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Trinity College beat Royal College 1/0 at the Under 20 Annual Hockey Big Match played at the Astro Turf Colombo 7 recently. This encounter was played for J C Corea Challenge Shield.

Winning goal was scored by Arkam Rifas of Trinity College. Tevin Liyanage of Trinity College won the Best Player award. The Under 16 match was won by Royal 4/1. This encounter was played for Paul Jeyarajah trophy.

of Mannar. One of the darkest days of this Government has come to pass on the night of 26 September 2025, with the brutal attack by hundreds of police officers of peaceful protestors in Mannar.1 Many protestors have ended up in hospital including women and children.

For years the people of Mannar have been fighting an inspiring battle against sand mining and the wind power project that threatens to destroy their fragile ecosystem. The wind turbines have affected the globally renowned migratory paths of thousands of birds and sandmining is destroying the coastal ecosystem.2The people of Mannar are feeling the social, economic and ecological deterioration caused to the region.3

The Government appears to be carrying through the plans of the previous regime with cosmetic changes. Having stopped the Indian investor, Adani Company from setting up a wind power plant in Mannar, the contract has been handed over to a Sri Lankan company, Hayleys Fenton.4 There are no assurances that the local company will do anything different from the Indian investor in terms of preserving the environment, and not harming the people of Mannar.

November deadline

Similarly, the Mannar wind power project coincides with the Government coming under review by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of their ‘electricity tariff methodology’ in November 2025. This is a pre-requisite for the Extended Fund Facility. The review is to ensure ‘cost recovery and cost reflectiveness’ and the urgency to deliver a broader and privatised energy sector. The bulldozing through of the Sri Lanka Electricity Act in the past few months,5moving electricity closer to complete privatisation by unbundling the services and forming new entities of Ceylon Electricity Board,6 and the now violent removal of people raising concerns about the Mannar wind power project seem to align with the November deadline.

On the other hand, the Government reminds people that the electricity tariffs have been reduced. Taken in light of the monumental increases between 2022 and 2024, the reduction is not a significant relief. The reality is that paying electricity bills has become another burden pushing ordinary Sri Lankans into an incessant debt cycle. The systems of forcing payment of bills are causing households to struggle without electricity for many months.

The people protesting in Mannar surely had hopes for change. Instead, the continued dancing to the tune of the IMF, the blindness to the irreversible environmental and social impact of a wind power plant and sand mining, and the complete failure to engage people’s views, in this instance, cries, means there is no system change. The people of Mannar speak from their lived experiences of existing wind turbines and the loss they have already suffered.7The situation in Mannar is particularly horrifying as the destruction to the fragile ecosystem and erasing of the culture and livelihood of people who are tied to this ecology are irreversible.8

Act of suppression

The attack on the protest is also an act of suppression of Tamil speaking people of the North of the island. The attack took place in the context of a history of marginalisation of Tamil and Muslim communities, and the continued experience of Sinhala majoritarianism. A Sinhala majoritarianism that continues to dictate the actions of this Government within its party and beyond. Populations severely disenfranchised for generations because of the war, violence and top-down imposed ‘development projects’ by the Sri Lankan state will, justifiably, see this as yet another oppressive act by a Sinhala state. The majoritarian mindset has fuelled conflict and justified violence. It is a violence that is valuable to corporations also interested in capturing markets such as the energy sector.

Bringing ‘green energy’ without real consideration for the environment or human rights is an exercise in green washing which many governments and companies across the world are engaging in. Dismantling the subsidised public energy sector to make way for profit extraction by private parties in the guise of expanding renewable energy projects is another trend we are witnessing world over. To see the National People’s Power Government joining these ranks is troubling. The move is particularly tragic, as Sri Lanka has been known as a country that had achieved 99% electrification through its public energy sector.

Right to energy as a fundamental right

We require a thorough review of the energy infrastructure, costs and inflow through a consultative process that takes as its foundation the right to energy as a fundamental right. Through this lens, it will be possible to restructure tariffs and undertake other measures to balance cost and income from the energy sector without bringing ecological and social destruction. This is imperative as the existing mode of addressing the issue, especially through privatisation, is unsustainable in the long run and will only increase costs to the Government and to the people.

People must have a right to energy, a basic necessity for life today. This right must co-exist with the right to a safe environment. To pit one against another is a vulgar mode of functioning which has become all too common in the world. To watch a supposedly ‘progressive government’ that rose to power through the energy of people’s protest join the bandwagon of this vulgarity is heartbreaking.

The recent sentencing of Niraj Roshan, widely known as Ali Roshan, to 15 years in prison and a fine exceeding Rs. 20 million marks the first time a high-profile wildlife smuggler has been held accountable in our courts. Roshan was convicted of unlawfully keeping five elephants without valid permits.

This verdict deserves to be welcomed. For decades, Sri Lanka has watched helplessly as its majestic elephants were ripped from the wild, trafficked under fraudulent documentation, and paraded as trophies of wealth and influence.

Yet, in celebrating this victory, we must not ignore the metaphorical elephant in the room. Ali Roshan, despite his notoriety, could not have operated such a vast smuggling empire alone. His activities thrived because of the politicians, Government officials, business magnates, members of the clergy, and even elements within the judiciary who aided, abetted, and benefitted from his crimes. Unless these powerful enablers are also brought before the law, the justice delivered recently will remain incomplete. Partial justice that risks becoming little more than symbolic.

Among the politicians allegedly entangled in this sordid affair was none other than Gotabaya Rajapaksa. During his tenure as president, the case against Roshan was shamelessly dragged on. Even worse, elephants that had been seized and placed in judicial custody were handed back to their so-called ‘owners,’ an act that amounted to a betrayal of both justice and the voiceless animals whose lives were at stake. At that time, the judiciary seemed paralysed, unwilling to stand up to the Rajapaksa regime. The courage and activism we see from today’s courts were absent then, leaving traffickers free to thrive under the cover of political patronage.

The belated conviction of Roshan is therefore both a triumph and a reminder of how much was lost during those years of cowardice and complicity. How many elephants were torn from their herds? How many were forced into servitude, chained in backyards or temples, while their natural bonds and habitats were destroyed? How many officials lined their pockets? These are questions that demand answers, not merely from Roshan, but from the entire network that sustained him.

If Sri Lanka is serious about turning a corner in the protection of its wildlife, this judgment must be the beginning, not the end. The Attorney General, the Wildlife Department, and the judiciary must act with equal vigour in pursuing those who provided Roshan with cover and legitimacy. Every politician who interfered, every official who falsified permits, every business leader who profited, and every monk who blessed this cruelty and even kept these illegal elephants in their temples must face the same uncompromising standard of justice. Anything less would reduce Roshan’s punishment to a token gesture, harsh enough to shock, but hollow in its effect.

Elephants are more than animals to Sri Lankans. They are living testaments of our rich biodiversity and cultural heritage, symbols of wisdom and strength, and integral to our ecosystems. The subspecies of Asian elephant is endemic to the island and if they were to go extinct that genetic resource will be lost forever. To traffic such an animal is to desecrate not only our biodiversity but also our identity as a nation.

Ali Roshan’s conviction must therefore serve as a warning to all who believe they can hide behind political power, social influence, or religious standing to exploit the voiceless. Sri Lanka has begun to show that justice can reach even those who once seemed untouchable. But until the entire network of abettors is exposed and punished, justice remains unfinished.

The 11th Annual Cyber Security Summit, organised by Daily FT in collaboration with CICRA Holdings, commenced last week at Cinnamon Grand Colombo with its flagship CEO Forum, bringing together leading voices from global and local industries. The forum set the stage for a two-day conversation on the rapidly evolving cyber landscape, where Artificial Intelligence (AI) is simultaneously reshaping opportunities and amplifying risks.

Setting the context

During his opening remarks, CICRA Holdings Group Director/CEO Boshan Dayaratne highlighted how the convergence of AI, cloud adoption, and digitalisation has expanded the attack surface for businesses. He emphasised the need for Sri Lankan corporate leaders to elevate cybersecurity from a back-end IT function to a boardroom-level strategic priority. ‘The conversation today is no longer about compliance, but about resilience, trust, and long-term competitiveness,’ Dayaratne said.

This framing mirrors global concerns. The World Economic Forum’s Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2025 warns that 72% of organisations reported a rise in cyber risks last year, with ransomware and AI-enhanced phishing topping the list. The report stresses that in an age of complexity, resilience must be treated as an enterprise-wide responsibility, not merely an IT issue.

A central theme of the forum was the role of AI in cyber defence and cybercrime. Meta Director – Public Policy for South Asia and Central Asia Sarim Aziz noted that while AI-powered tools are enabling faster detection of threats, adversaries are also weaponising AI to carry out sophisticated attacks. He stressed the importance of public-private collaboration in developing governance frameworks that balance innovation with safety.

Globally, two-thirds of executives expect AI to have the most significant impact on cybersecurity this year, yet fewer than four in ten organisations have processes in place to assess the security of AI tools before deployment. The paradox is clear; businesses are rushing to adopt AI without securing it, leaving themselves exposed. Participants also warned that banning AI outright is ineffective; employees will simply turn to personal devices or shadow tools. Instead, companies must set clear usage policies, backed by training and awareness, to prevent sensitive data from leaking into uncontrolled systems.

Global threat landscape

From a financial services perspective, Visa Consulting and Analytics, Asia Pacific Risk Practice Lead Sen Dibyajyoti described the escalating scale of fraud in digital payments. He pointed to phishing, social engineering, and AI-driven scams as the most immediate threats for banks and fintechs. ‘Resilience depends on embedding security by design across payment ecosystems,’ Dibyajyoti said.

Fraud and social engineering were recurring concerns. Deepfake-enabled scams, such as impersonated CEO and CFO phone calls, have already cost global firms millions. Panellists highlighted the importance of layered security using multiple controls such as call-backs, shared secret questions, and verification protocols to counter increasingly sophisticated attacks. Education was stressed as a frontline defence, not only for employees but also for consumers, who are often the most vulnerable target group.

Rajah and Tann Cyber Security CEO Wong Onn Chee reinforced this by warning of ransomware-as-a-service and state-sponsored cyber espionage as top regional threats. He noted that fragmented regulations make coordinated responses difficult. Around seven in ten executives worldwide share this concern, citing cyber regulations as overly complex, fragmented, or burdensome. With cloud migration accelerating across industries, SECGRA Director Paul Hidalgo focused on the structural vulnerabilities of multi-cloud environments. He stressed that traditional perimeter-based security models are obsolete in today’s distributed systems. Instead, he advocated for zero-trust architectures that continuously validate users and devices, combined with strong incident response frameworks.

Supply chain vulnerabilities remain a critical concern, with more than half of large organisations citing third-party risk management as their biggest barrier to resilience. Software vulnerabilities introduced by external partners, coupled with concentrated dependence on a small number of providers, are creating systemic points of failure that ripple across entire economies. The global IT outage in 2024 caused by a single faulty software update served as a stark reminder of this risk.

The forum also highlighted that most AI and cloud vendors limit their liability to refunding subscription fees in the event of a breach. CEOs were urged to negotiate contracts that include liquidated damages clauses, ensuring vendors face real financial consequences if failures expose businesses or customers to harm.

Local imperatives for Sri Lanka

While global experts painted a broad picture, the discussion also returned to Sri Lanka’s specific context. Speakers agreed that the country’s growing digital economy, from e-commerce to fintech to e-governance, faces acute vulnerabilities due to resource constraints and limited cyber maturity. For corporate leaders, integrating cybersecurity directly into business continuity planning is no longer optional; it must be treated as a core element of long-term operational resilience.

At the same time, participants stressed that technology investments alone will not be sufficient. Companies must balance systems spending with the development of skilled people who can anticipate and respond to threats effectively. The skills challenge is especially relevant: two out of three organisations worldwide now report moderate-to-critical cyber skills gaps, with only 14% confident they have the talent they need. For Sri Lanka, where digital adoption is accelerating, workforce development and capacity-building will be decisive in determining whether digital growth can be sustained securely.

The CEO Forum crystallised several strategic insights for corporate leaders. A clear consensus emerged that AI will fundamentally transform the cybersecurity battlefield, with deepfakes and AI-enhanced fraud creating threats that outpace traditional controls. This reality demands that cybersecurity be recognised as a leadership issue, where responsibility cannot rest solely with IT teams. Boards and CEOs must set the tone, embed resilience into strategy, and ensure that security is treated as a driver of trust and competitiveness rather than a compliance checkbox. Importantly, CEOs cannot simply delegate accountability to CISOs or IT managers; regulators and stakeholders are demanding board-level responsibility for cyber resilience.

Equally important was the recognition that the foundation of digital operations is shifting. Zero-trust principles are becoming the new baseline for organisations operating across cloud and hybrid work models, where continuous identity verification and endpoint security are non-negotiable. Leaders were urged to move beyond regulatory compliance by stress-testing systems, building a culture of security, and prioritising collaboration. Since no single company or Government can confront these challenges alone, partnerships across regulators, technology providers, and enterprises will be critical in shaping a safer digital future.

In conclusion

In his closing remarks, Dayaratne reiterated that cybersecurity is not just a technical challenge but an economic and national security priority. He urged Sri Lankan businesses to invest early, adapt continuously, and collaborate openly. ‘The threats are global, but so are the solutions. Our ability to act decisively today will determine whether Sri Lanka thrives in the digital future or lags behind.’

The CEO Forum set a decisive tone for the full-day Cyber Security Summit, where technical experts, policymakers, and industry practitioners delved deeper into emerging technologies and sector-specific risks.

Strategic partners of the 11th annual cyber-security summit were Visa and Sysco LABS, Platinum partner was the South Asia Technologies, Community Impact Partner was Meta, Payment network partner was LankaPay. Other partners included platform partner #HashX, podcast partner Techtalk, hospitality partner Cinnamon Grand, Colombo, Creative partner Mullenlow Sri Lanka and electronic media partner Yes101, TV1 and News1st.