The fifth year anniversary of the Mullivaikal massacre was marked by Swiss Tamils as 'Tamils Genocide Day', at a remembrance event held in front of Parliament in the capital city Bern.
Photographs EET TV Thousands of Canadian Tamils gathered in Toronto's Albert Campbell Square, to mark the fifth anniversary of the Mullivaikal massacre.
Photographs Sankathi24 Tamils in New Zealand marked 5 years as 'Tamils Genocide Day', remembering the mass killing of tens of thousands of Tamils.
Photographs Sankathi24 Tamils in the Netherlands held a memorial event marking the 5 year anniversary of the mass killing of tens of thousands of Tamils at the end of the armed conflict.
The Sri Lankan government said it was very happy that the BJP’s strong showing in India’s election means that the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa will not be able to influence the central government, reported PTI . Spokesperson and Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said his government was pleased that they could conduct business with Narendra Modi without Tamil Nadu exerting “undue influence”.
Updated 13:23 BST (adds translation) A death threat has been issued to staff and students at the University of Jaffna, as well as journalists over their attempts to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the Mullivaikal massacre despite the military banning any public events. In a flyer distributed around Jaffna today, the staff, students and journalists were given a "final warning" against those "encouraging or resurrecting terrorism". Some individuals, including journalists who played prominent role in reporting on remembrance events held this weekend as well as the heavy military presence around political party offices and temples, have been explicitly named. Stating that previous warnings had been ignored, the death threat said "they still do not reform, the final sentence is a death sentence. The final day has been marked for some." "Do not take this lightly as with previous warnings. You are guaranteed to be freed from this world," it concluded, signed by the 'Nation Guarding Force' and dated May 18.
India’s Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi has pledged attention on the killings of Tamils by Sri Lanka, said the leader of Tamil Nadu’s MDMK, Vaiko. Vaiko, whose party is an ally of Modi’s BJP, met with the future prime minister in Delhi and said he raised the issue of the previous government’s support for the Sri lankan government with Modi, reported ANI . "He told me that the minorities within a short time will realize, I (Modi) am protecting everybody. In Kargil, where the minorities form the population, there BJP has won. And one more thing I said in this state five years back,...
Sri Lanka should comply with the March 2014 United Nations Human Rights Council resolution, which created an international investigation into allegations of serious abuses by both sides, Human Rights Watch said today. The New York-based organisation said Sri Lanka had resisted taking meaningful steps to investigate allegations of war crimes as recommended by previous resolutions in 2012 and 2013. “The Sri Lankan government denounced the Human Rights Council resolution, yet for five long years it has failed to act on its promises to investigate and bring to justice wartime atrocities,” said Brad Adams, Asia director of HRW.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has arrived in China for the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), where Sri Lanka is an observer state. The summit will be held in Shanghai until Thursday under the theme of “Increasing dialogue, mutual trust and collaboration to build a new Asia that is peaceful, stable and cooperative”. “CICA is a multinational forum comprising 24 countries and nine observer states including the US. Sri Lanka is attending the Summit for the first time,” Presidential spokesman Mohan Samaranayake told the Daily News .
Foreigners married to Sri Lankan citizens will not be allowed to receive dual citizenship, according to new regulations currently under review by the Immigration Department reported the Daily Nation . Previously a foreign spouse or widows/widowers of Sri Lankan citizens were eligible for citizenship if they were resident in the country for more at least 7 years. The government said in 2013 that Defence Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa himself would interview all those with dual nationality to assess their eligibility. Later the government announced that it would suspend the dual citizenship...