Independence Day reflections View(s):The coming Wednesday (February 4) marks the 78th anniversary of Sri Lanka’s Independence from over 450 years of foreign rule, and yet, the country continues to be confronted with the challenges of modern nation-statehood in all its complexities. While Sri Lanka regained her Independence, her sovereignty, both internal and external, however, has been compromised in the process of nation-building and aspiring to be a pluralistic, economically and socially advanced democratic state. It was only in the early years after 1948 that Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) was on its own feet. It is only perpetuating the north-south divide, the very antithesis of ‘national unity’. The anti-Sri Lanka human rights campaigners at the UN Human Rights Council have already pounced on an earlier statement the President made in the north on “the politics of nationalism”.

Source: Sunday Times January 31, 2026 19:37 UTC