The event was organized by the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs, and the Department of Hindu Religious and Cultural Affairs.
During the ceremony, ThaiPongal rituals were performed under the patronage of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs. The celebration was enriched with a range of vibrant cultural performances of Hindu culture and traditions.
[Prime Minister’s Media Division]
Authored by Emeritus Professor Gamini Keerawella, former Senior Professor of History at the University of Peradeniya and a member of the BCIS Council of Management and Academic Affairs Board, the book ’Reimagining International Relations from a Global South Perspective’ offers a compelling re-examination of International Relations through a distinctly Global South perspective.
Congratulating on the publication, the Prime Minister stated that the publication represents a timely and important intervention in understanding how the Global South’s international relations and international policy has evolved and traces the many different pathways. She further noted that this volume invites for re-imagine international relations as a genuinely plural and it doesn’t necessarily only go for the discipline of international relations, that is something that applies to all disciplines.
The occasion was attended by the former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Chairperson of BCIS, Deputy Minister of Mass Media Dr. Kaushalya Ariyarathne, members of the diplomatic community, representatives of the Bandaranaike National Memorial Foundation Board of Management, members of the BCIS governing bodies, and invited scholars and practitioners.
[Prime Minister’s Media Division]
Suresh Sallay, who played a significant role in the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) during the war, has been arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
DIG (Legal Division) Jaliya Senaratne yesterday told a hastily called media briefing that Sallay had been arrested in connection with the ongoing investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage. Senaratne said that as the ex-officer had been apprehended in terms of the PTA, he could be held for 72 hours for questioning.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested him at Peliyagoda yesterday morning. At the time of the suicide bombings, Sallay had been at the National Defence College (NDC) of India.
Sallay had been under investigation over declaration made by one Azad Maulana, in an interview with British television network Channel 4, that Sallay met the Easter Sunday bombers, including their leader Zahran Hashim, in February 2018. Responding to Maulana’s allegation, Sallay told the UK network that he had been assigned to the Sri Lankan mission, in Malaysia, during the 2016-2018 period and never left the country in 2018.
According to Sallay, he had been out of Malaysia only once, during the entire 2016-2018 period, and that was in 2017.
Maulana also accused him of meeting Pilleyan who, at that time, was held at Prison.
Pilleyan, too, was arrested in connection with the same investigation.
Following the change of government in November 2019, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed Sallay head of the State Intelligence Services (SIS), a post previously held by Senior DIG Nilantha Jayawardena accused of the worst post-war intelligence failure.
Sallay retired in October 2024 following Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s victory in the presidential election. (SF)
The Communist Party yesterday (25) said that all individuals, regardless of political affiliation or status, responsible for the coal procurement scandal, should be held accountable, if found guilty of wrongdoing. The Opposition has directly pointed fingers at Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody in this regard. The following is the text of the statement issued by the CP:
“The Communist Party of Sri Lanka wishes to add its voice to the growing public outcry in response to the unfolding revelations surrounding the coal procurement scandal. These revelations have, once again, exposed the deep‑rooted corruption embedded within the neoliberal governance framework that has dominated the country’s economic management for decades.
The CPSL condemns, in the strongest terms, the irregularities and manipulations that have allegedly taken place in the awarding of coal supply contracts. These actions represent not mere administrative lapses but a systematic betrayal of the public trust, carried out at the expense of the national economy, and the working people, who ultimately bear the burden of such misconduct.
The Party emphasises the following:
* Corruption, in strategic sectors such as energy, threatens national sovereignty directly, as it compromises the stability of essential services and places the country at the mercy of private profiteers.
* The scandal reflects the failure of successive governments to establish transparent, accountable, and socially responsible procurement systems, instead allowing political patronage networks and corporate interests to dominate public resources, which the National People’s Power government swore to eradicate
* The CPSL calls for a full, independent, and publicly accessible investigation, ensuring that all individuals, regardless of political affiliation or status, are held accountable, if found guilty of wrongdoing.
* The CPSL urges the government to immediately review procurement mechanisms across all state institutions, ensuring that national resources are managed in the interest of the people rather than of private intermediaries.
The Communist Party of Sri Lanka stands firmly with the working class and the broad masses in demanding justice and transparency. The coal procurement scandal must not be allowed to fade into yet another episode of unpunished corruption. It must become a turning point toward building a state apparatus that serves the people, not the profiteers.”
Why does the state threaten Its people with yet another anti-terror law?
Reconciliation, Mood of the Nation and the NPP Government
Victor Melder turns 90: Railwayman and bibliophile extraordinary
LOVEABLE BUT LETHAL: When four-legged stars remind us of a silent killer
Victor, the Friend of the Foreign Press
New Zealand meet familiar opponents Pakistan at spin-friendly Premadasa
Tariffs ruling is major blow to Trump’s second-term agenda
ECB push back at Pakistan ‘shadow-ban’ reports ahead of Hundred auction
