Sri Lanka spotlight: From crisis to 2024 election

Southasia Weekly 20 February 2026. The only way to see Southasia. Support independent journalism. Become a Patron today.
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🇮🇳 🤖 Reality check at India’s AI summit – Southasia Weekly #106
By
Raisa Wickrematunge
Hype vs reality at India’s AI summit, Sri Lanka eliminates pensions for MPs, explosions and a gun battle in northwest Pakistan and more
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🇧🇩☪️ Seismic drama in Bangladesh’s politics – Southasia Weekly #99
By
Raisa Wickrematunge
New political alliance between Jamaat-e-Islami and National Citizen’s Party, flooding in Afghanistan, Myanmar’s elections and more
An illustration of TV screens stacked one on top of the other on wooden shelves. The screens are playing stills from Sri Lanka's former labour minister Mervyn Silva when he forcibly entered the state-owned Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation and assaulted the news director. Pictured is the angry crowd outside the offices, Mervyn Silva trying to pacify angry Rupavahini staffers and screengrabs of the news coverage.
Politics
The almost-forgotten – and still unpunished – ministerial attack on journalists at Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation
By
Bingun Menaka Gamage
The 2007 assault on the news director of the state-owned Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation by Mervyn Silva, and the stalling of the investigation and case, remains a blot on media freedom during and af ...
Cartoon of a Nepali student protester wearing a red headband planting a placard with a symbol of an upraised fist on Everest, representing Nepal's Gen Z led protests
Politics
Year in review: 2025 in cartoons
By
Raisa Wickrematunge
Cartoonist Gihan de Chickera’s top illustrations for 2025, from Himal’s Southasia Weekly newsletter
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👩🏽📚How do we read Arundhati Roy? – Southasia Weekly #95
By
Raisa Wickrematunge
Arundhati Roy’s memoir, Sri Lanka’s disaster mismanagement after Cyclone Ditwah and more
Photo shows a rubber dinghy moving through high floodwater. A man in Sri Lanka Army uniform is in front, along with a volunteer in civilian clothes. There are two more male civilian volunteers in the back. The dinghy has a woman, child and man being rescued from floods. All three wear orange lifejackets. This is in Wellampitiya, Sri Lanka
Politics
Cyclone Ditwah and Sri Lanka’s disastrous flood mismanagement
By
Raisa Wickrematunge
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake repeats his predecessors’ mistakes in his response to flooding and landslides, which have caused hundreds of deaths
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