The North-East of the island is under Sri Lankan military invasion, said the Tamil National Alliance spokesperson at a meeting Tuesday in Jaffna, reports Uthayan . Speaking at the National Fishermen Cooperation Movement, MP Suresh Premachandran, citing several facts, condemned the Sri Lankan government’s actions during the armed conflict and afterwards. Mr Premachandran deplored the heightened military presence alleging that 75% of the Sri Lankan military was based in the North-East. He further added that at least 50,000 people in Jaffna, the majority of whom are fishermen, were not being...
MDMK General Secretary, Vaiko urged the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take "appropriate steps" to safeguard the welfare of Tamils in Sri Lanka, reports DNA India . Criticising the BJP government's endorsement of India's decision to abstain from voting in favour of an international inquiry on mass atrocities in Sri Lanka during the UN Human Rights Council session earlier this year, Vaiko reportedly asked in a letter addressed to Modi if the official stand of the government was to "endorse the attitude of betrayal of Tamils committed by the previous UPA Government in the human rights council meeting."
Photograph @HugoSwire The UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) minister, Hugo Swire met with the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Nisha Biswal in Washington on Tuesday, for discussion on South Asia, as well as "detailed talks" on Sri Lanka. "South Asia including detailed talks on Sri Lanka with Nisha Biswal. UK remains committed to international efforts," Mr Swire tweeted following the meeting.
The leader of the PMK, an ally of India's ruling BJP in Tamil Nadu, said India should allow the UN investigative team to use Chennai as a base when conducting its inquiry into mass atrocities in Sri Lanka, the Times of India reports. Meeting with her Sri Lankan counterpart last week, the Indian External Affairs Minister reportedly reiterated India's criticism of the UN inquiry. "It is regrettable that the foreign minister and the official spokesperson assured the Sri Lankan government that the Indian government would follow the previous UPA government’s stand," said PMK's S. Ramadoss,...
The South African delegation, led by the Special Envoy Cyril Ramaphosa, assured Tamil politicians that their work is complementary to the UN inquiry, not an alternative, said the Chief Minister of the Northern Province C.V. Wigneswaran in an interview to Ceylon Today on Sunday. "The delegation has assured us that their involvement is complementary to the UN efforts and not an alternative," said Justice Wigneswaran.
Over a thousand women have left the main opposition party in Sri Lanka, the UNP, to join the main party of the ruling coalition, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. According to a report by Sri Lanka’s national broadcaster , the women obtained membership of the party headed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at a local party meeting in Kela Wewa held on Sunday morning. The meeting was led by Minister Pavithra Wanniaarachchi.who said that the government led by Rajapaksa has achieved “a significant service for the welfare of women”.
The Sri Lankan government will pass a new law regarding non-governmental organisations by the end of the year, in response to NGOs rejecting a recent government letter, which restricted their activities, the Daily Mirror reported on Monday. The new law will require NGOs to register with the National Secretariat for NGOs, which comes under the purview of the defence ministry headed by Gothabaya Rajapaksa.
The Muslim Council of Sri Lanka has announced that it is changing the colour of the burqa, a garment worn by some Muslim women around the world, from black to “simple pleasing pastel shades”, nearly a month after attacks on Muslims by Sinhala Buddhists in the south of the country. Vice President of the MCSL, Hilmy Ahmed, said that they would hand out free burqas and claimed that this was not a knee-jerk reaction to the recent violence or threats by the Bodu Bala Sena against Muslim clothing, reported Ceylon Today . "The dark garb has been heavily criticised by various quarters the world over and is even related to Wahhabism, but we too feel it is unnecessary, as the visibility of those who don it is very high on the streets and when interacting with people and when using public transport persons could be intimidated or targeted ," he said.
A Sri Lankan government minister has accused the United States and the United Kingdom of attempting to revive the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka and said that the leaders were pandering to the wishes of “LTTE supporters” in their countries. Power and Energy Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi said at an event on Monday that both President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron secured votes from supporters of the LTTE, according to the Colombo Gazette . “There are some legislators who were elected in those countries through LTTE votes,” she claimed.
A network of Tamil civil society groups from the North-East called on the Pope to ensure his upcoming trip to the island includes a visit to the North-East in a letter on Sunday, urging the Pope to call on the Sri Lankan government to stop colonising Tamil land, account for the war-dead and disappeared, and ensure a political solution for the Tamil people. Extracts from the letter by representatives of the Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) are reproduced below. See full letter here . “In the post-war context the Government of Sri Lanka, despite invoking the rhetoric of ‘reconciliation’ has been engaged in acts that are designed to weaken the Tamil Nation. The heavy presence of the military in Tamil areas, appropriation of lands belonging to the Tamil people for use by the Sri Lankan Army, the settlement of Sinhalese in what are historically the traditional homeland of the Tamil people (the North & East of the island), the all perverse use of torture and violence in the everyday lives of the Tamil people, the denial of livelihood support for the war affected population are some examples of the real face of ‘reconciliation’ underway.” “The recent incidents of violence against the Muslim community are an extension of this larger project to consolidate the Sinhala Buddhist nature of the Sri Lankan state. Both the GoSL’s conduct of the war and their handling of the post- war context, the Tamil people believe amounts to a structural genocide of the Tamil Nation.”