Three Tamil political detainees in Anuradhapuram Prison have been on hunger strike for 8 days, after ongoing mistreatment by Sinhala inmates, a source close to the family of one of the men told the Tamil Guardian. The source said Sinhala prisoners have been physically attacking and verbally abusing them, and have also taken their food portions on a near daily basis, adding that the Tamils have now been refusing to eat for 8 days, demanding to be transferred back to their original wing. The men, all being held without charge since May 2009, were transferred into a Sinhala wing of the prison,...
An Australian High Court is to hold a special hearing in October over the detention of asylum seekers at sea. The legal team representing 157 Tamil asylum seekers who were held at sea for over 4 weeks and then brought to a detention centre in Western Australia before being transferred to Nauru, have challenged the legality of such a detention. The hearing has been set for October 14 and 15 by Justice Kenneth Hayne. “What Australia does on the high seas does affect international law and the approach of other countries,” George Newhouse, a lawyer for the asylum seekers told the Guardian.
The Sinhala community will become a minority in Sri Lankan within a century warned the Sri Lankan minister Champika Ranawaka, the Asian Mirror reports. "It will take another 160 years to double the population of the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka," said Ranawaka, the minister for technology and research, and leader of the government's coalition partner, the JHU. Warning that the population rates amongst different ethnicities was asymmetrical, he stated that the growth of the Sinhala population was slowest. His comments echo that of Minister Mervyn Silva who said in June that the "Sinhala race is rapidly becoming a minority".
The TNA’s Selvam Adaikkalanathan said that the continued settling of Sinhalese in Tamil areas is intended to destroy the Tamil nation. The MP said that Sinhala families are being settled in many Tamil villages in Vavuniya and that these government-assisted activities are intended to change the demographic make-up of the local population, accusing the government of only looking to benefit their own community, the Uthayan reported. Mr Adaikkalanathan highlighted the village of Puliyankulam, where 300 Sinhala families are being settled, taking advantage of the fact that a large part of the...
The Sri Lankan government has borrowed $2.6 billion from China’s state-owned Exim Bank, between 2009 and 2013, reports Ceylon Today. Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. Sarath Amunugama said in parliament yesterday that the money was used for various development projects on the island, including Hambantota Port, Katunayake Expressway, Norochcholai Coal Power Plant, Railway projects, Northern Province electricity and road development projects, Southern Expressway and electricity projects in the Uva and Eastern Provinces. China's loans to Sri Lanka over the past four years totalled...
Sri Lanka’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva Ravinath Ariyasinha has highlighted the Tamil diaspora as a potent danger to the country and accused western countries of turning a blind eye to their activities. “While we have defeated the LTTE in Sri Lanka, the organization, its ideology and its operations are very much alive in a number of western countries. Immediately, this remains a challenge to speeding up the pace of reconciliation in Sri Lanka, and eventually, a potent danger to Sri Lanka as a rising nation,” Aryasinha said while speaking at the Sri Lankan Army’s Defence Seminar 2014. “Even as most countries have acted with understanding and have respectfully shared concerns and been able to contribute to the processes of reconciliation in a tangible manner, unfortunately particularly a few Western countries fuelled by political motivations and electoral compulsions have continued to relentlessly pursue Sri Lanka," he added.
Tamil National Alliance MP Suresh Premachandran has slammed the Sri Lankan government for the arrests of Tamil students at Sabaragamuwa University, following an attack at the Southern university earlier this month. Premachandran stated that "everyone is aware of the incident at the Sabaragamuwa University,” adding, “The police spokesperson has told the media that he tied his hands to his back himself and self-harmed.” Commenting on the arrest of the second Tamil student, Uthayan quoted Premachandran as going on to say, "Fellow student Yoganathan Nirojan, from Vavuniya was arrested for visiting the injured student, and he has been released on bail by Colombo Magistrate court. Is meeting a fellow student a crime? Do the police not see it as a humanitarian norm? Why was he arrested? All activities of police have political influences."
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asked Sri Lanka to cooperate with the inquiry, led by the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Speaking at the UN’s daily press briefing , his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the Secretary General “fully supports” High Commissioner Navi Pillay and commended the leadership she demonstrated “to assist Sri Lanka in advancing accountability and reconciliation”. “The Secretary General encourages Sri Lanka to cooperate with the inquiry led by the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, that was established by the Human Rights Council. He reiterates...
A Sri Lankan army soldier has sexually assaulted a Tamil girl in Mannar, the Uthayan reports. The incident occurred when the girl went to buy rotti (flat bread) at a shop run by the army, by the army camp. Locals report seeing the girl being taken into bushes by the soldier. A case has been filed at court, with a court order having been issued for the soldier's arrest. The officer in charge has also been requested to attend court. The girl, who has not been identified, has been admitted to Vavuniya Hospital following her ordeal.
A delegation of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will be travelling to New Delhi to meet with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 23, The Hindu reports. The delegation will be headed by the TNA leader R. Sampanthan, and will include five senior members. According to the paper, the delegation will also meet with India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, as well as the possibility of a meeting with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa. See here for more.