Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, who recently praised Ranil Wickremesinghe as “ the right man for Sri Lanka ” will be on the island, this week where he’s tipped to reaffirm the US support. The US State Department announced that Lu is scheduled to travel to India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh from May 10 to May 15. “His trip will strengthen bilateral cooperation with each country and demonstrate US support for a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region,” a media note from the Department read. While in Sri Lanka Lu is expected to meet with...
Sinhala Buddhist Monk Bengamuwe Nalaka issued a warning to parliamentarians regarding their stance on the same-sex marriage bill currently under deliberation in parliament, urging them not to support the bill since it goes against the “Buddhist values”. “This bill presents serious implications to our values and principals,” he told a media briefing in Colombo. “Our culture and societal norms are not the same as Western nations. Who is asking for this bill? Are we under pressure from the Western powers?” He told reporters that the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress is firmly opposed to the...
I am 22 years old. My right hand was amputated during the end of the war in Valainjarmadam. I was 10 years old at the time and I became disabled.
On May 10, 2009, Catholic Priest Father Francis Joseph wrote to the Pope from inside the No Fire Zone, calling on the Church to break its silence on the massacre of Tamils.
Sri Lanka’s State Minister of Tourism Diana Gamage has been ousted from parliament after the Supreme Court found she had breached immigration laws by reportedly hiding her British citizenship. Gamage entered the parliament through the national list under the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), before crossing over to join Gotabaya Rajapaksa. However, a case was lodged in the Supreme Court challenging her suitability to hold office given the fact that she was a dual citizen, a claim she has repeatedly denied. Gamage once called for and encouraged violence against student protests in...
Tamil families of the disappeared in Vavuniya urged Eelam Tamils to refrain from casting their vote in the upcoming elections in Sri Lanka, as they marked 2635 days of continuous roadside protests in pursuit of answers to the whereabouts of their forcibly disappeared loved. The secretary of the Vavuniya Families of the Disappeared association, Gopalakrishnan Rajkumar told a media briefing that it has been four years since a president was elected in Sri Lanka, however, their grievances are unaddressed to date. “Boycotting this election will convey to the country and the world that Tamils in...
Sri Lankan war criminal Shavendra Silva called on his troops not to “succumb to the seductive promises of riches and adventure” in Russia as mercenaries, after officials confirmed that at least 83 Sri Lankan soldiers were participating in the Ukraine-Russia war . Silva, who is currently barred from entry to the United States over his role in executing Tamils, made the remarks in his blog post on the Office of Chief of Defence Staff website , telling troops they should “resist the appeal of easy money and fleeting fame, that true valour lies not in the size of one's paycheck.” “It is with a...
A new report by the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) has unveiled ongoing abuses against Eelam Tamils by Sri Lankan authorities, including torture and rape under the present government. Despite fifteen years passing since the end of the armed struggle, the report documents 123 cases of abduction and torture between 2015 and 2022, with 11 occurring under President Ranil Wickremesinghe's administration.The report paints a grim picture of persistent brutality by Sri Lankan security forces, who continue to treat Tamils as "security threats". Many victims, unlawfully detained, faced...
A Sri Lankan woman who is barred from the United States over her connections to a commander who oversaw the execution of Tamils, is being featured in an Australian government program as an ambassador for STEM research. Vinuri Silva is the daughter of Shavendra Silva , a former army commander and present chief of defence staff in Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government. He stands accused of a slew of war crimes committed by him and units manned by him, particularly during the final stages of the Mullivaikkal genocide. Under multiple Sri Lankan governments, however, he has been praised and promoted...
The women who wrote these poems are all but one former members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). All were detained and tortured after the end of the armed conflict and were forced to flee abroad, leaving loved ones behind. They vary in age from their twenties to sixties; one is widowed, some married and some unmarried as of yet. They attended a weekly psychosocial programme in London where they began to read Tamil poetry. Poems included ‘Lost Evenings, Lost Lives’ (edited by Lakshmi Holmstrom & Sascha Ebeling), Packiyanathan Ahilan’s ‘Then There Were No Witnesses’ (...