Defenders of Bharatanatyam Record Say Costs Were Disclosed and Agreed in Writing

Defenders of Bharatanatyam Record Say Costs Were Disclosed and Agreed in Writing

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The organizers of a Bharatanatyam performance that set a Guinness World Record in the Sri Lankan capital recently have found defenders among people familiar with how the event was arranged, who say that the costs borne by participants and the process for obtaining official certificates were spelled out well in advance and accepted in writing. The pushback follows criticism from social activist Rajkumar Rajeevkanth, as well as several parents and activists, who argued in a s


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Activist Questions Funding and Credit for Bharatanatyam World Record in Colombo

Activist Questions Funding and Credit for Bharatanatyam World Record in Colombo

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A social activist has challenged the way credit was assigned for a Bharatanatyam performance that set a Guinness World Record in Colombo over the weekend, arguing that the thousands of students and teachers central to the achievement were overlooked while recognition went to the event's private organizers and a single instructor. The activist, Rajkumar Rajeevkanth, laid out his objections in a series of social media posts on Monday, a day after more than 5,000 dancers perfo


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Our Reporter

Military Told to Stop Hospital Construction on Private Land in Vasavilan
S. Sugirthan

Military Told to Stop Hospital Construction on Private Land in Vasavilan

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — The chairman of the Valikamam North Pradeshiya Sabha has written to the military demanding a halt to the construction of a hospital on privately owned land in the Vasavilan area, warning that the council will take legal action if work continues beyond June 16. In a letter dated June 9 to the Jaffna District military commander, Maj. Gen. K.J.N.M.P.K. Nawarathna, the council chairman, S. Sugirthan, said the project was proceeding without the required legal authorization and de


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Valikamam North Tamils Mark 36th Anniversary of Displacement With Protest
Displaced residents of Valikamam North display title deeds to their ancestral lands during an earlier protest, demanding the return of properties that remain under military control decades after their displacement.

Valikamam North Tamils Mark 36th Anniversary of Displacement With Protest

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Tamil residents displaced from the Valikamam North region more than three decades ago were expected to march on the Jaffna District Secretariat on Monday to demand the return of ancestral land that remains under military control, 17 years after the end of Sri Lanka's civil war. The protest, organized by the Mayiliddy Resettlement Development Committee, marks the anniversary of the displacement, which began on June 15, 1990, when residents were ordered from their homes as fig


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Unafraid and Unbowed

Archbishop, Archbishop, why hast thou forsaken us in our hour of sorrow and slaughter?

Archbishop, Archbishop, why hast thou forsaken us in our hour of sorrow and slaughter?

"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." - Isaiah 58:1 His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo and chief shepherd of the Catholic flock in all of Sri Lanka, has recently marked fifty years in the sacred priesthood. As the highest-ranking prelate whose dominion spans the entire island, he now stands as a mighty voice crying for justice, calling upon the nations of the earth for interv


Kaniyan Pungundran

Kaniyan Pungundran

Jaffna Library Burning: The Day They Burned the buddha and his dhamma

Jaffna Library Burning: The Day They Burned the buddha and his dhamma

Why South Asia Reveres Books-and Fears Their Destruction Irrespective of religion, across the Indian subcontinent, books have long held an exalted status. In the indigenous spiritual traditions that emerged from this land-Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism-knowledge is not merely valued; it is venerated in the highest order. In homes, temples, and schools across the region, people treat books with profound reverence-never touching them with their feet, and if done accidentally, offering a


Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Chemmani: Where Justice Was Buried

Chemmani: Where Justice Was Buried

The dead do not speak - but the earth does A few years ago, I visited Cambodia. My original aim was to see the Angkor Wat temple complex. But, as always, my journalistic instincts led me deeper into rural Cambodia, where I found myself in quiet conversations with a few former soldiers of the Pol Pot regime, now living ordinary lives as toddy tappers, farmers, and small shop owners. One of them - a former henchman of the Khmer Rouge - opened up after a few glasses of toddy. In a hauntingly calm


Kaniyan Pungundran

Kaniyan Pungundran

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CID Refuses Daily Lawyer Visits for Hospitalized Ex-Spy Chief

CID Refuses Daily Lawyer Visits for Hospitalized Ex-Spy Chief

COLOMBO — Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department has refused to allow daily visits by the lawyer of Major General (Retired) Suresh Sallay, the former director of the State Intelligence Service, who is being treated in hospital after a hunger strike in detention, according to a letter from the department obtained by Jaffna Monitor. In the letter, dated June 13 and signed by Senior Superintendent of Police Shani Abeysekara, the CID director, the agency told Sallay’s wife that her husband’s


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

In Colombo, 5,000 Bharatnatyam Dancers Move in Unison—and Into the Record Books

In Colombo, 5,000 Bharatnatyam Dancers Move in Unison—and Into the Record Books

COLOMBO – More than 5,000 Bharatnatyam dancers from Sri Lanka, India, and other countries gave a scintillating, choreographed performance in Colombo on Sunday (June 14) to earn a Guinness World Record citation for the largest dance lesson in one of India’s oldest classical dance forms. The colourful and mesmerizing event was organised jointly by the Sangamam Global Academy of India and the Samgamizh Liya of Sri Lanka at the Galle Face Green promenade in the capital. After the performers, dress


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Our Reporter

The Government, the Spy Chief, and the Danger of Hunting Monsters

The Government, the Spy Chief, and the Danger of Hunting Monsters

By Che Ran There is a particular smell to Colombo politics after rain: diesel, wet dust, sea salt, old files, new lies, and that faint colonial rot of a state that has never really confessed to itself. The ministries dry out. The uniforms return to their posts. The priests keep waiting. The widows keep waiting. The politicians, of course, discover justice exactly when it becomes useful. Into this humidity walks the case of Suresh Sallay — soldier, intelligence man, Rajapaksa insider, spymaste


Che Ran

Che Ran

TELO Dissidents Allege Power Grab Ahead of National Convention

TELO Dissidents Allege Power Grab Ahead of National Convention

JAFFNA — A faction of senior leaders within the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) has accused the party's top leadership of subverting internal democracy by delaying the organization's national convention and manipulating district-level selections to entrench themselves in power, according to statements made at a press conference held Saturday at the Jaffna Media Centre. The dissidents said the party has suffered repeated electoral losses, administrative dysfunction, and a string of co


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