Jaffna Monitor - Unafraid and Unbowed

Court Orders Chemmani Mass Grave Excavation to Resume as E.U. Delays Visit

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Excavation at the Chemmani mass grave site in northern Sri Lanka will resume on April 27 after the Ministry of Justice released funding for an estimated eight-week dig, the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court confirmed on Tuesday, reopening an investigation that has become a test of the government’s willingness to confront civil-war-era atrocities. Magistrate S. Lenin Kumar, presiding over proceedings on Tuesday, said the ministry had approved the budget submitted by the Judicial Medi

Our Reporter

Apr 21, 2026 — 3 min read

Sri Lankan Muslim Leader Backs DMK Alliance in Tamil Nadu, Drawing Questions at Home

April 2026 JM Exclusive

Our Reporter

Apr 21, 2026 — 1 min read

Mother of Singapore’s President, With Roots in Jaffna, Dies at 99

April 2026 Monitor Memo

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Apr 20, 2026 — 5 min read

India Expands Footprint in Sri Lanka as Radhakrishnan Announces OCI Plan for Tamils

April 2026 OP-ED

M.R. Narayan Swamy

Apr 20, 2026 — 4 min read

The Strait of Malacca: The First Trade War That Shaped Asia

By Abbi Kanthasamy Stand on the bridge of a ship crossing the Strait of Malacca at night, and you will see the modern world moving past you. Oil tankers carrying Middle Eastern crude glide east toward China, Japan, and Korea. Container ships loaded with Asian exports head west toward the Indian Ocean and eventually the Suez Canal on their way to Europe. Somewhere between Singapore and Sumatra, nearly a third of the world’s maritime trade squeezes through a channel barely wide enough in places

April 2026 Guest Column

Abbi Kanthasamy

Apr 21, 2026 — 4 min read

A Refugee’s Protest Exposes the Long Shadow of Sri Lanka’s Conflict in India

By M.R. Narayan Swamy A Sri Lankan Tamil man in penury staged an emotive protest in Tamil Nadu demanding that he be sent back to his country, at a time when Indian Vice President CP Radhakrishnan was discussing in Colombo the fate of thousands of Tamil refugees from the island nation in India. Policemen took away the weeping man shortly after he told the media and curious bystanders that he decided to squat outside the office of the Collector in Mayiladuthurai district on Sunday because he had

April 2026 JM Exclusive

M.R. Narayan Swamy

Apr 20, 2026 — 3 min read

A Cultural Centre Without a Living Culture: Jaffna’s Silent Promise

By Sidhartha Thamby This is a USD 12 million gift from the Government of India. But let us be clear about what a gift of this scale actually is: it is not merely money transmuted into concrete. It is an act of civilisational faith. India looked at Jaffna — a city that has survived what few cities in the world have been asked to survive — and said: we believe you are worth building for. The only adequate response to that faith is activation. And activation, so far, has not come. There is a part

April 2026 Guest Column

Jaffna Monitor

Apr 20, 2026 — 9 min read

India’s Vice President Calls for Unity as Tamil Leaders’ Divisions Spill Into the Open

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A meeting between India’s Vice President, C. P. Radhakrishnan, and Sri Lankan Tamil political leaders in Colombo on Sunday highlighted internal tensions within ITAK, with participants describing moments that strained political decorum. At the outset of the meeting, the seven representatives of Tamil political parties introduced themselves. During the introductions, Sivagnanam Sritharan, who is engaged in an ongoing leadership dispute with M. A. Sumanthiran, said he had been

April 2026 JM Exclusive

Our Reporter

Apr 20, 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

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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India’s Vice President Urges Sri Lanka to Hold Provincial Elections Without Delay

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — India’s Vice President, C. P. Radhakrishnan, said he had personally urged Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to hold long-delayed provincial council elections without further postponement, during a meeting between the two leaders on Sunday. Mr. Radhakrishnan disclosed this during a subsequent discussion with representatives of Tamil political parties at the Taj Samudra in Colombo on Monday afternoon, a source who participated in the meeting told Jaffna Monitor.

April 2026 JM Exclusive

Our Reporter

Apr 20, 2026 — 2 min read

Accountability delayed is accountability denied.

By: Lankan The resignations of Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody and Ministry Secretary Prof. Udayanga Hemapala are a welcome — if belated — step toward accountability. In a political culture where public office is often treated as a shield against scrutiny, stepping down to allow an unimpeded investigation is the appropriate course of action. The National People’s Power (NPP) government, elected on a platform of uncompromising integrity, could scarcely have done otherwise. But let us be clear:

April 2026 Guest Column

Lankan

Apr 19, 2026 — 3 min read

India–Sri Lanka Ties: Partnership in Practice, Distrust in Memory

By M.R. Narayan Swamy Relations between India and Sri Lanka have depth and are blossoming. But all is not hunky-dory, notwithstanding the generous multi-faceted help India has provided during crises, more so in recent times. Yes, more and more Sinhalese, the community most cross with India for more than one reason, have begun to view India sympathetically but it will take a long time for bitter memories to fade and the irritants in overall bilateral ties to dissipate. Indeed, if Sri Lanka’s eco

April 2026 Book Review

M.R. Narayan Swamy

Apr 19, 2026 — 5 min read

Sri Lanka’s Reform Government Struggles to Deliver on Its Promises

COLOMBO — Eighteen months after a landslide election victory that swept away Sri Lanka’s discredited political dynasties and promised a new era of transparent, accountable governance, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and his National People's Power government are struggling to deliver on the sweeping changes they rode to power on, according to a new report by the International Crisis Group titled “Sri Lanka’s Bumpy Road to a Political Reset.” The findings, drawn from dozens of interviews with

April 2026

Jaffna Monitor

Apr 19, 2026 — 8 min read