M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy

M. R. Narayan Swamy is a renowned Indian journalist and author known for his multi-dimensional reporting—from politics to insurgencies. Best known for his definitive works on the LTTE, he brings depth to South Asian affairs and conflict journalism.

“We Are Being Discriminated”: Hill Country Tamils Accuse Sri Lankan State

“We Are Being Discriminated”: Hill Country Tamils Accuse Sri Lankan State

By: M.R. Narayan Swamy Hundreds of thousands of Tamils living in Sri Lanka’s prosperous tea estates want justice and quicker rehabilitation after suffering the worst of deaths and destruction in a catastrophic cyclone that ravaged the island nation in late November. A prominent MP and leader of the hill country, or “Malaiyaha,” Tamils—who are of Indian origin—has accused the government of President Anura Dissanayake, whom he otherwise counts as a friend, of discriminating against Tamil workers
January 2026 Special Article
M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy
A Peacemaker’s Belated Wisdom

A Peacemaker’s Belated Wisdom

By: M.R. Narayan Swamy Reading this otherwise invaluable book will give the impression that academic-turned-politician G.L. Peiris was a distant observer of Sri Lanka’s peace process (which collapsed) and not the government’s chief negotiator with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and a key player in a dialogue that had been expected to end a protracted and bloody conflict. Peiris raises several vital issues that he feels led the peace process to unfortunately unravel, trig
Article Book Review
M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy
Sri Lanka placing roadblocks on Tamil refugees’ return from India

Sri Lanka placing roadblocks on Tamil refugees’ return from India

By: M.R. Narayan Swamy Even as many Tamils who fled Sri Lanka to escape the ethnic conflict want to settle down in India, those who seek to return to their homes are facing numerous governmental challenges in the island nation, a leading NGO based in India says. An estimated 58,000 Tamil refugees are spread across 105 camps set up by Indian authorities in 29 districts of Tamil Nadu, while another 30-40,000 live on their own in the southern state separated from Sri Lanka by a narrow strip
Article January 2026
M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy
The Man the LTTE Couldn’t Kill

The Man the LTTE Couldn’t Kill

Most Sri Lankans may not know that veteran former minister and MP Douglas Devananda, now jailed over a pistol allegedly found with a criminal after being given to his party, employed many former Tamil Tigers in his office even as he passionately opposed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). When Douglas, as he is widely known, was a minister in Colombo, his personal secretary responsible for fixing his appointments was one Gowri, who was earlier a high-ranking operative in the rebels’ ba
Article January 2026
M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy
Why Hamas Is Like the LTTE — Yet Unlike the LTTE

Why Hamas Is Like the LTTE — Yet Unlike the LTTE

When two hijacked planes tore into the World Trade Centre in New York, causing the iconic buildings to collapse with hundreds of casualties, an Indian friend remarked even before it was known who the mass murderers were: “This could have been done only by the Al Qaeda or the LTTE.” Osama bin Laden, of course, proudly claimed responsibility for the horrific deed. But the fact that someone thought the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) could have carried out the history-changing terror attac
December 2025 Special Article
M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy
A Mission Called Journalism: Then and Now
M.R. Narayan Swamy interviewing LTTE cadres in Kaluthavalai, Batticaloa, soon after Eelam War II began in 1990.

A Mission Called Journalism: Then and Now

When the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster killed thousands and left many more maimed for life, the heart-wrenching tragedy was covered on a per diem of, believe it or not, a pathetic ₹45 (INR) a day! It was then the world’s worst industrial disaster, blamed on lethal doses of a highly toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) which leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide factory on the night of December 2-3. When I flew into Bhopal from New Delhi to add strength to the local bureau of the United News of India (UN
November 2025 Special Article
M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy
When the Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case Almost Pulled Me In
One of the last photographs of Rajiv Gandhi, taken moments before his assassination by Hari Babu. Behind the girl in the white shirt stands Dhanu, the suicide bomber.

When the Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case Almost Pulled Me In

May 21, 1991, was one of the busiest and most sensation-filled days in my journalistic career. That night, former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi died a horrific death when a suicide bomber blew him up at an election rally near Chennai. The news excitement dragged on for days as Indian investigators began to piece together the numerous fragments of the jigsaw puzzle to get to the bottom of who had ordered the high-profile assassination of a member of the Gandhi-Nehru family. I was in the AF
Guest Column September 2025
M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy
Lakshman Kadirgamar: An Unlikely Tamil Politician Who Took on the LTTE
Lakshman Kadirgamar

Lakshman Kadirgamar: An Unlikely Tamil Politician Who Took on the LTTE

The only reason the Tamil Tigers managed to assassinate Sri Lanka’s erudite Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar is because his inept security didn’t anticipate that a sole sniper would carry out the mission impossible. It was another excellently executed cold-blooded murder that only the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) could have pulled off, humiliating a seemingly impenetrable security ring which had turned Kadirgamar into Sri Lanka’s third most protected individual. But even as the
Book Review July 2025
M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy