A Former Tiger's Death in France Raises Questions About Unhealed Wounds

A Former Tiger's Death in France Raises Questions About Unhealed Wounds

By M.R. Narayan Swamy The killing of a former Tamil Tiger in Paris by the police has brought to the fore psychological issues that still affect a huge mass of ex-combatants who mostly lead broken lives after fighting one of the world’s bloodiest insurgencies, which at one point almost broke up Sri Lanka. A large but mostly undocumented army of former guerrillas of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) now eke out a low-key existence in Sri Lanka, India, and several countries in the West,


M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy

The Jaffna Bar Association's Letter the Government Did Not Want Written

The Jaffna Bar Association's Letter the Government Did Not Want Written

By Aruliniyan Mahalingam JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — The letter ran to a few hundred words, but its message to the President of Sri Lanka was unambiguous: lawyers in Jaffna, the country's Tamil heartland, believed that the executive branch had reached into the judiciary and moved a judge who had displeased it. That document — an appeal from the Jaffna Bar Association to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake over the abrupt transfer of High Court Judge A.G. Alexraja — was precisely the kind of accusation


Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Mano Ganesan Seeks Inquiry Into Whether Government Diverted Election Funds Without Parliamentary Approval

Mano Ganesan Seeks Inquiry Into Whether Government Diverted Election Funds Without Parliamentary Approval

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Mano Ganesan, leader of the Democratic People’s Front and a member of Sri Lanka’s opposition, has asked Parliament’s chief financial oversight committee to investigate whether funds allocated for long-delayed Provincial Council elections were diverted to post-cyclone reconstruction efforts without legislative approval. In a letter sent Monday to Dr. Harsha de Silva, chairman of Parliament’s Committee on Public Finance (COPF), Mr. Ganesan requested an inquiry into remarks at


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Jaffna Lawyers Urge President to Investigate Transfer of High Court Judge

Jaffna Lawyers Urge President to Investigate Transfer of High Court Judge

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — The Jaffna Bar Association has appealed directly to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to investigate the sudden transfer of High Court Judge A.G. Alexraja, warning that the move risks undermining public confidence in the judiciary and raising concerns about interference in judicial administration. In a letter dated May 30 and addressed to the President through the Presidential Secretariat, the association expressed its "complete disbelief and shock" at the transfer of Judge


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

The 13th Amendment and the Unfinished Business of Land in the North

The 13th Amendment and the Unfinished Business of Land in the North

By Sidhartha Thamby The Dividends to Reap from State Land According to the Land Commissioner General’s Department (eSlims, as at 7 February 2022), 123,141 land use permits have been issued against a total of 401,000 families in the province. The number eligible to receive permits in 2022 stood at 40,782, with 6,040 permits still unused.¹⁰ All permits ultimately flow through the Governor’s office for processing before titles are issued by the Director General of Lands in Colombo — a labour-in


Sidhartha Thamby

Sidhartha Thamby

Former LTTE Fighter, Brother of Commander Gopith, Killed in Police Shooting Outside Paris

Former LTTE Fighter, Brother of Commander Gopith, Killed in Police Shooting Outside Paris

Vaithilingam Puwaneswaran, known by the nom de guerre “Kutti,” a former member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the younger brother of senior LTTE commander Colonel Gopith, was shot and killed by French police in the northeastern Paris suburb of Bobigny on Saturday afternoon after he allegedly stabbed two neighbours and then advanced toward officers while wielding two knives, according to French authorities and community sources. The incident unfolded at approximately 2:15 p.m


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

“Living there while being here”: Paradoxes in the legacy of the Sri Lankan diaspora
An unharnessed potential?: Source Vanni Hope (Australia)

“Living there while being here”: Paradoxes in the legacy of the Sri Lankan diaspora

Professor Mahesh Nirmalan MD, FRCA, PhD, FFICM, University of Manchester, United Kingdom “திரை கடல் ஓடியும் திரவியம் தேடு” is an age-old saying by the Tamil poet Avvaiyar (ஔவையார்) in the collection of poetic moral statements known as “Konrai Venthan” (கொன்றை வேந்தன்). Directly translated it reads “Acquire wealth even if you have to cross the stormy seas”. As such the desire to travel to distant lands seeking prosperity is very much part of the South Asian psyche. It was this spirit that d


Prof. Mahesh Nirmalan

Prof. Mahesh Nirmalan

The NPP Government's Public Service Scandal That the Supreme Court Found Unconstitutional
Prof. Kapila C. Perera (left) receives his appointment letter as Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation from Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, Secretary to the President, at the Presidential Secretariat. 

The NPP Government's Public Service Scandal That the Supreme Court Found Unconstitutional

By Aruliniyan Mahalingam On the morning of Dec. 17, 2024, W.S. Sathyananda, a Special Grade officer of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service with nearly three decades of experience, sent a brief WhatsApp message to his superior. Having just reported for duty as Additional Secretary at the Ministry of Transport, Highways, Ports, and Civil Aviation, he requested an appointment to pay a courtesy call. The response he received that afternoon would lead to a Supreme Court case — W.S. Sathyananda v.


Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Aruliniyan Mahalingam