Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary, Air Vice Marshal Sampath Thuyacontha, met with Pakistan’s Defence Minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, in Islamabad this week on the sidelines of the 5th Sri Lanka-Pakistan Bilateral Defence Dialogue, the Sri Lankan government announced. The meeting took place on Tuesday 29 April, the second day of the three-day dialogue, which aims to enhance defence cooperation…

Tamil activists call for calm at today's protest

Tamil activists  in the UK have joined  organisers of the 'Boycott Sri Lanka Cricket' campaign in calling for calm at today's protest in Cardiff and condemning any suggestion of retaliatory violence or 'revenge'. 

In a statement released yesterday British Tamils Forum said:

SL ministers accuse #BoycottLKA activists of issuing death threats to cricketers

Sri Lankan ministers alleged today in parliament that the Tamil youth leading the 'Boycott Sri Lankan Cricket' campaign had issued death threats to Sri Lankan cricket team, reports the Daily Mirror. 

Claiming that the activists had been hired by 'certain groups to carryout various activities including death threats against Sri Lankan cricketers who are participating in the ongoing Champions Trophy one day tournament', the government said they would be investigating the matter. 

HRW slams govt's new media code

Human Rights Watch slammed the Sri Lankan government's proposed new media code as "overbroad and vague language that could have a severe and chilling effect on free".

In a statement released earlier this week, HRW said

"The proposed code comes at a time when the government has taken various measures to clamp down on Sri Lanka’s once vibrant media, including forcing some electronic media critical of the government to close down."

Weerawansa says India supporting LTTE front TNA

The leader of the National Freedom Front, a key ally in President Rajapakse’s coalition government, has claimed that india is supporting separatist forces in Sri Lanka, after the invitation extended by Delhi to the TNA.

"It was no secret that India aided the separatist forces in Sri Lanka," Wimal Weerawansa told reporters.

Protesters disrupt Sri Lanka's last match with pitch invasions

Photograph from uktamilnews.com


Tamil protesters brought the Champions Trophy semi-final India vs Sri Lanka to a halt yesterday after the pitch was invaded on two occasions by protesters carrying Tamil Eelam flags and placards.

Photograph NDTV Sports


The first protester ran on, carrying a placard reading '40,000 Commonwealth Citizens massacred by Rajapaksa' with a Tamil Eelam flag draped around his shoulders,
and dodged stewards for quite some time before he was rugby tackled to the floor.



Later in the afternoon, up to 6 protesters carrying the Tamil Eelam flag invaded the pitch, suspending play once again.



The pitch invasions took place as hundreds of Tamils joined activists from the 'Boycott Sri Lankan Cricket' campaign to stage a demonstration outside Swalec stadium in Cardiff calling on countries to suspend sporting ties with Sri Lanka, and support a call for an international, independent investigation into the mass atrocities of 2009.


TNA meets Indian PM

The TNA delegation in India met with the Prime Minister on Wednesday, after having previously called on the External Affairs Minister and the National Security Adviser.

An official spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs told media:

Rajapakse’s secretary claims Jaffna people want Army

The Secretary to the Sri Lankan President, Lalith Weeratunge has claimed that the people of Jaffna have made “fervent appeals” to keep the army on the peninsula.

“Many lands have been returned, and ones that are needed for public purposes will be retained. The HSZ has shrunk by almost 60%. Many peace loving residents of Jaffna have made fervent appeals to retain the Armed Forces because of their post conflict welfare activities,” Weeratunga said in a Twitter interview today.

Underwhelming announcement, no police powers

Still smarting from India's vote at the UNHRC, Sri Lanka has informed India of the decision not to devolve police powers to the provinces.

Retaliating to allegations that Sri Lanka was retreating on its promise to implement the 13th Amendment, Gothabaya Rajapaske said that "India let us down in Geneva, very badly."

Cannot supress Sinhalese rights to land - Gota

Gotabhaya Rajapakse has said that the rights of Sinhalese to purchase land in the North cannot be suppressed.

According to Uthayan, Gotabhaya also declared that no province belonged to any race.

He made no comment however, on how such vast availability of lands for sale came to be.

More coverage of yesterday's attack on Tamil activists by Sri Lanka fans at Oval

More photos and videos have emerged of the violence in London yesterday, as Sri Lankan cricket fans hurled racist abuse and attacked Tamil activists who were campaigning outside the Oval cricket stadium.

Find full coverage of the event here: Sri Lankan cricket fans attack #BoycottLKA activists in London (18 June 2013)

The video below was sent to Tamil Guardian by an activist, which shows Tamil activists being beaten and dragged into the road by a mob of Sri Lanka cricket fans.

The Sri Lanka fans hurled racist abuse at the Tamils, with police struggling to cope as hundreds more swarmed around the small group of activists.

See more photos of Sri Lanka cricket fans attacking Tamils, as an elderly Tamil man and child take cover on TamilWin here.

The cricket fans were screaming "F*** Tamils!" and "One nation!" as police reinforcements arrived and attempted to herd the Sri Lankan fans away from the Tamils. Bottles and rocks were then launched towards the 20 or so activists, as the Sri Lankan fans continued to chant.