Asianet Pakistan Private Limited

Baraka, the trusted wellness brand under Aberdeen Holdings, has introduced Baraka Gummies – a new functional gummy range designed to make everyday wellness simpler, more convenient and more enjoyable. The range includes Black Seed Oil Gummies, Ashwagandha Gummies and Apple Cider Vinegar Gummies, bringing familiar wellness ingredients into a modern format designed around today’s lifestyles.

Backed by the strength and innovation of Aberdeen Holdings, Baraka Gummies have been developed with a strong focus on both wellness and the overall consumer experience. The gummies use natural bee honey as the main sweetener, 100% naturally occurring flavours and colours, and pectin as a plant-based gelling agent, making the range gelatine-free. The launch reflects Aberdeen Holdings’ continued focus on innovation and developing relevant consumer offerings that respond to evolving expectations around convenience, taste and ease of use.

Commenting on the launch, Bio Extracts Ltd., Chief Operating Officer Ihshan Abdeen said: ‘Consumer expectations around wellness continue to evolve, and innovation is about responding to those changes in meaningful ways. With Baraka Gummies, we have taken familiar wellness ingredients and created a format that is easier and more enjoyable to incorporate into everyday life. It is an exciting step forward for Baraka and reflects the wider innovation mindset we continue to build within Aberdeen Holdings.’

Now available at GLOMARK supermarkets across Sri Lanka and online, Baraka Gummies mark an exciting new chapter for Baraka as the brand continues to evolve its wellness portfolio. More than a new product range, the launch reflects a fresh approach to everyday wellness; combining trusted ingredients with convenience, enjoyment and the needs of the modern consumer.

Huawei has released the HUAWEI Mate XT 2 | ULTIMATE DESIGN trifold smartphone on September 7. The phone is the first to run HarmonyOS 7, and is the slimmest and largest foldable smartphone in the industry.

The Mate XT 2’s Kirin 9050 chip also includes a major breakthrough in semiconductor design. As the first smartphone to feature the LogicFolding Tau (t) Chip, the Mate XT 2 marks the chip’s official entry into mass commercialisation.

The device is proving popular with consumers due to its foldable wing-like form, which means it can be opened up, transforming the phone into a tablet.

The engineering to make this possible is unprecedented. The glass screen must be tough enough to withstand daily use, whilst being able to fold thousands of times. The hinge to allow the screen to fold is the first of its kind. Once open, the handset is just 3.5mm thick. However, the screen is not the only remarkable folding technology in the device.

The first chip with semiconductor design breakthrough, LogicFolding

The Mate XT 2 Ultimate Design includes a major breakthrough in semiconductor design. The phone is the first to use Huawei’s LogicFolding Tau chip Kirin 9050 Pro. Designed by engineers in Huawei’s HiSilicon team, the chip offers a solution to the problem of geometric scaling.

With Moore’s Law (the historical observation that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles approximately every two years) believed to be reaching its physical limit, making chips smaller is becoming more challenging and costly.

For Huawei, faced with external restrictions, the need to find a solution came sooner than expected.

In May this year, Huawei’s HiSilicon division President He Tingbo unveiled a new way of designing and making chips, alongside a new law to measure their performance, the t (Tau) Scaling Law. The work led to He being recently named one of the world’s leading AI innovators by Time Magazine.

The point of shrinking transistors was never the smallness itself, it’s what the smallness delivered. Shoppers looking to buy the latest smartphone don’t care if the chips inside have 7, 5 or even 2-nanometer nodes, they care about the performance of the device in their hands. What matters to consumers is the time it takes for a task to be completed, a video to be shared or a game to load. The performance of the chip should be measured in the same way: by time, not size. This is why Huawei proposed t (Tau) Scaling Law as an alternative to Moore’s Law.

Breaking through barriers to improve performance

The Kirin 9050 Pro uses 3D integration to boost performance. Traditional chip advancement focussed on packing more and more transistors into a linear plain by making each one smaller. LogicFolding uses 3D integration to reduce the distance between transistors by stacking them on top of one another, increasing the number of transistors whilst reducing the distance between them.

In fact, in the Kirin 9050 Pro transistor density has risen from approximately 155 to 238 million transistors per square millimetre. That’s an equivalent increase to what was achieved in the previous three years using geometric shrinking.

It was thought that stacking active transistors on top of each other and sealing them inside a solid mobile device would present an engineering challenge. Power turns into heat, which in a confined space would raise the temperature and ultimately break the device.

The key to the solution came in recognising that integrated chips have both transistors and circuits. As He Tingbo explains in her IEEE article, Huawei’s t Chip Was Supposed to Melt?, the inner workings of a chip can be compared to an office worker’s day of work. Many office workers will use more energy on their commute to and from the office than they do at their desk because they are moving around more on the road. The ‘work’ part of their day is not the most energy intensive part as they are often seated at their desk.

The same is true for chips. The most energy intensive part of the process is the ‘commute’, moving data from point A to point B, not processing it. Integrated circuits use power in two main ways. The first is switching, flipping a transistor gate to change a bit from 0 to 1 and back. The second is the transmission of that data, moving the bits from one part of the chip to another.

This is important in mobile phones where a lot of performance requirements are asked of a single chip. Equally, however, in a large AI cluster 80% of the energy is used in the moving the data, not processing it. In both cases, LogicFolding reduces the space between transistors which in turn reduces the power used. The previous assumption that packing transistors on top of one another would increase the heat turned out to be false. In fact, even with a higher transistor density per millimetre, LogicFolding chips run cooler per unit of work. The result is Huawei’s most powerful smartphone ever.

The first phone to run HarmonyOS 7

The Mate XT 2 is the first smartphone to run HarmonyOS 7. Forty-two percent more powerful than the previous generation, it remains the slimmest and largest foldable display in the industry when open. The cover screen spans 6.5 inches, boosting the screen-to-body ratio from 86.4% to 92.8%. Enhanced with 70% better anti-reflection, the screen exhibits a deeper, cleaner black when off, and pure, crystal-clear transparency when lit.

The Huawei Mate XT 2 also introduces the world-first Smart Shield Privacy Screen on a foldable screen. Two independent pixel sets co-exist within the 10.2-inch display at a micro-pitch of just 9 µm. When Privacy Mode is activated, the screen seamlessly switches from a wide viewing angle to a narrow one while maintaining identical resolution and clarity, protecting your privacy in public spaces without compromising your view.

Industry first ECG analysis

Health tech is increasing important to consumers, and so the Mate XT 2 is the industry’s first smartphone to introduce ECG analysis. Capitalising on the innovative tri-fold form factor, users can simply hold both side frames with both hands while unfolded to capture a 30-second ECG signal. Paired with the medically certified analysis software, it generates detailed ECG reports to help identify Sinus Rhythm, Atrial Fibrillation, and Premature Beats.

The launch of the Mate XT 2 marks a significant moment in Huawei’s journey. The company’s R and D has delivered industry leading, and industry changing innovation. More than half of Huawei’s employees work in R and D. That’s over 100,000 people. The company currently holds 160,000 active patents worldwide. In the first half of 2026 alone, Huawei’s R and D investment was over RMB 121 billion, accounting for 25.94% of revenue, up 25.2% year on year.

Sri Lanka AI Week 2026, pioneered by the Digital Economy Ministry, GovTech Sri Lanka and SLT Mobitel, officially opened with the second National AI Expo and Conference on 29-30 September at the Monarch Imperial under the theme AI Amplified. The event brought together more than 60 speakers from 16 countries and representatives from government, industry, startups and academia to showcase products, debate policy and accelerate AI adoption across Sri Lanka.

Delivering the welcome address, SLT Group Chairman Dr. Mothilal de Silva outlined the country’s progression from AI exploration to large-scale execution, infrastructure development and deployment of localised small language models. He noted that since 2025 the global AI landscape has shifted from research breakthroughs to ecosystem building, industrial integration and regulatory frameworks. He highlighted the rise of agentic AI, systems that can perceive, plan and act with minimal human oversight, and the democratisation of capability through open source small language models. Models from China such as Alibaba’s Qwen and DeepSeek now underpin nearly 30% of global AI usage, with India following suit. He argued that the future will favour smart, task-specific and efficient models rather than parameter size alone.

Explaining the change in theme to AI Amplified, de Silva said, ‘We have moved from curiosity to execution, and from promise to production.’ He warned of critical infrastructure gaps, including insufficient GPU capacity, limited computational scale and a shortage of hyperscale data centres. To address these, the government has allocated billions of rupees for AI and digital infrastructure and is in talks with global hyperscalers, while SLT Mobitel is upgrading its data centres to be AI ready. On connectivity, SLT Mobitel has laid 70,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable, reaching nearly 60% of secondary schools and aiming to connect all by year end. He also cited global investment of more than

$ 750 billion by US tech firms in AI infrastructure, urging Sri Lanka to pivot from ‘bigger is better’ to ‘small is beautiful.’

De Silva set out priorities such as affordable, context awareness AI for local languages and budgets, including Sinhala and Tamil models for public services, offline agricultural tools for farmers, diagnostic triage for rural healthcare and personalised learning systems. SLT Mobitel plans to launch 8 to 10 AI products during the week and is evaluating open source models for local suitability. He outlined the program: day one focused on strategy, governance, ethics and the roadmap toward a $ 15 billion digital economy by 2030, with AI expected to contribute 12% ; day two centred on industry applications, a startup showcase and the National AI Awards.

Speaking at the event, Digital Economy Ministry Secretary Waruna Sri Dhanapala delivered the keynote address on behalf of Deputy Minister Eng. Eranga Weeraratne at the National AI Expo, calling for Sri Lanka to move from being a consumer of artificial intelligence to a global creator and producer of AI driven solutions.

The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya on National AI Strategy and Economic Impact – Building Sri Lanka’s Digital Economy. He called for Sri Lanka to move from consumer to creator of AI solutions, stressing that AI must be embedded in national planning and education reform to build systems rather than operate them. He urged collaboration across government, industry, academia and startups to position Sri Lanka as a regional technology centre.

The keynote was followed by a panel discussion titled From Policy to Platforms: Building the Public-Private Operating Model for Sri Lanka’s AI Economy, featuring Digital Economy Ministry Secretary Waruna Sri Dhanapala, SLT-Mobitel Chief Business Officer – Enterprise Business Lakmal Jayasinghe, SLT Group Chairman Dr. Mothilal de Silva, GovTech Sri Lanka Chief Executive Officer Shevan Goonetilleke and moderator MyRepublic Digital Chief Technology Officer Tony Kalcina. Together, these sessions highlighted the central message of Sri Lanka AI Week 2026: aligning policy, infrastructure and talent to ensure AI delivers tangible benefits for every citizen and to establish the nation as an AI hub in South Asia.

Frontier Research expects the rupee to begin a fresh appreciation cycle closer to the end of the year, with inflation turning negative by mid-2027 and rates easing further.

Frontier Research Head of Macroeconomic Advisory Chayu Damsinghe told a recent investor forum organised by the firm that the rupee could strengthen to around Rs. 325 per dollar by the end of 2026 and Rs. 315 by end-2027, and further if Brent crude falls to $ 85 a barrel by October or November. Frontier had previously expected appreciation across most of the second half of 2026. Renewed escalation in the Iran conflict has pushed the start closer to year-end, and the move is now expected to extend into early 2027.

‘The natural path of the economy is not one of depreciation. You need negative events,’ he said, cautioning businesses against building depreciation into their budgets.

Sri Lanka last received two consecutive rating upgrades in 2010. Frontier expects the other agencies to follow the recent upgrade within six to 12 months, potentially unlocking large inflows. ‘Don’t get caught off guard if that round of appreciation happens,’ Damsinghe said.

Point-to-point inflation is expected to stay volatile around 8% before turning down in November and December. The rise from about 2% was supply-driven rather than demand-driven, Frontier said, and should reverse as oil eases. Given the high base, negative inflation by mid-2027 is ‘very much something you should expect’, Damsinghe said. Longer term, Frontier sees inflation at 2% to 3%, below the Central Bank’s 5% target. Excluding the oil shock, inflation would have averaged close to 1% across 2023 to 2026.

Frontier expects the 12-month Treasury Bill yield, now near 10%, to fall 50 to 100 basis points this year and about 100 basis points more in 2027, with a similar path for five-year and 10-year Bonds. The forecast decline is smaller than Frontier projected a few months ago because a less supportive global rates environment limits how far local rates can fall. Deeper cuts would need large inflows, Damsinghe said.

Brent averaged about $ 95 a barrel in the first phase of the Iran war, eased to around $ 80 in June and July, and is now back above $ 95. Frontier now sees conditions normalising in early or mid-2027 rather than by end-2026.

This World Sake Day, Nihonbashi celebrates one of Japan’s most enduring culinary traditions with a special sake tasting experience on 1 October, showcasing the restaurant’s selection of sakes paired with Japanese tapas and hosted by Sommelier Shiyani Saranapala.

The experience offers guests an opportunity to explore the diversity of sake through Nihonbashi’s menu, while discovering the craftsmanship, traditions and stories behind the different expressions. It also marks more than a year since Nihonbashi introduced Dassai to Sri Lanka, becoming the first restaurant in the country to serve the celebrated Japanese sake.

Celebrated annually on 1 October, Nihonshu no Hi, or World Sake Day, marks the traditional start of Japan’s new sake brewing season. Historically linked to the rice harvest and the arrival of autumn, the day has grown into an international celebration of sake, bringing together breweries, restaurants and sake enthusiasts around the world.

At the heart of sake is rice, but producing it is a highly skilled craft. Much like wine, the character of sake is influenced by a range of factors, from the variety and quality of the rice to where it is grown, when it is harvested and how extensively each grain is polished.

Among the sakes served at Nihonbashi are Dassai 39 and Dassai 45, produced by Asahi Shuzo in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Nihonbashi was the first restaurant in Sri Lanka to introduce Dassai and has been serving the sake for over a year.

For Nihonbashi, sake is part of a much deeper connection to Japan. Since opening its doors in Colombo in 1995, Chef Dharshan Munidasa has built the restaurant around an approach to Japanese cuisine rooted in authenticity, relationships and respect for the people and producers behind the ingredients.

The World Sake Day tasting reflects that philosophy – bringing together sake, food and the knowledge behind both, in an experience designed to give guests a deeper appreciation of one of

Japan’s most celebrated culinary traditions.

On 1 October, Nihonbashi invites guests to raise a glass to Nihonshu no Hi, explore its selection of sakes, and discover how each expression comes to life alongside Japanese tapas.

AICPA and CIMA recently presented its Sri Lanka National Budget Proposal 2027 to Secretary to the Treasury, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma, FCMA (UK), CGMA, calling for a strong focus on policies that can unlock productive investment, improve competitiveness and help build the foundations for sustainable economic growth in Sri Lanka.

Drawing on discussions with nearly 40 industry leaders, finance professionals and policy experts from across the public and private sectors, the submission brings together recommendations across eight areas: macroeconomic priorities; taxation; education and skills; banking, investment and capital markets; SMEs and entrepreneurship; state-owned enterprises; IT, BPM and global business services; and value-added exports.

Across these eight areas, AICPA and CIMA identified five priorities for consideration in Sri Lanka’s National Budget 2027:

Creating fiscal space for productive investment;

Broadening the tax base and strengthening tax administration;

Increasing the flow of capital to productive sectors;

Strengthening value-added exports and higher-value services;

Aligning skills and digital capability with future economic needs.

AICPA and CIMA Vice President APAC Venkkat Ramanan, FCMA (UK), CGMA said: ‘Sri Lanka has made important progress in strengthening its economic foundations. The priority now is to translate that progress into sustained, investment-led growth that creates opportunities for businesses and people. This will require a clear and consistent policy environment that encourages productive investment, improves competitiveness and equips the workforce with the skills and digital capabilities needed for the future. Through these proposals, AICPA and CIMA is bringing the expertise of the finance and accounting profession to the national conversation, with practical recommendations to strengthen productivity, attract investment and support Sri Lanka’s long-term economic ambitions.’

At the handover the proposals were discussed in detail with Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma. The discussion was joined by AICPA and CIMA Sri Lanka Country Head Tharindu Wijewardena ACMA (UK), CGMA alongside CIMA members representing finance, taxation, investment, corporate leadership, and digital transformation.

The discussion covered the submission’s key proposals and their relevance to the wider economy, including taxation, productive investment, access to capital, export competitiveness, technology, and workforce capability.

Tharindu Wijewardena said: ‘Sri Lanka has an opportunity to shape a stronger and more competitive economy for the future. Realising that potential will require us to look beyond immediate challenges and create the conditions for investment, enterprise, and people to thrive. Through this submission, AICPA and CIMA is bringing the experience and insight of the finance profession to that national conversation. We believe that by working together across government, business and the profession, Sri Lanka can build the foundations for sustainable growth and greater prosperity for the generations to come.’

AICPA and CIMA will continue to engage with policymakers, business leaders and the finance profession in Sri Lanka, bringing its members’ expertise and international perspective to discussions on policies that support investment, productivity, competitiveness and sustainable long-term growth.

As artificial intelligence makes information increasingly accessible, the competitive advantage of finance professionals may no longer lie in producing information, but in knowing what it means, what decisions it should inform and when human judgement must prevail.

That was a central message emerging from the second technical session of the AAT Sri Lanka Conference 2026, where speakers highlighted the need for accountants to move beyond routine reporting functions and develop stronger business judgement as AI transforms the profession.

Held under the theme Precision of Power at Waters Edge, Battaramulla, on 8 and 9 September, the session featured a keynote address by CA Sri Lanka Immediate Past President and David Pieris Group Director of Finance Heshana Kuruppu and followed by a panel discussion titled Govern to Grow, moderated by Advocata Institute CEO Dhananath Fernando.

Accounting’s ‘Kodak moment’

Delivering the keynote address, Kuruppu opened with the example of Kodak engineer Steven Sasson, who developed the world’s first self-contained digital camera in 1975. He said Kodak had the technology, patents and resources to lead digital photography but failed to act because doing so would have threatened its film business.

‘Kodak did not struggle because it did not see the future; it struggled because embracing the future meant letting go of past success,’ he said, posing a direct challenge to the audience: ‘When the future of accounting arrives, which side of that story would you like to sit on?’

Citing 2025 World Economic Forum research, Kuruppu said 86% of participants expected AI and information processing to transform business by 2030, with 39% of core skills expected to change and 78 million new job types projected globally within three to five years.

He outlined what he termed the Four-Role Principle for accountants: Value Reporter (historical reporting), Value Preserver (governance and risk management), Value Enabler (decision support), and Value Creator (strategy and growth).

Kuruppu warned that Value Reporting had already been largely automated through robotic process automation and, more recently, AI, while Value Preserving retained relevance chiefly through risk management.

‘Risk management is not about generating risk matrices or filling form registers; it is about seeing the future before it happens,’ he said.

From information to insight and influence

Explaining his 3I Model – Information, Insight, Influence – for value enabling, Kuruppu used a stock-ageing example to demonstrate how raw data becomes valuable only when translated into insight and ultimately into action.

Information on stock age brackets, for example, could reveal that 80% of sales came from 20% of line items and lead to actionable recommendations such as targeted discount schemes to clear slow-moving stock.

He said finance functions historically depended on an information monopoly arising from accountants’ 360-degree organisational view. That monopoly is now eroding as departments such as sales, procurement and production adopt their own embedded AI agents.

‘When every manager can ask an AI agent a natural language question, preparing the answer is no longer a competitive advantage,’ he said. To build sound business judgement, Kuruppu proposed a PAUSE Model – Purpose, Options/Assumptions, Uncertainty and Stakeholders, and Test/Post-evaluation. He said future performance would depend on combining human judgement with AI capability and urged professionals to consider which parts of their jobs AI should take over and what new capabilities would become more valuable as a result.

‘Avoid your Kodak moment,’ he said.

Tax, regulation and governance evolve

Opening the panel discussion, Fernando said sound judgement today required accountants to understand tax frameworks, legal structures, capital markets and macroeconomic trends.

Dasanayaka Associates Managing Partner Prasad Dasanayaka said Sri Lanka’s tax administration had shifted from manual paper-based processing in 2009 to increasingly technology-driven systems, particularly after 2020. However, adoption remained uneven.

‘The Government sector, in my personal judgment, remains nearly 30 years behind,’ he said, adding that while large corporates with integrated systems were ready for further digitalisation, SMEs remained largely unprepared.

Colombo Stock Exchange Senior Vice President for Legal Enforcement and Compliance Shivandini Liyanage said capital-market regulation had evolved from a largely rules-based, disclosure-driven model to a proactive, risk-based governance and enforcement-oriented approach.

She said the SEC Act No. 19 of 2021 and CSE Listing Rules had expanded supervisory oversight and board accountability, with non-compliance carrying strict administrative and monetary penalties for listed entities and individual directors.

AI and data protection under scrutiny

The Open University of Sri Lanka Professor in Legal Studies Professor Sanath Wijesinghe identified five regulatory areas professionals needed to monitor: privacy, cybersecurity, data protection, AI regulation and intellectual property.

He noted that Sri Lanka’s Intellectual Property Act No. 36 of 2003 remained human-centric and that globally, IP law did not extend copyright or patent protection to AI-generated creations.

‘Use AI as a servant, not as a master,’ he said, warning that uploading confidential or copyrighted material into AI tools carried significant legal exposure.

Accountability cannot be outsourced to AI

Responding to questions on AI replacing professional judgement, Kuruppu said accountability could not be transferred to a machine, comparing current anxieties with those triggered by mainframe computers in the 1950s and 1960s.

‘AI is not going to replace my job. It is someone who knows AI that is going to replace my job,’ he said, adding that communication, critical decision-making and commercial acumen were becoming essential soft skills.

Liyanage also highlighted sustainability disclosures under SLFRS S1 and S2 standards and CSE listing rules, requiring greater transparency around how sustainability risks and opportunities are integrated into corporate strategy.

The session further highlighted that under Section 56 of the Personal Data Protection Act No. 9 of 2022, employers carried strict vicarious liability for the handling of personal data, reinforcing the need for a human in the loop over AI-generated analysis.

Closing the session, Fernando summarised that while information had become universal, judgement remained what distinguished successful accountants. He urged the profession to treat AI as a tool, stay abreast of evolving regulation and continue sharpening judgement through ongoing learning.

When I read Professor G.L. Peiris’s commentary on the Supreme Court determination on the 22nd Amendment in the Daily FT, I couldn’t help but recall Antonio Gramsci’s core dictum on elite class power and his theory of cultural hegemony.

Gramsci asserted that a ruling class maintains power primarily by winning the active consent of society rather than relying solely on physical force or coercion.

On reading it, I sent a WhatsApp text to Emeritus Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda simply querying: Have you read Professor G.L. Pieris in the Daily FT on the SC determination on the 22nd Amendment?

I received his response. Professor Uyangoda: I read it. It is a restatement of positions held by The BASL, Sumanthiran et Al. GL lives in his own world, eyes closed and memory erased. It is a pity that AKD could not meet Professor Wade at Oxford!

Professor Uyangoda’s revealing observation is the point of departure for this short essay. This is about the cultural hegemony that still has a grip on the class that stayed home at the last Parliamentary election. A fact overlooked by cocky types in the NPP!

Prof. G.L. Peiris’s commentary in the Daily FT of 29 September on the Supreme Court’s determination regarding the 22nd Amendment (22A) is a supremely hypocritical exercise in legal charlatanry.

Dressed in the lofty vocabulary of ‘objective criteria’ and ‘natural justice,’ the critique is less an objective evaluation of law and more a symptom of a deeper, existential panic within our traditional political elite.

‘I do not think President AKD or any member of the current NPP Government has ever stepped on the manicured lawns of Oxford or Cambridge, and it is therefore highly unlikely that any of them have heard of Professor Wade, whose dictum Prof. G.L. Peiris suddenly seems eager to recall.

This is a class war fought under the guise of procedural purity-a tug-of-war between the elite class and the obscure citizenry who have finally found a voice in the NPP.’

It is a raw manifestation of elite disdain for the ‘subaltern’ now tentatively in command. I use tentatively deliberately because I support AKD’s governance mechanics, but I wish he is more Presidential and more realistic in framing his rhetoric at his two years anniversary rallies.

It is also fundamentally a matter of genealogy and power. Prof. Peiris is the son-in-law of Thomas Amarasuriya OBE, the elite planter who owned vast tracts of Southern Province plantations and served as the

President of the Senate under the Soulbury Constitution.

Today, decades later, that same lineage clings to its command of the legal establishment, with Thomas Amarasuriya’s grandson, Rajeev Amarasuriya, sitting as the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL).

All said and done GL is the uncle of BASL!

For generations, this interlinked network of wealth and prestige has viewed the law, the courts, and the State as their exclusive ancestral estate.

When stripped of its academic pretensions, Prof. Peiris’s thesis reveals a profound discomfort with the democratic mandate handed to a Government born outside these elite social circles.

Specifically, Prof. Peiris takes issue with the five-judge bench’s rejection of a ‘Full Court’ hearing and their dismissal of the petitioner’s bias arguments regarding judicial retirement ages.

His weaponisation of the case Porter v Magill to construct a phantom ‘legislative bribe’ is a textbook symptom of his patrician anxiety.

I am no lawyer. I don’t know of any Porter or any Magil. But I have read Tom Sharpe’s funny books.

Citing the Porter standard to imply the apex judiciary is compromised by a routine administrative policy reads like a bitter, inverse parody of Sharpe’s satirical novel Porterhouse Blue.

In Tom Sharpe’s walled academic world, the ultimate horror to the ruling class is when the Head Porter-the working-class custodian-unthinkingly ascends to become the Master of the College.

To the Amarasuriya-Peiris dynasty, the NPP Government represents exactly that: the sudden, terrifying arrival of the political ‘porter’ into the masters’ chambers of State power.

Prof. Peiris’s sudden, selective conversion to this new ‘church’ of institutional checks and balances would be amusing if it weren’t so flagrantly hypocritical. Where was this profound anxiety about ‘natural justice’ and ‘public perception’ in 2010, when he acted as the chief legal architect and defender of the 18th Amendment?

Back then, he enthusiastically backed a regime that wanted to remove the two-term limit so Mahinda Rajapaksa could rule indefinitely.

He saw no threat to democracy when the independent Constitutional Council was butchered and replaced with a toothless Parliamentary Council, granting the executive unchecked, absolute control to unilaterally appoint the Chief Justice and Supreme Court judges.

Even after those term limits were restored, Prof. Peiris put his legal reputation on the line to invent absurd loopholes for his political masters.

In August 2018, as Chairman of the SLPP, he publicly advanced a highly contorted legal theory, arguing that because the 19th Amendment was not explicitly retrospective, Mahinda Rajapaksa was legally eligible to contest for the Presidency a fourth time!

Following the Rajapaksa electoral victories in 2019 and 2020, Peiris was again the loudest advocate for tearing down independent commissions, branding them ‘political tools’ while laying the legal groundwork for the 20th Amendment to strip away judicial oversight yet again.

Professor G.L. Peiris has historically had no qualms about treating the supreme law of the land as an elastic band meant to serve the political ambitions of a single dynasty.

To see him now pretend to be a purist on ‘popular sovereignty’ and ‘institutional independence’ over a uniform administrative policy to clear case backlogs is the height of hypocrisy.

The record is clear: when the old guard twists the Constitution to secure dynastic longevity or erase judicial independence, Prof. Peiris calls it ‘Statecraft.’

But when a newly elected Government attempts transparent, system-wide institutional reforms through established constitutional channels, the gatekeepers of the old status quo cry foul.

His critique isn’t a defence of the law; it is the panic of a legal professorial mercenary who realises the rules are no longer being written for his masters.

The Cabinet has approved the acquisition of spectrum and service quality monitoring systems worth $ 9.25 million by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL), funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Cabinet Spokesperson and Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa said yesterday.

Briefing the media on decisions taken at the Cabinet meeting held on Monday, Dr. Jayatissa said $ 8 million of the estimated external funding had been allocated for a spectrum management and monitoring system, and $ 1.25 million for a system to monitor service quality and user experience.

Spectrum refers to the radio frequencies used to carry mobile, broadband and other wireless services, which the TRCSL allocates and regulates. Dr. Jayatissa said the TRCSL, a key implementing agency of the project, required both systems. The Government expects the overall project to support large-scale data storage and processing, and to ensure reliable, affordable and uninterrupted digital services across the country.

‘Under the Spectrum Management and Monitoring System, we expect to establish a fully integrated system to manage the radio frequency spectrum efficiently and effectively, monitor it continuously and guarantee the necessary rights of spectrum users,’ Dr. Jayatissa said in response to questions.

He said the service quality system would not be tied to a single vendor and would be interoperable, allowing service performance and user experience across telecom networks to be accurately measured, analysed and reported.

The procurement falls under the Digital Transformation Enhancement Project, for which the Digital Economy Ministry and the Department of External Resources received approval to partner with the ADB.