On this day 28 years ago, the Sri Lankan air force dropped 13 bombs on St Peter’s Church in Navaly. More than 140 sheltering Tamils, who were encouraged by the military to seek refuge at the church, were killed on the spot. At least 13 children were amongst the dead, with many more succumbing to injuries later as the local hospital was swamped with the wounded.
On July 5, Eelam Tamils across the world remember and mourn the sacrifices made by the LTTE's elite women and men, the Black Tigers. “Karumpuli Naal” marks the sacrifice made by the first Black Tiger, Captain Miller, or Vallipuram Vasanthan, 36 years ago. In 1987, he attacked a Sri Lankan Army garrison in Nelliyadi in the Jaffna district, by driving a small truck with explosives into it. Forty Sri Lankan soldiers were killed in the attack.
In the town of Pulmoaddai, located in the Trincomalee District, more than 25 soldiers and monks are tirelessly working day and night to construct a new Buddhist vihara. Their objective is to complete the project swiftly, despite accusations of illegal deforestation that preceded it. Pulmoaddai, primarily inhabited by Tamil-speaking Muslims, lies within the Kuchchaveli Divisional Secretariat. Situated on the border of the Mullaitivu District, the town holds significant strategic importance as it connects the Northern and Eastern regions of the traditional Tamil homeland. Since the conclusion...
Many villages in Mullaitivu are being targeted for ongoing Sinhala-Buddhist colonisation by the Sri Lankan state. In the 80s, villages such as Manalaru, Othiyamalai, Amaravayal, Thennamarawadi and Kokkilai were violently, not only with Sinhala names, but also with Sinhala settlements populating the village following the massacre of hundreds of Tamils from each village by the Sri Lankan army. Before the massacre in 1984, over 367 families lived in these areas, with over 200 families cultivating paddy as their main livelihood while others grew livestock. These farmers were also unionised into diverse cooperatives to protect their livelihoods, which allowed them to accumulate a significant amount of wealth, according to locals.
The leader of the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF), Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, has called on the Sri Lankan state to reveal the amount they had paid to the British mercenary organisation known as Keenie Meenie Services (KMS) to support their suppression of the Tamil armed resistance. “The Sri Lankan state needs to come clean and tell parliament how much they paid Keenie Meenie Services to help repress Tamils in the 1980s”. Investigative journalism by Declassified UK’s chief reporter, Phil Miller, has documented how during the 1980s, the British mercenary group set up and trained a...
Sri Lankan police have arrested the head of the Association of Relatives of the Disappeared, Kasipillai Jayavanitha, for allegedly illegally obtaining electricity for the shed which has served as the base for their six-year-long protest.
Eric Cantona will forever be a Manchester United legend. But it’s not the 82 goals or the four league titles that leave the fiery forward endeared in the hearts of many United fans. Instead, it is a single moment on 25 January, 1995, when Cantona launched his infamous ‘kung-fu’ kick on a football hooligan at Selhurst Park. Twenty-eight years later, it remains one of the most extraordinary moments in the history of British sport.
With the announcement of local elections across the island, the Tamil National Alliance, the largest alliance representing Tamils in the North-East, is in flux over divisions between and within the constituent parties. An announcement on December 11 by MP and spokesperson M A Sumanthiran, a divisive figure within the Tamil polity, that the TNA’s largest constituent party Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) would contest the upcoming election independently has not been received well by the remaining alliance partners TELO and PLOTE. The two parties wrote to ITAK demanding that the TNA, which...
Thousands of Tamils gathered across the Tamil homeland to mark Maaveerar Naal - or Great Heroes Day - and remember those who sacrificed their lives in the Tamil struggle for liberation.
The UN Human Rights Council has adopted resolution 51/L1 on Sri Lanka, which will “extend and reinforce the capacity of the Office of the High Commissioner to collect, consolidate, analyse and preserve” evidence that may be used in future war crimes trials. The resolution was passed with 20 votes in favour, 7 against and 20 abstentions.