Voice of 1970s Tamil Student Activism, Muthukumaarasamy, Dies in Exile

Voice of 1970s Tamil Student Activism, Muthukumaarasamy, Dies in Exile

T. Muthukumaarasamy, popularly known as Kumar, a veteran Tamil political activist and one of the early pioneers of Tamil political mobilisation during the pre-militant phase of the Eelam Tamil struggle, passed away in the United States, where he had lived for several decades. He was in his late seventies. Muthukumaarasamy, who hailed from Thirunelveli, was the youngest son of the late Magistrate Thambithurai, a well-known judicial figure of his time. He became politically active during his stud


Jaffna Monitor

Jaffna Monitor

“Colombo Was a Global Port—and a City of Inequality”: Ajay Kamalakaran

“Colombo Was a Global Port—and a City of Inequality”: Ajay Kamalakaran

Few foreign writers understand Sri Lanka as deeply as Ajay Kamalakaran does. Since falling for the island in 2003, this Mumbai-born, Palakkad-rooted journalist—raised in New York and seasoned in Russia—has returned almost every year, travelling from Colombo to Jaffna, learning Sinhala, and excavating the forgotten histories that lie beneath Sri Lanka’s surface. Over time, his writing has brought back into view stories that quietly slipped out of public memory: the old Boat Mail that once carrie


Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

ITAK Slams ‘Political Showmanship’ During President’s Jaffna Visit

ITAK Slams ‘Political Showmanship’ During President’s Jaffna Visit

The Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) has strongly criticised the National People’s Power (NPP) for what it described as “political showmanship” during President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s recent visit to Jaffna, accusing the ruling alliance of using public funds to stage partisan events while sidelining other political representatives. Addressing a media briefing at his office in Jaffna on Monday, ITAK Leader C.V.K. Sivagnanam said the NPP had no mandate to interfere in ITAK’s internal affai


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Nandana Gunathilake’s Death Reopens JVP Rift

Nandana Gunathilake’s Death Reopens JVP Rift

Veteran leftist politician and former Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Nandana Gunathilake passed away on Sunday morning, prompting an outpouring of tributes as well as sharp criticism from sections of his former political comrades, particularly within the JVP-led National People’s Power (NPP). While many across the political spectrum remembered Gunathilake for his simplicity, organisational skills, and role in rebuilding the JVP after the brutal repression of the late 1980s, some current


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

U.S. Nominates Eric Meyer as Next Ambassador to Sri Lanka; Senate Confirmation Pending

U.S. Nominates Eric Meyer as Next Ambassador to Sri Lanka; Senate Confirmation Pending

The United States has nominated Eric Meyer, a senior career diplomat currently overseeing South and Central Asian policy at the U.S. Department of State, as its next Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Sri Lanka, though the appointment is yet to be finalised pending Senate confirmation. President Donald Trump submitted Meyer’s nomination to the U.S. Senate on July 9, 2025, where it was referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as Presidential Nomination PN380-2 during the 1


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

Sri Lankan Tamil Leader Urges Restraint in Criticising Tamil Nadu Politics

Sri Lankan Tamil Leader Urges Restraint in Criticising Tamil Nadu Politics

Public criticism of Tamil Nadu political leaders by Sri Lankan Tamils risks alienating millions of their supporters and weakening long-standing political solidarity, P. Ayngaranesan, leader of the Tamil National Green Movement, has warned. Ayngaranesan made these remarks while addressing a contemporary political discourse organised by the Tamil National Green Movement at the Divine Life Society Hall in Nallur (Divya Jeevana Sangam) recently. He said that indiscriminate public attacks on Tamil


Our Reporter

Our Reporter

PSTA: When the Victims Rewrite the Law That Once Destroyed Them

PSTA: When the Victims Rewrite the Law That Once Destroyed Them

There exists a particular species of political betrayal that cuts deeper than ordinary duplicity. It occurs when those who survived state terror become its architects, when victims of arbitrary detention design new systems of indefinite imprisonment, when revolutionaries who once faced torture codify powers enabling it. Sri Lanka stands at precisely such a moment. The National People’s Power government—led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, a party whose members were “disappeared,” tortured, and


Kaniyan Pungundran

Kaniyan Pungundran

What Sri Lanka and Gaza Teach Us About the Futility of Armed Struggle

What Sri Lanka and Gaza Teach Us About the Futility of Armed Struggle

“I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is temporary; the evil it does is permanent”. Mahatma Gandhi Times of war create the illusion that only force can resolve irreconcilable differences. Some social theorists even justify the inevitability of violence in achieving social change on the basis that groups in power rarely relinquish that privilege voluntarily. In this context, the armed conflicts that plagued Sri Lanka for three decades and continue to unfold in Gaza


Prof. Mahesh Nirmalan

Prof. Mahesh Nirmalan