Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi departed Sri Lanka earlier this month, New Delhi’s media was already hailing the visit as a diplomatic triumph. A raft of development projects had been announced and a significant new defence pact between the two governments signed. Images broadcast showed Modi beside a smiling Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake, arms raised aloft in symbolic…

Sri Lanka and India seek to strengthen economic ties despite human rights concerns


Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India, Milinda Moragoda, met with India's Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman in Delhi on Tuesday where they discussed strengthening economic cooperation.

Sri Lankan army sets new camp up in Batticaloa bird sanctuary

The Sri Lankan army has reportedly set up a new camp without any prior in Batticaloa this week, as journalists were barred from entry and from asking questions from security officials.

The camp has been set up inside the Manthivu Bird Sanctuary in the centre of the Batticaloa district. A small islet that covers an area of about 100 acres, Manthivu is also home to a leprosy hospital and several religious sites including a Saivite Murugan Temple and catholic church.

This week however, an army camp also appeared at the site.

‘Rude awakening as Tamils tracked foe to Dunblane’ – The Times

“In the early hours of Monday, under the cover of darkness, hundreds of Tamil activists marched on the DoubleTree Hilton Hydro hotel,” wrote the Times this morning, in a piece that looked at the protest in Dunblane earlier this week, where Sri Lanka’s war crimes accused president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was staying.

Caste violence condemned in Jaffna after men assault youth and set fire to houses

Politicians and civil society activists have been condemning the brutal caste-based violence that took place in Jaffna in late September. 

A gang of dominant-caste youth and men reportedly waylaid a pair of boys belonging to an oppressed community last month and assaulted them indiscriminately. The incident took place in Arasady, a village in Vaddukoddai. 

Inbanathan, 60, father of one of the boys, lost a finger in the ensuing skirmish in which the aggressors reportedly started to swing a sword against the youth.

Sri Lankan police summon Batticaloa council members over Sathurukondan massacre commemoration

Decades after the Sathurukondan massacre, justice remains elusive and whilst the perpetrators remain at large, Batticaloa Municipal Councillor Thuraisingam Mathan said that Sri Lankan police are instead carrying out an investigation against those who paid tribute at the Sathurukondan massacre memorial on its 31st anniversary. 

Nauseating military publicity stunt' - Red carpet for accused war criminal in Jaffna

The Sri Lanka army’s war crimes accused chief reportedly handed over a military-built home to a former Tamil political prisoner who was released from prison earlier this year, in a lavish ceremony yesterday.

Shavendra Silva, a commander who is currently barred from travel to the US over his role in the execution of Tamils, arrived in Chunnakam in Jaffna dressed in full camouflage uniform and escorted by blacked-out and armed troops.

Sri Lanka lashes out at Moody’s after yet another downgrade and warnings of default

The Sri Lankan government has lashed out at credit rating agency Moody’s, after it hit Colombo with yet another downgrade of debt rating, stating that the island was at risk of default without a clear debt repayment plan and low foreign exchange reserves .

Silva tells Jaffna troops that Tamils appreciate occupation

The war crimes accused head of the Sri Lankan army visited Jaffna this week, where he told occupying troops that local Tamils are “well aware of tireless services” of the military, despite “misleading utterances” by “elements in the North”.

Shavendra Silva, a commander who is currently barred from travel to the US over his role in war crimes, arrived at the Security Force Headquarters - Jaffna (SFHQ-J), with the military having occupied the peninsula since the invasion 26 years ago.

Stripped naked, assaulted and beaten by senior Sri Lankan police officer

Lawyers representing a driver who was beaten in public by a Senior Deputy Inspector General (SDIG) in Ratnapura have reported that their client was "grossly assaulted, physically, and sexually tortured" by the SDIG and two other officers.

Greenwashing genocide? The UK welcomes Sri Lanka's notorious president

Writing in Declassified UK, Archana Ravichandradeva and Sutharshan Sukumaran warm against Sri Lanka's efforts to pave out its appalling human rights record with the language of environmental stewardship and urge the UK to "redouble its commitment to accountability, justice and a political solution that resolves the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka".