Jaffna Monitor - Unafraid and Unbowed

After Court Blow, Sallay Faces Return to the CID He Called a ‘Hell Hole’

By M.R. Narayan Swamy COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Former Sri Lankan intelligence chief Suresh Sallay has finally ended three weeks of hunger strike, but his legal quagmire seems to be worsening. Just when it seemed that public opinion was swaying towards Sallay, detained on charges of orchestrating the bloody 2019 Easter bombings, the judiciary has dealt multiple blows at a man who once headed the country’s feared security apparatus. His family and admirers admit it is going to be a long – and tough

M.R. Narayan Swamy

Jul 2, 2026 — 4 min read

Exiled Sri Lankan Muslim Woman Writer Renews Calls for Inquiry Into Easter Bombing Case

JULY 2026 Monitor Memo

Our Reporter

Jul 1, 2026 — 3 min read

Sri Lanka Sends Its Largest Force to Haiti. Its Past Goes With It.

JM Exclusive June 2026

Our Reporter

Jun 28, 2026 — 6 min read

A Sri Lankan President Acknowledges Security Forces' Crimes — but Only Some

June 2026

Jaffna Monitor

Jun 27, 2026 — 3 min read

The Party at 105: China Makes Its Case to Sri Lanka

COLOMBO — China's ambassador to Sri Lanka, Qi Zhenhong, used a reception marking the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China to defend Beijing's political system, promote its global development agenda, and signal deeper engagement with Sri Lanka's political parties under the leadership of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Addressing politicians from across Sri Lanka's political spectrum, diplomats and government officials, Mr. Qi said the Communist Party of China had

JULY 2026

Our Reporter

Jul 2, 2026 — 2 min read

"Like Anura's Mouth": Pillayan Calls Charges 'False Accusations'

BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka — Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, the former state minister better known as Pillayan, was ordered held in custody on Tuesday over a separate series of killings dating to 2008, even as the terrorism investigation that has kept him imprisoned for more than a year over the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings has yet to produce a single criminal charge. Mr. Chandrakanthan, a former chief minister of the Eastern Province and one-time commander of the breakaway Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pu

June 2026 Monitor Memo

Our Reporter

Jun 30, 2026 — 3 min read

Sri Lanka–India Media Fest Returns to Colombo With Focus on Journalism's Future

COLOMBO — A media-industry body that works to deepen ties between Sri Lanka and India will hold the second edition of its annual Media Fest in the capital on July 11, the organizers said. The Sri Lanka–India Media Friendship Association, known as SLIMFA, said the gathering would take place at the Taj Samudra hotel under the theme “Staying Relevant in a Changing World.” It follows the association’s inaugural festival, held over two days in April last year at the same venue. The association said

June 2026 Monitor Memo

Our Reporter

Jun 28, 2026 — 2 min read

Brutal Attacks on Journalists Now Haunt the Rajapaksas

By M.R. Narayan Swamy Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was meeting exporters at Temple Trees when his phone rang. The businessmen noticed the President listening attentively to the person on the other end. His demeanour changed as the call ended, but he continued with the meeting. None of those discussing the problems faced by exporters with the President knew that Lasantha Wickrematunge, one of Sri Lanka's most independent and fearless journalists, had been gunned down just minutes earl

JM Exclusive June 2026

M.R. Narayan Swamy

Jun 28, 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

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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Reforming the State: Why Independence, Accountability and Technology Must Converge

By: Jeevan Thiyagaraja Sri Lanka's public service, a legacy of British colonial administration, faces persistent challenges in maintaining independence and integrity amidst evolving political landscapes. . While designed to operate on principles of meritocracy and impartiality, it has been profoundly shaped by the political dynamics of post-independence history. By 2015, growing public dissatisfaction fuelled calls for more independent and corruption-free public services. A decade later, n

Guest Column June 2026

Jeevan Thiyagaraja

Jun 27, 2026 — 9 min read

Jaffna Mourns Prasanth Sachin, a Teenage Thavil Virtuoso of Extraordinary Promise

JAFFNA — Prasanth Sachin, a teenage thavil virtuoso from a family of thavil musicians whose self-taught command of the instrument had marked him, in the eyes of senior artists, as one of the most gifted of his generation, and some believed, a successor in the making to the great Yazhppanam V. Thedchanamoorthy, died on Tuesday night. He was 17. His death, at his home on Rasapathai Road in Kopay North, was ruled a suicide following an inquest conducted by the Inquirer into Sudden Deaths, Namasiva

June 2026 Obituary

Our Reporter

Jun 26, 2026 — 3 min read

Sri Lanka Cricket Abandons Plan for Jaffna International Stadium, Citing Financial Constraints

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka Cricket will build a cricket ground in this northern city, but has abandoned the international stadium it once promised, saying it cannot afford a venue of international standard. The retreat scales back what had been billed as a landmark for the country’s war-scarred north, where cricket commands the same devotion as in the rest of the island but where world-class facilities have never existed. The governing body has concluded that the project it originally appro

JM Exclusive June 2026

Our Reporter

Jun 25, 2026 — 3 min read

Appointed Governor Removes Two Elected Officials, Testing the Limits of Executive Power

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — The governor of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province has removed two elected local officials from office by executive order, an extraordinary use of administrative power that has reignited a constitutional dispute over how far an unelected official may go in unseating elected representatives in the country’s Tamil-majority north. In a notification published in the government’s official Gazette, Governor Nagalingam Vethanayahan declared that Sundaralingam Kandeepan, elected mayor of

JM Exclusive June 2026

Our Reporter

Jun 25, 2026 — 6 min read