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Deconstructing the State Security Apparatus: Legal Judgments, Deep-State Complicity, and the Structural Investigation of Sri Lanka’s 2019 Easter Sunday Attacks
The judicial and investigative trajectory surrounding Sri Lanka’s 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks—which killed at least 260 people and injured over 500 across three churches and three luxury hotels—has undergone a radical paradigm shift1. For years, the official state narrative framed the tragedy primarily as an unprecedented intelligence failure exacerbated by administrative friction within the…
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The Dismantling of the Asymmetric Leviathan: Fusing HUMINT and SIGINT to Obliterate the LTTE’s Intelligence Cephalothorax
The anatomical architecture of the order Araneae provides a compelling biological framework for analyzing the structural vulnerabilities of highly centralized asymmetric insurgent organizations.1 In a spider, the traditional segmentations found in other arthropods are fused into two primary tagmata: the abdomen and the cephalothorax.2 Crucially, the nervous system is characterized by extreme centralization, with all…
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Beyond the Battlelines: The Human Cost of the Sri Lankan Civil War
Decades after its conclusion, the Sri Lankan civil war remains a deeply studied yet profoundly painful chapter in modern history. While geopolitical analyses and military histories often dominate the discourse, the true weight of the conflict lives in the memories of those who survived it. In a powerful episode of the South Asia Democratic Forum…
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From Black July to Easter Sunday: Sri Lanka’s Tragedy of Collective Amnesia and Majority Rule over Minorities
Sri Lanka’s modern history from Black July in 1983 to the Easter Sunday bombings in 2019 is a story of a country that bled lives and wealth while refusing to confront the structures that made violence possible. Between pogrom, war and terror attacks, well over a hundred thousand people were killed and the economy lost…
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The Sovereign Shadow: National Security Coercion, Temporal Fragmentation, and the Administrative Human Rights Battle of Kagusthan Ariaratnam
This article examines the landmark administrative and human rights battle of Kagusthan Ariaratnam against the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), analyzing the structural tensions between domestic national security practices and international refugee protection obligations. It addresses two fundamental questions: first, whether security agencies can leverage the legal vulnerability of refugee status to extract prolonged, coerced…
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Professor Rohan Gunaratna: Terrorism Expert? Or Intellectual Mercenary?
This article examines the commercialization of post-September 11 terrorism studies through a critical evaluation of Rohan Gunaratna’s career, framing it as a primary case study of “information speculation” and epistemic opportunism. It maps how Gunaratna systematically pivoted his threat assessments—ranging from hyper-inflated global Al-Qaeda networks for Western defense establishments to regional “octopus-like” Jemaah Islamiyah cells…
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A Tribute to DBS Jeyaraj: The Pen That Pierced the Fog of War
They say that in a conflict as brutal and protracted as ours, the first casualty is always the truth. For a long time, trapped within the rigid, unyielding machinery of the LTTE’s intelligence wing, I believed that truth was merely a weapon to be manufactured, manipulated, and deployed. We saw the world in absolute binaries:…
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The Architecture of Institutional Capture and the Precipice of Accountability: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Rajapaksa Legacy and the Airbus Bribery Nexus
This analysis examines the 2026 summons of former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), identifying it as a critical test for the nation’s revitalized anti-corruption framework. The probe centers on a 2013 deal for ten Airbus aircraft valued at approximately USD 2.3 billion, which allegedly…
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Child Soldier to Double Agent: The Untold Story of Kagusthan Ariaratnam Spy Tiger: The 05 File
In this powerful interview, former child soldier Kagusthan Ariaratnam shares his extraordinary journey from being forcibly recruited into the Tamil Tigers during the Sri Lankan Civil War to becoming an intelligence operative and global peace advocate. Kagusthan’s memoir Spy Tiger: The 05 File reveals the hidden realities of war, espionage, survival, and the psychological toll…
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A Training Bridge at Sea: Over 2,000 Sri Lankan Officers Gained Skills Through India’s Naval Outreach
The arrival of a tall sailing ship in a Sri Lankan harbour was usually viewed as little more than a ceremonial gesture — a moment of pageantry, colourful flags and goodwill. Yet the visit by INS Tarangini was far more than a symbolic port call. It represented a long and steady investment in human capital…