Our Reporter

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Commemorations for Thileepan, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam political leader who starved himself to death in 1987, opened at his memorial in Nallur on Tuesday, 39 years to the day since he sat down in front of the Nallur Kandaswamy temple and refused food and water. Observances will be held daily until Sept. 26, the day he died, in towns across the Northern and Eastern Provinces and among Tamil communities abroad. The ground around the memorial was cleared the day bef

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — A 25-year-old Muslim woman from Eravur who had been living with her husband in Jaffna has been missing since Sunday morning, her family said, appealing to the public for information that could help locate her. The woman, AWR Kubra, was reported missing on Sept. 13. Her family said she had been experiencing mental-health difficulties and could be particularly vulnerable while alone. They urged anyone who encounters Kubra to make sure she is safe and immediately contact her f

ANURADHAPURA — Mahinda Rajapaksa raised both arms to the crowd at the Anuradhapura Municipal Council Grounds on Saturday afternoon. Several men stood close around him, steadying him as he came before supporters. He made no speech. At 80, the politician who once held some of the country’s largest rallies with hour-long addresses gave this one an appearance instead. Held in one hand, its ornate ends showing between his fingers, was the small pronged object he has carried through more than two dec

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — IndiGo will resume flights between Tiruchirappalli and Jaffna on Oct. 1, restoring an important air link between northern Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu after a suspension of more than three months. The Indian carrier will operate the route three times a week — on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays — and bookings have already opened. The service was suspended in June, but IndiGo has not publicly given a specific reason for halting the Jaffna route. The suspension came as the airli

ANURADHAPURA, Sri Lanka — Ramanathan Archchuna, a doctor-turned-member of Parliament from Jaffna whose statements have repeatedly drawn controversy, told a Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna rally in this Sinhala-majority city on Saturday that he would never again demand a separate Tamil state, and predicted that his “machan,” Namal Rajapaksa, would be elected president in 2029. Dr. Archchuna, who won a Jaffna District seat as an independent in November 2024, delivered the address in Sinhala to an aud