Jaffna Monitor - Unafraid and Unbowed

Jaffna MP Renounces Tamil Eelam at Rajapaksa Rally

ANURADHAPURA, Sri Lanka — Ramanathan Archchuna, a doctor-turned-member of Parliament from Jaffna whose statements have repeatedly drawn controversy, told a Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna rally in this Sinhala-majority city on Saturday that he would never again demand a separate Tamil state, and predicted that his “machan,” Namal Rajapaksa, would be elected president in 2029. Dr. Archchuna, who won a Jaffna District seat as an independent in November 2024, delivered the address in Sinhala to an aud

Our Reporter

Sep 13, 2026 — 3 min read

Jaffna-Born Kamzy Gunaratnam Named Norway’s Transport Minister

September 2026 Monitor Memo

Our Reporter

Sep 12, 2026 — 2 min read

Relatives Fear the Worst for Jaffna-Rooted Family Missing in Himalayan Floods

JM Exclusive September 2026

Our Reporter

Sep 10, 2026 — 3 min read

The Long Warning: Inside the Intelligence Trail That Preceded Easter Bombings

JM Exclusive September 2026

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Sep 8, 2026 — 22 min read

IndiGo to Resume Trichy-Jaffna Flights After Three-Month Suspension

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — IndiGo will resume flights between Tiruchirappalli and Jaffna on Oct. 1, restoring an important air link between northern Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu after a suspension of more than three months. The Indian carrier will operate the route three times a week — on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays — and bookings have already opened. The service was suspended in June, but IndiGo has not publicly given a specific reason for halting the Jaffna route. The suspension came as the airli

September 2026

Our Reporter

Sep 13, 2026 — 2 min read

In Geneva, Tamil Activists Seek Genocide Inquiry as Sri Lanka Pushes Back

GENEVA — Tamil activists urged the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday to open an independent international investigation into whether Sri Lanka's treatment of Tamils during and after its civil war amounted to genocide, and to appoint a country-specific expert to monitor the island. The appeals were made during the general debate under Item 2 at the council's 63rd session, which opened in Geneva on Sept. 7, and came in the same sitting at which the Office of the U.N. High Commissione

September 2026

Our Reporter

Sep 13, 2026 — 2 min read

Palaly Is No Mattala, Tamil MP Tells Government: Show Us the Evidence

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — A Tamil opposition leader challenged the Sri Lankan government in Parliament on Friday to produce the studies behind a senior minister’s comparison of the north’s main airport and seaport with two costly infrastructure projects built during the rule of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Bimal Rathnayake, the Leader of the House and minister of transport and highways, said at a recent news conference in Jaffna that the government would decide when and how to develop Jaffna I

September 2026 Monitor Memo

Our Reporter

Sep 11, 2026 — 5 min read

“I’m Not a War Criminal, I’m a Patriot”: Shavendra Silva’s Amnesia Tour Meets the Receipts

By Abbi Kanthasamy There is something almost majestic about the confidence of a retired general sitting beneath the medals of a victorious war and asking, “Tell me what I have done wrong.” Not prove it in court. Not the reports are mistaken. Just a full theatrical reboot: new interview, old uniform, memory wiped cleaner than a parade-ground rifle. General Shavendra Silva, former commander of Sri Lanka’s Army and former Chief of Defence Staff, has returned to the microphone to complain that t

Guest Column September 2026

Abbi Kanthasamy

Sep 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

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

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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‘India Will Always Stand Firmly With Sri Lanka,’ Rajnath Singh Says

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — India will stand by Sri Lanka whenever it faces a crisis, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said Tuesday as he began a three-day visit focused on expanding defence and security ties. “India will always stand firmly with Sri Lanka whenever the island nation faces a crisis,” Mr. Singh told members of the Indian community in Colombo, according to India’s Ministry of Defence. Mr. Singh is scheduled to meet President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who also holds the defence portfolio,

September 2026

Our Reporter

Sep 8, 2026 — 2 min read

India’s Defence Minister Arrives in Sri Lanka, First Such Visit in 38 Years

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — India’s defence minister, Rajnath Singh, arrived in Sri Lanka on Tuesday for a three-day visit, the first by an Indian defence minister since 1988, as the two countries prepare to sign three military agreements and New Delhi presses a security relationship it now describes as central to its position in the Indian Ocean. Mr. Singh is scheduled to meet President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who also holds the defence portfolio, on Wednesday morning at the Presidential Secretaria

September 2026

Our Reporter

Sep 8, 2026 — 4 min read

Sri Lanka’s Main Tamil Party Says Government Has Failed to Deliver on War Accountability

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s largest Tamil political party said Tuesday that the government had failed to take meaningful action on wartime accountability, enforced disappearances, or the return of military-held land, nearly two years after coming to power promising reform. The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi, or ITAK, issued the statement as Sri Lanka’s human rights record came under renewed scrutiny at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. The party said it welcomed a written updat

September 2026

Our Reporter

Sep 8, 2026 — 3 min read

Sri Lanka Cannot Outrun Its Human Rights Past, Tamil MP Warns Government

By Asela Kuruluwansha KANDY, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s new political leadership cannot distance itself from the country’s unresolved human rights record simply because the abuses occurred under previous governments, Tamil lawmaker Shanakiyan Rasamanickam said, warning that international scrutiny would persist until the underlying issues were addressed. Changes in the presidency, Cabinet or governing party do not erase the state’s responsibility to confront past violations or act on international

September 2026 Monitor Memo