An Indian Minister of state, V Narayanasamy, suggested that India was still undecided with regards to its level of attendance at the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan Navy has towed a vessel carrying 70 asylum seekers from Sri Lanka to the southern port of Galle, after the boat on which they were attempting to flee on developed engine trouble and sent out a distress signal.
Sri Lanka’s ambassador to the UN, Palitha Kohona has been elected as the chair of the sixth (legal) committee of the United Nations General Assembly, after overwhelming support from the Asia-Pacific group.
The committee considers legal questions for the General Assembly in New York.
Last week, three young Tamils from Toronto, Montreal and London, published a piece on the website Tumblr, listing the 'privileges' of being Sinhalese. Since then, the piece entitled 'Check your Sinhala privilege', has sparked widespread praise, criticism and passionate debate online.
Tamil Guardian caught up with the writers, Ram, Ahila and Sinthujan, via Facebook, to find out more..
Tamil Guardian: What inspired you to write this piece?
Sinthujan:
We were just speaking about the concept of privilege in general, unrelated to Sri Lanka, and som e of the problematic things some of our friends would say. Even though many of them are well-intentioned and well-educated, they often neglect to see the issues in some of their statements. Most of them similarly don't see the ways the social, political, and economic arrangements of any given society are what systematically produce existing inequalities between different social groups.
Ram:
This neglect is especially prominent in discussions of Sri Lanka, for instance, when civil conflict is simply explained in terms of “ethnic hatred” rather than through a close examination of the ways societal arrangements in Sri Lanka have benefited some ethnic groups relative to others.
Tamil asylum seekers who have been deported from Christmas Island have stated that they would be willing to risk it all to flee from Sri Lanka once more, according to a report by ABC News.
A deported Tamil man, ‘Murali’ in Jaffna, had earlier paid over $3,000 to be smuggled out of Sri Lanka in a fishing boat packed with 80 people, to make the treacherous journey to Australian shores. He told ABC news,
Writing in English in the Colombo Telegraph (see here), following the TNA's landslide victory, the TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran heralded the "dawn of a new era" and asserted that voters in the North had been captivated by the TNA's "principled stands", such as the defence of the Sri Lankan constitution, and that the TNA would "relentlessly seek to deliver on its promises to the people."
Lest we forget what these promises were, here is a video of Sumanthiran speaking in Tamil, at the final TNA election rally in Kilinochchi, a couple of days before the election.
Two extracts are translated below:
(16:00 mins)
"When the President came here to Kilinochchi to open a railway, he said in Tamil, 'from now on, the Tamil people should not vote for policies, they only should vote for development'.
What kind of thoroughly dishonest person must he be?! *crowd cheer loudly*
How unfortunate a country must this be? That this country must have a leader, dishonest enough, who tells people they must not vote for policies?! *crowd cheer loudly*
This is a leader, who doesn't realise that we are a people - that for our policies - gave our lives... relinquished all our possessions... and that we are a people who are yet still prepared to give more!!
Was it just for development that we came this far?!
Was it just for development that for over sixty years we gave up everything apart from our self-respect? There is nothing else left to give now! But he [Rajapaksa] did not know that. Perhaps if he had been Tamil, he would have known that to Tamils value self-respect above life itself! But he isn't, so he doesn't have that feeling!
The US State Department has said in a press release on the outcomes of the 24th UN Human Rights Council Session in Geneva that it welcomes High Commissioner Navi Pillay’s report.
Two Tamil journalists of the Yarl Thinakkural have been harassed by individuals claiming to be from the Terrorist investigation Division (TID) of the Sri Lankan security forces, reported TamilNet.
Since the conclusion of the Northern Provincial Council elections, the TNA leadership's selection of ministerial positions for the NPC has proved a contentious topic. Much of the controversy has centred around Ananthy Sasitharan - a widely popular, outspoken, openly Tamil nationalist candidate, who also happens to be the only female candidate to win a seat on the council - with many reports suggesting the leadership are trying to sideline her.
Both local and international observers commented that the positions being considered for Sasitharan, who secured the second highest number of preferential votes in the election, did not fairly reflect her high standing among the Tamil electorate. (See article by Amanda Hodge for The Australian).
In an official response in Tamil, released on Tuesday, Ananthy Sasitharan stood firm on her election campaign, whilst dismissing any notion that she was interested in fighting for positions, and rejected allegations that she herself had caused the controversy.
See here for Ananthy Sasitharan’s full statement in Tamil. Translation in English below:
“I cannot express enough gratitude to all that cast their vote for me in the recent Northern Provincial Council elections and secured for me the second highest number of preferential votes after the Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran.
I assure you all that I will not budge an inch from the expectations with which you voted for me.
Some media outlets with certain intentions have been circulating distorted stories alleging, that I, Ananthy Sasitharan, have been clamouring for a ministerial position in the Northern Provincial Council.
I reject these distortions and allegations as I have never considered a ministerial position on the Northern Provincial Council to be the only possible way to serve our people.
If being a member of the Northern Provincial Council proves to be an obstacle in being of service to and being a voice to our war-scarred people, then I am willing to pass up that position also.
Sri Lanka’s foreign minister, GL Peiris, stressed today that his government has no obligation to answer for the reported deaths of thousands of Tamil civilians at the end of the 2009 conflict.
The Madras High Court has called upon the Indian Government’s Cabinet Secretary to answer three queries, regarding the sale of two war ships to Sri Lanka.
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a member of the ruling coalition in Sri Lanka, accused demands of the TNA as a violation of the Sri Lankan constitution.
