January 2026 - Jaffna Monitor

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

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

Guest Column Special Article

Prof. Mahesh Nirmalan

Jan 13, 2026 — 8 min read

A Peacemaker’s Belated Wisdom

By: M.R. Narayan Swamy Reading this otherwise invaluable book will give the impression that academic-turned-politician G.L. Peiris was a distant observer of Sri Lanka’s peace process (which collapsed) and not the government’s chief negotiator with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and a key player in a dialogue that had been expected to end a protracted and bloody conflict. Peiris raises several vital issues that he feels led the peace process to unfortunately unravel, trig

Article Book Review

M.R. Narayan Swamy

Jan 12, 2026 — 5 min read

The Promise and Limits of AI in Mental Healthcare

Artificial intelligence (AI) today permeates almost every sphere of modern life, from finance and defence to education and healthcare. While its recent explosion has captured global attention, the roots of AI stretch back several decades. The intellectual groundwork was laid in 1950, when British mathematician Alan Turing posed a revolutionary question in his paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”: Can machines think? A few years later, in 1955, computer scientist John McCarthy formally co

Article Opinion & Analysis

Dr Ruwan M. Jayathunga

Jan 12, 2026 — 9 min read

Cricket in Jaffna: Past, Present, Future and the Debate Over a New International Stadium

Cricket occupies a unique and powerful place in Sri Lanka’s national identity. No other sport evokes the same depth of passion or collective pride. The 1996 Cricket World Cup victory transformed cricket from a popular pastime into a unifying national obsession—an emblem of hope, joy, resilience, and belonging. For decades, Sri Lankans have believed that cricket transcends geography, ethnicity, class, and political divisions. From the urban centres of Colombo, Galle, and Kandy to the rural heartl

Opinion January 2026

Dr. Gamini Goonetilleke

Jan 12, 2026 — 11 min read

Path to Virtue

Hmm! These are supposed to be great men! But their deeds are not that of great men. Otherwise, they would not do as they please… evidently, they are big thugs. But who do they show their thuggery to. To the poor who have nothing. She was a young woman. My blood boils when I think of what she has to put up with this in this world from the day she was born to this day. She grew up with no one to lend a hand. Now they take exception to her morality. Whether she ekes out a living or not, once t

Story January 2026

Eḻuttukkiṉiyavaṉ

Jan 12, 2026 — 3 min read

No Space, No Excuses: A Hospital That Thinks Beyond Itself

By: Dr Shane Halpe Batticaloa Teaching Hospital sits in the middle of a busy town—surrounded by roads, markets, schools, and the restless rhythm of everyday life. It is a place where ambulances arrive with breathless urgency, where families sit on benches holding reports and hope, where staff move quickly because delay has consequences. And yet, as Dr Mythily Barthelot—Deputy Director of the hospital—says with striking simplicity, the biggest challenge is not always the most dramatic one.

Article January 2026

Dr. Shane Halpe

Jan 12, 2026 — 5 min read

Sri Lanka Makes History at International Tamil Debate Championship

Sri Lanka has achieved a major milestone in international academic and cultural competition, with the Sri Lanka National Tamil Debating Team emerging victorious at the International Sambandan Paindhamizh Sudar Tamil Debate Championship, held in Malaysia. The Sri Lankan team, captained by Royal College student J. Hareish, made history by becoming the first non-Malaysian team to win the prestigious championship, which traditionally attracts strong participation from Malaysian Tamil schools and in

January 2026

Jaffna Monitor

Jan 12, 2026 — 1 min read