Our Reporter

Our Reporter

‘Our Reporter’ is a collective byline representing a team of Jaffna- and Sri Lanka-based journalists and editorial staff who contribute to Jaffna Monitor.


Sumanthiran Invokes Mullivaikkal to Renew Calls for War Crimes Accountability

Sumanthiran Invokes Mullivaikkal to Renew Calls for War Crimes Accountability

POINT PEDRO, Sri Lanka — M.A. Sumanthiran, acting general secretary of the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi, used a Mullivaikkal remembrance ceremony to renew calls for accountability over the final stages of Sri Lanka’s civil war, telling mourners that the mass killing of Tamil civilians must remain at the center of Tamil political consciousness. “We will never forget, and we will never forgive,” Mr. Sumanthiran said at the gathering in Munai, Point Pedro, the fifth event of ITAK’s annual Mullivai


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Rain Fails to Deter Tamil Families Protesting Decades-Long Military Occupation of Valikamam North Lands

Rain Fails to Deter Tamil Families Protesting Decades-Long Military Occupation of Valikamam North Lands

Braving torrential rain, displaced Tamil residents of Valikamam North gathered for the fourth consecutive Friday outside the gates of the Sri Lanka Army’s Commando bungalow in Jaffna, demanding the return of approximately 651 acres of ancestral land from which they were forcibly displaced in June 1990 and to which they have been denied access for 34 years. The demonstration, which began on April 24 as a weekly series, is being carried out by landowners belonging to Grama Sevaka divisions 248, 2


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Sri Lankan National Among 17 Foreign Citizens Held for Illegal Voting in Tamil Nadu Elections

Sri Lankan National Among 17 Foreign Citizens Held for Illegal Voting in Tamil Nadu Elections

CHENNAI — Tamil Nadu police have registered cases against at least 17 foreign nationals, including a Sri Lankan citizen, on suspicion of casting votes in the state’s recently concluded Legislative Assembly elections despite holding foreign passports and having no legal right to vote in India, officials said. The individuals, passport holders from Sri Lanka, Canada, and Australia, were detained at Chennai and Madurai airports by immigration officers who noticed indelible election ink marks on th


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Sri Lanka’s State Tamil Daily Editor Suspended Amid Major Fraud Probe

Sri Lanka’s State Tamil Daily Editor Suspended Amid Major Fraud Probe

R. Senthil Velavar, the Editor-in-Chief of Sri Lanka’s state-run Tamil daily Thinakaran, was suspended by Lake House management this week over allegations of financial misconduct, according to sources within the institution. The suspension follows an internal investigation into claims that Senthil Velavar misappropriated advertising revenue by personally collecting payments for advertisements but, instead of publishing the paid advertisements as contracted, allegedly replacing them with news co


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Cabinet Trust for India-Funded Jaffna Cultural Center Sparks Fears of Colombo Control

Cabinet Trust for India-Funded Jaffna Cultural Center Sparks Fears of Colombo Control

Sri Lanka's Cabinet last Monday approved the establishment of a trust fund to manage the Jaffna Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre, an 11-storey landmark built with approximately $12 million in Indian grant assistance — a move critics say effectively places a centre intended for Tamil cultural life under the influence of a Colombo ministry responsible for Buddhist, religious and cultural affairs, while marginalising the elected local authority on whose land the facility stands. The Cabinet decision,


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Our Reporter

UNP Questions President’s Personal Congratulations to Vijay, Citing Diplomatic Protocol

UNP Questions President’s Personal Congratulations to Vijay, Citing Diplomatic Protocol

Sri Lanka’s opposition United National Party (UNP) on Tuesday criticized President Anura Kumara Dissanayake for personally congratulating newly elected Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, arguing that the move departed from established diplomatic convention and raised questions about political selectivity. In a statement, the UNP said it was “surprising” that Sri Lanka’s Head of State had publicly extended congratulations to a foreign state-level leader, contending that such formal gestu


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Sri Lanka Opposition Takes Judicial Crisis to U.N. After President’s May Day Remarks

Sri Lanka Opposition Takes Judicial Crisis to U.N. After President’s May Day Remarks

A May Day speech in which President Dissanayake told supporters they would be able to applaud a pending court ruling has triggered a formal international complaint — and exposed a constitutional provision that criminalises executive interference in judicial proceedings. COLOMBO — Twenty-four Sri Lankan opposition members of parliament have filed a formal complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Council's Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, alleging that President


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Our Reporter

India to Fund New Four-Story Medical Complex at Mullaitivu Hospital

India to Fund New Four-Story Medical Complex at Mullaitivu Hospital

COLOMBO — Sri Lanka has begun implementation of a major Indian grant-funded healthcare project in Mullaitivu, where a new four-story medical ward complex will be built at the District General Hospital under a 600 million Sri Lankan rupee assistance package from the Government of India. The project follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha and Sri Lanka’s Acting Health Secretary Dr. W.K. Wickremasinghe during Indian Vice President C.P. Radh


Our Reporter

Our Reporter