Northern Muslim Expulsion & Tamil Leadership

An event on October 30, 2016: Last Sunday, October 30, 2016, a commemoration event was organised in Colombo by the newly formed group “North Muslim Civil Society” on the theme of “A necessary Solution for Northern Muslims”. I was struck by the fact that the chief guest and guest of honor were the prominent political leaders of the Sri Lankan Tamil community, and leaders of the opposition. These leaders are spokespersons of the rights of Tamils of Sri Lanka. I decided to travel to Colombo from Kandy, to participate in the event even though I had not received a formal invitation. Read more>>>

Global Terrorism Index-2015

Read more>>>

Muslim Law Reform Group Says Muslim Marriage And Divorce Act-1956 Violates Women’s Rights

Muslim women’s groups have been advocating for reforms of the MMDA for over 25 years and there have been at least four official committees set up since 1970’s with no progress on reforms. The current 16-member Muslim Personal Law (MPL) Reforms Committee headed by Justice Saleem Marsoof was set up in 2009, by the then Minister of Justice Milinda Moragoda in view that “certain reforms to the Muslim personal law was urgently needed”. Seven years later, the report is still pending. Read more>>>

Maithripala Sirisena’s Speech At United Nations General Assembly-2016

Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country, where Theravada Buddhism is practiced. There are solutions in Buddhist teachings to most of the problems faced by the people in this world. Similarly, those who follow other religions like Hinduism, Islam and Christianity too can find answers to these problems by these great religious philosophies. Read more>>>

China’s Brutal war on Islam and Uighur Muslims

As it happened to Palestine and Kashmir, the world has ignored the plight of persecuted Uighur Muslims in China’s Xingjian region where the people started their struggle to win back their political, economic, religious and cultural rights ever since Red Army occupied the area in 1949. Read more>>>

Embracing Globalisation: The Case Of Sri Lanka

Some of the new economic initiatives announced by the Sri Lankan government about integrating the economy with the wider world, initially acquiring land to create special economic zones where large scale investment projects from India and China are to be invited to locate, are a refreshing departure from an economically dysfunctional post-independence mindset of nationalist pre-conception of the national interest as a zero sum game with the world beyond: their gain is our loss and our gain is their loss. Sri Lanka at the time of independence boasted an economy more prosperous, a population that was better educated and a society which was largely free of the worst dysfunctional aspects of religion which characterize the neighbouring countries of the sub-continent. Yet the country became ensnared by angst over identity and suspicious of opening up the economy to the world at a time when development was fueled by trade. The changed mindset informing recent economic initiatives holds out prospects for greater prosperity. Read more>>>

WAN Says Muslim Marriage And Divorce Act Treats Women As Second Class Citizens, Calls For Rectification

The Women Action Network (WAN) has called for the rectification of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) of 1951 citing that the Act renders Muslim women as second class citizens and does not guarantee them equal protection under the law. The Network has also called on authorities to ensure that the new Constitution rectifies this which will ensure Muslim women will have equal rights in the eyes of the law. Read more>>>

Muslim Political & Religious Clerical Leadership Crisis in Sri Lanka

Who represent the Muslim community in the government? The shocking answer is “NONE”.

One may ask “how could the Muslims complain as there are several Muslim ministers and deputy ministers in the government”. Yes there are many Muslim ministers, but they do not represent the community as most of them entered into deals and got into the government. For example the presence of Sri Lanka Muslim Congresses, SLMC, in the government is deceptive as they contested in UNP tickets and entered the government. Read more>>>

The future of Sri Lanka’s economy

A new era has dawned in Sri Lanka. Peace has been consolidated after a bloody 30-year civil conflict. The country’s 67-year old democracy has been reinforced after a dramatic, peaceful and people-led political transition in January 2015.We’re prioritizing business-friendly policies so that we can take advantage of today’s peace to build a thriving economy. Read more>>>

Industrial Development Policy in the Islamic view point

Whilst the Western world has managed to achieve phenomenal development since the industrial revolution the Muslim world on the other hand lags far behind. The Muslim world is represented by an underdeveloped infrastructure, poverty, unemployment and nothing in the way of technological development. At the same time the Muslim world possesses some of the worlds largest reserves of key mineral resources. The Muslim world single handedly possesses 74% of the world’s oil reserves – the world’s most important commodity. Read more>>>

The Manufacturing Policy and Building an Industrial State from the Viewpoint of Islam

Since the time Allah has created man and put him on earth, man tries to satisfy his needs with materials created in the universe around him, as well as trying to maintain his security, sovereignty and survival whether in case of attack or defense by using the raw materials around him. Read more>>>

World Islamic Economic Forum - 2016 in Indonesiya

The World Islamic Economic Forum started off from a modest beginning as the OIC Business Forum, which was held on 15th October 2003, in conjunction with the tenth OIC Summit in Putrajaya, Malaysia.The inaugural OIC Business Forum sought to create a business ‘face’ of the OIC. The Forum brought together government leaders, captains of industries, academic scholars, regional experts, professionals and corporate managers to discuss opportunities for business partnerships in the Muslim world. The second OIC Business Forum was convened in Kuala Lumpur in 2004, a momentous event that brought about the birth of the World Islamic Economic Forum and the subsequent convening of the 1st WIEF in Kuala Lumpur in 2005. Read more>>>

Muslim Women, Shariyah & Modernity

A Review of the book – Women Claiming Rights and Spaces: Activism to Reform Muslim Personal Law in Sri Lanka, Published by Muslim Women Research and Action Forum.

Muslim Personal Law (MPL) in Sri Lanka that governs the family affairs of the Muslims which specifically includes marriage, divorce and inheritance and exclusively applicable to the Muslims is supplementary to the general law of the country. There are such supplementary family laws like Kandyan Law and Thesavalamai Law that governs the family affairs of Kandyan Sinhalese and Jaffna Tamils respectively. Read more>>>

What the Chilcot Inquiry doesn’t address

Since 2003 (excluding the murderous sanctions regime of the years before), the people of Iraq have been subjected to a brutal occupation. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed and many Iraqis have witnessed first hand the West’s empty promises of freedom when detained and tortured at Basra, Camp Nama and Abu Ghraib. The Iraqi regime – discredited by sectarianism, corruption and deals with brutal militias -continues to be propped up by their allies in London and Washington. There is no economic development. Despite aid pledges of billions, there is little evidence of the promised rebuilding of Iraq. Read more>>>

The Iraq Inquiry Report

Read more>>>

Reforming Sri Lankan Islam: Where Should One Start?

Reform in reality is not a one off event to be accomplished by introducing a new or revised document or an itemised agenda but an ongoing process that keeps a phenomenon updated and relevant to meet the growing challenges of an ever growing stock of human knowledge and civilization. In that sense the history of Islamic thought bears ample testimony to the fact that Islam had been reforming quite intrusively and extensively during the first six centuries of its introduction and superficially and restrictively thereafter. Read more>>>

Would Sri Lanka Elect A Tamil Or Muslim President?

The Western World, particularly the United States of America (USA) and Western Europe, can well afford to boast about human rights and their vehement protection on international platforms and fora. Especially in the United States, the first ten amendments (also known as the Bill of Rights) to their Constitution talk volumes for the safeguard of the rights of an individual. What is most significant about the US Constitution is, it has been crafted to safeguard the individual from the government and its potential threats to the individual.

Read more>>>

Deporting Buddha Tattoos: Economics And Embracing Emotionalism

Max Weber, the late 19th century German philosopher, later expanded the frontiers of the subject by analysing the relationship between economics and religion and cultural disenchantment which the modernity had brought to society in the current era. In a path-breaking book titled ‘The Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism’ and published in German in 1905 and in English in 1930, Weber argued that modern capitalism and its entrepreneurship were born after individuals were freed from the crutches of the church and secularism was propagated in society. Read more>>>