November 2025

Puttalam Municipal Council in Turmoil Over ‘Fake Mayor’ Controversy
SM Isham Marikkar at the Asia Pacific Cities Summit (APCS) 2025 in Dubai — his name tag identifying him as “Mayor of Puttalam.”

Puttalam Municipal Council in Turmoil Over ‘Fake Mayor’ Controversy

A major dispute has erupted within the Puttalam Municipal Council — in what many wryly describe as something that “could only happen in Sri Lanka.” Puttalam Mayor Eng. Rinsad Ahamed has accused Councillor and Clean Nation Party (Thuya Desathirkana Katchi) Leader SM Isham Marikkar of falsely presenting himself as the Mayor of Puttalam during the Asia Pacific Cities Summit (APCS) 2025 in Dubai — a global forum exclusively meant for mayors, not for those merely aspiring to be one, mayoral sources
Monitor Memo November 2025
Jaffna Monitor

Jaffna Monitor
Why Tamil Politics Cannot Be a Pensioner's Hobby
A cut-out portrait of Judge M. Ilancheliyan from his farewell ceremony.

Why Tamil Politics Cannot Be a Pensioner's Hobby

If you trace the arc of Tamil political leadership from Independence to today, one pattern repeats with stubborn persistence: our fate has been decided almost exclusively by lawyers. From Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan and G.G. Ponnambalam to Thanthai Chelva and Amirthalingam, and now to Sumanthiran and Gajendrakumar—the legal profession has monopolized Tamil political space for more than a century. Nothing personal against lawyers. But their craft is built on argument, narrative construction, and
Editorial November 2025
Kaniyan Pungundran

Kaniyan Pungundran
Beyond the Rubble of Simple Stories: A New Sri Lankan Consciousness Emerges

Beyond the Rubble of Simple Stories: A New Sri Lankan Consciousness Emerges

Dear Editor, For decades, the story of Sri Lanka has often been told through the distorting lens of reductionism. a complex conflict simplified into binaries of hero versus villain. Narratives were kept in protected silos: a Tamil story of state persecution, a Sinhala story of national defence, and a Muslim story of a community caught in the crossfire. These isolated accounts, while containing truths, perpetuated division. From the rubble of these siloed histories, a more complex and honest co
Letter to the Editor November 2025
Jaffna Monitor

Jaffna Monitor
“Be it LTTE, Hamas, or ISIS — You Can’t Create a Country Through Terror”: UN Whistleblower Mukesh Kapila, Who Exposed the Darfur Genocide, Speaks to Jaffna Monitor
Prof. Mukesh Kapila

“Be it LTTE, Hamas, or ISIS — You Can’t Create a Country Through Terror”: UN Whistleblower Mukesh Kapila, Who Exposed the Darfur Genocide, Speaks to Jaffna Monitor

When Dr. Mukesh Kapila arrived in Khartoum in March 2003 as the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan — the UN’s most senior official in the country — he carried with him the weight of witness: Rwanda’s killing fields, Srebrenica’s mass graves, and the scarred landscapes of Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Angola, and Myanmar. An Oxford-trained physician who once stitched wounds in Cambridge’s quiet wards, he had long since traded scalpels for cables, convinced that saving a s
November 2025 Special Interview
Kaniyan Pungundran

Kaniyan Pungundran
A Mission Called Journalism: Then and Now
M.R. Narayan Swamy interviewing LTTE cadres in Kaluthavalai, Batticaloa, soon after Eelam War II began in 1990.

A Mission Called Journalism: Then and Now

When the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster killed thousands and left many more maimed for life, the heart-wrenching tragedy was covered on a per diem of, believe it or not, a pathetic ₹45 (INR) a day! It was then the world’s worst industrial disaster, blamed on lethal doses of a highly toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) which leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide factory on the night of December 2-3. When I flew into Bhopal from New Delhi to add strength to the local bureau of the United News of India (UN
November 2025 Special Article
M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy
Inside the Siege: A Sinhala Doctor’s Account of Jaffna Fort, 1990
Dr. Gamini Goonetilleke at the Jaffna Fort as a young surgeon.

Inside the Siege: A Sinhala Doctor’s Account of Jaffna Fort, 1990

The first mortar shell screamed just after dawn on 10 June 1990. It tore through the coral-stone ramparts of Jaffna Fort, the blast rattling every window in the city. Inside the pentagonal walls, 130 men—soldiers of the Sinha Regiment and young police recruits—looked at one another and knew: this was no skirmish. This was a siege. For 107 days, the old Portuguese-Dutch-British fortress became the eye of a storm that swallowed the peninsula. Outside, LTTE snipers hid in the Public Library, mort
Article November 2025
Dr. Gamini Goonetilleke

Dr. Gamini Goonetilleke
Diaspora Tamil DJ Faces Racist Threats, Forced to Close Ahangama Restaurant

Diaspora Tamil DJ Faces Racist Threats, Forced to Close Ahangama Restaurant

In a sobering reflection of how old prejudices continue to shadow modern Sri Lanka, Robert Rajeswaran—better known behind the turntables as DJ Rob R—says he is shutting down his newly launched Indian restaurant, Tiffins, in the southern coastal town of Ahangama following weeks of intimidation, death threats, and physical assault from locals. The decision has left the 30-something artist questioning whether a Tamil entrepreneur can feel truly safe in a Sinhala-majority area, even 16 years after
Article November 2025
Our Reporter

Our Reporter
The Roots of Sri Lanka’s Genocidal Mindset and Anti-Indian Sentiment Lie in the Mahavamsa: Writer N. Saravanan on His Bold New Translation
Writer N. Saravanan

The Roots of Sri Lanka’s Genocidal Mindset and Anti-Indian Sentiment Lie in the Mahavamsa: Writer N. Saravanan on His Bold New Translation

For nearly thirty-five years, N. Saravanan has been a steadfast voice in Tamil literary and journalistic circles. His journey began with Vidivu magazine, where his early writings reflected a deep commitment to social consciousness and cultural identity. He later served as one of the editors of Sarinihar, a publication renowned for its fearless engagement with issues of justice and human rights. In 2000, Saravanan migrated to Norway, where he continues to work as both a writer and activist, cont
Interview November 2025
Kaniyan Pungundran

Kaniyan Pungundran