Jaffna Monitor - Unafraid and Unbowed

One Expressway Stretch Gets More Than Twice What Budget 2027 Reserves for the North and East

By Jaffna Monitor Staff Colombo, 13 November 2026 Next year, Sri Lanka’s government will spend more on finishing one section of expressway near Colombo than it has reserved for the whole of the Northern and Eastern provinces, where the civil war was fought. The budget was presented to Parliament on Thursday by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. It allocates Rs. 53.45 billion to complete the Kadawatha-to-Mirigama section of the Central Expressway in Gampaha District. By Jaffna Monitor’s count

Jaffna Monitor

Nov 13, 2026 — 7 min read

Sri Lankan Doctor in Australia Suspended for Three Months for Harassing Medical Student

November 2026

Our Reporter

Nov 13, 2026 — 3 min read

Thevakantha Sarma, 55, Dies in Exile in Berlin

Obituary November 2026

Our Reporter

Nov 13, 2026 — 5 min read

Budget Skips Palaly Airport and Kankesanthurai Port, Pledges to Resettle 13,000 War-Displaced Families

JM Exclusive November 2026

Jaffna Monitor

Nov 12, 2026 — 13 min read

TID Questions Wife of Critically Ill Tamil Politician and Serves Court Summons

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka: Officers of Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Division went to the home of M.K. Sivajilingam, a veteran Tamil politician now in intensive care, questioned his wife at length and left a summons ordering him to appear before a court in Mullaitivu next month. The officers visited the family’s house in Valvettithurai, on the northern coast of the Jaffna Peninsula, on Tuesday. They recorded a statement from Mr. Sivajilingam’s wife. Then they served the summons, which requires hi

November 2026

Our Reporter

Nov 13, 2026 — 1 min read

A Rare Childbirth Emergency Killed Sri Lankan YouTuber Nayomichan in Japan

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Nov. 12, 2026 — Asha Nayomi Weerawardhana, the Sri Lankan YouTube and TikTok creator known to her followers as Nayomichan, died in Japan during childbirth after amniotic fluid entered her bloodstream, her younger sister said, citing the post-mortem examination and the death certificate. She was 33. Her son, delivered during the emergency, survived and is recovering. Her sister, Ayesha Weerawardhana, a student in Japan, described what happened in a video posted on Facebook. S

November 2026

Our Reporter

Nov 12, 2026 — 5 min read

Monks' Hunger Strike Ends in Head Strike

ANURADHAPURA, Sri Lanka, Nov. 12: A protest that its organisers call a satyagraha, the word Gandhi coined for nonviolent resistance, ended in bloodshed on Thursday morning outside one of Sri Lanka's most venerated Buddhist monuments. Two groups led by clergy came to blows, and a controversial former monk was taken to hospital with a head wound. Rajanganaya Saddharathana, who was expelled from the monastic order last year but is still widely addressed as a thero, was allegedly struck with a clu

November 2026

Our Reporter

Nov 12, 2026 — 3 min read

Two Rails but One Track: The God within and the God beyond in Religious Thought

By Prof. Mahesh Nirmalan, MD, FRCA, PhD, FFICM, University of Manchester Religion is often viewed as a collection of beliefs about god, divinity, creation, salvation, after-life, scripture, ritual and morality. Despite variations in how these concepts are perceived within each tradition, there lies a noticeable pattern in the evolution of religious thought that manifests across most major religions. At various moments, thinkers and reformers have challenged the dominant paradigm of their age.

Guest Column November 2026

Prof. Mahesh Nirmalan

Nov 12, 2026 — 10 min read

UNAFRAID AND UNBOWED

The Long Warning: Inside the Intelligence Trail That Preceded Easter Bombings

By Aruliniyan Mahalingam JAFFNA — On the evening of April 20, 2019, a man at his home in Puthukudiyiruppu took a WhatsApp call from an Indian police officer. The call came sometime between 5:15 and 5:45 p.m. The officer asked him an odd question: where were Sri Lanka's major churches? The man named the ones that came to mind. The Madhu shrine. St. Anthony's at Kochchikade in Colombo. The Tewatta church at Ragama. Then the officer told him that Zahran Hashim's group was preparing to strike Cat

JM Exclusive September 2026

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Sep 8, 2026 — 22 min read

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

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Weigh Risks, Not Just Returns, Central Bank Governor Tells Savers

By Asela Kuruluwansha PERADENIYA, Sri Lanka, Nov. 12 — People making financial decisions should weigh risks, future obligations and changing economic conditions, not only the returns they expect, the governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Nandalal Weerasinghe, said on Wednesday. Dr. Weerasinghe gave the keynote address at FinLit Expo 2026, a financial literacy exhibition at the Senate Building of the University of Peradeniya. The bank’s Matale regional office and the university organized t

November 2026

Asela Kuruluwansha.

Nov 12, 2026 — 1 min read

Subbulakshmi Kasinathan, Who Brought ‘Chellamani’ to Life, Dies at 84

Subbulakshmi Kasinathan, a Sri Lankan Tamil actress whom radio listeners knew as Chellamani, the Jaffna-speaking wife of Appukutty in the comedy “Komaligal,” died on Tuesday at Scarborough General Hospital in Toronto. She was 84. She had been admitted to the hospital the day before. Her family said she died at about 4:35 p.m. local time with her two daughters and other relatives at her side. No cause was given. Ms. Kasinathan worked in radio drama, on the stage and in films in Sri Lanka, and l

Obituary November 2026

Our Reporter

Nov 12, 2026 — 4 min read

Anojan Sivarasa to Return to Sri Lanka After Saudi Arabia Drops Blasphemy Case

By Jaffna Monitor Staff Saudi Arabia has dropped its case against Anojan Sivarasa, a Sri Lankan migrant worker who was sentenced to death in September over a Facebook comment deemed insulting to the Prophet Muhammad. On Nov. 9, Saudi Arabia’s Public Prosecution Office decided not to pursue the case further. The decision ends the case against Mr. Anojan, 24. Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry announced the decision on Wednesday and said arrangements were being made to bring him home soon. The case d

November 2026

Jaffna Monitor

Nov 11, 2026 — 2 min read

Sri Lankan Guide Shoved Off Boat Calls the Outrage ‘Fake News’

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The Sri Lankan boat guide seen being shoved into the sea by an Israeli tourist, in a video that drew outrage across the country, says the episode was a game among friends and has asked the public to stop making an issue of it. “A small thing happened. Don’t make it big,” the guide, Senura Rashmika, says in a video he recorded after the incident, according to BBC Sinhala, which obtained the clip from his brother. “I’m the one who pushed them. This is fake news. They have bee

November 2026

Our Reporter

Nov 11, 2026 — 4 min read