Kaniyan Pungundran - Jaffna Monitor

Why Tamil Politics Cannot Be a Pensioner's Hobby

If you trace the arc of Tamil political leadership from Independence to today, one pattern repeats with stubborn persistence: our fate has been decided almost exclusively by lawyers. From Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan and G.G. Ponnambalam to Thanthai Chelva and Amirthalingam, and now to Sumanthiran and Gajendrakumar—the legal profession has monopolized Tamil political space for more than a century. Nothing personal against lawyers. But their craft is built on argument, narrative construction, and

Editorial November 2025

Kaniyan Pungundran

Nov 16, 2025 — 13 min read

“Be it LTTE, Hamas, or ISIS — You Can’t Create a Country Through Terror”: UN Whistleblower Mukesh Kapila, Who Exposed the Darfur Genocide, Speaks to Jaffna Monitor

When Dr. Mukesh Kapila arrived in Khartoum in March 2003 as the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan — the UN’s most senior official in the country — he carried with him the weight of witness: Rwanda’s killing fields, Srebrenica’s mass graves, and the scarred landscapes of Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Angola, and Myanmar. An Oxford-trained physician who once stitched wounds in Cambridge’s quiet wards, he had long since traded scalpels for cables, convinced that saving a s

November 2025 Special Interview

Kaniyan Pungundran

Nov 16, 2025 — 31 min read

The Roots of Sri Lanka’s Genocidal Mindset and Anti-Indian Sentiment Lie in the Mahavamsa: Writer N. Saravanan on His Bold New Translation

For nearly thirty-five years, N. Saravanan has been a steadfast voice in Tamil literary and journalistic circles. His journey began with Vidivu magazine, where his early writings reflected a deep commitment to social consciousness and cultural identity. He later served as one of the editors of Sarinihar, a publication renowned for its fearless engagement with issues of justice and human rights. In 2000, Saravanan migrated to Norway, where he continues to work as both a writer and activist, cont

Interview November 2025

Kaniyan Pungundran

Nov 16, 2025 — 17 min read

WE ARE SORRY

Editorial Thirty-Five Years of Silence, Thirty-Five Years of Shame On October 30, 1990 — thirty-five years ago — the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, with we Tamils as mute spectators, committed an atrocity that erased whatever moral or ethical ground our struggle once stood upon. In an orchestrated act of ethnic cleansing — not in scale, but in spirit comparable to the mass expulsion of the Rohingya from Myanmar; reminiscent of the 1948 Palestinian Nakba; echoing the forced displacement of

Editorial October 2025

Kaniyan Pungundran

Oct 26, 2025 — 7 min read

JVP Still Denies the Tamil Ethnic Question: Sharika Thiranagama Speaks to Jaffna Monitor

Photos by A. Priyakumar It feels like yesterday. As a student, I remember flipping through Amuthu, a Tamil-language magazine published by Lake House. One day, I came across an article about Dr. Rajani Thiranagama—her brilliant career, and how she was cowardly and mercilessly assassinated. More than the tragedy of that brave woman, what seared itself into me was the image of her two young daughters standing beside their mother. Even as a boy, I felt a deep and overwhelming compassion for them. T

Interview September 2025

Kaniyan Pungundran

Sep 16, 2025 — 28 min read

Nepal in Flames: The Shadow War Between Washington and Beijing

The defiant yet turbulent “Gen Z” protests that toppled Nepal’s government last week demand an analysis that goes beyond the surface narrative of a spontaneous youth uprising. While Gen Z undoubtedly played a leading role, the parallels with Sri Lanka’s Aragalaya in 2022 and Bangladesh’s student-led movement in 2024 are striking. Yet sources inside Nepal—including journalists and close contacts of mine—insist the story runs deeper. They argue the upheaval was not merely an outburst of youthful d

Editorial September 2025

Kaniyan Pungundran

Sep 16, 2025 — 9 min read

Mannar Wind Power Project: Sri Lanka’s Lifeline in the Face of Misguided Opposition

Sri Lanka: Where Coal Gets Love and Windmills Get Hate In Mannar, people — sadly swayed by calculated misinformation and a carefully packaged malicious agenda — once again poured into the streets to protest the windmill project. Curious about the logic behind this opposition, I asked my correspondent to call Mannar MP Selvam Adaikalanathan and bluntly inquire why he was against it. Of the many reasons he rattled off, one stood out for sheer originality — and sheer absurdity: “These windmills wi

Editorial August 2025

Kaniyan Pungundran

Aug 16, 2025 — 13 min read

Two Centuries, Zero Extremists: How Bohras Became Sri Lanka's Model Muslims

The usually bustling streets of Colombo took on a distinctly vibrant hue late last month, as over 10,000 members of the Dawoodi Bohra community from around the world descended on the city for a week-long spiritual convention. Held from June 27 to July 5, the gathering coincided with the global Ashara Mubaraka sermons led by the community’s spiritual leader, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, in Chennai, India. The Colombo leg of the event, held primarily at the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centr

Cover Story Editorial

Kaniyan Pungundran

Jul 14, 2025 — 13 min read