• Is this right of the 'good governance' government' asks wife of arrested LTTE member

    May 02
    Recalling the protracted process of her husband's release from the Sri Lankan government's 'rehabilitation' programme, the wife of Krishnapillai Kalainesan, the former head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) intelligence wing in Batticaloa who was arrested on Monday, wiped away tears, asking if it was right of the government of 'good governance' to do such a thing.
  • Sri Lanka police media unit suspended over suicide vest coverage
    The Sri Lankan police media unit was suspended by the ministry of law and order on Tuesday over its coverage of the apparent finding of a suicide vest in Chavakachcheri.

    The Daily Mirror cited sources in the ministry as saying the media unit had been ordered by the IGP Pujith Jayasundara to only issue written statements on the issue.

    However, the unit had defied such orders, issuing a verbal statement over the incident.
  • TNA urges Sri Lanka to ensure justice for murdered journalists
    The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader, R Sampanthan, marked World Press Freedom Day on Tuesday, calling on the present Sri Lankan government to protect press freedom immediately and investigate the killing of murdered journalists.

    "At a time when the freedom of press is being subjected to oppression worldwide, I request the Sri Lankan government to take all necessary steps to ensure the freedom and protection of press immediately in Sri Lanka," Mr Sampanthan said in a statement on Wednesday.

    "It is a matter of concern that Sri Lanka ranks 141st place among the list of press freedom of 180 countries."

    "It is is no secret that the previous governments turned a blind eye to many incidents of ill treatment, violence and murders that took place against journalists."

    "I urge the current government to conduct proper investigations of these incidents and bring the perpetrators before justice."

  • Sri Lanka’s TID arrest Tamil youth over Facebook messages

    Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) arrested the leader of the ITAK youth wing over messages that he had reportedly sent to diaspora Tamils on Facebook.

    Subramaniyam Sivakaran was detained under Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act last week, before being released on bail.

    Mr Sivakaran’s private Facebook messages with Tamils living outside of the island were reportedly cited by Sri Lankan police as why the youth leader was detained under anti-terrorism legislation.

    It is not yet known how the Sri Lankan police gained access to Mr Sivakaran's Facebook account or the number of social media accounts the government is monitoring.

  • Amnesty to collect missing arms retrieves weapons from South
    The Sri Lankan government declared firearms amnesty to collect weapons that had gone missing after the military had recovered them from the LTTE, has so far retrieved 84 weapons from the South.

    Guns were collected from Puttalam, Ratnapura, Kandy, Matara, Galle, Kalutara, Gampaha and Colombo.
  • Sri Lankan troops ‘assist’ with Hindu temple ceremony

  • Parliamentary brawl as Sri Lanka's former army chief admits staging LTTE bombing to gain sympathy

    Sri Lanka’s parliament erupted into a brawl after Sri Lanka’s former army chief claimed that a previous bomb attack that had been blamed on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was actually staged-managed by Sri Lanka’s defence secretary at the time.

  • Sri Lanka military enrol pre-school Tamil children in Vanni


    The Sri Lankan military's civil security division enrolled pre-school children in Vanni, forcing children to wear uniforms bearing the Sri Lankan military emblem.

    Parents have been instructed they must send their children to school in that uniform, whilst being asked to pay 600 rupees towards the cost of it.

  • Former LTTE Batticaloa intelligence head arrested
    The former head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) intelligence wing in Batticaloa was arrested by Sri Lankan police officers on Monday in Eravur.

    Sri Lanka's Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) told the family of Krishnapillai Kalainesan, known as Lt. Col. Prabha that he was arrested in relation to an investigation of the alleged regrouping of the LTTE.

    Mr Kalainesan was arrested at his home on Monday at 6.30am and has now been taken to Kalmunai for further interrogation, his wife, Kayalvili told reporters.

    Following the end of the armed conflict in 2009, he was initially registered as disappeared, before reports emerged that he was in fact being held by the Sri Lankan military.

    In 2013 Mr Kalainesan was released after completing the government's 'rehabilitation' programme. 

  • Husband was stripped by Sri Lankan army after his surrender - relatives testify in Kilinochchi

    Sri Lanka’s Presidential Commission on disappearances made its final sitting in Kilinochchi last week, calling over a thousand witnesses to testify about their missing relatives.

    The wife of former LTTE member Kannan, alias Gnanaselvan Uthayarasa, testified after seeing a photo of her husband with other captive LTTE cadres stripped naked and alive at the hands of the Sri Lankan military.


    “My husband is an LTTE member that surrendered to the army on May 18, 2009.

    I and my two children witnessed it in person. Thereafter there is no information about my husband

    Under these circumstances I got photo evidences of war crimes telecast by Channel 4. There were photos of my husband taken while he was taken by the army in stripped condition, and was seen sitting near a ditch.”

  • Supreme Court orders Wigneswaran to appear over NPC resolution

    Updated 2300 GMT

    Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has ordered Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran and other Tamil politicians to appear before it with regards to the resolution calling for a federal solution in a merged North-East passed by the NPC last week.

  • Federalism will not cause secession says Wigneswaran
    The chief minister of the Northern Province rejected assertions that the call for federalism was racist and aimed at secession, stating that it was "madness" to suggest so.

    In an interview with the Tamil newspaper, Virakesari this week, Mr Wigneswaran said,

    "For many years politicians have been ceaselessly saying federalism would secede the nation. That makes you also believe in those lines. You have become accustomed to such remarks. Read newspapers and books to understand about federalism. Federalism is in vogue in India. It is followed in Canada and Switzerland also. A country will never be divided because of federalism."

  • Journalists in Colombo demand justice for Sivaram

    Over a hundred journalists and media workers based in Colombo staged a demonstration on Friday, calling for justice for murdered Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram.

    Members of the Working Journalists Association, Tamil Media Alliance, Free Media Movement, Muslim Media Forum and the Federation of Media Employees Trade Union took part in the protest alongside other trade unions.

    Speaking to AP Media rights activist Lasantha Ruhunage said the Sri Lankan government must do more to punish those responsible for attacks on journalists.

    “More than compensation, the attacks on journalists, media workers and media institutions should be properly investigated and those responsible for the attacks should be punished, in order to ensure justice to the media community," he said.

  • Sri Lankan prime minister lashes out at the media

    Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe lashed out at the island’s media institutions on Saturday, accusing them of attempting to revive the LTTE.

  • Tamil school children excel in Britain

    British Tamil school children are outperforming their peers who have registered English as their first language in reading, writing and mathematics, reports The Express.

    Looking at exam results from the previous year for children aged 10 and 11, the Express reported that children who reported Chinese and Tamil as their mother tongue outperformed children whose first language is English in all tests.

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