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.


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

Malwatte Mahanayake Says President Did Not Reply to Letter

Malwatte Mahanayake Says President Did Not Reply to Letter

KANDY, Sri Lanka — One of Sri Lanka’s most senior Buddhist prelates said President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has not responded to a letter from the country’s chief Buddhist monks concerning the government’s proposal to extend the retirement age of senior judges. The Most Venerable Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thera, the Mahanayake of the Malwatte Chapter, said the chief prelates had not received even an acknowledgment that their letter had reached the President. “When the Mahanayake Th


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Former Student Sues University of Colombo, Seeking Rs. 5 Million Over Alleged Exam Irregularities

Former Student Sues University of Colombo, Seeking Rs. 5 Million Over Alleged Exam Irregularities

COLOMBO — A former diploma student at the University of Colombo has filed a lawsuit seeking Rs. 5 million in damages, alleging examination irregularities, arbitrary marking and retaliation by lecturers. Sanath Kumara Athukorala filed the action in the Nugegoda District Court, naming several current and former university officials and lecturers as defendants. Athukorala was enrolled in the 2022/23 Advanced Diploma in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management programme offered by the univer


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Group Says Tamil Police Officer Dismissed Over Alleged Pro-LTTE Posts

Group Says Tamil Police Officer Dismissed Over Alleged Pro-LTTE Posts

NEGOMBO, Sri Lanka — A Tamil police officer attached to the Negombo Police Station has been removed from the force over social media posts said to be supportive of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, according to the group that campaigned for action against him. The group, The Sri COM, said this week that the officer, Jenistran Coonghe, was dismissed after an investigation. Sri Lanka Police has made no public announcement of any dismissal, and Jaffna Monitor could not independently verify the


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Final Tributes Paid to Journalist Arumugam Sabeswaran in Jaffna

Final Tributes Paid to Journalist Arumugam Sabeswaran in Jaffna

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — The remains of Arumugam Sabeswaran, a Tamil journalist, editor and journalism lecturer who worked for years in northern Sri Lanka’s media, were brought to the Jaffna Press Club on Tuesday night, where journalists, academics and civil society representatives gathered to pay their final respects. Mr. Sabeswaran, known widely among colleagues as Sabes, died in Canada on July 29 after a period of ill health. He was 47. His death brought tributes from a journalistic community in


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

12,861 Acres on Paper. How Much Land Does Sri Lanka’s Military Really Hold in the North?

12,861 Acres on Paper. How Much Land Does Sri Lanka’s Military Really Hold in the North?

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan security forces continue to occupy at least 12,861 acres of state and privately owned land across the five districts of the Northern Province, according to written responses from district authorities obtained under the country’s Right to Information law. But that figure captures only part of the military’s land footprint in the former war zone. The District Secretariats supplied figures for land classified as state or privately owned. The tally does not include t


Our Reporter

Our Reporter