless of the Wickremesinghe-led grouping vowing to press ahead with its campaign, the arrest of Bandara is obviously meant to have a detrimental impact on the activities of the Opposition.

It would be pertinent to mention that Bandara had been among those who stayed with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the President’s House, in Colombo, as a massive protest erupted on 9 July, 2022. Bandara was among the last to flee the President’s House as the military withdrew, amidst mounting pressure on their positions.

The police arrested Bandara as former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa moved the Court of Appeal in terms of Article 140 of the Constitution to prevent him being arrested under the PTA. The wartime Defence Secretary sought the court intervention in the wake of police probing the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage and obtaining a travel ban against him.

The court heard Romesh de Silva PC’s submissions on behalf of the ex-President on 18 June. The court deferred the hearing to 24 June. The crux of the matter is that the ex-President fears that the CID is about to arrest him on the basis of a statement made by fugitive Azad Moulana, in Paris, linking Sallay directly with the Easter Sunday carnage.

NPP intensifies pressure

The NPP seems confident of its current course of action meant to pin down the Opposition. In spite of unbridled corruption being the major issue on the post-war election platform, no political party succeeded in going flat-out against the political opposition.

However, the NPP allowed the judicial process to continue. The first major sentencing was announced on 2 April, 2025, just six months after the parliamentary polls, handsomely won by the NPP. The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) moved the Colombo High Court successfully against the former Chief Minister of the North Central Province S.M. Ranjith Samarakoon.

Colombo High Court No. 01 Judge Adithya Patabendige sentenced him in terms of Section 70 of the Bribery Act. The HC declared the former CM perpetrated malpractices by ordering fuel to his personal secretary’s vehicle. The personal secretary happened to be Shanthi Chandrasena, wife of his brother S.M. Chandrasena, a former Cabinet Minister and one of the most powerful Ministers to represent the North Central province.

The ex- Chief Minister and the second accused, his personal secretary, were convicted guilty of two charges. Both were sentenced to 16 years rigorous imprisonment and were also ordered to pay a fine of Rs. 200,000/- with an additional two-year prison term in case of default.

Deputy Director General Asitha Anthoney appeared on behalf of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption.

There had never been any really coordinated CIABOC campaign against corruption. No political party, or a particular family, felt threatened by CIABOC. Both those in and outside Parliament acted with impunity. They feared no one. There was no need to be because the powerful and the influential operated above the law.

Just a couple of weeks after sentencing of S.M. Ranjith Samarakoon and Shanthini Chandrasena, the CIABOC arrested the latter’s husband, one-time Deputy Economic Development Minister and Special Projects Minister, S.M. Chandrasena. The CIABOC took him into custody on 4 July, 2025.

The CIABOC accused the former Minister of causing loss to the government by distributing seed corn, imported at a cost of Rs 25 mn, in 2024, among the farmer community in the Anuradhapura district, at a subsidised price. The distribution had taken place ahead of the 2015 presidential election contested by Mahinda Rajapaksa and estranged former SLFP General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena. The CIABOC alleged that Chandrasena exerted undue influence on the Director (Planning) and other officers of the District Secretariat and distributed seeds through his political allies to gain an advantage in the 2015 presidential election and incurred a loss to the government.

Chandrasena was granted bail on 1 August, 2025. He was indicted on 12 June before the Colombo High Court.

Before further discussing the ongoing anti-corruption campaign, let me introduce the top leadership of CIABOC. The Commission consists of Justice W.M.N.P. Iddawela (Chairman), K.B. Rajapakse and Chethiya Goonesekera P.C, with High Court judge R.S.A. Dissanayake as its Director General.

The sentencing of the S. M. Ranjith Samarakoon didn’t really bother his side. The arrest of his brother S.M. Chandrasena, too, didn’t really upset those facing charges. But, sentencing of former Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage and former Sathosa Chairman and former Trade Minister Nalin Fernando on 29 May, 2025, sent shock waves through the Opposition.

The Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar sentenced Aluthgamage and Fernando for committing the offence of corruption by purchasing 14,000 carrom boards and 11,000 checkers boards through Sathosa, allegedly to distribute to schools and sports clubs selected by the Sports Ministry, and distributing them to party offices of the government, during the 2015 presidential election campaign thereby, causing a loss of over 53 million rupees to the government, stunned the Opposition.

Aluthgamage was sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment, Fernando received a sentence of 25 years of rigorous imprisonment. Additionally, a fine of Rs. 100,000 (hundred thousand) was imposed for each count.

The CIABOC’s Assistant Director General Mrs. Anuththara Jayasinghe and Assistant Director General Mrs. Thushari Dayaratne conducted the prosecution.

During the Yahapalana government Aluthgamage spearheaded a high profile anti-corruption campaign, dubbed ‘Yahapalana Top 10 kamba horu’. The then Joint Opposition (JO) group, led in Parliament by Dinesh Gunawardena, published a 750-page book, targeting the Yahapalana ministers. Mahindananda, who spearheaded that campaign, is now serving a long sentence.

The JO group consists of UPFA lawmakers who declined to throw their weight behind the then President Sirisena aligned with the UNP.

Let me mention the names of those against whom the accusations were made by the JO.

Yahapalana corruption

The JO dealt with 10 major cases. (1) The Treasury bond scams perpetrated in 2015 and 2016. Accusations were directed at Ranil Wickremesinghe, Ravi Karunanayake and Governor Central Bank Arjuna Mahendran. The losses were estimated at Rs 26 bn. (2) causing losses amounting to Rs 10 bn through the fraudulent import of vehicles. Ravi Karunanayake was named the chief culprit (3) Misappropriation of Mahapola funds to the tune of Rs. 1 bn. Allegations were directed at Malik Samarawickrema (4) Stealing from an insurance scheme implemented for the benefit of those going for employment in West Asia. The JO accused Thalatha Atukarale of misappropriating funds amounting Rs 1.5 bn (5) Receiving Rs 1.5 bn through the leasing of Hambantota port to China on a 99-year lease. Ranil Wickremesinghe, Malik Samarawickrema and R. Paskaralingam were named the offenders (6) Kabir Hashim was accused of causing a loss of Rs 54 bn by cancelling aircraft ordered from Airbus Industries for the national carrier (7) fraudulent activities pertaining to the release of paddy stocks held by the government. The JO estimated the losses caused to the government at Rs 10 bn. (8) Scam in vehicle parts. Ravil Karunanayake was accused of causing losses amounting to Rs. 6.5 bn, (9 A) Dr. Rajitha Senaratne was accused of leasing of the Modera fisheries harbor and procurement of eight vessels to catch fish, fraudulently, and thereby causing losses up to Rs 1 bn, (9B) The JO also found fault with Dr. Senaratne for perpetrating Rs 1.5 bn fraud in the procurement of medicine and lastly (10) Ranil Wickremesinghe, Malik Samarawickrema, R. Paskaralingam and Charitha Ratwatte were blamed for a massive fraud in the procurement of coal for the Norochcholai coal-fired power plant. That particular fraud was estimated at Rs 5 bn.

Although the JO transformed itself to Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) later, to successfully contested the 2019 presidential election, none of the above-mentioned cases were investigated. As far as we know, none of those cases had been dealt with during the SLPP rule, from November, 2019, to July, 2022. Faced with an externally backed regime change operation, the SLPP invited Wickremesinghe, who had been named by them in three major corruption cases, to accept the premiership in May, 2022, and presidency in July same year.

So far, there is no indication whether the mentioned JO allegations had received the attention of the CIABOC or the Attorney General of the government. As far as we know of all the politicians and officials, Wickremesinghe is the only one facing imminent threat due to the ongoing case pertaining to him visiting the UK in September, 2023, to join his wife Prof. Maithree at the University of Wolverhampton at her graduation ceremony.

Wickremesinghe has been accused of squandering nearly 17 mn rupees at a time the country was in deep economic turmoil. The Fort Magistrate’s court is scheduled to take up the case on 8 July.

SLPP parliamentary group leader Namal Rajapaksa is also facing a major legal challenge. The former Minister has been indicted on charges of criminal misappropriation of Rs. 70 mn in connection with the controversial Krrish project. The indictments have been forwarded to the Colombo High Court by the Attorney General, alleging that Namal Rajapaksa misappropriated funds by receiving Rs. 70 million from the Indian real estate company for the development of rugby in Sri Lanka.

Yoshitha Rajapaksa, too, has been dealt with by the CIABOC. The Rajapaksas have been accused of lowering qualifications required to join the executive branch of the Navy and then sending him to the Royal Naval Academy in the United Kingdom at taxpayers’ expense. Produced before the Colombo Additional Magistrate, Yoshitha was released on three personal bail bonds of Rs. 5 million each.

Producing Yoshitha before court on 17 June, Deputy Director General of the Bribery Commission, Ruvini Wickramasinghe declared: “”Your Honour, the complaint regarding this incident was received on June 25, 2016. Accordingly, the Commission initiated investigations. The complaint states that the suspect had participated in naval training programmes held in England and Ukraine by misusing government funds, while depriving qualified applicants of such opportunities. At that time, this individual, who is a civilian in the dock today, was also a civilian in 2006 when he was deemed eligible for the Royal Navy Young Officer training at the Royal Naval Academy in the United Kingdom. The opportunities to receive this training are extremely limited. Your Honour, selection to this prestigious course is usually based on being the most outstanding cadet officer during a two-year training period or based on performance during training. However, this suspect, although a civilian in 2006, was proposed and included in the list and was sent for the course in haste.”

The Deputy Director General also stated that Yoshitha Rajapaksa had undergone medical examinations required for overseas training even before being officially recruited into the Navy.

The court was also told that though Sri Lanka previously received scholarships from the UK the Rajapaksa government funded Yoshitha to the tune of Rs 6.2 mn.

Opp. attacks CIABOC

The Opposition has repeatedly attacked the CIABOC with its Director General Ranga Dissanayake being the primary target. Accusing Dissanayake of being a JVPer, the Opposition has repeatedly questioned the conduct of the High Court judge demanding that the CIABOC inquired into the top official’s conduct, especially with regard to the alleged suicide of former Sri Lankan CEO Kapila Chandrasena who had been under investigation pertaining to the receiving of USD 2 mn bribe to facilitate procurement aircraft from Airbus Industrie during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second term.

Former Foreign Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris, a regular speaker at Flower Road media briefings, alleged that the CIABOC was a political tool in the NPP’s hands.

A section of the Opposition to question the circumstances one-time JVP heavyweight Nandana Gunatilleke died in January this year at the Ragama Teaching Hospital after accusing Dissanayake of pursuing an agenda beneficial to the JVP, a charge denied by the High Court judge. When the writer raised the allegations with Dissanayake, he emphatically denied any wrongdoing on his part https://island.lk/ciaboc-dg-denies-jvp-link/.

The CIABOC has simply ignored accusations directed at its DG who proved through his actions that he really meant high profile public pronouncements against corruption.

Former Deputy Minister and ex-MP Sarana Gunawardena was sentenced to a total of 16 years rigorous imprisonment by the Colombo High Court on June 8, 2026.

During the Yahapalana administration many cases, filed by the CIABOC as well as the Attorney General, were either dismissed or dropped due to lapses on their part. The accused in such cases were ex-MP Sajin Vass Gunawardena, ex-EP Chief Minister Sivanesathurei Chandrakanthan alias Pilleyan, ex-Ministers Johnston Fernando, Rohitha Abeygunawardena, Basil Rajapaksha, Mahindananda Aluthgamage and Janaka Bandara Tennakoon and former AG and CJ Mohan Peiris.

Regardless of Opposition protests, the public appreciate tangible action against corruption. However, the NPP has not been free from serious allegations against it since the last general elections. The release of suspicious 323 containers, plus two containers filled with ice, in January, 2025, followed by the massive coal scam perpetrated in September 2025, loss of over USD 2.5 mn from the Treasury and controversial Aswesuma payments, as well as wealth, accumulated by NPP Ministers as revealed by declarations made to CIABOC, shocked the electorate.

The NPP has failed to counter allegations. The circumstances under which Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody resigned, along with Energy Secretary Udayanga Hemapala, on 17 April, just a week after the NPP defeated the no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition against the Energy Minister. dealt a devastating blow to the NPP’s much touted integrity. The NPP couldn’t explain as to why a person under investigation by the CIABOC for an alleged fraud perpetrated during the Yahapalana government was accommodated in President Dissanayake’s first Cabinet. Indicted before the Colombo High Court, Jayakody’s case commenced last week.

Asset declarations of some NPP Ministers have shocked the country. The SJB has called for CIABOC to investigate them without delay and prove that CIABOC was not only going after the Opposition. Ministers Lal Kantha and Wasantha Samarasinghe are two of the top JVPers who have attracted attention as the Opposition hits back at the government.

SJB MP Mujibur Rahuman said that the JVP/NPP owed an explanation as to how their members amassed so much wealth since 2024 as they repeatedly claimed their inability to meet even their basic needs. But, their asset declarations exposed their blatant lies.

Listening to the Winds, Reading the Waves:

Prof. Gamini Keerawella’s latest publication, Winds and Waves: Geopolitical Currents in the Indian Ocean since 1945 will be launched on 5 August at the Auditorium of the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS). The keynote address will be delivered by Prof. T. V. Paul, James, McGill Professor of Political Science at McGill University, Canada and the former President of the International Studies Association (ISA).

Prof. Keerawella, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Peradeniya, has dedicated hisbook to the memory of Dr. Newton Gunasinghe, the eminent sociologist and Marxist theoretician who encouraged him to venture beyond disciplinary frontiers. In many respects, this work represents a successful realization of that intellectual endeavour. In her testimonial to back cover of the book, Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy observes that “Gamini Keerawella offers a nuanced and layered account of the Indian Ocean region’s strategic evolution from the era of decolonization to the contemporary phase of intensifying great-power rivalry. Its distinctive analytical perspective makes it an important contribution to the study of international relations, maritime geopolitics, and regional strategic dynamics.” This assessment accurately captures the significance of the work, and I fully endorse her judgement.

This volume constitutes the final publication of a trilogy that explores the evolving dynamics of international relations from a distinctly Sri Lankan perspective. The first study examined the trajectory of Sri Lanka’s defence and foreign policy, while the second revisited the origins, evolution, and principal constituent elements of international relations as an academic discipline from a Global South perspective. The present work broadens the analytical canvas by tracing the shifting geopolitical contours of the Indian Ocean since 1945 and examining the evolving interplay between great-power competition and regional agency.

Indian Ocean not merely maritime transit space

At the heart of Prof. Keerawella’s analysis is the argument that the Indian Ocean is not merely a maritime space of transit but a living archive whose language is inscribed in tides, trade, and collective memory. To uncover the deeper structures that have shaped the region, he draws on Michel Foucault’s concept of the archaeology of knowledge, probing beneath the visible layers of historical experience to reveal successive strata of thought, exchange, and power. This approach enables him to trace the multiple origins of the Indian Ocean’s geopolitical significance through the sedimented traces of how the ocean has been known, governed, and imagined across time. Complementing this perspective is Fernand Braudel’s concept of the longue durée, which provides the framework for understanding the long-term evolution of Indian Ocean geopolitics. As Keerawella notes, for Braudel, history unfolds not as a single linear sequence but as a layered field of continuity and change, revealing the deeper architecture of the past—the slow yet powerful currents that shape political and economic developments beneath the surface of events (Keerawella 2026: xxiii).Prof. Keerawella further notes that later historians such as K. N. Chaudhuri and M. N. Pearson drew on Braudel’s insights and adapted them to understand the Indian Ocean as a polycentric world.

Prof. Keerawella argues that the terms employed in the title of this work—Winds, Waves, and Currents—evoke the ocean’s dual language of surface movement and underlying structure. In his reading, winds and waves signify motion: the visible and often turbulent forces that carry ships, peoples, commodities, and ideas across shifting maritime frontiers. Currents, by contrast, refer to the deeper and less visible forces that shape historical trajectories and connect coasts and continents through enduring patterns of interaction. As he observes, while winds and waves represent the restless dynamics of the ocean’s surface, currents embody the slower yet more consequential energies that operate beneath it, binding disparate regions into a larger maritime system (2026: xx).

Metaphors and Conceptual Foundation

Building on this conceptual foundation, the author employs winds, waves, and currents not merely as metaphors but also as analytical categories. Winds represent changing strategic directions and geopolitical realignments; waves denote recurring cycles of commerce, conflict, and interaction; and currents symbolize the deep structural forces that connect societies across space and time. Viewed from a distinctly Sri Lankan perspective, the volume demonstrates how a strategically located small state at the centre of the Indian Ocean perceives and navigates this maritime space through its own strategic lens. The book opens by situating Sri Lanka within the intersecting forces of history, geography, and power that have shaped the Indian Ocean world. It advances the notion of a dual strategic consciousness that has informed Sri Lanka’s external engagements: a persistent sense of vulnerability, rooted in colonial experience and geographical exposure, coexisting with a cosmopolitan outlook forged through centuries of maritime exchange. Prof. Keerawella contends that this dual consciousness constitutes the underlying framework through which Sri Lanka has historically interpreted and responded to developments in its external environment.

Winds and Waves is a comprehensive study comprising eleven chapters and an extensive introduction that establishes the analytical foundations of the work by treating the ocean simultaneously as text and method. The opening chapter situates Sri Lanka within the wider Indian Ocean system, tracing the island’s navigation through shifting configurations of power while emphasising the agency of small states. The Indian Ocean is presented not merely as a strategic arena but also as a moral and political space, linking Sri Lanka’s historical experience to the broader aspirations and consciousness of the Global South.

Revisiting British withdrawal

The book revisits Britain’s withdrawal from the Indian Ocean, arguing that it was not simply a consequence of post-war decline but the culmination of deeper structural transformations in the international system. Decolonisation, Afro-Asian nationalism, and the emergence of bipolarity fundamentally altered the regional order and created the conditions for Britain’s retreat. In turn, this withdrawal opened the way for superpower competition, particularly between the United States and the Soviet Union, transforming the Indian Ocean into major theatre of Cold War geopolitics.

A substantial portion of the volume is devoted to examining the policies and strategic trajectories of the major powers. The author traces American engagement from Cold War containment through post-Cold War maritime predominance to contemporary Indo-Pacific formulations, demonstrating that U.S. strategy has evolved through the interaction of structural imperatives and changing strategic discourses. Particular attention is paid to the 2026 U.S.–Iran War, which is interpreted as a transformative event that exposed the limits of military hegemony and accelerated patterns of strategic hedging and multi-alignment among regional actors. The book also explores the Soviet Union’s entry into the Indian Ocean in 1968 and the subsequent re-emergence of Russia under Vladimir Putin through selective naval deployments, arms transfers, and strategic partnerships, illustrating what the author characterises as the recurrent rhythms of great-power engagement in the region.

The rise of China receives extensive treatment as one of the most significant structural developments of the twenty-first century. Through the Belt and Road Initiative, port development projects, and naval modernisation, China has translated growing economic power into expanding strategic influence. The author contrasts Beijing’s assertive posture in the South China Sea with its relatively restrained approach in the Indian Ocean, where economic diplomacy and cooperative security initiatives have assumed greater prominence. Equally significant is the discussion of India’s transformation from a regional power into an emerging global strategic actor. The evolution of Indian maritime strategy—from Nehruvian custodianship to contemporary blue-water ambitions—demonstrates how a rising power navigates structural constraints while expanding its strategic reach. Initiatives such as SAGAR, naval modernization, and deepening partnerships with the United States, Japan, and Australia have positioned India as a central actor in the evolving Indo-Pacific order.

Roles of Japan and EU examined

The volume also examines the roles of Japan and the European Union in shaping the contemporary maritime order. Japan’s transition from post-war restraint to proactive strategic engagement, embodied in the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) vision, illustrates how middle powers adapt to changing geopolitical realities through coalition-building and maritime capacity enhancement. The European Union’s engagement is portrayed through less visible but nevertheless significant mechanisms, including trade, development cooperation, maritime governance, and norm diffusion, contributing to what the author terms a form of “quiet-making multipolarity” that encourages restraint, stability, and pragmatic cooperation.

Moving beyond conventional geopolitics, the book broadens the analytical framework to address a range of non-traditional security challenges confronting South Asia in general and Sri Lanka in particular. Climate change, piracy, illegal fishing, maritime terrorism, public health vulnerabilities, and digital insecurity are examined as transnational challenges that transcend the capabilities of individual states. The author argues that these issues reveal the limits of unilateral action and underscore the growing importance of cooperation, collective action, institutional innovation, and middle-power leadership in maritime governance.

Prof. Keerawella further situates the Indian Ocean within the wider context of the emerging Asian Century. Asia’s resurgence—driven principally by China and India and reinforced by the dynamism of Southeast Asia—is presented as a major reconfiguration of global power. In this transformation, the Indian Ocean functions as a vital maritime artery connecting energy resources, manufacturing centres, and consumer markets. At the same time, the author cautions against deterministic interpretations, emphasising that the realisation of the Asian Century remains contingent upon how the region responds to persistent inequalities, environmental challenges, governance deficits, and intensifying strategic competition.

Assessing how SL has navigated shifts

The book concludes by returning to Sri Lanka and assessing how the country has navigated contemporary shifts in the regional and global balance of power under the National People’s Power (NPP) government that emerged in the aftermath of the Aragalaya of 2022. The author demonstrates how economic crisis, demands for accountability, and aspirations for a new political culture have reshaped the domestic context within which foreign policy is conducted. Under President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Sri Lanka is portrayed as pursuing a carefully calibrated strategy that combines engagement with international financial institutions, enhanced cooperation with India in defence and energy sectors, continued economic engagement with China, and functional security relations with the United States. The government’s response to the 2026 U.S.–Iran War—rejecting military access requests from all parties while extending humanitarian assistance—serves as an illustration of the author’s broader argument that strategic flexibility, principled neutrality, and diplomatic agility remain essential for small states navigating an increasingly complex Indian Ocean order.

Taken together, the book advances several interconnected propositions. First, the Indian Ocean is entering an increasingly multipolar era in which power is exercised through complex networks of cooperation, competition, and interdependence rather than rigid alliance structures. Second, small states are neither passive spectators nor mere proxies of great powers; they possess strategic agency and navigate competing pressures through hedging, diversification, and calibrated diplomacy. Third, Sri Lanka’s strategic behaviour—characterised by navigating asymmetry through flexibility and ambiguity—reflects a historically rooted dual consciousness that combines vulnerability with cosmopolitan engagement. Fourth, non-traditional security challenges and environmental governance are no longer peripheral concerns but central components of the evolving regional order.

Need for adaptive navigation

Prof. Keerawella argues that contemporary statecraft in the Indian Ocean requires adaptive navigation rather than rigid alignment. In a fluid and contested maritime environment, survival and influence depend less on resisting structural change than on understanding and responding to it with prudence, flexibility, and strategic clarity. The book therefore offers important insights into how small states can transform structural vulnerability into strategic agency and convert exposure into opportunities for engagement within a changing regional order.

Combining historical depth with contemporary analysis, it provides a nuanced understanding of the interaction between great-power competition, regional transformation, and the strategic choices of smaller states. The book will be of considerable value to students and scholars of international relations, political science, strategic studies, and maritime affairs, while also offering useful perspectives to policymakers, diplomats, and practitioners. Equally important, it opens several promising avenues for future research on the Indian Ocean and the emerging Indo-Pacific order.

Hermeneutic approachs

Methodologically, the study draws upon hermeneutic approaches to examine the geopolitical and maritime environments that shape relationships among states, societies, and historical processes. The result is a work that is both analytically rigorous and intellectually engaging. This review has sought less to evaluate the book in a conventional sense than to introduce its central themes and encourage a wider readership to engage with its arguments. Having highlighted the many merits of the volume, it is worth noting one technical shortcoming: the absence of an index. Given the book’s wide thematic scope and rich empirical content, the inclusion of an index would have significantly enhanced its value as a reference tool for researchers and students alike.

In sum, Prof. Keerawella listens attentively to the winds, reads the waves with analytical precision, and traces the deeper currents that shape the Indian Ocean world. The outcome is Winds and Waves: Geopolitical Currents in the Indian Ocean since 1945, a timely and thought-provoking contribution published by the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies.

Reviewed by
Dr. Ramesh Ramasamy
Department of Political Science, University
of Peradeniya

The ruling NPP is in a deepening dilemma over a hotly disputed move to extend the retirement age of superior courts judges. The party is also under heavy fire for delaying fresh appointments to the superior courts consisting of the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. 

A section of the Opposition wants Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickremaratne to take up the inordinate delay in filling vacancies in the superior courts. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka, Colombo High Court lawyers, Lawyers Collective, as well as the Commonwealth Lawyers’ Union have criticised the government’s move.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader Rauff Hakeem, MP, recently expressed concern over the alleged way Balachandran Prabhakaran, 12-year-old son of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed, in cold blood, on 19 May, 2009.

A section of the Tamil media highlighted Kandy District lawmaker Hakeem’s comments regarding the alleged way Balachandran, the youngest of the three children of Tiger Supremo, met his end. Prabhakaran himself was also killed on the same day.

What prompted MP Hakeem to raise a contentious but now largely forgotten issue! Both the Sinhala and English print and electronic media failed to report the SLMC leader’s comments. Some questioned the purpose in lawmaker Hakeem raising Balachandran’s death. Some even suggested a Tamil Diaspora hand in Hakeem’s unexpected interest in Balachandran’s death.

The Island obtained the video, released by the Parliament, of the SLMC leader’s 10-minute speech, delivered on 10 June. Reference to Balachandran’s killing had been made towards the tail end of his fiery speech that primarily dealt with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s continuing failure to fill existing vacancies in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

The deliberate and utterly contemptible holding up of judicial promotions, for whatever reasons, cannot be discussed without examining a disputed bid to introduce an amendment to the Constitution to increase the retirement age of the Judges of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the leader of two registered political parties, namely the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the National People’s Power (NPP), seems to be on a collision course with the Opposition. With a commanding 159 MPs in Parliament, meaning a 2/3 majority, Dissanayake can easily introduce the required amendment, regardless of protests. But, the electorate won’t like that dictatorial attitude. Those who exercised their franchise for Dissanayake and the NPP at the September 2024 and November 2024 national polls, respectively, wouldn’t expect them to adopt, what can be safely described as, a dogmatic approach.

Attorney-at-law and one-time Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem castigated the President and the ruling party, ahead of the joint Opposition action, to pressure the President to fill the vacancies. Their appeal to Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickremaratne in this regard can be also interpreted as a collective opposition to the proposed amendment to increase the retirement age of judges.

The SLMC group in Parliament consists of five MPs. Of them, three had been elected under the SLMC symbol (two elected and one on the National List) and two through the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), one of them on the latter’s National List.

Lawmaker Hakeem, who had served the Parliament for over 30 years, at the onset of his speech, questioned the sudden decision to bring in regulation to compel exporters to convert their export proceeds into USD. The SLMCer declared that such panic action was taken by the government in view of the rapid deterioration of the Rupee against the USD.

Commenting on the extension of the Emergency continuously, MP Hakeem alleged that it was done for the NPP’s own parochial purposes and the Opposition expected the government to discontinue the practice.

Then he dealt with the alleged move to extend the retirement age of top judges. Referring to Chief Government Whip Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa’s shameless declaration that the issue hadn’t been even discussed among the government. The ex-justice Minister, however, disputed Jayatissa’s claim made at the post-Cabinet media briefing, while highlighting the statements issued by the Bar Association, Colombo High Court Lawyers’ Association. In addition, the Lawyers’ Collective and the Commonwealth Lawyers’ Association strongly opposed the alleged move. In spite of the Cabinet spokesman’s denial, Justice Minister and Attorney-at-Law Harshana Nanayakkara, in his comments on the issue, indicated that the matter was under discussion. In fact, Nanayakkara mentioned a comparatively higher retirement age of top judges in other countries to support the NPP’s controversial and unnecessary move.

Obviously, the NPP is not talking in one voice.

Rauff takes a strong stand

Emphasising that he addressed the issue at hand as a member of the BASL, Hakeem pointed out that there were four vacancies, each in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, for the past six months. The SLMC leader said: “The President has failed in his constitutional duty to nominate judges for promotion. From the High Court to the Court of Appeal and from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court. By denying the rights of the judges, undue pressure is being brought on them. What will happen? This very President, when he was in the Opposition, when the previous Presidents failed to gazette the names decided on by the Constitutional Council, he made a big protest. Several times he spoke about this very vociferously in the House. But, since becoming the President, he has not nominated any names. Very clearly, the 21 Amendment provision was made to prevent Presidents from delaying the decisions taken by the Constitutional Council. He is doing the reverse by not nominating anyone to the top two courts. This is much worse. As a consequence, even our fundamental rights are impacted. Because we as litigants or lawyers or public, our right for the expeditious disposal of cases is being impacted by the delay in appointing judges to the Superior Courts.

Moreover, you are frustrating the judges who served years in the judiciary. What happens to the minor judiciary and others? There are heavy concerns among the judiciary about extending the retirement age. That’ll block their path. That’ll deprive many suitably qualified individuals the right to get onto the bench or the superior bench. High court judges will now await their chances of being promoted. Undue pressure will be brought upon them.”

Hakeem alleged that the Constitution was being deliberately violated by the President. Having directed serious allegations at the President, Hakeem emphasised the responsibility on the part of the Speaker to take up this matter with the President on their behalf. Hakeem questioned as to why the President unduly delayed the promotions. The President’s deliberate failure has caused unnecessary frustration among the judicial ranks in the country and deprived those who served the judiciary of their due rights.”

Hakeem explained how even senior officers of the Attorney General’s Department had been affected by the President’s inaction. Those officials have been deprived of the opportunity to move onto one of the superior courts, Hakeem alleged, accusing the President of, what he called, deliberate inaction and a constitutional violation.

Then Hakeem made a very serious allegation. The ex-Justice Minister alleged that the NPP was delaying the process until a favoured person is eligible to get onto the bench, “You are picking and choosing people by that thereby undermining the judiciary.”

MP Hakeem also dealt with the vexed issue of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) that had been opposed by many political parties, civil society as well as organisations such as Amnesty International. The Sttorney-at-Law took up the issue in the wake of the controversial arrest of Maj. Gen. (retd.) Suresh Sallay, Director of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI/2012-2016) and Director, State Intelligence Service/2019-2024) in terms of the PTA.

MP Hakeem chided the NPP for proposing to bring in a new anti-terrorism law, under a different title, to replace the existing PTA. Declaring that the new Act would be definitely far worse than the current law, the lawyer faulted the police and the Attorney General’s Department for abusing the PTA. The former Minister said so while alleging the continuous deterioration of the standards of the police and the Attorney General’s department, due to their dependence on the draconian PTA.

Killing of Balachandran

Referring to Tamil media reports regarding the new UK Channel 4 video that dealt with the killing of Prabhakaran’s 12-year-old son, lawmaker Hakeem discussed how the military dealt with the families of the LTTE leader and that of the JVP leader Rohana Wijeweera, killed on the night of 13 November, 1989.

Pointing out that Wijeweera who had been apprehended, along with his family, by the military, was killed, Hakeem stressed that the family members weren’t harmed. They lived under the protection of successive governments but in Prabhakaran’s case the situation was entirely differently.

Hakeem scorned the JVP/NPP government for conveniently forgetting its leaders, though an annual ceremony was held in Colombo in memory of those who perished during the insurgency. Hakeem said that even the daughter of Zahran Hashim, who led the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, was spared. But, if Prabharatan’s daughter, Duwaraka, had been killed, as alleged, that should be investigated, Hakeem said. Hakeem ended his speech addressing the Parliament in Tamil.

Prabhakaran’s wife Mathivathani, too, had been killed during the final phase of the ground offensive. Prabhakaran’s eldest son, Charles Anthony, was killed in the Karayamullavaikkal area of the Mullaitivu district, the day before Prabhakaran, wife Mathivathani, daughter Duwaraka and younger son Balachandran were killed.

Acknowledging the SLMC leader’s right to rake up the controversy over the alleged manner the deaths of the LTTE leader and his family, while in government custody, took place. It would be pertinent to mention that Hakeem, in his capacity as the Justice Minister, from November, 2010, to December, 2014, could have pushed the Mahinda Rajapaksa government to inquire into the incident.

In fact, the writer once sought a meeting with the then Minister Hakeem to discuss accountability issues and the failure on the part of the government to address them. Although the Minister gave a patience hearing and acknowledged the urgent need to take remedial measures, the war-winning Rajapaksa government, instead of taking tangible measures, played politics. By late 2014, the SLMC switched its allegiance to the UNP-led coalition, formed with the US blessings to back the candidature of another political turncoat, Maithripala Sirisena, at the 2015 presidential election.

Hakeem received the Urban Development, Water Supply and Drainage portfolio in the succeeding Yahapalana government. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), that had been an integral part of that alliance, served the Yahapalana interests well, though it refrained from accepting any Cabinet portfolio. The JVP, too, refrained from joining the Cabinet but their role in the Yahapalana operation is in the public domain.

The Yahapalana government betrayed the armed forces at the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), in October, 2015, but the extent of their treachery was highlighted two years later when that administration unceremoniously dismissed Lord Naseby’s revelations pertaining to the final phase of the war.

What made the SLMC leader Hakeem to compare three incidents – the killing of Wijeweera, and government protection for his family, in November, 1989; killing of Prabhakaran and his family on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon, in May, 2009; and the rescue of Zahran Hashim’s daughter, following the Sainthamaruthu blasts in April, 2019. Whatever the SLMC leader’s motive in highlighting the LTTE’s case now, the need for collective response on the part of the Parliament to address the concerns of the loved ones of those who engaged in terrorism cannot be overemphasised.

The circumstances of Prabhakaran, his wife and their daughter and youngest son remained mired in controversy. Like over 11,000 LTTE cadres, both men and women, including suicide cadres who surrendered to the advancing troops on multiple fronts, Prabhakaran and his family could have given themselves up to the Army on the Vanni front. They ignored that opportunity believing in a US operation to evacuate them.

Critically important combined stand

As mentioned by the SLMC leader during his 10 June speech in Parliament, a group of Opposition MPs handed over a letter expressing their concerns over the inordinate delay in filling the vacancies in the superior courts. Pointing out that the President, in his capacity as the Chairman of the Constitutional Council, had failed to fill those vacancies, the Opposition MPs stressed the responsibility on the part of the President to act in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. They also reminded the Speaker that it would be his responsibility to protect the independence of the judiciary, which is an important part of the sovereignty of the people.

Kandy District MP Anuradha Jayaratne, represented the new Democratic Front (NDF) in the SJB-led effort, while NDF MP Ravi Karunanayake, too, joined, though he is in logger heads with the UNP over taking the National List slot won by the NDF at the last parliamentary election. Former President and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe threw his weight behind the NDF, at the November, 2024, General Electio, but could not achieve the anticipated results. The NDF managed to secure just five seats, two of them National List slots.

All Ceylon Tamil Congress leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, representing the Jaffna electoral district, signed the petition, along with the Sarvajana Balaya leader Dilith Jayaweera. Unfortunately, the SLPP hadn’t been part of that grouping. Responding to The Island queries, SLPP sources assured that though they didn’t sign the petition handed over to Speaker Wickremaratne, they wholeheartedly supported the initiative.

Whatever efforts by political parties/governments in power to interfere with the judiciary should be opposed at every level. The Rajapaksas went to the extent of impeaching Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake and removing her under the most despicable circumstances. Belligerent Rajapaksas reacted, as expected, following the Supreme Court rulings, including one against the then SLFP/UPFA strongman Basil Rajapaksa.

The ruling UPFA directed a series of unsubstantiated allegations against her, including financial impropriety and interfering in legal cases. SJB MP Dayasiri Jayasekera recently made reference to the impeachment of Dr. Bandaranayake when he censured the NPP move to extend the retirement age of judges of the superior courts. MP Jayasekera questioned whether the NPP wanted to retain Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena beyond the stipulated retirement age.

Although there had been a spate of interventions, the 2013 impeachment of CJ 43 was undoubtedly the worst case ever and the appointment of former Attorney General Mohan Peiris as her successor made matters worse.

The UPFA hit back hard at Dr. Bandaranayake following unprecedented controversy over The Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Bill and Divi Neguma, gazetted in 2011 and 2012, respectively. The UPFA abandoned the first Bill and then amended the second to avoid a referendum and the required 2/3 approval. By then, the cocky UPFA had decided to impeach Dr. Bandaranayake who stood up to outright political intimidation.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, during his tenure as the President (July, 2022, to September, 2024) reacted angrily to the Supreme Court ruling that he, in his capacity as the Finance Minister and the Election Commission, violated voters’ rights by arbitrarily delaying the Local Government polls in 2023. Wickremesinghe had been also angered by his failure to secure Supreme Court endorsement for his bid to appoint Dehabandu Tennakoon as the IGP in the run-up to the 2024 Presidential Election.

There had been so many other instances when the political party/coalition, in power, felt that the judiciary undermined its agenda. There cannot be better examples of the daunting challenge faced by the UPFA due to the Supreme Court stand during Dr. Bandaranayake’s tenure as the Chief Justice.

But post-Aragalaya period, no one expected President Dissanayake to pursue an agenda that compelled the BASL to issue hard hitting statements. Since May Day 2026, there had been two such statements from the BASL that should have triggered alarm bells. The NPP is obviously on the wrong path, believing that it can proceed with a 2/3 super majority unhindered in Parliament.

The first BASL statement dealt with President Dissanayake’s controversial May Day prediction of a court ruling in a high profile case. The second one responded to a move to extend superior court judges’ retirement age.

The government should rethink its strategy. With the national economy experiencing severe difficulties and the government under pressure to abolish fuel and electricity subsidies at the behest of the IMF, the NPP should concentrate on saving the economy instead of creating fresh issues that it cannot just brush aside just because of its steamroller majority in Parliament.