August 2025

It was just another afternoon. The clinic was settling down. The rush of patients had slowed, the noise had faded, and there was a calmness in the air. My mind had started to relax—finally—when she walked in. She was quiet. Almost unsure of herself. She held an X-ray in her hand and walked up to the doctor sitting beside me. I had just seen off my last patient, and I was just watching now. But the moment I saw her, I was drawn in. She looked so young—maybe in her early 20s. Slim, dark brown sk

Alfred Duraiappah was killed 50 years ago, on 27 July 1975, by my early friend—who would later become the LTTE supremo—Prabhakaran, along with a few other young men. Although I had no role in the killing, at the time I felt a deep sense of satisfaction, believing that a “traitor” had been removed and that, for the liberation of our people, such individuals had to be eliminated. After the murder, Prabhakaran came to my village, Punnalaikadduvan, and I sheltered him for almost a year in my grandm

There’s a dry wind that blows through Mannar, the kind that tastes like salt and history. It howls over lagoons thick with flamingos, nudges the rusted skeletons of colonial forts, and settles like incense among the stone pillars of a temple that refuses to die. This is Thiruketheeswaram, one of the five ancient Iswarams of Lord Shiva in Sri Lanka. For thousands of years, pilgrims have whispered mantras here. Armies have marched past it, priests have anointed it, colonizers have desecrated it,

Just off the western coast of the Jaffna peninsula, across causeways and narrow spits of land edged by prawn and sea cucumber farms, lie the quiet islands of Pungudutivu and Nainativu—places rich in history, hardship, and humanity. Though I had previously set foot on nearby islands like Mandativu, Kayts, Nainativu, and Karainagar during the war years, Pungudutivu remained a name I’d only heard in passing—until now. Prompted by a doctor’s account of the resilience and trials faced at the Pungudu

Introduction Sri Lanka is not an exception to the global trend of politicising and radicalising Muslim communities in response to conflicts unfolding far beyond its borders. Events in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and now Gaza have all influenced and shaped the political and ideological landscape of Sri Lankan Muslims. No foreign armed conflict has left a more indelible mark than the war in Gaza, triggered by the devastating Hamas attack of October 7, 2023. Hamas — a brutal terrorist organisation —