Editorial - Jaffna Monitor

We Can No Longer Afford to Hate Each Other

In one small town, in one month, two Tamil-speaking minority communities, both of which have endured discrimination, insecurity and the pressures of majoritarian politics, managed to hurt each other twice. We can no longer afford this. When nine young Muslim women were prevented from beginning work at Kalmunai North Base Hospital this month because of a dispute over their headscarves, the Ministry of Health responded in what has become an increasingly familiar NPP fashion: it managed the immed

Editorial August 2026

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Aug 22, 2026 — 9 min read

The Real Battle for Credibility

This month, I was invited to speak at the second Sri Lanka–India Media Friendship Association (SLIMFA) Media Fest in Colombo, on the theme “Trust, Truth and the Battle for Credibility.” Illness prevented me from attending. I have chosen instead to publish the thoughts I had prepared as this month’s editorial, because the issues they address extend far beyond a conference hall. Where I Stand I come from Northern Sri Lanka, a region devastated by nearly three decades of civil war. My entire chi

Editorial July 2026

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Jul 15, 2026 — 7 min read

The Spymaster Has Discovered the PTA Is Evil. He Is Forty-Seven Years Late — but He Is Right.

A few weeks before the arrest of former spy chief Suresh Sallay, an article arrived at Jaffna Monitor for review. It argued that a country needs sweeping laws such as the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) to tackle terrorism. I did not publish it. It was, to put it plainly, bloody one-sided. As a Tamil born and raised amidst the war, I know what the PTA is. I know what it has done to people. In this issue of Jaffna Monitor, our Consulting Editor, M.R. Narayan Swamy, pens the agony of a pastor,

Editorial June 2026

Kaniyan Pungundran

Jun 12, 2026 — 6 min read

Accountability for Others, Immunity for One’s Own

On March 27, Kumara Jayakody walked into the Colombo High Court, was formally indicted on corruption charges, posted bail, and had his fingerprints taken. Then he returned to his ministerial office. On April 10, 153 Members of Parliament from the National People's Power voted to keep him there. He remains Sri Lanka's Energy Minister today — attending Cabinet, drawing a public salary, governing a portfolio that just lost seven billion rupees of public money. If this had happened under Mahinda Ra

April 2026 Editorial

Kaniyan Pungundran

Apr 13, 2026 — 6 min read

A Dangerous Precedent: When Tamil Leaders Use the Online Safety Act

Let me say something at the outset. I respect Shanakiyan Rasamanickam. I respect him because, in my estimation, while many of our so-called leaders are busy merely talking, he is one of the few Tamil political leaders who has demonstrated the ability to deliver results. That was very much evident in the last parliamentary election. At the last parliamentary election, when the political tide across much of the North and East shifted dramatically, many Tamil voters were drawn toward the National

Editorial March 2026

Kaniyan Pungundran

Mar 16, 2026 — 10 min read

The Black Day Delusion: How Political Opportunism Is Cannibalising the Tamil Future

The Ritual of Self-Defeat Once again, on February 4th, as Sri Lanka marked its 78th year of independence from British rule, a familiar theatre of political spectacle unfolded across the North and East. Black flags were hoisted. Placards were raised. Slogans denouncing the Sri Lankan state echoed through the streets of Kilinochchi, Batticaloa, and Jaffna. Tamil political figures — some elected, others self-appointed — declared the day a “Black Day,” a day of mourning and defiance. To the uninit

Editorial February 2026

Kaniyan Pungundran

Feb 15, 2026 — 14 min read

This is Our Soil. And No One Can Take It From Us.

Note: This editorial was originally published in the February 2025 issue of Jaffna Monitor to mark Sri Lanka’s 77th Independence Day. It is reproduced on the occasion of the 78th Independence Day. February 4th, Sri Lanka’s Independence Day, is a day of both celebration and contention. As the nation marked 77 years of sovereignty, some Tamils—whose lands remain militarily occupied and whose sons and daughters have vanished without a trace—chose to observe the day with symbolic defiance. For them

Editorial February 2026

Kaniyan Pungundran

Feb 4, 2026 — 6 min read

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

Editorial January 2026

Kaniyan Pungundran

Jan 14, 2026 — 13 min read