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.


Batticaloa Opens Long-Delayed Library as President Tours Eastern Province

Batticaloa Opens Long-Delayed Library as President Tours Eastern Province

BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka — President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is scheduled to visit Batticaloa on Wednesday to inaugurate what the government describes as Sri Lanka’s second-largest public library after the Colombo Public Library, before attending a series of development and administrative events across the Eastern Province. The new Batticaloa Public Library, built at a reported cost of 435 million rupees, is scheduled to open at 9:30 a.m. The facility replaces one of the country’s oldest public l


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

ITAK’s Senior Leadership Descended Into Disorder at Central Committee Meeting

ITAK’s Senior Leadership Descended Into Disorder at Central Committee Meeting

What had long been carefully cultivated as the polished public image of M.A. Sumanthiran, the gentleman politician, constitutional moderate, self-styled peace advocate within Tamil politics, and outspoken critic of violence committed in the name of Tamils, was dramatically shaken during yesterday’s explosive Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) central committee meeting in Vavuniya, according to multiple senior party sources who spoke to Jaffna Monitor. Behind closed doors, the meeting reportedl


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

WESTERN PROVINCE GOVERNOR HANIF YUSOOF ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION

WESTERN PROVINCE GOVERNOR HANIF YUSOOF ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION

COLOMBO — Western Province Governor and business tycoon Hanif Yusoof has announced his resignation, submitting his letter to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, according to senior government sources. Following the submission, the President is said to have requested that he remain in office for approximately one more month to ensure administrative continuity during the transition period, according to credible sources who spoke with Jaffna Monitor. The resignation, if formally accepted, ends one


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

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,


Our Reporter

Our Reporter