Features

Turbulent four decades: War, peace and corruption

Published

4 years ago

2021/11/16

By Shamindra Ferdinando

A bald-headed person, seated in a corner chair, in the deserted The Island editorial, looked at the writer as he entered the office. In spite of the spacious office being air-conditioned, he was smoking a cigarette. “Why are you wearing a tie? Remove it, call me Anton. Roll-up your sleeves, sit over there. Bala should be here soon.” That was the response, the writer received from the late Anton Weerasinghe when he addressed the first individual he encountered as “Sir” on the first day at The Island Editorial on the morning of June 1, 1987.

At the time, the writer joined The Island as a novice, Anton Weerasinghe, a veteran in the field, served as the Chief Sub Editor, and Bala was actually the late Peter Balasuriya, the then News Editor. A smiling Weerasinghe advised that journalists should always be on first name basis with their colleagues and the only exception was that the novices addressed the Editor-in-Chief Gamini Weerakoon “Sir.” Weerasinghe called him “Gamma.”

Over the next couple of weeks, the writer had the opportunity to meet seniors, the late Ajith Samaranayake, Rohan Abeywardena, Lalith Alahakoon, M. Ismeth, the late Vijitha Amarasinghe, the late Clarence Anandappa, Norman Palihawadana, Lakshman Gunasekera, his brother Rohan Gunasekera, now Canada-based D.B.S. Jeyaraj, Ranjiva Seneviratne, the late Lasantha Wickrematunga, the late Gregory Wickremesinghe, the late Eriq Devanarayana, Zanita Careem, Chitra Weeraratne, the late Zacky Jabbar, the late M. S. M. Mansoor, the late Wilfred Lasz, the late Therese Moorthy, Malkanthi Leitan, the late R. Sathyapalan, Minoli de Soysa, Sisira Wijesinghe, the late Suresh P. Perera, Jehan Haniff, Winston de Vallier, Charnika Munesinghe, Faheema Fariz, Shirley de Silva, the late Chandragupta Weerawardena, Rozaine Koelmayer and the late Aloy Perera.

Vijitha Amarasinghe, the then Sports Editor, inquired whether the writer would like to join the Sports Desk. But, the Indian ‘parrippu drop’ on June 4, 1987, which brought an end to the first Brigade-level military onslaught ‘Operation Liberation’, conducted against the LTTE, in the Jaffna peninsula, made me quite interested in covering the conflict though at that time the writer was only 19 and fresh from school, didn’t have any idea at least as to how to work on a story. India’s forced intervention plunged the country into unprecedented turmoil.

Indo-Lanka accord triggers violence

Violence, instigated by the JVP, erupted in the wake of the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord of July 29, 1987, which was literally shoved down our throat. Shocking assault on the then Indian Premier Rajiv Gandhi, with a rifle butt, at a guard-of-honour in Colombo, by an enraged naval rating, killing of UNP MP for Tangalle Jinadasa Weerasinghe, grenade attacks on the UNP parliamentary group, in Parliament, which claimed the life of Matara District MP Keerthi Abeywickrema (the writer covered Abeywickrema’s funeral at Matara. It was the first coverage in a series of funerals of assassinated politicians and officials), security forces, police and pro-government sponsored death squads, unleashing counterterror against the JVP, and a censorship on the media, made print journalism quite a challenge and exciting. At the time there were no private TV channels.

The incident involving Susantha Punchinilame, at the Ratnapura by-election in July 1988, underscored the situation at that time. A gun-toting Punchinilame, a UNP lawmaker, caused havoc in Ratnapura, on that day, with the late Gamini Dissanayake in charge of the overall operation. The writer and staff photographer Saranapala Pamunuwa had to take to his heels when armed men, accompanying Punchinilame spotted Pamunuwa taking pictures.

Amidst repression by the government as well as the JVP, the print media struggled. Censorship made the task even more difficult. Typed and hand written copy had to be taken to the Government Information Department where the government appointed Competent Authority deleted articles or sections of them. There had even been times earlier when the Competent Authority operated from the Upali Group complex.

As Norman Palihawadana, Rohan Gunasekera, Jehan Haniff as well as Suresh Perera covered the security/’police round’, the writer found it extremely difficult to get sufficient space but subsequently received the opportunity to engage in quite a bit of security coverage. In fact, the eruption of the second JVP insurgency gave the writer an opening to work with experienced Divaina journalists. Seniors Peter Balasuriya, Abeywardena and Wickremathunga were always helpful.

Weligama blasts

The visit to Kapparathota, in the Weligama electorate, in late July 1988, with staff photographer Jude Denzil Pathiraja, in a vehicle driven by now retired driver Premalal, was fraught with danger. Having covered the first landmine blast there, we ended up at Hambantota where Lt. Colonel Vipul Botheju of the Gemunu Watch had succeeded the then Air Commodore A.B. Soza, in charge of overall security there. Violence gripped the South, where the armed forces and UNP para-military groups waged war against the JVP aka DJV (Deshapremi Janatha Viyaparaya). On and off visits to the deep South, the Central as well as the North Central Provinces over the next few years, drove home the uncertainty and despair as never before. A visit to Kudawella, in Tangalle, with Divaina veteran Dharmaratne Wijesundera, took a nasty turn when the JVPer, whom we met, was killed by the Army. The JVP accused us of passing information to the Army. However, we managed to convince them by pointing out we were taken there blind-folded and couldn’t pass information about a location we didn’t know. In another incident, a drunken soldier almost shot dead UNL driver Podimahattaya opposite the Ja-Ela police station. The soldier found fault with him for wearing a pair of shorts and accused him of carrying JVP posters.

At a time, the media here lacked access to information regarding the developments on the Indo-Lanka front and the JRJ government did everything possible to hinder media, Aloy Perera provided the latest news based on All India Radio (AIR) broadcasts. The Island, at the time, depended so much on foreign radio broadcasts. On the advice of editor Gamini Weerakoon, the UNL brought Aloy Perera a top of the line Sony radio available at the time. Aloy considered the radio his private property. During a certain period (1987-1990), the media had to obtain information pertaining to incidents in the Northern and Eastern Provinces from the Indian HC in Colombo.

Reportage of northern conflict

The Island can be certainly proud of its coverage of the northern and southern terrorism and developments in other fields, including political as well economic and waste, corruption and irregularities over the past decade. There cannot be any dispute over The Island stand against terrorism, even during the times various governments succumbed to international pressure. During the 2002-2004 UNP administration, The Island came under tremendous pressure over its reportage of the ground situation. The UNP relentlessly brought pressure on the UNL as it did during the 1987-1990 period when India battled the LTTE in the North and the East and the UNP fought the JVP in the South. The UNP believed it could suppress the truth by intimidating the media. Ranil Wickremesinghe-led UNP went to the extent of closing down the SLBC’s “Vanni Sevaya’ to appease the LTTE and restricting the Army from issuing daily security situation reports.

During the troubled times, too, The Island continuously published the music page that had been a key attraction, at a period social media was unheard of. The young and the old liked Ivan Alvis’s ‘Music page’ and the writer used to take down lyrics of popular songs at that time. Perhaps, Ivan’s music page is the longest such page in Sri Lanka. At the inception of The Island, it was Ivan’s father, the late Ben Alvis, who started a column, called “The Heart of the Matter”. Then it was Ivan’s late younger brother David, who did a music page till he migrated to the United States. It was Ivan who directed me years later to Abdullah Luthufi, the Maldivian mastermind of the sea-borne attack on Male.

Prabath Sahabandu, who joined The Island editorial soon after Ranasinghe Premadasa’s government brought the JVP-inspired terror campaign (1987-1990) to an end, succeeded the Editor-in-Chief Gamini Weerakoon.

The Island, too, like other print and electronic media, experienced trials and tribulations throughout its existence. In spite of the eradication of the JVP terror by early 1990 and the LTTE in 2009, the country had succumbed to corruption and the situation deteriorated to such an extent, the Parliament, in spite of being the custodian of public money, seemed to be simply overseeing waste, corruption and irregularities. Before discussing the pathetic state of the national economy, let me remind two persons whose lives were snuffed out.

Media targeted

During the rush hour on July 24, 1996 evening, the LTTE triggered multiple explosions in a train at Dehiwala killing 64 persons. Over 400 suffered injuries. Among the dead was Sudeepa Purnajith, an artist, stamp designer and cartoonist who had been on The Island editorial before joining the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL)/Lake House.

Lasantha Wickremetunga was assassinated near Attidiya Model Primary School in the morning rush hour on January 8, 2009. Wickrematunga, one-time Private Secretary to the then Opposition Leader the late Sirimavo Bandaranaike, defeated SLFP candidate at the 1989 general election and the Editor-in- Chief of the now defunct The Sunday leader was on his way to work when he was killed. The first Rajapaksa administration never cleared accusations directed at it over Wickremetunga’s killing as well as abduction and assault on Keith Noyahr, Deputy Editor of now defunct Nation on the night of May 2008 and attack on one-time Divaina editor Upali Tennakoon on the morning of January 23, 2009, at Imbulgoda. Tennakoon, the founding Editor of Rivira published by the Rivira Media Corporation, was on his way to office with his wife Dhammika.

Just over a year later, the UNP-led Opposition and Western countries that accused the war-winning Army Commander General Fonseka of those attacks backed him at the 2010 presidential election. The TNA on the advice received from the US threw its weight behind Fonseka, who lost badly by a huge margin of over 1.8 mn votes though the Tamil electorate, including LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran’s home town Valvettithurai voted for him overwhelmingly. Having lost the presidential bid, Fonseka successfully contested the 2010 general election, under the JVP-led alliance, only to be deprived of the seat under controversial circumstances, served a prison term and got released, thanks to US intervention, formed his own party for the 2015 general election, only to be totally rejected. With the help of UNP leader Wickremesinghe, Fonseka re-entered Parliament in 2016 on the UNP National List. In 2020 Fonseka switched allegiance to the newly formed Samagi Jana Balavegaya. Now, Field Marshal Fonseka represents the Gampaha district.

Quite a number of journalists perished during this period. Dharmeratnam Sivaram aka ‘Taraki’, one-time The Sunday Island defence columnist, was abducted and killed on April 28, 2005. Taraki, who had been with Dharmalingam Siddarthan’s PLOTE, which made an abortive bid to assassinate Maldivian President Mohammed Abdul Gayoom, in Male, in early Nov 1988, propagated the line that the LTTE could never be defeated, militarily. During many discussions on the issue, Taraki quiet confidently asserted that the Army lacked the strength to sustain a major offensive in the Jaffna peninsula. Sivaram cleverly used the print media to convince those in authority of the LTTE’s ‘invincibility’. In early 1996, Taraki was proved wrong when combined security forces brought the Jaffna peninsula under their control. Four years after Sivaram’s killing, the combined armed forces eradicated the LTTE once and for all. Over 12 years after Sri Lanka’s triumph over terrorism, the country seemed to be in a far worse situation than experienced at the height of the war in the North.

Sri Lanka has certainly lost the ‘war’ against corruption. The print and electronic media, including social media reportage of corruption, paint an extremely bleak picture. A section of politicians and officials seemed to have caused irreparable damage to the national economy. Their actions seemed even worse than the devastating LTTE suicide attack on the Central Bank on the morning of January 31, 1996. In spite of eradication of terrorism, the country failed to achieve its true potential due to corruption. That is the undeniable truth. The proceedings of parliamentary watchdog committees prove that the House had failed and the country is in the grip of an utterly corrupt system. The media (social media included) regardless of some sections succumbing to perks and privileges, remain the real Opposition.

Box

The Global Tamil Forum (GTF), spokesperson Suren Surendiran recently declared that The Island is the only Sri Lankan media to provide them coverage at a time no other print, or electronic media, here, had the guts to do so. The UK-based Surendiran was referring to the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second term (2010-2015). Following the 2004 April general election, the EU election monitoring mission declared that The Island reporting of the poll as the most balanced.

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Features

More state support needed for marginalised communities

Published

2 days ago

2026/02/13

Thilina Walpola

A landslide in the Central Province

Message from Malaiyaha Tamil community to govt:

Insights from SSA Cyclone Ditwah Survey

When climate disasters strike, they don’t affect everyone equally. Marginalised communities typically face worse outcomes, and Cyclone Ditwah is no exception. Especially in a context where normalcy is far from “normal”, the idea of returning to normalcy or restoring a life of normalcy makes very little sense.

The island-wide survey (https://ssalanka.org/reports/) conducted by the Social Scientists’ Association (SSA), between early to mid-January on Cyclone Ditwah shows stark regional disparities in how satisfied or dissatisfied people were with the government’s response. While national satisfaction levels were relatively high in most provinces, the Central Province tells a different story.

Only 35.2% of Central Province residents reported that they were satisfied with early warning and evacuation measures, compared to 52.2% nationally. The gap continues across every measure: just 52.9% were satisfied with immediate rescue and emergency response, compared with the national figure of 74.6%. Satisfaction with relief distribution in the Central Province is 51.9% while the national figure stands at 73.1%. The figures for restoration of water, electricity, and roads are at a low 45.9% in the central province compared to the 70.9% in national figures. Similarly, the satisfaction level for recovery and rebuilding support is 48.7% in the Central Province, while the national figure is 67.0%.

A deeper analysis of the SSA data on public perceptions reveals something important: these lower satisfaction rates came primarily from the Malaiyaha Tamil population. Their experience differed not just from other provinces, but also from other ethnic groups living in the Central Province itself.

The Malaiyaha Tamil community’s vulnerability didn’t start with the cyclone. Their vulnerability is a historically and structurally pre-determined process of exclusion and marginalisation. Brought to Sri Lanka during British rule to work for the empire’s plantation economies, they have faced long-term economic exploitation and have repeatedly been denied access to state support and social welfare systems. Most estate residents still live in ‘line rooms’ and have no rights to the land they cultivate and live on. The community continues to be governed by an outdated estate management system that acts as a barrier to accessing public and municipal services such as road repair, water, electricity and other basic infrastructures available to other citizens.

As far as access to improved water sources is concerned, the Sri Lanka Demographic Health Survey (2016) shows that 57% of estate sector households don’t have access to improved water sources, while more than 90% of households in urban and rural areas do. With regard to the level of poverty, as the Department of Census and Statistics (2019) data reveals, the estate sector where most Malaiyaha Tamils live had a poverty headcount index of 33.8%; more than double the national rate of 14.3%. These statistics highlight key indicators of the systemic discrimination faced by the Malaiyaha Tamil community.

Some crucial observations from the SSA data collectors who enumerated responses from estate residents in the survey reveal the specific challenges faced by the Malaiyaha Tamils, particularly in their efforts to seek state support for compensation and reconstruction.

First, the Central Province experienced not just flooding but also the highest number of landslides in the island. As a result, some residents in the region lost entire homes, access roadways, and other basic infrastructures. The loss of lives, livelihoods and land was at a higher intensity compared to the provinces not located in the hills. Most importantly, the Malaiyaha Tamil community’s pre-existing grievances made them even more vulnerable and the government’s job of reparation and restitution more complex.

Early warnings hadn’t reached many areas. Some data collectors said they themselves never heard any warnings in estate areas, while others mentioned that early warnings were issued but didn’t reach some segments of the community. According to the resident data collectors, the police announcements reached only as far as the sections where they were able to drive their vehicles to, and there were many estate roads that were not motorable. When warnings did filter through to remote locations, they often came by word of mouth and information was distorted along the way. Once the disaster hit, things got worse: roads were blocked, electricity went out, mobile networks failed and people were cut off completely.

Emergency response was slow. Blocked roads meant people could not get to hospitals when they needed urgent care, including pregnant mothers. The difficult terrain and poor road conditions meant rescue teams took much longer to reach affected areas than in other regions.

Relief supplies didn’t reach everyone. The Grama Niladhari divisions in these areas are huge and hard to navigate, making it difficult for Grama Niladharis to reach all places as urgently as needed. Relief workers distributed supplies where vehicles could go, which meant accessible areas got help while remote communities were left out.

Some people didn’t even try to go to safety centres or evacuation shelters set up in local schools because the facilities there were already so poor. The perceptions of people who did go to safety centres, as shown in the provincial data, reveal that satisfaction was low compared to other affected regions of the country. Less than half were satisfied with space and facilities (42.1%) or security and protection (45.0%). Satisfaction was even lower for assistance with lost or damaged documentation (17.9%) and information and support for compensation applications (28.2%). Only 22.5% were satisfied with medical care and health services below most other affected regions.

Restoring services proved nearly impossible in some areas. Road access was the biggest problem. The condition of the roads was already poor even before the cyclone, and some still haven’t been cleared. Recovery is especially difficult because there’s no decent baseline infrastructure to restore, hence you can’t bring roads and other public facilities back to a “good” condition when they were never good, even before the disaster.

Water systems faced their own complications. Many households get water from natural sources or small community projects, and not the centralised state system. These sources are often in the middle of the disaster zone and therefore got contaminated during the floods and landslides.

Long-term recovery remains stalled. Without basic infrastructure, areas that are still hard to reach keep struggling to get the support they need for rebuilding.

Taken together, what do these testaments mean? Disaster response can’t be the same for everyone. The Malaiyaha Tamil community has been double marginalised because they were already living with structural inequalities such as poor infrastructure, geographic isolation, and inadequate services which have been exacerbated by Cyclone Ditwah. An effective and fair disaster response needs to account for these underlying vulnerabilities. It requires interventions tailored to the historical, economic, and infrastructural realities that marginalized communities face every day. On top of that, it highlights the importance of dealing with climate disasters, given the fact that vulnerable communities could face more devastating impacts compared to others.

(Shashik Silva is a researcher with the Social Scientists’ Association of Sri Lanka)

by Shashik Silva ✍️

Features

Crucial test for religious and ethnic harmony in Bangladesh

Published

3 days ago

2026/02/12

Sahan Weerasooriya

A political protest that led to governmental change in Bangladesh mid last year. (photograph: imago)

Will the Bangladesh parliamentary election bring into being a government that will ensure ethnic and religious harmony in the country? This is the poser on the lips of peace-loving sections in Bangladesh and a principal concern of those outside who mean the country well.

The apprehensions are mainly on the part of religious and ethnic minorities. The parliamentary poll of February 12th is expected to bring into existence a government headed by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Islamist oriented Jamaat-e-Islami party and this is where the rub is. If these parties win, will it be a case of Bangladesh sliding in the direction of a theocracy or a state where majoritarian chauvinism thrives?

Chief of the Jamaat, Shafiqur Rahman, who was interviewed by sections of the international media recently said that there is no need for minority groups in Bangladesh to have the above fears. He assured, essentially, that the state that will come into being will be equable and inclusive. May it be so, is likely to be the wish of those who cherish a tension-free Bangladesh.

The party that could have posed a challenge to the above parties, the Awami League Party of former Prime Minister Hasina Wased, is out of the running on account of a suspension that was imposed on it by the authorities and the mentioned majoritarian-oriented parties are expected to have it easy at the polls.

A positive that has emerged against the backdrop of the poll is that most ordinary people in Bangladesh, be they Muslim or Hindu, are for communal and religious harmony and it is hoped that this sentiment will strongly prevail, going ahead. Interestingly, most of them were of the view, when interviewed, that it was the politicians who sowed the seeds of discord in the country and this viewpoint is widely shared by publics all over the region in respect of the politicians of their countries.

Some sections of the Jamaat party were of the view that matters with regard to the orientation of governance are best left to the incoming parliament to decide on but such opinions will be cold comfort for minority groups. If the parliamentary majority comes to consist of hard line Islamists, for instance, there is nothing to prevent the country from going in for theocratic governance. Consequently, minority group fears over their safety and protection cannot be prevented from spreading.

Therefore, we come back to the question of just and fair governance and whether Bangladesh’s future rulers could ensure these essential conditions of democratic rule. The latter, it is hoped, will be sufficiently perceptive to ascertain that a Bangladesh rife with religious and ethnic tensions, and therefore unstable, would not be in the interests of Bangladesh and those of the region’s countries.

Unfortunately, politicians region-wide fall for the lure of ethnic, religious and linguistic chauvinism. This happens even in the case of politicians who claim to be democratic in orientation. This fate even befell Bangladesh’s Awami League Party, which claims to be democratic and socialist in general outlook.

We have it on the authority of Taslima Nasrin in her ground-breaking novel, ‘Lajja’, that the Awami Party was not of any substantial help to Bangladesh’s Hindus, for example, when violence was unleashed on them by sections of the majority community. In fact some elements in the Awami Party were found to be siding with the Hindus’ murderous persecutors. Such are the temptations of hard line majoritarianism.

In Sri Lanka’s past numerous have been the occasions when even self-professed Leftists and their parties have conveniently fallen in line with Southern nationalist groups with self-interest in mind. The present NPP government in Sri Lanka has been waxing lyrical about fostering national reconciliation and harmony but it is yet to prove its worthiness on this score in practice. The NPP government remains untested material.

As a first step towards national reconciliation it is hoped that Sri Lanka’s present rulers would learn the Tamil language and address the people of the North and East of the country in Tamil and not Sinhala, which most Tamil-speaking people do not understand. We earnestly await official language reforms which afford to Tamil the dignity it deserves.

An acid test awaits Bangladesh as well on the nation-building front. Not only must all forms of chauvinism be shunned by the incoming rulers but a secular, truly democratic Bangladesh awaits being licked into shape. All identity barriers among people need to be abolished and it is this process that is referred to as nation-building.

On the foreign policy frontier, a task of foremost importance for Bangladesh is the need to build bridges of amity with India. If pragmatism is to rule the roost in foreign policy formulation, Bangladesh would place priority to the overcoming of this challenge. The repatriation to Bangladesh of ex-Prime Minister Hasina could emerge as a steep hurdle to bilateral accord but sagacious diplomacy must be used by Bangladesh to get over the problem.

A reply to N.A. de S. Amaratunga

A response has been penned by N.A. de S. Amaratunga (please see p5 of ‘The Island’ of February 6th) to a previous column by me on ‘ India shaping-up as a Swing State’, published in this newspaper on January 29th , but I remain firmly convinced that India remains a foremost democracy and a Swing State in the making.

If the countries of South Asia are to effectively manage ‘murderous terrorism’, particularly of the separatist kind, then they would do well to adopt to the best of their ability a system of government that provides for power decentralization from the centre to the provinces or periphery, as the case may be. This system has stood India in good stead and ought to prove effective in all other states that have fears of disintegration.

Moreover, power decentralization ensures that all communities within a country enjoy some self-governing rights within an overall unitary governance framework. Such power-sharing is a hallmark of democratic governance.

Features

Celebrating Valentine’s Day …

Published

3 days ago

2026/02/12

Sahan Weerasooriya

Valentine’s Day is all about celebrating love, romance, and affection, and this is how some of our well-known personalities plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day – 14th February:

Merlina Fernando (Singer)

Yes, it’s a special day for lovers all over the world and it’s even more special to me because 14th February is the birthday of my husband Suresh, who’s the lead guitarist of my band Mission.

We have planned to celebrate Valentine’s Day and his Birthday together and it will be a wonderful night as always.

We will be having our fans and close friends, on that night, with their loved ones at Highso – City Max hotel Dubai, from 9.00 pm onwards.

Lorensz Francke (Elvis Tribute Artiste)

On Valentine’s Day I will be performing a live concert at a Wealthy Senior Home for Men and Women, and their families will be attending, as well.

I will be performing live with romantic, iconic love songs and my song list would include ‘Can’t Help falling in Love’, ‘Love Me Tender’, ‘Burning Love’, ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight’, ‘The Wonder of You’ and ‘’It’s Now or Never’ to name a few.

To make Valentine’s Day extra special I will give the Home folks red satin scarfs.

Emma Shanaya (Singer)

I plan on spending the day of love with my girls, especially my best friend. I don’t have a romantic Valentine this year but I am thrilled to spend it with the girl that loves me through and through. I’ll be in Colombo and look forward to go to a cute cafe and spend some quality time with my childhood best friend Zulha.

JAYASRI

Emma-and-Maneeka

This Valentine’s Day the band JAYASRI we will be really busy; in the morning we will be landing in Sri Lanka, after our Oman Tour; then in the afternoon we are invited as Chief Guests at our Maris Stella College Sports Meet, Negombo, and late night we will be with LineOne band live in Karandeniya Open Air Down South. Everywhere we will be sharing LOVE with the mass crowds.

Kay Jay (Singer)

I will stay at home and cook a lovely meal for lunch, watch some movies, together with Sanjaya, and, maybe we go out for dinner and have a lovely time. Come to think of it, every day is Valentine’s Day for me with Sanjaya Alles.

Maneka Liyanage (Beauty Tips)

On this special day, I celebrate love by spending meaningful time with the people I cherish. I prepare food with love and share meals together, because food made with love brings hearts closer. I enjoy my leisure time with them — talking, laughing, sharing stories, understanding each other, and creating beautiful memories. My wish for this Valentine’s Day is a world without fighting — a world where we love one another like our own beloved, where we do not hurt others, even through a single word or action. Let us choose kindness, patience, and understanding in everything we do.

Janaka Palapathwala (Singer)

Janaka

Valentine’s Day should not be the only day we speak about love.

From the moment we are born into this world, we seek love, first through the very drop of our mother’s milk, then through the boundless care of our Mother and Father, and the embrace of family.

Love is everywhere. All living beings, even plants, respond in affection when they are loved.

As we grow, we learn to love, and to be loved. One day, that love inspires us to build a new family of our own.

Love has no beginning and no end. It flows through every stage of life, timeless, endless, and eternal.

Natasha Rathnayake (Singer)

We don’t have any special plans for Valentine’s Day. When you’ve been in love with the same person for over 25 years, you realise that love isn’t a performance reserved for one calendar date. My husband and I have never been big on public displays, or grand gestures, on 14th February. Our love is expressed quietly and consistently, in ordinary, uncelebrated moments.

With time, you learn that love isn’t about proving anything to the world or buying into a commercialised idea of romance—flowers that wilt, sweets that spike blood sugar, and gifts that impress briefly but add little real value. In today’s society, marketing often pushes the idea that love is proven by how much money you spend, and that buying things is treated as a sign of commitment.

Real love doesn’t need reminders or price tags. It lives in showing up every day, choosing each other on unromantic days, and nurturing the relationship intentionally and without an audience.

This isn’t a judgment on those who enjoy celebrating Valentine’s Day. It’s simply a personal choice.

Melloney Dassanayake (Miss Universe Sri Lanka 2024)

I truly believe it’s beautiful to have a day specially dedicated to love. But, for me, Valentine’s Day goes far beyond romantic love alone. It celebrates every form of love we hold close to our hearts: the love for family, friends, and that one special person who makes life brighter. While 14th February gives us a moment to pause and celebrate, I always remind myself that love should never be limited to just one day. Every single day should feel like Valentine’s Day – constant reminder to the people we love that they are never alone, that they are valued, and that they matter.

I’m incredibly blessed because, for me, every day feels like Valentine’s Day. My special person makes sure of that through the smallest gestures, the quiet moments, and the simple reminders that love lives in the details. He shows me that it’s the little things that count, and that love doesn’t need grand stages to feel extraordinary. This Valentine’s Day, perfection would be something intimate and meaningful: a cozy picnic in our home garden, surrounded by nature, laughter, and warmth, followed by an abstract drawing session where we let our creativity flow freely. To me, that’s what love is – simple, soulful, expressive, and deeply personal. When love is real, every ordinary moment becomes magical.

Noshin De Silva (Actress)

Valentine’s Day is one of my favourite holidays! I love the décor, the hearts everywhere, the pinks and reds, heart-shaped chocolates, and roses all around. But honestly, I believe every day can be Valentine’s Day.

It doesn’t have to be just about romantic love. It’s a chance to celebrate love in all its forms with friends, family, or even by taking a little time for yourself.

Whether you’re spending the day with someone special or enjoying your own company, it’s a reminder to appreciate meaningful connections, show kindness, and lead with love every day.

And yes, I’m fully on theme this year with heart nail art and heart mehendi design!

Wishing everyone a very happy Valentine’s Day, but, remember, love yourself first, and don’t forget to treat yourself.

Sending my love to all of you.