Monitor Memo

At Chemmani Mass Grave, Families Tell European Diplomats: ‘Our Lives Are in Your Hands’
European Union Ambassador to Sri Lanka Carmen Moreno consoles a relative of a forcibly disappeared person during a visit to the Chemmani mass grave excavation site in Jaffna on Wednesday. Also pictured are the ambassadors of Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands.

At Chemmani Mass Grave, Families Tell European Diplomats: ‘Our Lives Are in Your Hands’

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — A high-level delegation of European diplomats visited the Chemmani mass grave excavation in Jaffna on Wednesday, meeting relatives of the forcibly disappeared and telling them that a petition they submitted would be treated as more than a symbolic appeal as the families renewed their demand for international intervention. “The petition you have given us is not merely a piece of paper,” the diplomats told representatives of the families, according to those present at the meet
July 2026 Monitor Memo
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Sri Lanka Says It Has No ‘Political Prisoners,’ Despite President’s Pledge to Free Them

Sri Lanka Says It Has No ‘Political Prisoners,’ Despite President’s Pledge to Free Them

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s justice minister told Parliament this week that the country holds no prisoners officially classified as “political prisoners,” a legalistic distinction that has reopened one of the most sensitive disputes of the postwar era and raised questions about the government’s commitment to a promise made to Tamil voters by both President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and his party’s election manifesto. Harshana Nanayakkara, the minister of justice and national integration, sa
July 2026 Monitor Memo
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ITAK Accuses Government Authorities of Defying Court Order at Kanniya

ITAK Accuses Government Authorities of Defying Court Order at Kanniya

TRINCOMALEE, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s main Tamil political party has accused government authorities of beginning religious construction at the disputed Kanniya site in the eastern district of Trincomalee despite a court order that it says prohibits such work. Shanakiyan Rasamanickam, the parliamentary group leader of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi, or ITAK, said the Department of Archaeology, together with the Trincomalee district secretary and other government officials, had commenced construct
July 2026 Monitor Memo
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Seized Indian Trawlers Choke Myliddy Harbour, ITAK Lawmaker Says

Seized Indian Trawlers Choke Myliddy Harbour, ITAK Lawmaker Says

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Thuraireasa Ravikaran, a member of Parliament for the Vanni district from the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi, or ITAK, has urged the government to remove Indian trawlers and other vessels that have long crowded Myliddy Fisheries Harbour, saying they are preventing local fishing families from fully using a harbour that was once one of northern Sri Lanka’s most important fishing centers. Mr. Ravikaran raised the issue at a meeting of Parliament’s Ministerial Consultative Committe
July 2026 Monitor Memo
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Tamil Leader Urges Scientific Inquiry Into Chemmani Mass Grave as European Envoys Visit

Tamil Leader Urges Scientific Inquiry Into Chemmani Mass Grave as European Envoys Visit

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — A senior Tamil political leader has urged European diplomats to press for a separate scientific investigation into the Chemmani mass grave, arguing that establishing when the victims were buried could help determine who was in authority at the time and ultimately identify those responsible. C.V.K. Sivagnanam, acting president of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi, or ITAK, said he made the request during a meeting in Jaffna with a high-level European delegation that included th
July 2026 Monitor Memo
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Can Sri Lanka’s Tamil and Muslim Parties Stand Together?

Can Sri Lanka’s Tamil and Muslim Parties Stand Together?

By M.R. Narayan Swamy Six political parties representing Tamils and Muslims in Sri Lanka have come together for the first time in years to pressure the government on issues concerning the minorities ahead of Provincial Council elections expected next year. But even as commoners voice scepticism about the grouping’s viability, one of its key leaders asserts that the front will “advance the historical responsibilities” towards the Tamil-speaking people that transcend elections. Political pundit
July 2026 Monitor Memo
M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy
Sumanthiran Shown the Gate? Alumni Protest Roils Victoria College Anniversary

Sumanthiran Shown the Gate? Alumni Protest Roils Victoria College Anniversary

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — A decision to invite M.A. Sumanthiran, the acting general secretary of the ITAK and a politician widely blamed by his critics for the decline of both Tamil politics and the ITAK’s standing in Jaffna, to the 150th anniversary celebrations of Victoria College in Sulipuram drew protests from a group of former students on Saturday — before the school announced that he would not attend after all. The former students gathered outside the college to object to the invitation extende
July 2026 Monitor Memo
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China ‘Fully Agrees’ With Sri Lanka Government’s Policies, Departing Ambassador Says

China ‘Fully Agrees’ With Sri Lanka Government’s Policies, Departing Ambassador Says

By: Asela Kuruluwansha KANDY, Sri Lanka — China’s outgoing ambassador to Sri Lanka said Beijing was in full agreement with the policies of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s government and would continue supporting the country’s development, as he prepared to leave the island after a six-year diplomatic posting. The ambassador, Qi Zhenhong, made the remarks during farewell visits on Friday to the chief Buddhist prelates of the Malwathu and Asgiri chapters in Kandy. Speaking to reporters a
July 2026 Monitor Memo
Asela Kuruluwansha.

Asela Kuruluwansha.