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.


Japan Gives Sri Lanka Rs. 591 Million to Educate Future Government Leaders

Japan Gives Sri Lanka Rs. 591 Million to Educate Future Government Leaders

COLOMBO — Japan has provided Sri Lanka with a grant of 282 million yen, about 591 million Sri Lankan rupees, to fund postgraduate study in Japan for 15 Sri Lankan public-sector officials, the Japanese Embassy in Colombo said Monday. The funding, provided under Japan’s Human Resource Development Scholarship program, known as JDS, will enable the officials to pursue two-year master’s degree programs at Japanese universities beginning in 2027. The scholarship program aims to develop a new generat


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Pillayan Among Four Indicted in Killing of Eastern University Vice-Chancellor

Pillayan Among Four Indicted in Killing of Eastern University Vice-Chancellor

COLOMBO — Sri Lanka’s attorney general has indicted former Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan and three other men in the abduction and killing of an Eastern University vice-chancellor who disappeared in Colombo nearly two decades ago, bringing one of the country’s most prominent wartime disappearance cases before a criminal court. The indictments were filed in the Polonnaruwa High Court over the abduction and killing of Prof. Sivasubramaniam Raveendranath, who was vic


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Sinhala Nationalist Monk Invokes Prabhakaran to Rebuke Sinhala Voters

Sinhala Nationalist Monk Invokes Prabhakaran to Rebuke Sinhala Voters

COLOMBO —A controversial Sinhala nationalist Buddhist monk invoked Velupillai Prabhakaran, the slain leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, to rebuke Sinhala voters for what he described as their tendency to quickly forget the past and repeatedly make poor political choices. Ittekande Saddhatissa Thera, general secretary of the Sinhala nationalist organisation Ravana Balaya, said Sinhala voters had proved correct a remark he attributed to Prabhakaran: that they remember events for only


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Sri Lanka's Post-Election Optimism Ebbs as Government Approval Falls

Sri Lanka's Post-Election Optimism Ebbs as Government Approval Falls

COLOMBO — Approval of Sri Lanka's government fell to 50 percent in July from 65 percent in February, and the public's reading of the economy turned negative, according to the latest round of Verité Research's "Mood of the Nation" poll, reported in Colombo on Aug. 16. The research group surveyed 2,013 adults between July 11 and July 30. Of those, 49.83 percent said they approved of the way the government was working, and 31.40 percent said they disapproved. Verité recorded disapproval at 16 perc


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Judges’ Retirement Plan Is a Cover for Preferred Appointments, Mano Ganesan Says

Judges’ Retirement Plan Is a Cover for Preferred Appointments, Mano Ganesan Says

COLOMBO — Mano Ganesan, leader of the Tamil Progressive Alliance, has accused the Sri Lankan government of seeking to use its proposed extension of judges’ retirement ages to facilitate the appointment of preferred candidates to senior judicial positions, adding his voice to growing opposition to the proposed 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, which Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara has said will be presented to Parliament on Aug. 18. Ganesan, an opposition lawmaker, said he did not object


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Local Council Vice Chairman Among Five Arrested in Mullaitivu Heroin Case

Local Council Vice Chairman Among Five Arrested in Mullaitivu Heroin Case

MULLAITIVU, Sri Lanka — The vice chairman of a local council in northern Sri Lanka was among five people arrested after police said they recovered two grams of heroin during a road check on Saturday evening. Yogeswaran Anojan, vice chairman of the Maritimepattu (Karaithuraipattu) Pradeshiya Sabha, was arrested with four others while travelling along the Semmalai-Kokkilai Road, according to Jaffna Monitor’s reporter in Mullaitivu. Anojan is affiliated with Rishad Bathiudeen’s All Ceylon Makkal


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

EU Sets Reform Terms as Sri Lanka Faces Fresh Application for Trade Preferences

EU Sets Reform Terms as Sri Lanka Faces Fresh Application for Trade Preferences

COLOMBO — The European Union has set out the legal and human rights reforms it expects Sri Lanka to carry out to keep preferential access to the European market, weeks before new rules require Colombo to apply again for the concessions. The reforms are set out in an assessment by the European Commission and the European External Action Service of Sri Lanka's performance under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus, or GSP+, covering 2023 to 2025. The document, SWD(2026) 192 final, was submi


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

‘Cry for Justice’: Tamils Rally as Chemmani Mass Grave Excavations Pass 100 Days

‘Cry for Justice’: Tamils Rally as Chemmani Mass Grave Excavations Pass 100 Days

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Tamil civil society activists in northern Sri Lanka are beginning a four-day campaign on Friday to demand international justice and accountability for alleged wartime atrocities, as excavations at the Chemmani mass grave continue to uncover human remains. The campaign, called “Cry for Justice — 2,” is being organise by the Homeland Task Force and will run from Aug. 14 through Aug. 17, culminating in a demonstration near the Chemmani mass grave site outside Jaffna. The organ


Our Reporter

Our Reporter