‘A New Chapter in Our Bilateral Relations’: Vietnam Envoy Hails Growing Sri Lanka Ties

‘A New Chapter in Our Bilateral Relations’: Vietnam Envoy Hails Growing Sri Lanka Ties

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Vietnam and Sri Lanka are entering a broader phase of diplomatic and economic cooperation, Vietnam’s ambassador said at a National Day reception in Colombo, pointing to upgraded political ties and newly established direct flights as signs of growing engagement between the two countries. Ambassador Trinh Thi Tam, speaking at a reception on Monday marking the 81st National Day of Vietnam, said relations had been elevated to a Comprehensive Partnership following a recent excha


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

‘People Are Running Out of Patience’: Tamil Parties Join 10th-Week Palaly Land Protest

‘People Are Running Out of Patience’: Tamil Parties Join 10th-Week Palaly Land Protest

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Displaced residents of Palaly in Sri Lanka’s northern Jaffna Peninsula protested for a 10th consecutive week on Sunday, demanding the return of ancestral and privately owned land that remains under the control of the security forces, as representatives of nearly all major Tamil political parties joined the demonstration. The weekly protest at Palaly Junction is part of a broader campaign for the release of civilian land in Valikamam North, where demonstrations have also been


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

A Tuk-Tuk Policy Worthy of Tughlaq?

A Tuk-Tuk Policy Worthy of Tughlaq?

COLOMBO — Sri Lanka is considering barring anyone under the age of 40 from entering the three-wheeler passenger transport trade, a deputy minister said Sunday, reviving a proposal that a previous government abandoned as unlawful and unfair. Nalin Hewage, the deputy minister of vocational education, said the measure was intended to stop school-leavers from going directly into tuk-tuk driving and push them toward further study and skills training. “We expect to increase the age for entering the


Jaffna Monitor

Jaffna Monitor

Sri Lanka's Disappeared

Sri Lanka's Disappeared

By: Sidhartha Thamby Part I: The Phenomenon of Disappearances What Counts as a Disappearance The legal meaning of "enforced disappearance" is narrower than everyday usage. The main treaty — the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance — applies only when the state is involved: an arrest, detention, or kidnapping by state agents or with state approval. Disappearances by non-state groups like the LTTE or JVP fall outside this legal definition, tho


Sidhartha Thamby

Sidhartha Thamby

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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Disappeared Families Say Current Government Will Never Deliver Justice

Disappeared Families Say Current Government Will Never Deliver Justice

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — The leader of an association representing families of people who disappeared during and after Sri Lanka’s civil war accused the government on Saturday of trying to steer relatives toward accepting death certificates and compensation instead of establishing what happened to their missing family members. Yogarasa Kanagaranjini, president of the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared in the North and East, said the government was using the Office on Missing Person


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

U.N., Amnesty Representatives Expected at Jaffna Conference on Sri Lanka’s Disappeared

U.N., Amnesty Representatives Expected at Jaffna Conference on Sri Lanka’s Disappeared

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Representatives of the United Nations and Amnesty International are expected to attend a conference in Jaffna on Aug. 30, as families of the forcibly disappeared renew their longstanding demands for truth, justice and accountability. The conference, titled “The Long Journey for Justice,” is being organised by relatives of the forcibly disappeared to coincide with the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, observed annually on Aug. 30. It will be held a


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

157 Treated for Eye Injuries After Jaffna Temple Festival; Police Seize High-Powered Lamps

157 Treated for Eye Injuries After Jaffna Temple Festival; Police Seize High-Powered Lamps

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — At least 157 people, including 55 children, have been treated at Jaffna Teaching Hospital after developing painful eye problems following a Hindu temple festival, prompting police to seize high-powered lamps used at the event as investigators seek to determine whether the lighting caused the injuries. The patients had attended a festival at a Murugan temple in the Piranpatru area of Jaffna, where powerful electric lamps had been installed around the temple grounds. Dr. T. S


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Facing a Fight for His Seat, Archchuna Turns to Muslim Rights

Facing a Fight for His Seat, Archchuna Turns to Muslim Rights

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A Tamil member of Sri Lanka’s Parliament accused the director of a government hospital in the country’s east on Wednesday of discriminating against Muslim employee. The lawmaker, Ramanathan Archchuna, an independent representing Jaffna District, said nine Muslim women employed as health assistants had been prevented from working at Kalmunai North Base Hospital because of a dispute over their attire and were subsequently transferred to the nearby Ashraff Memorial Hospital.


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Our Reporter

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