Monitor Memo

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A coalition of six Tamil-speaking political parties has formally requested a meeting with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, in what could be the first coordinated political initiative since the parties agreed earlier this month to work together on issues affecting Sri Lanka's Tamil-speaking communities despite their longstanding political differences. The request, made in a letter to the president following a meeting on Friday at the Parliament complex, comes as the gover

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A three-judge bench of the Colombo High Court ruled on Friday that a witness who has twice changed his account in the case of the abducted journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda may be recalled to testify again, after he told the court that the evidence he gave four years ago had been extracted from him under duress. The witness, Sumathipala Sureshkumar, known in the case papers as Thaveendran and, more commonly, as Murali, is the fourth prosecution witness in a trial-at-bar agains

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Literature can build bridges where politics sometimes cannot, Indian parliamentarian and author Shashi Tharoor said on Friday as he inaugurated the first Colombo Literary Festival, urging India and Sri Lanka to strengthen their ties through books, translation, and cultural exchange. Addressing an audience at Arcade Independence Square, Tharoor described the launch of the festival as “an act of optimism,” saying it affirmed that books, ideas, and meaningful conversations con

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — China’s ambassador to Sri Lanka, Qi Zhenhong, used a farewell message marking the end of his six-year posting to praise deepening political trust, expanding economic cooperation, and closer cultural ties between the two countries, while urging continued collaboration under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. In the letter, Mr. Qi reflected on what he called the longest diplomatic assignment of his career, describing Sri Lanka as a country of rich history, cultural diversity

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A Sri Lankan deputy minister has accused former President Ranil Wickremesinghe and other senior figures associated with the United National Party of bearing responsibility for the political climate surrounding the 1981 burning of the Jaffna Public Library. Eranga Gunasekara, the deputy minister of urban development, said the destruction of the library, one of the most searing symbols of Tamil cultural loss in Sri Lanka, had “set fire to the hearts of the people” and contrib

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The leader of Sri Lanka’s Parliament told the chamber on Thursday that a controversial independent lawmaker from Jaffna was “psychologically affected” and that lawmakers were patiently waiting for him to seek treatment and recover, an unusually personal attack that came during a chaotic exchange over parliamentary decorum. Bimal Rathnayake, the transport minister and leader of the House, also said the conduct of the lawmaker, Ramanathan Archchuna, was insulting to “the enti

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — A private hospital in Jaffna has been fined 3 million Sri Lankan rupees after pleading guilty to charging patients more than the government-set maximum price for a common blood test, the largest penalty imposed in a nationwide enforcement drive against private hospitals and medical laboratories. Venus Speciality Hospital (Pvt) Ltd, on Palaly Road in Kandarmadam, had been charging Rs. 550 for a Full Blood Count, or FBC, test, despite a legally prescribed maximum charge of Rs.

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