Jaffna Monitor - Unafraid and Unbowed

U.S. Nominates Eric Meyer as Next Ambassador to Sri Lanka; Senate Confirmation Pending

The United States has nominated Eric Meyer, a senior career diplomat currently overseeing South and Central Asian policy at the U.S. Department of State, as its next Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Sri Lanka, though the appointment is yet to be finalised pending Senate confirmation. President Donald Trump submitted Meyer’s nomination to the U.S. Senate on July 9, 2025, where it was referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as Presidential Nomination PN380-2 during the 1

Our Reporter

Jan 18, 2026 — 3 min read

PSTA: When the Victims Rewrite the Law That Once Destroyed Them

Editorial January 2026

Kaniyan Pungundran

Jan 14, 2026 — 13 min read

“Grasp Every Opportunity, Don’t Be Afraid” — Sir Nishan Canagarajah

Exclusive Interview January 2026

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Jan 11, 2026 — 24 min read

Sri Lanka placing roadblocks on Tamil refugees’ return from India

Article January 2026

M.R. Narayan Swamy

Jan 10, 2026 — 4 min read

Nandana Gunathilake’s Death Reopens JVP Rift

Veteran leftist politician and former Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Nandana Gunathilake passed away on Sunday morning, prompting an outpouring of tributes as well as sharp criticism from sections of his former political comrades, particularly within the JVP-led National People’s Power (NPP). While many across the political spectrum remembered Gunathilake for his simplicity, organisational skills, and role in rebuilding the JVP after the brutal repression of the late 1980s, some current

January 2026 Monitor Memo

Our Reporter

Jan 19, 2026 — 2 min read

Sri Lankan Tamil Leader Urges Restraint in Criticising Tamil Nadu Politics

Public criticism of Tamil Nadu political leaders by Sri Lankan Tamils risks alienating millions of their supporters and weakening long-standing political solidarity, P. Ayngaranesan, leader of the Tamil National Green Movement, has warned. Ayngaranesan made these remarks while addressing a contemporary political discourse organised by the Tamil National Green Movement at the Divine Life Society Hall in Nallur (Divya Jeevana Sangam) recently. He said that indiscriminate public attacks on Tamil

January 2026 Monitor Memo

Our Reporter

Jan 16, 2026 — 2 min read

What Sri Lanka and Gaza Teach Us About the Futility of Armed Struggle

“I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is temporary; the evil it does is permanent”. Mahatma Gandhi Times of war create the illusion that only force can resolve irreconcilable differences. Some social theorists even justify the inevitability of violence in achieving social change on the basis that groups in power rarely relinquish that privilege voluntarily. In this context, the armed conflicts that plagued Sri Lanka for three decades and continue to unfold in Gaza

Guest Column Special Article

Prof. Mahesh Nirmalan

Jan 13, 2026 — 8 min read

A Peacemaker’s Belated Wisdom

By: M.R. Narayan Swamy Reading this otherwise invaluable book will give the impression that academic-turned-politician G.L. Peiris was a distant observer of Sri Lanka’s peace process (which collapsed) and not the government’s chief negotiator with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and a key player in a dialogue that had been expected to end a protracted and bloody conflict. Peiris raises several vital issues that he feels led the peace process to unfortunately unravel, trig

Article Book Review

M.R. Narayan Swamy

Jan 12, 2026 — 5 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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The Promise and Limits of AI in Mental Healthcare

Artificial intelligence (AI) today permeates almost every sphere of modern life, from finance and defence to education and healthcare. While its recent explosion has captured global attention, the roots of AI stretch back several decades. The intellectual groundwork was laid in 1950, when British mathematician Alan Turing posed a revolutionary question in his paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”: Can machines think? A few years later, in 1955, computer scientist John McCarthy formally co

Article Opinion & Analysis

Dr Ruwan M. Jayathunga

Jan 12, 2026 — 9 min read

Cricket in Jaffna: Past, Present, Future and the Debate Over a New International Stadium

Cricket occupies a unique and powerful place in Sri Lanka’s national identity. No other sport evokes the same depth of passion or collective pride. The 1996 Cricket World Cup victory transformed cricket from a popular pastime into a unifying national obsession—an emblem of hope, joy, resilience, and belonging. For decades, Sri Lankans have believed that cricket transcends geography, ethnicity, class, and political divisions. From the urban centres of Colombo, Galle, and Kandy to the rural heartl

Opinion January 2026

Dr. Gamini Goonetilleke

Jan 12, 2026 — 11 min read

Path to Virtue

Hmm! These are supposed to be great men! But their deeds are not that of great men. Otherwise, they would not do as they please… evidently, they are big thugs. But who do they show their thuggery to. To the poor who have nothing. She was a young woman. My blood boils when I think of what she has to put up with this in this world from the day she was born to this day. She grew up with no one to lend a hand. Now they take exception to her morality. Whether she ekes out a living or not, once t

Story January 2026

Eḻuttukkiṉiyavaṉ

Jan 12, 2026 — 3 min read

No Space, No Excuses: A Hospital That Thinks Beyond Itself

By: Dr Shane Halpe Batticaloa Teaching Hospital sits in the middle of a busy town—surrounded by roads, markets, schools, and the restless rhythm of everyday life. It is a place where ambulances arrive with breathless urgency, where families sit on benches holding reports and hope, where staff move quickly because delay has consequences. And yet, as Dr Mythily Barthelot—Deputy Director of the hospital—says with striking simplicity, the biggest challenge is not always the most dramatic one.

Article January 2026