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.


New U.S. Ambassador Arrives in Colombo, Ending a Seven-Month Vacancy

New U.S. Ambassador Arrives in Colombo, Ending a Seven-Month Vacancy

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Eric Meyer, a career diplomat who until recently helped shape American policy across South and Central Asia from Washington, arrived in Sri Lanka over the weekend to take up his post as ambassador, ending a seven-month stretch in which the American mission here was run by an acting chief. Mr. Meyer landed in Colombo on the evening of Aug. 22, the United States Embassy said Monday. His arrival follows confirmation by the Senate in May and a swearing-in ceremony this month in


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

‘People Are Running Out of Patience’: Tamil Parties Join 10th-Week Palaly Land Protest

‘People Are Running Out of Patience’: Tamil Parties Join 10th-Week Palaly Land Protest

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Displaced residents of Palaly in Sri Lanka’s northern Jaffna Peninsula protested for a 10th consecutive week on Sunday, demanding the return of ancestral and privately owned land that remains under the control of the security forces, as representatives of nearly all major Tamil political parties joined the demonstration. The weekly protest at Palaly Junction is part of a broader campaign for the release of civilian land in Valikamam North, where demonstrations have also been


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Disappeared Families Say Current Government Will Never Deliver Justice

Disappeared Families Say Current Government Will Never Deliver Justice

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — The leader of an association representing families of people who disappeared during and after Sri Lanka’s civil war accused the government on Saturday of trying to steer relatives toward accepting death certificates and compensation instead of establishing what happened to their missing family members. Yogarasa Kanagaranjini, president of the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared in the North and East, said the government was using the Office on Missing Person


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

U.N., Amnesty Representatives Expected at Jaffna Conference on Sri Lanka’s Disappeared

U.N., Amnesty Representatives Expected at Jaffna Conference on Sri Lanka’s Disappeared

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Representatives of the United Nations and Amnesty International are expected to attend a conference in Jaffna on Aug. 30, as families of the forcibly disappeared renew their longstanding demands for truth, justice and accountability. The conference, titled “The Long Journey for Justice,” is being organised by relatives of the forcibly disappeared to coincide with the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, observed annually on Aug. 30. It will be held a


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

157 Treated for Eye Injuries After Jaffna Temple Festival; Police Seize High-Powered Lamps

157 Treated for Eye Injuries After Jaffna Temple Festival; Police Seize High-Powered Lamps

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — At least 157 people, including 55 children, have been treated at Jaffna Teaching Hospital after developing painful eye problems following a Hindu temple festival, prompting police to seize high-powered lamps used at the event as investigators seek to determine whether the lighting caused the injuries. The patients had attended a festival at a Murugan temple in the Piranpatru area of Jaffna, where powerful electric lamps had been installed around the temple grounds. Dr. T. S


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Facing a Fight for His Seat, Archchuna Turns to Muslim Rights

Facing a Fight for His Seat, Archchuna Turns to Muslim Rights

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A Tamil member of Sri Lanka’s Parliament accused the director of a government hospital in the country’s east on Wednesday of discriminating against Muslim employee. The lawmaker, Ramanathan Archchuna, an independent representing Jaffna District, said nine Muslim women employed as health assistants had been prevented from working at Kalmunai North Base Hospital because of a dispute over their attire and were subsequently transferred to the nearby Ashraff Memorial Hospital.


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Three Years On, Rajnath Singh’s Sri Lanka Visit Takes on New Significance

Three Years On, Rajnath Singh’s Sri Lanka Visit Takes on New Significance

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — India’s defence minister, Rajnath Singh, is preparing to visit Sri Lanka, three years after a planned trip was abruptly deferred, as the two neighbors move to deepen a security partnership that was formalized last year with their first broad agreement on defence cooperation. The itinerary has not been finalized, and New Delhi has not announced dates for the visit. Mr. Singh is expected to hold talks in Colombo, with a possible stop in Trincomalee. Preparations are already


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Government Refuses to Return Kilinochchi Press Club Site, Citing Security
A Google Maps view showing the site of the former Kilinochchi Press Club

Government Refuses to Return Kilinochchi Press Club Site, Citing Security

KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka's Defence Ministry has refused to return a state-owned property in Kilinochchi that housed a press club before the end of the civil war and has been under military control since, telling journalists only that security concerns made its release impossible. The decision was conveyed in an Aug. 12 letter from the Presidential Secretariat to the Kilinochchi Media Forum, nearly three months after the organisation appealed directly to President Anura Kumara Dissanay


Our Reporter

Our Reporter