Sri Lanka's Post-Election Optimism Ebbs as Government Approval Falls

Sri Lanka's Post-Election Optimism Ebbs as Government Approval Falls

COLOMBO — Approval of Sri Lanka's government fell to 50 percent in July from 65 percent in February, and the public's reading of the economy turned negative, according to the latest round of Verité Research's "Mood of the Nation" poll, reported in Colombo on Aug. 16. The research group surveyed 2,013 adults between July 11 and July 30. Of those, 49.83 percent said they approved of the way the government was working, and 31.40 percent said they disapproved. Verité recorded disapproval at 16 perc


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Judges’ Retirement Plan Is a Cover for Preferred Appointments, Mano Ganesan Says

Judges’ Retirement Plan Is a Cover for Preferred Appointments, Mano Ganesan Says

COLOMBO — Mano Ganesan, leader of the Tamil Progressive Alliance, has accused the Sri Lankan government of seeking to use its proposed extension of judges’ retirement ages to facilitate the appointment of preferred candidates to senior judicial positions, adding his voice to growing opposition to the proposed 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, which Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara has said will be presented to Parliament on Aug. 18. Ganesan, an opposition lawmaker, said he did not object


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

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


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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


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Our Reporter

Sri Lanka Opens a Legal Route Home for Tamil Refugees in India. The Security Check Remains.
Sri Lankan Tamil refugees arrive in India by boat after crossing the Palk Strait.

Sri Lanka Opens a Legal Route Home for Tamil Refugees in India. The Security Check Remains.

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — In May 2025, a 75-year-old Sri Lankan Tamil man landed at Palaly airport after decades as a refugee in Tamil Nadu. He had returned with the help of the United Nations refugee agency and carried the clearances his journey required. Immigration officials arrested him at the airport. The Criminal Investigation Department produced him before the Mallakam Magistrate's Court, which remanded him after objections to bail. His alleged offense was that he had left Sri Lanka decades e


Our Special Correspondent

Our Special Correspondent

‘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


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Our Reporter

Sri Lanka’s Envoy to India Remembers Lakshman Kadirgamar, 21 Years After His Assassination
Lakshman Kadirgamar

Sri Lanka’s Envoy to India Remembers Lakshman Kadirgamar, 21 Years After His Assassination

By: Aruliniyan Mahalingam Twenty-one years after Lakshman Kadirgamar was assassinated in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s high commissioner to India has remembered the former foreign minister as the man who helped inspire her to join the diplomatic service and set a standard that continued to shape her career. Mahishini Colonne, herself widely regarded in Sri Lankan diplomatic circles as one of the country’s most accomplished career diplomats, said Wednesday that Kadirgamar was foreign minister when she e


Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Remembering Lakshman Kadirgamar: A Personal Account

Remembering Lakshman Kadirgamar: A Personal Account

In response to “Sri Lanka’s Envoy to India Remembers Lakshman Kadirgamar, 21 Years After His Assassination” (Jaffna Monitor, 13 August 2026, by Aruliniyan Mahalingam) To the Editor, I read with great interest your report marking the twenty-first anniversary of Lakshman Kadirgamar’s assassination, and High Commissioner Mahishini Colonne’s moving tribute to the standards he set for a generation of Sri Lankan diplomats. Her recollection of his insistence that “every word has meaning” in diplomacy


Jeevan Thiyagaraja

Jeevan Thiyagaraja