Shanmugam Thavaseelan

Shanmugam Thavaseelan

Shanmugam Thavaseelan is a Tamil journalist who has reported from Mullaitivu for over 15 years, documenting life in a district devastated by war and still reckoning with its aftermath. Jaffna Monitor translates his reporting from Tamil.

Mullaitivu
14 Years After Land Was Set Aside in Mankulam, Youth Office May Move Elsewhere

14 Years After Land Was Set Aside in Mankulam, Youth Office May Move Elsewhere

MULLAITIVU, Sri Lanka — Young people and community activists in Mullaitivu District are opposing a proposal to move the district office of the National Youth Services Council from Mankulam to Oddusuddan, and are calling on the government to build the office on land in Mankulam that was set aside for it in 2012. The land, a plot along the A9 highway, was cleared and fenced for a district office 14 years ago, but no building was ever put up. The council's Mullaitivu office still operates from ren
Monitor Memo October 2026
Shanmugam Thavaseelan

Shanmugam Thavaseelan
In Manthuvil, Families Remember Their Dead Amid Fear of Reprisal

In Manthuvil, Families Remember Their Dead Amid Fear of Reprisal

MULLAITIVU, Sri Lanka — Relatives of 24 Tamil civilians killed in an airstrike 27 years ago gathered at a road junction in northern Sri Lanka on Tuesday to light lamps and scatter flowers, holding the annual commemoration themselves after the groups that had arranged it in previous years withdrew, citing pressure from government intelligence officers. Community organizations and other local groups had helped organize the ceremony at Manthuvil, in the Puthukkudiyiruppu area of Mullaitivu Distric
September 2026 Monitor Memo
Shanmugam Thavaseelan

Shanmugam Thavaseelan