Monitor Memo

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — A day after a bitter confrontation with fellow Tamil lawmaker Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam at a local government coordination meeting, Member of Parliament Archchuna Ramanathan on Friday removed a protest cutout bearing his image that had been adorned with a garland of slippers. The incident followed a tense exchange on Thursday at a coordinating committee meeting in Tellippalai, where Mr. Ramanathan and Mr. Ponnambalam, leader of the Tamil National People’s Front, engaged in a

GALLE, Sri Lanka — Disaster-management officials from the United States and Sri Lanka concluded a three-day workshop in the southern coastal city of Galle on Thursday with a simulated emergency exercise aimed at strengthening coordination during major natural disasters and humanitarian crises. The workshop, held from June 16 to 18, was organized by the U.S. Embassy in Colombo in partnership with the U.S. military’s Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, the Mo

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal on Thursday postponed until June 24 a petition by former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa seeking to prevent his arrest under the country’s anti-terrorism law in connection with the investigation into the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings. The court declined to issue interim relief restraining investigators from taking action against Mr. Rajapaksa while the case is pending, leaving open the possibility of his arrest before the next hearing. Mr. Rajapaksa

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department has sealed an underground detention facility inside the Trincomalee Navy Camp, a site long known as the “Gun Site,” in a major development in one of the country’s most disturbing unresolved disappearance investigations. The Trincomalee magistrate is expected to visit the site for an official inspection, a step investigators believe could help preserve evidence and clarify how the facility was used during the final years of Sri L

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A day after former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa asked a court to block his possible arrest under Sri Lanka’s anti-terrorism law, another member of the country’s once-dominant political dynasty was taken into custody. Yoshitha Rajapaksa, the second son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, was arrested on Wednesday by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption after appearing before investigators in connection with a probe into his recruitment and tr

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whose years as defence secretary coincided with the extensive use of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, has petitioned the Court of Appeal to prevent his arrest under the same law, which became a central pillar of the security apparatus he helped shape. The petition, filed through Attorney-at-Law Sanath Wijewardena, seeks an order barring investigators from arresting Mr. Rajapaksa under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, or PTA, in connectio

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka – Hundreds of anguished Tamils staged a noisy protest outside the Jaffna District Secretariat, demanding the immediate return of their precious land, which the military seized 36 years ago to battle the Tamil Tigers. An estimated 500 men and women picketed the office complex for around three hours from 8.30 am, asking the authorities to press the military to surrender thousands of acres of land in Valikamam North area in Jaffna. A separate vigil was organised at the Palaly Ju

By M.R. Narayan Swamy Doctors are doing everything they can to keep Sri Lanka’s former intelligence chief Suresh Sallay alive, his wife said on Monday, as the man spent his ninth day in a Colombo hospital after launching an indefinite hunger strike. “He is extremely weak,” Manori Sallay told Jaffna Monitor after visiting him. “All the doctors are going all out to keep him alive.” The former head of the State Intelligence Service (SIS), who was arrested in February on charges of conspiring wit