Jaffna Hospitality Teacher Is Stabbed to Death at Home; Suspect Dies on Rail Line
Anne Laksha Ignatius

Jaffna Hospitality Teacher Is Stabbed to Death at Home; Suspect Dies on Rail Line

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — A 31-year-old woman who taught cookery and hospitality in Jaffna was stabbed to death in her family's home on Monday evening, and the man suspected of killing her died later that night after being struck by a train, the police said. People who knew the woman said the man had persistently pursued her despite her repeated rejections. The woman, Anne Laksha Ignatius, was attacked at a house on Temple Road in Nallur after the man forced his way inside, according to the police. H


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Karuna Amman Questioned for More Than Four Hours in Abduction Inquiry

Karuna Amman Questioned for More Than Four Hours in Abduction Inquiry

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Detectives in Colombo questioned Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, the former Tamil Tiger eastern commander known as Karuna Amman, for more than four hours on Monday in connection with an abduction inquiry. Mr. Muralitharan appeared at the Criminal Investigation Department in the morning after being summoned and left around noon after investigators recorded his statement. The authorities did not immediately disclose which case prompted the questioning or what connection, if any


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“தண்ணீர் தண்ணீர்” (වතුර වතුර): From Wells to Nation Building in Sri Lanka
The wells that defined a community (Source: Wikimedia Commons, used under the Creative Commons Generic License)

“தண்ணீர் தண்ணீர்” (වතුර වතුර): From Wells to Nation Building in Sri Lanka

Prof. Mahesh Nirmalan MD, FRCA, PhD, FFICM In the legendary film director K Balachander’s 1981 film ‘Thanneer Thanneer’ (or Water Water), a village’s struggle for water becomes a parable of neglect. Four decades later, this parable is being replayed in parts of the Northern province in Sri Lanka.    For generations, the people of Jaffna have lived amidst water scarcity. Walking approximately 2 miles daily to a common well (‘Aththai well’ or அத்தாய் கிணறு or   අත්තායි ලිඳ in Karainagar) or ca


Prof. Mahesh Nirmalan

Prof. Mahesh Nirmalan

Gnanasara Returns to Prison as Court Hears Why He Went Silent

Gnanasara Returns to Prison as Court Hears Why He Went Silent

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A lawyer for Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero, the Buddhist nationalist monk arrested over the weekend after Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court invalidated his presidential pardon, told the Court of Appeal on Monday that the monk had been unable to contact his legal team because of a weak telephone signal at the meditation hermitage where he was staying. The explanation came in response to a question from Justice Lakmali Karunanayake, who asked why, if the monk had not been evading t


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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


Shanmugam Thavaseelan

Shanmugam Thavaseelan

Six Kilinochchi Groups Seek Fresh Police Inquiry Into Samarazhagi’s Death

Six Kilinochchi Groups Seek Fresh Police Inquiry Into Samarazhagi’s Death

KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka — Six community organizations in Uruthirapuram have jointly appealed to a senior police official for a fresh investigation into the death of Samarazhagi, a teenage girl whose death last week has shaken the village and prompted allegations that she had been threatened and sexually pressured by a young man living nearby. In a letter dated Oct. 5 and addressed to the Deputy Inspector General of Police for the Kilinochchi Division, the organizations said they were dissatisfie


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Police Hand Thileepan Bust to Jaffna Court; No Tamil Party Has Claimed It

Police Hand Thileepan Bust to Jaffna Court; No Tamil Party Has Claimed It

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Police on Monday handed over to a Jaffna court a bust of Thileepan, the Tamil Tiger political leader, that officers removed from his memorial eight days earlier, as investigators continued trying to answer a question that has hung over the controversy: Who put it there? No Tamil political party or group has publicly claimed responsibility for installing the bust at the memorial near the Nallur Kandaswamy Temple. The Tamil National People’s Front, which controlled the main c


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‘They Made Me Call Eknaligoda’: Former LTTE Fighter Testifies in Court

‘They Made Me Call Eknaligoda’: Former LTTE Fighter Testifies in Court

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A former Tamil Tiger fighter has told a Sri Lankan court that military intelligence officers detained him at an army camp after the civil war and instructed him to make telephone calls to the journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda, who was abducted and disappeared months later. Sumathipala Suresh Kumar, also known as Murali, gave testimony before the Homagama High Court, where seven Army intelligence officers are on trial over an earlier abduction of Mr. Eknaligoda in August 2009.


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