Jaffna Monitor - Unafraid and Unbowed

Jaffna Lawyers Urge President to Investigate Transfer of High Court Judge

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — The Jaffna Bar Association has appealed directly to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to investigate the sudden transfer of High Court Judge A.G. Alexraja, warning that the move risks undermining public confidence in the judiciary and raising concerns about interference in judicial administration. In a letter dated May 30 and addressed to the President through the Presidential Secretariat, the association expressed its "complete disbelief and shock" at the transfer of Judge

Our Reporter

Jun 1, 2026 — 2 min read

Former LTTE Fighter, Brother of Commander Gopith, Killed in Police Shooting Outside Paris

JM Exclusive May 2026

Our Reporter

May 31, 2026 — 4 min read

“Living there while being here”: Paradoxes in the legacy of the Sri Lankan diaspora

Guest Column May 2026

Prof. Mahesh Nirmalan

May 31, 2026 — 10 min read

Jaffna Judge Who Took On Drug Networks and Political Power Is Transferred

JM Exclusive May 2026

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

May 29, 2026 — 9 min read

The 13th Amendment and the Unfinished Business of Land in the North

By Sidhartha Thamby The Dividends to Reap from State Land According to the Land Commissioner General’s Department (eSlims, as at 7 February 2022), 123,141 land use permits have been issued against a total of 401,000 families in the province. The number eligible to receive permits in 2022 stood at 40,782, with 6,040 permits still unused.¹⁰ All permits ultimately flow through the Governor’s office for processing before titles are issued by the Director General of Lands in Colombo — a labour-in

Guest Column May 2026

Sidhartha Thamby

Jun 1, 2026 — 9 min read

The NPP Government's Public Service Scandal That the Supreme Court Found Unconstitutional

By Aruliniyan Mahalingam On the morning of Dec. 17, 2024, W.S. Sathyananda, a Special Grade officer of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service with nearly three decades of experience, sent a brief WhatsApp message to his superior. Having just reported for duty as Additional Secretary at the Ministry of Transport, Highways, Ports, and Civil Aviation, he requested an appointment to pay a courtesy call. The response he received that afternoon would lead to a Supreme Court case — W.S. Sathyananda v.

JM Exclusive May 2026

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

May 30, 2026 — 6 min read

Japan, FAO Launch $1.33 Million Project to Rebuild Eastern Province Fisheries After Cyclone Damage

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The Government of Japan and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in partnership with the Sri Lankan government, have launched a $1.33 million initiative aimed at restoring inland fisheries and strengthening the resilience of fishing communities affected by Cyclone Ditwah in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province. The project, which will run from June 2026 through November 2027, will focus on the districts of Ampara, Batticaloa, and Trincomalee, where severe flo

May 2026 Monitor Memo

Our Reporter

May 29, 2026 — 2 min read

Sritharan Urges Immediate Release of Valikamam North Lands as Weekly Protests Enter Sixth Week

MAYILIDDY, Sri Lanka — S. Sritharan, a lawmaker representing the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), on Friday called on President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to immediately release military-held lands in Valikamam North, where displaced residents have been staging weekly protests demanding the return of their ancestral properties nearly 17 years after the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war. Mr. Sritharan made the appeal while addressing a black-flag demonstration that entered its sixth consecutive week

May 2026 Monitor Memo

Our Reporter

May 29, 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

DBS Jeyaraj: The Man Who Lifted the Cadjan Curtain

By Vijitha Yapa An Unlikely Recruit Dressed in a well-ironed white shirt — unusual for a journalist — the man standing in front of me to be interviewed was a scribe working for the Tamil newspaper Veerakesari. D.B.S. Jeyaraj was a friend of our Features Editor, Ajith Samaranayake, and had come for an interview to join The Island newspaper in 1981. I was a bit sceptical, as I soon found out that he had never worked for an English-language newspaper. But since Ajith was a good, responsible jour

Guest Column May 2026

Vijitha Yapa

May 28, 2026 — 6 min read

Police Question Sons of Late LTTE Singer S.G. Santhan Over Song at Temple Festival in Jaffna

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan police questioned two members of a Tamil music troupe this week after performers sang a song associated with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam during a temple festival in northern Sri Lanka, according to police. The two performers, identified as Gokulan and Darwin, sons of the late Tamil singer S.G. Santhan, were summoned to the Kopay Police Station following the incident at a festival in Urumpirai, in Jaffna district. Police said the song performed during the

May 2026 Monitor Memo

Our Reporter

May 28, 2026 — 1 min read

Gajendrakumar Accuses Government of Misleading Tamils on Military-Held Lands

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, the leader of the Tamil National People's Front and a member of Parliament, on Wednesday accused the Sri Lankan government of creating false expectations among displaced communities in the country's north, saying military officials had rejected several requests for the return of civilian-owned land during a closed-door meeting earlier this week. Mr. Gajendrakumar's remarks directly contradicted public statements by Fisheries Minister Ramalingam Cha

May 2026 Monitor Memo

Our Reporter

May 28, 2026 — 2 min read

China Calls for Stronger U.N. Authority, Criticises Unilateral Actions at Security Council Session

UNITED NATIONS — China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on the United Nations Security Council to reassert its authority over international security matters and urged member states to stop bypassing the body through unilateral military action and sanctions — remarks widely read as a pointed critique of the United States conduct in global affairs. Speaking at a high-level Security Council meeting on the theme "Upholding the Purposes and Principles of the U.N. Charter and Strengthening the U.N.-

May 2026

Our Reporter

May 28, 2026 — 4 min read