May 18: The Day the Clowns Come Out

May 18: The Day the Clowns Come Out

By Che Ran Every year, on May 18, Tamils remember Mullivaikkal. And every year, like clockwork, the circus arrives. From Sri Lanka, we get the professional denialists — men who look at bombed hospitals, mass graves, disappeared families, surrendered civilians who never came home, and say, with the confidence of a man selling fake Rolexes in Pettah, “No, no, no. Nothing happened.” From India, we get the bargain-bin patriots — politicians who hear “Tamil civilian massacre” and immediatel


Che Ran

Che Ran

D.C. Aravintharaj Named Jaffna Municipal Commissioner

D.C. Aravintharaj Named Jaffna Municipal Commissioner

JAFFNA — D.C. Aravintharaj, a senior Sri Lanka Administrative Service officer, was appointed Commissioner of the Jaffna Municipal Council on Tuesday during an official appointment event held at the Governor’s Secretariat here. Northern Province Governor N. Vethanayahan handed the official letter of appointment to Mr. Aravintharaj during the event, which was also attended by the Governor's Secretary, S. Sathiyaseelan, and other senior officials. Mr. Aravintharaj entered the Sri Lanka Administra


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

The Boy We Never Answered For

The Boy We Never Answered For

By Che Ran Sri Lanka has a strange relationship with accountability. We adore the theatre of justice. The press conference. The dramatic raid. The minister standing behind a microphone, sleeves metaphorically rolled up, promising to finally hunt down the untouchables. Every election, another government arrives carrying a moral broom the size of Adam’s Peak, vowing to sweep corruption out of the republic. And every few years, we discover the same depressing truth. The truly powerful rarely g


Che Ran

Che Ran

Batticaloa Opens Long-Delayed Library as President Tours Eastern Province

Batticaloa Opens Long-Delayed Library as President Tours Eastern Province

BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka — President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is scheduled to visit Batticaloa on Wednesday to inaugurate what the government describes as Sri Lanka’s second-largest public library after the Colombo Public Library, before attending a series of development and administrative events across the Eastern Province. The new Batticaloa Public Library, built at a reported cost of 435 million rupees, is scheduled to open at 9:30 a.m. The facility replaces one of the country’s oldest public l


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

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


Kaniyan Pungundran

Kaniyan Pungundran

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

Read More

Explore our archive of articles, interviews, and creative projects

ITAK’s Senior Leadership Descended Into Disorder at Central Committee Meeting

ITAK’s Senior Leadership Descended Into Disorder at Central Committee Meeting

What had long been carefully cultivated as the polished public image of M.A. Sumanthiran, the gentleman politician, constitutional moderate, self-styled peace advocate within Tamil politics, and outspoken critic of violence committed in the name of Tamils, was dramatically shaken during yesterday’s explosive Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) central committee meeting in Vavuniya, according to multiple senior party sources who spoke to Jaffna Monitor. Behind closed doors, the meeting reportedl


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Could Prabhakaran Have Ever Succeeded?

Could Prabhakaran Have Ever Succeeded?

By M.R. Narayan Swamy When Velupillai Prabhakaran walked into Chanakya cinema in Delhi in 1985, no one packing the air-conditioned hall could have guessed that this man would soon become one of the world’s most feared and powerful insurgents. But for his stocky build, there was nothing to distinguish him from the three other Sri Lankan Tamils with him who, away from the war theatre, had decided to see an English movie. The young men were in Delhi to meet Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and his of


M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy

D.B.S. Jeyaraj, Fearless Chronicler of Sri Lanka’s War, Dies in Exile

D.B.S. Jeyaraj, Fearless Chronicler of Sri Lanka’s War, Dies in Exile

By M.R. Narayan Swamy The world of Sri Lankan journalism will never see another D.B.S. Jeyaraj. Forced into exile by extremists among Tamil nationalists, Jeyaraj braved death threats and persistent danger to keep the world informed about the twists and turns during the long years a horrific separatist war raged in Sri Lanka. There were many journalists at work during those turbulent years, but few enjoyed the kind of access he had to virtually all the Tamil actors, and fewer still earned the


M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy

WESTERN PROVINCE GOVERNOR HANIF YUSOOF ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION

WESTERN PROVINCE GOVERNOR HANIF YUSOOF ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION

COLOMBO — Western Province Governor and business tycoon Hanif Yusoof has announced his resignation, submitting his letter to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, according to senior government sources. Following the submission, the President is said to have requested that he remain in office for approximately one more month to ensure administrative continuity during the transition period, according to credible sources who spoke with Jaffna Monitor. The resignation, if formally accepted, ends one


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Meet Our Authors

Be the first to know

Join our community and get notified about upcoming stories

Subscribing...
You've been subscribed!
Something went wrong