Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

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Mannar Urban Council Chairman Daniel Vasanthan has strongly condemned the arrest of Tamil rapper Sangeethsan Ganeskumar under Sri Lanka's Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), stating that the detention reflects a situation where "Tamils do not even have the freedom to sing". Speaking at a media briefing held at the Mannar Urban Council on Friday, Vasanthan criticised the decision to arrest the…

Army builds houses for ‘deserving’ Tamils in Jaffna

The Sri Lankan military announced that it had constructed houses for two “deserving” Tamil families in Jaffna, where it continues to occupy vast swathes of lands, without stating how the Tamil families were chosen.

Rajapaksa vows he will not allow country to be divided through constitution

Mahinda Rajapaksa, currently Sri Lanka's opposition leader, vowed not to allow the country to be divided through a new constitution. 

Referring to attempts by the UNP and TNA to establish a new constitution for the island, Rajapaksa warned it would "pave the way to divide the country". 

"The national question could not be resolved through a Constitution, which would incite hatred among the communities but it should be a Constitution agreeable to all communities of Sinhala, Muslim and Tamil," Rajapaksa said, speaking at an event in Amparai yesterday. 

World Day of War Orphans marked in Trincomalee

The 'World Day of War Orphans' was marked at event in Barathipuram, near Muttur, Trincomalee today. 

A local Hindu organisation distributed educational material and books to students, particularly those from families of the disappeared. 

Militarisation: Celebrating occupation in Mullaitivu

 

The Sri Lankan military held a series of elaborate events in Mullaitivu last month as two divisions celebrated their occupation of the region, almost ten years since army's massacre tens of thousands of Tamils.

Kumar Ponnambalam remembered 19 years on

Human rights lawyer and former leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), Kumar Ponnambalam, was remembered today in Jaffna and Batticaloa, 19 years after his assassination in Colombo.

Sinhala Buddhist monk calls for continued militarisation and Sinhalisation in Mullaitivu

A Sinhala Buddhist monk called for Sinhalese people in Mullaitivu to receive rights over the land which they illegally occupy, and said that military forces should not be removed from the North, during a visit to flood-affected families in Mullaitivu.

Seelarathana, a monk from the Colombo suburb of Battaramulla, made the remarks while visiting families in the areas of Kokkilai and Nayaru, where local Tamils and representatives have been contesting ongoing Sinhala colonisation and land-grabs, especially under the Mahaweli scheme.

Friendly' militarisation will not redeem for Sri Lankan atrocities says Wigneswaran

<p>Former Chief Minister of the Northern Province and Supreme Court judge C V Wigneswaran has criticised the Sri Lankan army commander for saying that those who were in hiding from the LTTE now criticise the army’s activities in the North.</p> <p>Asked to respond to the jibe by Tamil press, Wigneswaran emphasised that it was always state forces that the Tamil people lived in fear of, and that current militarisation activities could not suddenly redeem the forces of their atrocities.</p> <p>“In 1983 I investigated the deaths caused by [Sri Lankan] army atrocities in Mallakam, when nobody else would,” Wigneswaran said. “I had no reasons to hide.”</p>

India foreign ministry hesitates over Palaly airport due to 'political climate'

<p>The Indian ministry of external affairs (MEA) has not yet approved plans to prepare a report on developing Jaffna’s Palaly airport, with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) citing political instability as a reason for the delay.</p> <p>The AAI has completed a detailed project report for developing an airport in Kalay in Myanmar but the MEA is yet to give the required permission for a similar report to be produced on Palaly.</p>

Japan agrees $1.85bn loan for Light Rail Transit system

<p>Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has agreed a $1.85 billion loan to Sri Lanka to build a Light Rail Transit (LRT) system.&nbsp;</p> <p>The agreement was put on hold in November in response to the country's political turmoil which followed the president's sacking of the prime minister and attempt to dissolve parliament.&nbsp;</p> <p>JICA will also provide technical assistance for the project.&nbsp;</p> <p>The LRT, aimed at reducing congestion in Colombo, will run for 17km between Colombo Fort and Malambe.&nbsp;</p>

Sri Lanka plans to reduce limit foreign holdings of govt securities

<p>After weeks of political crisis and a falling rupee due to foreign outflows, Sri Lanka announced this week it intends to further limit foreign holdings of government securities to 5 percent, down from the current 10 percent.&nbsp;</p> <p>"In view of the increased volatility in global financial markets, we also intend to reduce the threshold for foreign investment in rupee denominated government securities from 10 percent of the outstanding government securities stock at present to 5 percent," the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy was quoted by Reuters as saying.&nbsp;</p>