May 2026

JVP Sang the Same Songs. Only Tamil Rapper Went to Jail.
Sangeethasan Ganeskumar

JVP Sang the Same Songs. Only Tamil Rapper Went to Jail.

By M.R. Narayan Swamy “O land that yearned for valour O soil where Tamil pride has flourished The land where history was born And gave the nation its national leader (Prabhakaran) A bronze statue of the Tamil national leader Shall stand in the land of his birth.” These lyrics are not from the Tamil Tigers’ liberation songs. They are from a song — believe it or not — popularized by Sri Lanka’s incumbent ruling party, whose government has now sent a young Tamil man to prison for singing
JM Exclusive May 2026
M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy
Why Sri Lanka Has Yet to Unlock the Indian Market

Why Sri Lanka Has Yet to Unlock the Indian Market

By M.R. Narayan Swamy Why are India and Sri Lanka struggling to embrace a mutually beneficial trade agreement despite plenty of attempts? Why do exports to India account for only about 6 percent of Sri Lanka’s total exports? Colombo and New Delhi have long sought to upgrade the original India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA) by addressing its shortcomings and expanding its scope to include services and investment provisions. The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was pr
Guest Column May 2026
M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy
At Jaffna University, a Damaged Vesak Lantern Tests a Fragile Consensus

At Jaffna University, a Damaged Vesak Lantern Tests a Fragile Consensus

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — When a few Vesak lanterns erected by Sinhala Buddhist students at the University of Jaffna were vandalized this week, the damage itself was limited. What followed was more unusual: student leaders, university representatives, and even Tamil nationalist politicians quickly united to condemn the act and reject attempts to turn it into an ethnic controversy. The lanterns, displayed as part of Vesak celebrations at the university’s Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, wer
May 2026 Monitor Memo
Our Reporter

Our Reporter
Deepthi Attygalle, Pioneer of Sri Lankan Anaesthesia, Dies at 86
Deepthi Attygalle

Deepthi Attygalle, Pioneer of Sri Lankan Anaesthesia, Dies at 86

Deepthi Attygalle, the Sri Lankan anaesthesiologist whose work on magnesium sulphate became an important reference point in the treatment of severe tetanus, died on June 1, 2026. She was 86. For much of the twentieth century, severe tetanus was managed by heavily sedating patients and supporting them on mechanical ventilators for weeks at a time, a regimen that consumed intensive-care resources often unavailable in many developing countries. At the General Hospital in Colombo, Dr. Attygalle and
May 2026 Obituary
Jaffna Monitor

Jaffna Monitor
A Former Tiger's Death in France Raises Questions About Unhealed Wounds

A Former Tiger's Death in France Raises Questions About Unhealed Wounds

By M.R. Narayan Swamy The killing of a former Tamil Tiger in Paris by the police has brought to the fore psychological issues that still affect a huge mass of ex-combatants who mostly lead broken lives after fighting one of the world’s bloodiest insurgencies, which at one point almost broke up Sri Lanka. A large but mostly undocumented army of former guerrillas of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) now eke out a low-key existence in Sri Lanka, India, and several countries in the West,
Guest Column May 2026
M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy
The Jaffna Bar Association's Letter the Government Did Not Want Written

The Jaffna Bar Association's Letter the Government Did Not Want Written

By Aruliniyan Mahalingam JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — The letter ran to a few hundred words, but its message to the President of Sri Lanka was unambiguous: lawyers in Jaffna, the country's Tamil heartland, believed that the executive branch had reached into the judiciary and moved a judge who had displeased it. That document — an appeal from the Jaffna Bar Association to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake over the abrupt transfer of High Court Judge A.G. Alexraja — was precisely the kind of accusation
JM Exclusive May 2026
Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Aruliniyan Mahalingam
Mano Ganesan Seeks Inquiry Into Whether Government Diverted Election Funds Without Parliamentary Approval

Mano Ganesan Seeks Inquiry Into Whether Government Diverted Election Funds Without Parliamentary Approval

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Mano Ganesan, leader of the Democratic People’s Front and a member of Sri Lanka’s opposition, has asked Parliament’s chief financial oversight committee to investigate whether funds allocated for long-delayed Provincial Council elections were diverted to post-cyclone reconstruction efforts without legislative approval. In a letter sent Monday to Dr. Harsha de Silva, chairman of Parliament’s Committee on Public Finance (COPF), Mr. Ganesan requested an inquiry into remarks at
May 2026 Monitor Memo
Our Reporter

Our Reporter
Jaffna Lawyers Urge President to Investigate Transfer of High Court Judge

Jaffna Lawyers Urge President to Investigate Transfer of High Court Judge

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — The Jaffna Bar Association has appealed directly to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to investigate the sudden transfer of High Court Judge A.G. Alexraja, warning that the move risks undermining public confidence in the judiciary and raising concerns about interference in judicial administration. In a letter dated May 30 and addressed to the President through the Presidential Secretariat, the association expressed its "complete disbelief and shock" at the transfer of Judge
May 2026 Monitor Memo
Our Reporter

Our Reporter