Jaffna Monitor - Unafraid and Unbowed

The Final Hours of Kapila Chandrasena

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Former Sri Lankan cricket captain Aravinda de Silva told a Colombo magistrate on Tuesday that he personally arranged bail guarantors and sent Rs. 500,000 in cash to secure the release of Kapila Chandrasena, the former SriLankan Airlines chief executive found dead at his Kollupitiya residence last week, and that he repeatedly tried to reassure Mr. Chandrasena in the final hours of his life that a fresh arrest warrant was "a small matter" that could be resolved. Mr. de Silva

Our Reporter

May 13, 2026 — 5 min read

Sri Lanka Opposition Takes Judicial Crisis to U.N. After President’s May Day Remarks

JM Exclusive May 2026

Our Reporter

May 13, 2026 — 5 min read

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Bars Professor From Academia After University Failed to Act

JM Exclusive May 2026

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

May 12, 2026 — 10 min read

Open Letter to Vijay: Tread Carefully on Sri Lanka

JM Exclusive May 2026

M.R. Narayan Swamy

May 11, 2026 — 5 min read

India to Fund New Four-Story Medical Complex at Mullaitivu Hospital

COLOMBO — Sri Lanka has begun implementation of a major Indian grant-funded healthcare project in Mullaitivu, where a new four-story medical ward complex will be built at the District General Hospital under a 600 million Sri Lankan rupee assistance package from the Government of India. The project follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha and Sri Lanka’s Acting Health Secretary Dr. W.K. Wickremasinghe during Indian Vice President C.P. Radh

May 2026 Monitor Memo

Our Reporter

May 12, 2026 — 1 min read

Gajendrakumar Urges Vijay to Declare May 18 as Mullivaikkal Genocide Remembrance Day

CHENNAI — Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, leader of Sri Lanka’s Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF), has formally urged newly sworn-in Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay to declare May 18 as Mullivaikkal Genocide Remembrance Day through an official resolution in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. Mr. Ponnambalam sent the letter following Mr. Vijay's swearing-in on May 10 as Tamil Nadu's ninth chief minister — the first to lead a government formed by Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, the party Mr.

JM Exclusive May 2026

Our Reporter

May 11, 2026 — 2 min read

Vijay’s Religion Didn’t Win or Lose Tamil Nadu — Governance Will

By M.R. Narayan Swamy One day, dozens of children from a convent school flocked to the Kamakoti Peetam at Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu to take the blessings of the now late Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati, undoubtedly one of modern India’s greatest and most revered Hindu saints. The Mahaperiyava, as he was addressed, gave each student, boy or girl, a banana as prasadam or holy offering. He later told his aides that many of the students were Christians, and it would not have been correct to offer

May 2026 OP-ED

M.R. Narayan Swamy

May 10, 2026 — 4 min read

Vijay sworn in as Tamil Nadu CM, promises “new era” in governance

By M.R. Narayan Swamy Just 824 days after he took to politics, Tamil superstar Vijay, nee C. Joseph Vijay, on Sunday, took oath as Tamil Nadu’s new chief minister amid cheers and wild whistling by thousands of supporters, and immediately vowed to provide “a new era” to one of India’s biggest states now saddled with a huge debt. As a packed Jawaharlal Nehru stadium roared in approval, Vijay, 51, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, who, until

JM Exclusive May 2026

M.R. Narayan Swamy

May 10, 2026 — 4 min read

Unafraid and Unbowed

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

Editorial July 2025

Kaniyan Pungundran

Jul 14, 2025 — 12 min read

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

Cover Story June 2025

Kaniyan Pungundran

Jun 16, 2025 — 14 min read

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

Editorial June 2025

Kaniyan Pungundran

Jun 16, 2025 — 7 min read

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Jay Shah, Modi, AKD Named in Alleged Behind-the-Scenes Cricket Board Overthrow

COLOMBO — A senior Sri Lankan opposition parliamentarian has claimed that the recent removal of the country's cricket board leadership was orchestrated through a behind-the-scenes agreement among President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and International Cricket Council Chairman Jay Shah. Dayasiri Jayasekara, a Samagi Jana Balawegaya lawmaker and former Sports Minister, made the allegation during an appearance on the political talk show Derana 360 last week, sayi

May 2026 Monitor Memo

Our Reporter

May 10, 2026 — 2 min read

Bruised Vijay Clears Final Hurdle in Tamil Nadu

By M.R. Narayan Swamy After five days of tense, suspense-packed drama, Tamil superstar Vijay on Saturday was finally on the path to becoming the new chief minister of Tamil Nadu as he marshaled majority support before Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar. But Vijay supporters admitted that the 51-year-old actor-turned-politician had learnt some invaluable lessons in politics as his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) desperately scouted for support since May 4 after falling short of a legislative m

JM Exclusive May 2026

M.R. Narayan Swamy

May 9, 2026 — 4 min read

How Vijay Turned Triumph Into Turmoil

CHENNAI — Whether one supported actor-turned-politician Vijay or not, almost everyone agreed on one thing: he had done the impossible. In a state where political power had rotated between two Dravidian parties for nearly six decades, Vijay emerged out of the blue, entered the political spectrum, and led his fledgling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam to 108 seats, making it the single largest party in Tamil Nadu’s 234-member assembly. It was, by any measure, a democratic earthquake. Even his critics a

JM Exclusive May 2026

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

May 9, 2026 — 4 min read

Massive Fire Ravages Jaffna Hospital Drug Warehouse

Police Investigate Whether Blaze Was Accidental or Deliberate; Cancer Drugs Among the Losses JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — A major fire tore through the pharmaceutical warehouse of Jaffna Teaching Hospital in the early hours of Saturday, destroying medicines and medical equipment worth several billion rupees, including cancer treatment drugs and other critical-care pharmaceuticals, in what officials are calling one of the worst disasters in the hospital's history. The blaze began at approximately 1:30 a

May 2026 Monitor Memo

Our Reporter

May 9, 2026 — 2 min read