Protesters are rallying through Vavuniya today as they demand the release of the eight Tamil men who were unlawfully arrested at a Shivarathri pooja at Vedukkunaari Hill Athi Sivan temple last week.
Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) Member of Parliament Selvarajah Kajendren who visited the detainees in the Vedukkunaari temple arrest inquired why the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission (HRCSL) did not launch an investigation, despite a formal complaint being lodged. He questioned whether HRCSL was supportive of these illegal arrests and accusations. “I went to the prison to enquire about the wellbeing of the 8 devotees, five of them are fasting and today marks the third day of their hunger strike,” he told reporters outside the Vavuniya prison on Thursday. “Their health is deteriorating...
A mass protest was held earlier today in Nedunkerny, Vavuniya, to demand the release of the eight devotees who were arrested on Shivarathri at the Vedukkunaari Athi Sivan temple last week.
Responding to a US intelligence report, which maintains that China may seek to establish a military presence on Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka's Defence Minister, Premitha Bandara Tennakoon dismissed the claims and told reporters that they have been no discussion "with any foreign government including China for a possible establishment of a military base here in Sri Lanka”. The statement follows reporting that China has considered establishing a radar base on Dondra Bay, in Sri Lanka's southern most tip, to monitor the Indian Navy as well as UK-US installations on Diego Garcia. "The US intelligence...
The Sri Lankan navy has been accused of being complict in the murder of a man in Jaffna, after they were seen in dramatic CCTV footage refusing to help the man and his wife as they were being chased and beating the couple as they were abducted by unidentified assailants.
Five out of the eight Tamils who were arrested last week at Vedukkunaari Hill Athi Sivan temple have launched a hunger strike to demand their immediate release. Thampirasa Mathimugarasa, Thurairasa Thamilchelvan, Thilakanathan Kinthuyan, Subramaniyam Thavapalasingam and Rasaratnam Vinayagamoorthy all refused meals since the day before adding that they will remain on a hunger strike until they are acquitted of charges and released. Yesterday, Vavuniya court ordered that all eight individuals will remain in remand custody until March 19th. Family members speaking to reporters said the...
Marking 2,200 days of protest the Association for the relatives of the enforced disappearances, representing 8 districts across the North East, called on UN member states to recognise the Tamil genocide and bring Sri Lanka before the International Criminal Court. In a written statement the association detailed the lack of faith Tamils on the island have with domestic mechanisms such as the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) which they see as but another means of evasion. In 2022, the UN High Commissioner highlighted that the OMP " has not been able to trace a single disappeared person or clarify...
Indigo Airlines, a budget airline from India is tipped to operate direct flights between Chennai and Jaffna later this year. At present, the airline operates daily flights to Colombo from Chennai and Bangalore. The Sri Lankan Airport Aviation Authority told the Daily News that Palaly airport is being upgraded and the runway is to be extended while other facilities will be given a facelift too. The Palali International Airport in Jaffna is already receiving direct flights from Air India and this would be the second international airline to operate in the homeland. The announcement comes weeks...
In a letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Human Rights Watch (HRW) calls upon the organisation to stress to Sri Lanka the importance of civil society and to abandon proposed legislation that would severly curtail their freedom. The letter highlights that the IMF's recent Governance Diagnostic Assessment emphasised the indispensable role of civil society in addressing the causes of Sri Lanka's crisies, and also acknowledged that the Sri Lankan government sought to intimidate and silence independent voices. The HRW letter notes: "The Online Safety Act , enacted in January, creates...
The University of Jaffna's Teacher's Association has described last week's violence and arrests at Vedukkunaari Athi Sivan temple in Vavuniya as the "latest manifestations of the violence of Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism" as efforts to colonise the traditionally Tamil temple continue. Last Friday, as Tamils gathered at the temple to observe Shivarathri, Sri Lankan police aggressively disrupted the religious ceremony and arrested eight Tamil devotees. Responding to the incident, the association has issued a statement condemning the violence and highlighting that this incident forms part of Sri...