‘TELO Killed My Father’: Siddharthan Confronts the Bloody Past Behind Today’s Tamil Alliances

‘TELO Killed My Father’: Siddharthan Confronts the Bloody Past Behind Today’s Tamil Alliances

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Dharmalingam Siddharthan, the leader of the People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), has publicly accused TELO, a fellow Tamil political group, of killing his father 41 years ago, saying there was no uncertainty over who was responsible. “There is no confusion whatsoever,” Mr. Siddharthan said Wednesday at a memorial for his father, V. Dharmalingam, a former member of Parliament. “Those responsible for his death were members of the TELO. Everyone knows that.”


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M.K. Sivajilingam Moved to Intensive Care in Colombo

M.K. Sivajilingam Moved to Intensive Care in Colombo

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — M.K. Sivajilingam, a veteran Tamil nationalist politician and former member of Parliament who underwent a kidney transplant in June, has been moved to the intensive care unit of a private hospital in Colombo, according to people familiar with his condition. Mr. Sivajilingam, who currently serves as chairman of the Valvettithurai Urban Council, had remained in Colombo for continuing treatment after undergoing the transplant. He was admitted to the hospital again last week and


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A Small School in Mallakam Produces Sri Lanka’s Tamil-Medium Topper

A Small School in Mallakam Produces Sri Lanka’s Tamil-Medium Topper

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — A 10-year-old student from a small primary school in Mallakam has secured the highest Tamil-medium score in Sri Lanka’s 2026 Grade 5 Scholarship Examination. Surendar Sabin, a student at Dr. Thangamma Appakutty Junior School, scored 188 marks, the highest result among students who sat the examination in the Tamil medium. The result has brought national attention to a modest school in Mallakam, a town about 10 miles north of Jaffna. Dr. Thangamma Appakutty Junior School, whi


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Bimal Does It Again: New Development Remark Revives KKS, Palaly Questions

Bimal Does It Again: New Development Remark Revives KKS, Palaly Questions

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Transport Minister Bimal Rathnayake said Wednesday that Sri Lanka would not pursue development projects that failed to benefit ordinary people, remarks likely to renew scrutiny of the government’s approach to two Indian-backed gateways in the Tamil-majority north: Jaffna International Airport at Palaly and Kankesanthurai Port. “Economic development projects must be connected to the everyday lives of the people,” Mr. Rathnayake said. “We will not pursue development projects


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U.S. Reveals Wider Role Behind Colombo’s 463-Kilogram Meth Seizure

U.S. Reveals Wider Role Behind Colombo’s 463-Kilogram Meth Seizure

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The seizure of 463 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine at the Port of Colombo this week grew out of a weeks-long international intelligence operation involving American, Pakistani and Sri Lankan authorities, according to new details released Wednesday by the United States Embassy, offering a fuller account of an interdiction initially described largely through the actions of Sri Lankan investigators. The Embassy said the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Delhi Cou


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Thanthai Chelva Monument Smashed in Jaffna

Thanthai Chelva Monument Smashed in Jaffna

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — A monument honoring S.J.V. Chelvanayakam, the founder of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi and one of the most consequential figures in Sri Lankan Tamil politics, has been damaged at his family’s ancestral burial ground in Tellippalai, in what people familiar with the site said appeared to be a case of theft rather than a politically motivated attack. The monument stands in the Church of South India cemetery along the Vallai-Araly Road, within the Tellippalai Police Division, w


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Sri Lanka Is Reopening Its Worst Cases but Not Finishing Them, Human Rights Watch Says

Sri Lanka Is Reopening Its Worst Cases but Not Finishing Them, Human Rights Watch Says

JAFFNA — Almost two years after Anura Kumara Dissanayake won the presidency on a promise to reopen Sri Lanka’s most notorious killings and disappearances, Human Rights Watch has found that his government has pushed a handful of those cases further than any administration before it, and has largely left the rest of the country’s apparatus of impunity untouched. The report, “Not Genuine with Justice,” comes days before the United Nations high commissioner for human rights updates the Human Rights


Jaffna Monitor

Jaffna Monitor

New Chinese Ambassador Pledges Stronger Sri Lanka Ties, More Investment

New Chinese Ambassador Pledges Stronger Sri Lanka Ties, More Investment

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — China’s new ambassador to Sri Lanka has pledged to deepen relations between the two countries and encourage greater Chinese investment, saying he had felt “no sense of being a foreigner” since arriving on the island, according to an account of his meeting with a senior leader of Sri Lanka’s governing political movement. Ambassador Wei Huaxiang made the remarks during a meeting with Tilvin Silva, general secretary of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, or J.V.P., at the party’s h


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