Features

Features

Latest news from and about the homeland

As Burnham eyes Number 10, British Tamils face a largely untested record
Burnham at the EU Mayors' Conference in 2018. As Andy Burnham emerges as the frontrunner to succeed Keir Starmer as Labour leader and British prime minister, British Tamils are weighing a record on Tamil justice that is far thinner than the outgoing premier's, yet not quite the blank slate it might first appear. Starmer, who announced on Monday that he would resign as Labour leader and…

India’s Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders to acquire Colombo Dockyard in landmark deal

Jul 18, 2025
India’s state-owned Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) is set to acquire a controlling stake in Sri Lanka’s largest maritime facility, the Colombo Dockyard PLC (CDPLC), marking the first-ever international acquisition by an Indian shipbuilding firm.

Horror in Vankalai: The 2006 massacre of a Tamil family and the quest for justice

Jul 13, 2025
Last month marked 19 years since the one of the most gruesome murders of a Tamil family by the Sri Lankan military. We look back on the events of the murder and the struggle to find justice for it.

‘Bombs rolling in the air’ - Remembering the Navaly church massacre

Jul 9, 2025

On this day 30 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.

At approximately 4:30 pm on July 9, 1995, the St Peter’s Church in Navaly and the nearby Sri Kathirgama Murugan Kovil, which were both sheltering displaced Tamils from army bombardment, was attacked.

‘Bombs rolling in the air’

Remembering the Black Tigers

Jul 5, 2025
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, 37 years ago.

Explainer - Krishanthi Kumaraswamy and the Chemmani mass graves

Jul 2, 2025
Krishanthi Kumaraswamy was an 18-year-old Tamil schoolgirl from Jaffna whose brutal rape and murder in 1996, along with the killing of her mother, younger brother, and a neighbour, became one of the most notorious atrocities of Sri Lanka’s genocide of Tamils.

UN human rights chief pays tribute at Chemmani protest, visits mass graves

Jun 25, 2025
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, visited the Chemmani mass grave site in Jaffna on Wednesday, as well as a vigil set up by Tamil protestors where he laid flowers before a flame amid calls for international accountability over wartime atrocities.

Explainer - What are the Chemmani mass graves?

Jun 25, 2025
Chemmani, a village on the outskirts of Jaffna, is a serene and beautiful town that has come to take on a notorious reputation. It is the site of mass graves, where potentially, hundreds of Tamils who were murdered by the Sri Lankan military lie buried.

‘No justice for genocide’ - German Tamils confront Sri Lankan president in Berlin

Jun 12, 2025

A vocal Tamil protest greeted Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake in Berlin on Thursday, as he met with senior German officials, amidst calls for accountability over mass atrocities committed against Tamils.

New report details Sri Lanka’s surveillance and intimidation in the North-East

Jun 11, 2025
A newly released report by the Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research (ACPR) has detailed the extent to which Sri Lanka’s security forces continue to maintain an oppressive culture of surveillance and intimidation in the Tamil North-East, more than 16 years after the end of the armed conflict.

Sri Lanka deploys heavy security as Tamil protests over illegal Buddhist temple continue

Jun 10, 2025
An injunction has been issued by the occupying Sri Lankan police in Jaffna against 27 individuals and organisations, as Tamil protests continued against the illegal construction of the Buddhist vihara on privately owned Tamil land.
India’s Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders to acquire Colombo Dockyard in landmark deal
Horror in Vankalai: The 2006 massacre of a Tamil family and the quest for justice
‘Bombs rolling in the air’ - Remembering the Navaly church massacre
Remembering the Black Tigers
Explainer - Krishanthi Kumaraswamy and the Chemmani mass graves
UN human rights chief pays tribute at Chemmani protest, visits mass graves
Explainer - What are the Chemmani mass graves?
‘No justice for genocide’ - German Tamils confront Sri Lankan president in Berlin
New report details Sri Lanka’s surveillance and intimidation in the North-East
Sri Lanka deploys heavy security as Tamil protests over illegal Buddhist temple continue
India’s Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders to acquire Colombo Dockyard in landmark deal
Horror in Vankalai: The 2006 massacre of a Tamil family and the quest for justice
‘Bombs rolling in the air’ - Remembering the Navaly church massacre
Remembering the Black Tigers
Explainer - Krishanthi Kumaraswamy and the Chemmani mass graves
UN human rights chief pays tribute at Chemmani protest, visits mass graves
Explainer - What are the Chemmani mass graves?
‘No justice for genocide’ - German Tamils confront Sri Lankan president in Berlin
New report details Sri Lanka’s surveillance and intimidation in the North-East
Sri Lanka deploys heavy security as Tamil protests over illegal Buddhist temple continue