Aruliniyan Mahalingam - Jaffna Monitor (Page 3)

The Audacious and Troubled Life of Panagoda Maheswaran

By: Aruliniyan Mahalingam This profile first appeared in the Jaffna Monitor at the time of Maheswaran’s death. It is republished, lightly revised, to mark the second anniversary of his passing. Thambapillai Maheswaran, one of the earliest figures in the armed Tamil struggle and the founder of the Tamil Eelam Army (TEA), died of a heart attack in Jaffna two years ago. He was among the first to bring a certain audacity to the movement — the raids, the jailbreaks, the vehicle bombs that prece

JM Exclusive July 2026

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Jul 23, 2026 — 10 min read

Land, the PTA and a Postponed Vote: Europe's Ambassadors on the North's Unfinished Business

By: Aruliniyan Mahalingam When the French Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Rémi Lambert, and the German Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Dr. Felix Neumann, travelled together to Jaffna, the visit was more than a diplomatic stop in the island’s north. Over a series of meetings with political leaders, civil society representatives, academics and other local stakeholders, the two envoys heard first-hand about the region’s potential, hopes and frustrations as well as its unresolved challenges. In a joint intervie

Exclusive Interview July 2026

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Jul 18, 2026 — 24 min read

The Real Battle for Credibility

This month, I was invited to speak at the second Sri Lanka–India Media Friendship Association (SLIMFA) Media Fest in Colombo, on the theme “Trust, Truth and the Battle for Credibility.” Illness prevented me from attending. I have chosen instead to publish the thoughts I had prepared as this month’s editorial, because the issues they address extend far beyond a conference hall. Where I Stand I come from Northern Sri Lanka, a region devastated by nearly three decades of civil war. My entire chi

Editorial July 2026

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Jul 15, 2026 — 7 min read

"Land Was the One Issue Raised Everywhere I Went" — Australian High Commissioner Matthew Duckworth

Matthew Duckworth assumed office as Australia’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka in the latter part of 2025. Within his first six months in the role, he visited the Northern Province twice — first during Thai Pongal in January and again in May — travelling through Jaffna, Mullaitivu and other parts of the North. In a wide-ranging interview with Jaffna Monitor, he reflected on Australia’s development engagement in the North and East, land return and the military presence, transitional justice, the

June 2026 Special Interview

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Jun 13, 2026 — 35 min read

The Jaffna Bar Association's Letter the Government Did Not Want Written

By Aruliniyan Mahalingam JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — The letter ran to a few hundred words, but its message to the President of Sri Lanka was unambiguous: lawyers in Jaffna, the country's Tamil heartland, believed that the executive branch had reached into the judiciary and moved a judge who had displeased it. That document — an appeal from the Jaffna Bar Association to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake over the abrupt transfer of High Court Judge A.G. Alexraja — was precisely the kind of accusation

JM Exclusive May 2026

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Jun 1, 2026 — 6 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

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

By Aruliniyan Mahalingam For six years, a woman from the Pommaveli area of Jaffna — known to police and lawyers alike as one of the district’s most persistent narcotics dealers — had walked in and out of courtrooms, exploiting successive bail hearings to remain free and, according to legal sources, continue trafficking. She had been arrested in June 2020 for possession of 1.475 grams of heroin. Six years of adjournments, applications, and legal manoeuvring produced no conviction. On May 21, 20

JM Exclusive May 2026

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

May 29, 2026 — 9 min read

Is the Next Pandemic Already Being Mismanaged?

In early April, a passenger aboard the Dutch expedition cruise ship MV Hondius fell ill with fever and respiratory distress while crossing the South Atlantic. He died on April 11. No tests were conducted. His body was removed from the vessel, and the ship continued its voyage. By early May, health authorities across three continents were scrambling to trace the movements of 147 people from 23 countries who had shared the same cabins and recirculated air. On 2 May 2026, WHO received a formal not

JM Exclusive May 2026

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

May 27, 2026 — 11 min read