At least 260 migrant Tamil workers are being held against their will and forced to work for the Kurdish military, the Tamil Guardian has learnt. Up to 40 of the men refused to carry out the work, which included unloading of arms and the building of bunkers and fortifications, and demanded to be allowed to leave the country, but were then detained and severely beaten by Kurdish security forces, with several suffering injuries. Only ten of the men were subsequently sent back to the island. The Tamil men, the vast majority of who hail from the Northeast of the island of Sri Lanka, are all employed as contractors for MXCare, which operates in the airport of Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, but have been forced to work for the Kurdish authorities for the past two months. The brother of one of the men who was returned said to the Tamil Guardian that he was beaten with the butt of a rifle, requiring him to be admitted to hospital. “They initially carried out the work as demanded of them, because they were too scared to resist the Kurdish authorities. But when the [Islamic State] militants drew closer to Erbil, our men started resisting,” S Selvakumar told Tamil Guardian from Pallaisuddy, Jaffna.
Northern Provincial Council member Thurairasa Ravikaran said Tamils in Mullaitivu have lost their livelihoods without access to their land, which remains under Sri Lankan military control. The people of Mullaitivu have faced continuous difficulties in temporary settlements, despite Sri Lankan government claims that they were resettled 4 years ago, the Uthayan reported him as saying. Without the release of their land for farming and plantations, the locals have lost their livelihood he added. Speaking at a regional coordination meeting at the Karaithuraipatru regional secretariat office last month, Ravikaran went on to say that over 1000 acres of land had been seized by the military.
Batticaloa’s TNA MP P Ariyanenthiran has condemned the shooting of civilians by police earlier this week as an “atrocity”, reported Battinews . Two Tamil women suffered injuries after being shot by the Sri Lankan police in Kaanchirankuda Panaiyaruppan, Batticaloa on Tuesday night. The police said they were conducting a raid on an illicit alcohol production facility. Ariyanenthiran said that the police cannot fire at civilians at will and that the TNA “strongly condemned” the act. The MP said that the police caused turmoil whilst shooting at people and that the locals now lived in fear.
A new organisation will be launched by the Buddhist clergy in Sri Lanka, to “protect and safeguard” Buddhism, reported Ceylon Today . The head of the Malwatte Chapter informed senior ministers of the decision to start this organisation, which will be made up of Buddhist monks. One of the senior ministers told Ceylon Today that the decision was made due to the negative impact on Buddhism due to the activities of “extremist groups”.
Photographs Tamilwin A Sri Lankan navy officer was caught by locals in Vadamarachchi East after he entered a woman's house in the Kattaikaadu region in an attempted rape during the early hours of Wednesday. The officer tried to escape after entering when he was seen by the woman's husband, who tried to catch him, Uthayan reports. He was eventually reprimanded after neighbours, who had heard the screams from next door, helped the woman's husband.
The Buddhist monk organisation, Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), called for the prominent Tamil civil society activist, the Bishop of Mannar, to be arrested after Bishop Rayappu Joseph publicly stated his refusal to participate in the Sri Lankan government's domestic commission on disappearances. The Mannar Bishop Rayappu functioning in such way to betray the country, the BBS said, questioning why the government was delaying in his arrest, the Uthayan newspaper reports. “Bishop Rayappu Joseph is continuously expressing comments against Sri Lanka and its military, nationally and internationally. The government is watching all of this but continues to remain silent," the BBS leader, the Buddhist monk Galagoda Gnanasara reportedly said.
A senior Australian judge questioned whether the government was allowed to detain asylum seekers at sea and transfer them to another country, reports Reuters , after 157 asylum seekers fleeing Sri Lanka were held at sea for over 4 weeks before being transferred to Nauru. Judge Kenneth Hayne gave the government and the legal team representing the 157 asylum seekers one week to prepare their cases during a hearing on Thursday. “My concern is whether the government had power to take people from the contiguous zone to a place outside Australia,” Hayne was quoted by The Guardian as saying on Thursday. “It may be that that is not the only legal issue,” he said, adding, “I’m concerned with the question of power."
The Sri Lankan government has accused the outgoing UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay of seeking to influence the OHCHR Investigation in Sri Lanka (OISL). In a statement released on Thursday, the External Affairs Ministry said it “regretted” comments made by the High Commissioner earlier this week , saying that the access to Sri Lanka was not necessary for the investigation to be credible. “The High Commissioner who is scheduled to leave office at the end of this month making public pronouncements to the media on an investigation which has commenced only recently is a clear indication of personal bias. It is evidence of an attempt to influence the investigation process and make it follow a preconceived trajectory,” the statement said. Sri Lanka criticised the “prejudiced” High Commissioner for attempting to create a “distorted impression" of Sri Lanka.
Activists in Tamil Nadu have protested against the BJP's Subramanian Swamy who announced he would be travelling to Sri Lanka to attend a military conference next week. Dozens of activists staged a mock funeral procession in Puducherry, with an effigy of Swamy and BJP flags being beaten with slippers. Despite the controversy, earlier this month, Swamy stood firm in his decision to travel to Sri Lanka, telling reporters "I would definitely participate in the conference." The conference, which Sri Lanka says is the concept of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, will be running from the 18th-...
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced on Thursday that the government will provide $1mn in financial aid to the Palestinians. The government’s official news portal said that the president “has been a long-time supporter of the Palestinian cause and is the Founder President of the Sri Lanka Committee for Solidarity with Palestine”. Earlier this year President Rajapaksa visited Palestine, where he met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The Palestinian leader praised the “good relationship” between the nations and conferred the ‘Star of Palestine’, the highest honour award by the...