Jaffna Monitor - Unafraid and Unbowed

AKD Vows to Press Ahead With Judicial Amendment

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said on Sunday that his government would not withdraw a proposed constitutional amendment extending the retirement ages of Sri Lanka's senior judges, and that he intended to move it through Parliament as soon as the Supreme Court delivers its determination on a record number of legal challenges. Speaking at a public rally in Bulathsinhala, in the Kalutara district south of Colombo, Mr. Dissanayake presented the proposed 22nd Amendment as p

Our Reporter

Sep 7, 2026 — 4 min read

Rajnath Singh Heads to Sri Lanka Tuesday as India Deepens Defence Ties

September 2026

Our Reporter

Sep 6, 2026 — 2 min read

Thirty Years On, Krishanthi’s Memorial Becomes a Campaign for Mass-Grave Investigations

September 2026

Our Reporter

Sep 5, 2026 — 2 min read

People’s Struggle Alliance Says Sri Lanka’s 22nd Amendment Is Designed to Benefit Individuals

September 2026 Monitor Memo

Our Reporter

Sep 5, 2026 — 2 min read

Tamil Society Cannot Confront Its Past Until It Acknowledges Its Own Victims

By: Jeevan Thiyagaraja The recent public statement by PLOTE leader Dharmalingam Siddharthan perfectly illustrates the central tragedy of the Tamil militant struggle in Sri Lanka: the transition from armed groups that eliminated their own people. Speaking at a memorial for his father, V. Dharmalingam, a former Member of Parliament, Siddharthan publicly accused the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO)—a group that now sits in the same political alliance as his own—of carrying out the assass

Guest Column September 2026

Jeevan Thiyagaraja

Sep 7, 2026 — 4 min read

Aid, poverty and the illusion of better health

By Mahesh Nirmalan, MD, FRCA, PhD, FFICM, and Jared Mecha, MD, MPH Mahesh Nirmalan is Professor of Medical Education and Associate Vice President at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Jared Mecha is a Lecturer, Consultant Physician and Global Health Specialist at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. International development agencies, philanthropy, and health research funding agencies largely approach health outcomes in less developed countries (LDCs) as a problem to be solved within

Guest Column September 2026

Prof. Mahesh Nirmalan

Sep 7, 2026 — 10 min read

‘Astrology Ritual’ Turns Into Blackmail for Sri Lankan Tamil Canadian Woman in Chennai

CHENNAI, India — Police in Chennai have arrested a fortune teller accused of persuading a Canadian woman of Sri Lankan Tamil origin to appear naked during video calls as part of an astrological ritual, secretly recording the calls and later using the footage to extort money and demand sex from her, police said. The suspect, Isakki Muthu, 45, was arrested in Courtallam in Tamil Nadu’s Tenkasi district after officers traced his cellphone. Police seized his phone and are investigating whether othe

September 2026

Our Reporter

Sep 5, 2026 — 2 min read

IMF Team to Visit Sri Lanka for Seventh Review of Economic Program

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — An International Monetary Fund team will visit Sri Lanka this month to conduct the seventh review of the country’s economic program and assess its broader economic outlook, the Fund said. The team, led by Evan Papageorgiou, the IMF’s mission chief for Sri Lanka, will be in the country from Sept. 10 to 23 for discussions with government officials on the Seventh Review of Sri Lanka’s program under the Extended Fund Facility and the 2026 Article IV Consultation. The mission w

September 2026

Our Reporter

Sep 4, 2026 — 1 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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U.S. Maritime Chiefs to Visit Sri Lanka as Colombo’s Shipping Role Grows

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Two senior United States maritime regulators will visit Sri Lanka next week for talks on shipping, trade and investment, the U.S. Embassy in Colombo said Friday. Laura DiBella, chairwoman of the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission, and Commissioner Robert J. Harvey are scheduled to be in the country from Sept. 6 to 10. The visit will include meetings with senior Sri Lankan government officials and leaders of the country’s maritime industry, with discussions expected to focus

September 2026

Our Reporter

Sep 4, 2026 — 2 min read

Namal Rajapaksa Arrested in SriLankan Airlines Airbus Bribery Investigation

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Namal Rajapaksa, a lawmaker and the eldest son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, was arrested Friday after being questioned for more than five hours over an alleged bribery case linked to SriLankan Airlines’ purchase of Airbus aircraft. The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, or CIABOC, arrested Mr. Rajapaksa after he appeared at its Colombo office on Friday morning in response to a summons. Mr. Rajapaksa, 40, is the national organizer of t

September 2026

Our Reporter

Sep 4, 2026 — 4 min read

A Boy Died Minutes After Eating a Fallen Fruit. The Explanation Is a Medical Mystery

BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka — An 11-year-old boy collapsed and died in eastern Sri Lanka on Thursday evening, minutes after eating a fruit he had picked up from the ground outside his home, the police said, prompting an investigation into a theory that medical evidence does not readily support: that the fruit had been contaminated with snake venom. The boy, R. Sanjeev, lived on Hospital Road in Palaiyadivattai, a village in Batticaloa District, and was a sixth grader at Navagiri Vidyalayam in 37th Vi

September 2026

Our Reporter

Sep 4, 2026 — 2 min read

U.N. Says Sri Lanka Risks Losing Its Chance to Break With a Past of Impunity

GENEVA — Nearly two years after Sri Lankans elected a government that promised to dismantle the machinery of impunity, the United Nations human rights office said Thursday that the opening for change was closing. In a report to the Human Rights Council, the office credited the government with moving against corruption and reopening several political killings and disappearances. But it found that Colombo has gone on detaining people under the counterterrorism law it pledged to abolish, has made

JM Exclusive September 2026

Our Reporter

Sep 4, 2026 — 5 min read