• O. Panneerselvam to be Tamil Nadu Chief Minister after Jaya conviction

    Sep 27
    Tamil Nadu's current Finance Minister, O. Panneerselvam, is to be appointed as the state's new Chief Minister after J. Jayalalitha was forced to step down following her conviction in a corruption case.

    Panneerselvam, considered a Jayalalitha loyalist, was elected by AIADMK members on Sunday, at a meeting held in Chennai and will be formally appointed on Monday.

    See related article:
  • Sri Lanka Navy arrests four Indian fishermen

    Four fishermen from Rameswaram were apprehended on Sunday near Kachchatheevu by the Sri Lankan Navy who also allegedly damaged 50 boats, reports the Press Trust of India.

  • Mahinda invites Ban Ki-moon to Sri Lanka

    Pictures: Presidential Media Unit

    Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has invited UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to visit the island, to “assess the situation” since his last visit.

    The secretary general congratulated Rajapaksa on his leadership and “acknowledged the progress” Sri Lanka has made in the past years, adding that he was optimistic that remaining challenges will be overcome with “this type of political leadership” according to the government’s official media portal.

  • Tamil journalists worldwide call for investigation into Paris assassination attempt
    The International Association of Tamil Journalists (IATAJ) called on French authorities to investigate the attempted assassination of a senior official of the Tamil Media House in Paris on September 18, and ensure the security of Tamil journalists working in France.

    The official was shot at by a masked gunman, before receiving death threats, warning him to stop running the organisation or face death. The France based Tamil Media House, which runs the widely read Eelamurasu newspaper, as well as two Tamil diaspora websites: www.sankathi24.com and www.tamilkathir.com, has been forced to shut down as a result.

    "International Association of Tamil Journalists (IATAJ) vehemently condemns the intimidation and attempted murder of a senior official of the Tamil Media House in Paris by an unknown gunman by his home on 18 September 2014," the group said in a statement released Thursday.

  • Jayalalithaa convicted in corruption case, will have to stand down as CM
    10:48 BST, updated 13:39 BST

    The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa, has been found guilty of corruption by a court in Bangalore today and sentenced to 4 years in jail, as well as being fined Rs 100 crore.

    The ruling means she will have to stand down as Chief Minister and will be banned from contesting any poll for 10 years.
  • Tens of thousands protest against Sri Lanka in Tamil Nadu

    More than 20,000 demonstrators protested in solidarity with Eelam Tamils in Chennai this week, calling for economic sanctions on Sri Lanka.

    Protestors from over 150 organisations gathered by Egmore Rajaratnam stadium with placards and banners, chanting slogans calling for an independent Tamil Eelam.

    V Prabhakaran from the Tamil Youth and Students Federation told the Tamil Guardian,
    “The protest delivers a strong message to the international community that  Tamil Nadu is in full support with Tamil Eelam.”
  • Thileepan remembered at Jaffna University

    Picture: Uthayan

    Students at the University of Jaffna held a memorial event on the 27th death anniversary of hunger striker Lt Col Thileepan.

    The event was held at a secret location, reported the Jaffna based daily, Uthayan

  • Sri Lanka donates $1 million to Palestine at UNGA
    The Sri Lankan President made a $1 million donation to the Palestinian president during bilateral discussions at a side-line meeting Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly.

    Mahmoud Abbas expressed appreciation for Sri Lanka’s support and commitment to the Palestinian cause, reports Colombo Page.

    Sri Lanka recognised Palestine as a state in 1988.
  • UN High Commissioner's oral update on OISL expected today at UNHRC
    07:14 CEST

    The oral update of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the     UN inquiry on mass atrocities in Sri Lanka - OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL), is expected today at the UN Human Rights Council's 27th session currently underway in Geneva. The item was postponed yesterday, when the Council's agenda overran.

    Follow us on Twitter @TamilGuardian for live updates.

    The update on the OISL follows the resolution     'Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka' A/HRC/25/L.1/Rev.1 passed in March this year, calling on the High Commissioner's Office to launch an international inquiry into mass atrocities in Sri Lanka.

    The terms of reference for the OISL were published in August, detailing the legal and time framework to be applied and calling on witnesses to submit evidence. See here.

  • Fundamental and far-reaching accountability needed in Sri Lanka says UN Human Rights Chief
    13:09 CEST

    The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stressed that fundamental and far-reaching accountability is necessary in Sri Lanka in an oral update delivered to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) today on the UN inquiry into mass atrocities in the country.

    Stating that he "b    elieves that a more fundamental and far-reaching accountability process in Sri Lanka, addressing both past and ongoing violations, is absolutely necessary for Sri Lankans to come to terms with their past, end impunity, achieve reconciliation between communities and strengthen the rule of law," the High Commissioner oral update called on Sri Lanka to cooperate with the OHCHR Investigation into Sri Lanka (OISL).

    Expressing deep concern at the     ongoing reports of intimidation of witnesses, media workers and civil society activists, the High Commissioner's oral update noted that this would impact on the domestic processes of accountability too.

    The oral update was read out by the deputy High Commissioner, as Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein is currently at the UN General Assembly in New York.

    In the extended version (A/HRC/27/CRP.2) distributed as a conference room paper to the Council on Thursday, the High Commissioner said he was "shocked at the ongoing campaign of threats, harassment, intimidation and reprisals by both state and non-state actors since March against civil society groups, human rights defenders and victims’ organisations, including those who might support or engage with the international inquiry."
  • SLAF gives some land back...for now

    Residents of a Mullaitivu village were given back their lands, on the condition that the land would be re-seized by the Sri Lankan Air Forces if there was a resurgence of war.

  • British Airways to cease all flights to Colombo
    British Airways announced that it is to cease all flights to Colombo from March 2015 onwards, as the route could no longer remain profitable for the airline.
  • Sri Lanka rejects OHCHR inquiry, dismisses call to cooperate
    15:46 CEST

    Sri Lanka responded to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' (OHCHR) oral update on the international inquiry into mass atrocities in the country, by reiterating its rejection of the inquiry and dismissing calls by several states, as well as the High Commissioner, to cooperate with the process.

    "Sri Lanka categorically rejected Resolution 25/1 and its call for the OHCHR investigation, and made its position clear of non cooperation with the investigation. To those who continue to urge that Sri Lanka to revisit this position, I wish to respectfully reply that government of Sri Lanka does not wish to help legitimise a flawed process and have a detrimental precedent established," Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to Geneva, Ravinath Aryasinha told the UN Human Rights Council today.

    "This position has been taken after much consideration, and represents not only the will of the Sri Lankan people as reflected in the motion recently adapted in our parliament with an overwhelming majority, but also the majority within this council who refuse to support OP 10," he said, adding that the investigation was "politically motivated, and challenges sovereignty and independent of member states that it violates the fundamental principal international law".

  • Ill-conceived UN agendas against Sri Lanka says Rajapaksa at UNGA
    Sri Lanka has also become an unfortunate victim of ill-conceived agendas of some in the Human Rights Council, said the Sri Lankan President in an address to the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

    Addressing a session on “Delivering on and imp0lementing a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda,” Mahinda Rajapaksa, speaking as the Chair of the Commonwealth, on Wednesday said,
    “Human rights are used as a tool to implement motivated agendas with no understanding or appreciation of the complexity of issues in the countries concerned. Human rights should be recognised by all as a moral and ethical concept rather than as a political tool. External intervention without adequate consideration of the structures in a society and cultural traditions of the countries where such intervention takes place, inevitably results in de-stabilisation, which is very much in evidence today, in most parts of the world.”
  • BTF welcomes UN recognition of intimidation, urges witness protection
    The British Tamils Forum (BTF) welcomed the UN Human Rights Chief's recognition of threats, harassment and intimidation of people who may testify before a United Nations inquiry into mass atrocities in Sri Lanka and called on the UN to ensure the safety of witnesses.

    In a statement released shortly after the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights oral update on the investigation was delivered at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, BTF stated it, “welcomes the High Commissioner’s recognition of the intimidation and danger faced by these human rights defenders and victims.”

    BTF went on to call “upon the Office High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to do everything within its power to ensure the safety of those who testify before the inquiry”.

    Earlier today, UN High Comissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said he was "shocked at the ongoing campaign of threats, harassment, intimidation and reprisals by both state and non-state actors since March against civil society groups, human rights defenders and victims’ organisations, including those who might support or engage with the international inquiry."
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