Jaffna Monitor - Unafraid and Unbowed

Mahinda Rajapaksa Rules Out Automatic Presidential Nomination for Namal

By: Asela Kuruluwansha COLOMBO — Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Saturday that the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) would choose its next presidential candidate based on public demand, adding that the party would not nominate his son, Namal Rajapaksa, unless the people wanted him to contest. "If the people do not ask for Namal, we are not prepared to make him the presidential candidate," Mr. Rajapaksa told reporters after paying homage at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Ka

Asela Kuruluwansha.

Jul 4, 2026 — 1 min read

When India's Intelligence Listened to Prabhakaran and Balasingham

Guest Column JULY 2026

M.R. Narayan Swamy

Jul 4, 2026 — 4 min read

Former Navy Chief's Arrest Renews Focus on Sri Lanka's Unresolved 'Navy 11' Case

JULY 2026 Monitor Memo

Our Reporter

Jul 4, 2026 — 3 min read

Court Order Sets Stage for Constitutional Test of Governor's Powers

JULY 2026 Monitor Memo

Our Reporter

Jul 4, 2026 — 2 min read

After Passing Over Vijay, Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalist Leaders Seek His Support

CHENNAI, India — A delegation of Sri Lankan Tamil nationalist leaders who once passed over Vijay when he was an opposition politician met him Friday as Tamil Nadu's chief minister, marking a striking reversal as the actor-turned-politician completed his rapid rise to power. The seven-member delegation from the Tamil National People's Front-led Tamil National Council held talks with Mr. Vijay at the Tamil Nadu Secretariat in Chennai, presenting a memorandum on Sri Lankan Tamil political rights,

JM Exclusive JULY 2026

Our Reporter

Jul 3, 2026 — 2 min read

At Freedom 250 Celebration, U.S. Embassy Hails Cinema as America’s Global Gift

COLOMBO — Addressing several hundred guests on the floodlit grounds of the United States Embassy on Thursday evening, the senior American diplomat in Sri Lanka framed the 250th anniversary of American independence not around treaties or trade, but around the movies. "Tonight, we celebrate 250 years of American independence by honoring one of our nation's greatest gifts to the world — the art of cinema," said Jayne Howell, the chargé d'affaires who has run the embassy since January. For more th

JULY 2026 Monitor Memo

Our Reporter

Jul 3, 2026 — 2 min read

Former Sri Lankan Navy Chief Arrested Over Rajapaksa Son's Recruitment

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s anti-corruption commission arrested a former navy commander, Admiral of the Fleet Wasantha Karannagoda, on Friday over the 2006 recruitment of a son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa into the navy and his subsequent officer training in Britain at state expense, deepening an inquiry into how the country’s most powerful political family bent state institutions to its purposes. The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, known as CIABOC,

JULY 2026 Monitor Memo

Our Reporter

Jul 3, 2026 — 3 min read

The Pilgrim Dog That Walked Into a Religious Firestorm

JAFFNA — It began as a small miracle on a long road. Somewhere along the Pada Yatra, the two-month foot pilgrimage that winds from the Tamil north down to the shrine of Kataragama, in Sri Lanka’s deep south, a stray dog fell in step with the devotees and simply kept walking. Moved by the animal’s persistence, the pilgrims named him Subramani, another name for Lord Murugan, the deity to whom Kataragama is sacred. It is also the name of the puppy that Kamal Haasan and Sridevi dote on in Balu Mah

JM Exclusive JULY 2026

Our Reporter

Jul 2, 2026 — 2 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

Explore our archive of articles, interviews, and creative projects

The Party at 105: China Makes Its Case to Sri Lanka

COLOMBO — China's ambassador to Sri Lanka, Qi Zhenhong, used a reception marking the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China to defend Beijing's political system, promote its global development agenda, and signal deeper engagement with Sri Lanka's political parties under the leadership of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Addressing politicians from across Sri Lanka's political spectrum, diplomats and government officials, Mr. Qi said the Communist Party of China had

JULY 2026

Our Reporter

Jul 2, 2026 — 6 min read

After Court Blow, Sallay Faces Return to the CID He Called a ‘Hell Hole’

By M.R. Narayan Swamy COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Former Sri Lankan intelligence chief Suresh Sallay has finally ended three weeks of hunger strike, but his legal quagmire seems to be worsening. Just when it seemed that public opinion was swaying towards Sallay, detained on charges of orchestrating the bloody 2019 Easter bombings, the judiciary has dealt multiple blows at a man who once headed the country’s feared security apparatus. His family and admirers admit it is going to be a long – and tough

JM Exclusive JULY 2026

M.R. Narayan Swamy

Jul 2, 2026 — 4 min read

Exiled Sri Lankan Muslim Woman Writer Renews Calls for Inquiry Into Easter Bombing Case

A prominent exiled Muslim woman writer has renewed calls for Sri Lankan authorities to explain why a man who arranged covert medical treatment for the brother of the 2019 Easter Sunday bombing mastermind was released without ever being brought to trial. In a Facebook post this week, Sharmila Seyyid, a novelist and activist who has lived in the United States since 2021 after years of threats from Islamist extremists in Sri Lanka, said she had filed two formal complaints — with the Criminal Inves

JULY 2026 Monitor Memo

Our Reporter

Jul 1, 2026 — 3 min read

"Like Anura's Mouth": Pillayan Calls Charges 'False Accusations'

BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka — Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, the former state minister better known as Pillayan, was ordered held in custody on Tuesday over a separate series of killings dating to 2008, even as the terrorism investigation that has kept him imprisoned for more than a year over the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings has yet to produce a single criminal charge. Mr. Chandrakanthan, a former chief minister of the Eastern Province and one-time commander of the breakaway Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pu

June 2026 Monitor Memo

Our Reporter

Jun 30, 2026 — 3 min read