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.


Landmark Bill Seeking to End Child Marriage Presented to Parliament

Landmark Bill Seeking to End Child Marriage Presented to Parliament

Opposition MP and President's Counsel Faiszer Musthapha has submitted a Private Member Bill to Parliament seeking comprehensive reform of Sri Lanka's Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA), marking what legal experts describe as the most far-reaching reform effort in decades to address discriminatory provisions affecting Muslim women and children. The Muslim Marriage and Divorce (Amendment) Bill, submitted to the Secretary-General of Parliament Kushani Rohanadeera today, proposes sweeping amend


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Over 50 Students, Teachers Injured in Wasp Attack at Kilinochchi School Despite Prior Warning

Over 50 Students, Teachers Injured in Wasp Attack at Kilinochchi School Despite Prior Warning

More than 50 students and teachers were injured on Wednesday morning after wasps from a nest on the premises of Kilinochchi Maha Vidyalayam attacked students and staff, triggering panic across the school. At least 39 students were admitted to hospital for treatment, while the deputy principal and two teachers were also hospitalised. According to eyewitness accounts, students fled classrooms in fear, abandoning their school bags and learning materials as they attempted to shield themselves from


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Sumanthiran-Aligned Shanakiyan Named ITAK Parliamentary Group Leader

Sumanthiran-Aligned Shanakiyan Named ITAK Parliamentary Group Leader

The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) has appointed Batticaloa District MP Shanakiyan Ragul Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam as its new Parliamentary Group Leader, removing senior Jaffna legislator Sivagnanam Sritharan in a leadership overhaul that has exposed deepening factional divisions within Sri Lanka's main Tamil political party. The appointment of the 35-year-old Shanakiyan, widely regarded as a close ally of Acting General Secretary M. A. Sumanthiran, comes after weeks of internal discord ove


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

‘This Is Apartheid’: Mano Ganesan Calls for UN Intervention in Cyclone Relief

‘This Is Apartheid’: Mano Ganesan Calls for UN Intervention in Cyclone Relief

Tamil Progressive Alliance leader Mano Ganesan has appealed to the United Nations to intervene in what he characterised as the systematic exclusion of Hill Country plantation communities from Sri Lanka's post-disaster reconstruction programme following Cyclone Dithwa. In a meeting with UN Resident Coordinator Marc-André Franche at the UN office in Colombo, Mano Ganesan said the government's Rebuilding Sri Lanka housing scheme had failed to include plantation families displaced by the December c


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Tamil Leaders Accuse Government of Building Parallel Power Structure Through Praja Shakthi

Tamil Leaders Accuse Government of Building Parallel Power Structure Through Praja Shakthi

A government-backed community mobilisation programme has emerged as a political flashpoint in Sri Lanka's Northern and Eastern Provinces, with elected officials, political parties, and civil society groups warning that the initiative undermines constitutional governance and threatens to erode Tamil political representation at the grassroots level. The Praja Shakthi (People's Power) programme, launched by the National People's Power (NPP) government and presented as a poverty alleviation initiat


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Holy Support for a Controversial Cause: Clergy Back ‘Black Day’ Protest

Holy Support for a Controversial Cause: Clergy Back ‘Black Day’ Protest

Senior religious figures from the Tamil community have now lent their moral weight to a controversial and arguably ill-judged plan by Jaffna University students to observe Sri Lanka’s Independence Day on February 4 as a “Black Day” in the Northern and Eastern provinces. The Jaffna University Students’ Union has announced that it will stage demonstrations and mark February 4 — Sri Lanka’s Independence Day — as a Black Day and a day of protest. In preparation, student representatives recently pai


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Gajendrakumar Rejects ITAK’s Right to Lead Kivul Oya Protest

Gajendrakumar Rejects ITAK’s Right to Lead Kivul Oya Protest

Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) President and Jaffna MP Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam has declared that the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) has no moral authority to lead protests against the government's Kivul Oya irrigation project, accusing the party of having previously facilitated the Sinhalisation of Tamil areas. Addressing a press conference in Jaffna, Ponnambalam argued that civil society organisations, rather than ITAK, should take the lead in organising resistance to the controver


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

A Southern Medical Student’s View of Jaffna in New Sinhala Book

A Southern Medical Student’s View of Jaffna in New Sinhala Book

The essay collection Uthuru Kona Arumasiya (Wonder of the Northern Corner), authored by Dr Viduni Basnayake, was launched at the Clinical Training and Research Block (CTRB) of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna. The event was organised jointly by the Jaffna Medical Students' Union, the Department of Community Medicine, and the Student Welfare Unit. The Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Professor R. Surenthirakumaran, attended as the chief guest. The book is a compilation of essays wr


Our Reporter

Our Reporter