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By Aruliniyan Mahalingam Shashi Tharoor gave the sort of speech he is known for at the Colombo Literary Festival last week: fluent, warm, faintly flattering to its hosts. Standing in the Arcade at Independence Square, he called Sri Lanka a land “profoundly steeped in rich, mesmerising oral traditions,” and traced its historical pulse to two ancient chronicles: the Mahavamsa, or Great Chronicle, and its predecessor the Dipavamsa, or Island Chronicle. These, he said, were “a library of cultural m

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka —It began as a feel-good story about a stray dog that captivated thousands of Hindu pilgrims across Sri Lanka. It ended with a Sri Lankan migrant worker from the eastern town of Kalmunai being sentenced to five years in a Saudi prison over a single comment on Facebook. The worker, identified by his family as Anojan, a Sri Lankan Tamil employed in the kingdom, was sentenced on Sunday after posting a Facebook comment that Saudi authorities deemed insulting to the Prophet Muhamma

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Thousands of Buddhist monks gathered in Colombo on Monday for a conference where speakers voiced concern over possible constitutional reforms, the administration of archaeological lands in Sri Lanka's Northern and Eastern provinces, and what they said was growing criticism of the Buddhist clergy. The Maha Sangha Conference, held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall under the theme "Sukhā Sanghassa Sāmaggī" ("The Unity of the Sangha Brings Happiness"),

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Northern Sri Lanka should brace for a long spell of heat, growing strain on its water, and sharp swings from drought to downpour as El Niño gathers strength in the Pacific, a University of Jaffna climate scholar has warned. Prof. Nagamuthu Pratheeparajah, a professor of geography and dean of the university’s Faculty of Arts, said people should start conserving water now and managing their wells, tanks, and reservoirs with more care, especially in districts that already run s

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A heated confrontation in Sri Lanka’s Parliament on Friday over an arrest warrant issued against Jaffna District independent MP Ramanathan Archchuna exposed a broader constitutional question: What happens when a Member of Parliament is required to appear before court on the same day Parliament is sitting? Opposition lawmakers argued that the warrant infringed upon parliamentary privilege and interfered with an elected legislator’s constitutional duties. Government members c

By: Aruliniyan Mahalingam This profile first appeared in the Jaffna Monitor at the time of Maheswaran’s death. It is republished, lightly revised, to mark the second anniversary of his passing. Thambapillai Maheswaran, one of the earliest figures in the armed Tamil struggle and the founder of the Tamil Eelam Army (TEA), died of a heart attack in Jaffna two years ago. He was among the first to bring a certain audacity to the movement — the raids, the jailbreaks, the vehicle bombs that prece