Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi departed Sri Lanka earlier this month, New Delhi’s media was already hailing the visit as a diplomatic triumph. A raft of development projects had been announced and a significant new defence pact between the two governments signed. Images broadcast showed Modi beside a smiling Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake, arms raised aloft in symbolic…

Australia sued over asylum seekers' healthcare

A class action case is being brought against the Australian government citing inadequate provision of healthcare for asylum seekers detained on Christmas Island.

The case has been filed with a six year old asylum seeker as the main plaintiff, at Victoria's Supreme Court.

"It seeks compensation for injuries as well as Court orders that the government and the Minister for Immigration provide the medical care that injured asylum seekers require," the law firm Maurice Blackburn, said in a statement.

Many Tamils from the North-East of Sri Lanka are being detained on Christmas Island, after fleeing the country by boat.

Rights groups urge UNHRC to take action over intimidation by Sri Lanka

Six key human rights groups have urged the President of the UN Human Rights Council to condemn Sri Lanka's ongoing intimidation and harassment of rights activists who work with the UN body.

In a joint letter published Monday, the NGOs - Amnesty International, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen Participation, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), International Movement Against Discrimination and All Form of Racism (IMADR) and International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) - called on the UNHRC president "to take the meaningful steps necessary to protect human rights defenders and other individuals from intimidation and reprisals in connection with their cooperation with the UN."

"The UN Human Rights Council also has a responsibility to protect those who engage with it from intimidation and reprisals. In this regard, we call on the Council, through its President, to condemn the systematic reprisals faced by Sri Lankan human rights defenders and other individuals as well as to remind Sri Lanka of its obligation to ensure that all persons can exercise their right to free and unhindered access to UN human rights mechanisms," the groups said.

Pope to visit Mannar's Madhu shrine

Pope Francis will visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu in Mannar during his upcoming trip to the the island of Sri Lanka, the Vatican Insider reports.

Earlier this year, the Tamil civil society groups, called on the Pope to visit the Tamil areas in the North and East, in order to view the ongoing plight of the Tamil people.

“We are confident that Your Holiness will appreciate, following your visit to Sri Lanka, that Sri Lanka is not merely lacking in ‘reconciliation’ but that the problem is far worse than that - as we have tried to describe above, the problem is one of consolidating an ethnocratic state. Your Holiness will no doubt recall that it is this ethnocratic project that led the Tamil people to take up arms against the Sri Lankan state," the Tamil Civil Society Forum wrote in a letter to Pope Francis. See here.

Import tax on onions and potatoes increased to ‘safeguard local farmers’

Sri Lanka’s Finance Ministry announced that the special commodity levy on imported big onions and potatoes has been increased in order to safeguard local farmers reported the Daily Mirror.

The levy on imported big onions was increased from Rs25 to Rs35 a kilo while the levy on imported potatoes was increased from Rs15 to Rs25 a kilo.

Sri Lankan Army set fixture at Hindu festival

(Pictures: defence.lk)

The Sri Lankan military distributed food parcels at the Nallur Kandaswamy temple festival in Jaffna for the third year running, from a special stall set up and manned by army personnel.

The army stall has become a set fixture of the annual festival, the largest gathering of Tamils on the island.

TESO calls for Rajapaksa to be barred from addressing UN

The Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation (TESO) called on the United Nations to bar Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa from addressing the General Assembly, in a series of resolutions passed on Monday.

TESO, headed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) President M Karunanidhi, held the meeting, passing a resolution that stated,

“Since he denied entry to the UN team, neither Mr Rajapaksa nor any representative from Sri Lanka be allowed to address the UN General Assembly.”

US lobby firm needed to combat ‘Tamil diaspora and international media’ says Central Bank

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) condemned the Tamil diaspora and international media for carrying out an alleged “extraordinary and vicious campaign” against the country, in a statement justifying the hiring of United States-based lobby firm.

The Central Bank reportedly signed a $760,000 agreement with Liberty International Group LLC “to provide an accurate account of the Sri Lankan political and economic environment to US leaders... to keep them abreast of the true situation in the country”.

The contract will run until July 2015.

In a statement released on Monday, CBSL stated that it “regularly faces many challenges due to various erroneous and mischievous statements that are also publicized by many persons, both local and international.”

Japan may provide Sri Lanka with Navy patrol boats

The Japanese government is considering providing the Sri Lankan Navy with patrol boats later this year to strengthen Sri Lanka’s maritime surveillance capacity, according to reports.

Kyodo News International reported that a Japanese government source said the move was being considered ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s scheduled visit to Colombo in early September.

The proposal is expected to be discussed in September, with the Japanese government also considering extending a loan to Sri Lanka, enabling the Sri Lankan government to purchase the vessels. No decision has been made yet on the number of patrol boats to be provided, or on whether they will be new boats or Japanese patrol boats which are already in service.

‘We cannot give what the TNA wants’ – Sri Lankan Minister

Sri Lankan Minister S.B. Dissanayake warned that granting land and police powers to the North and East will result in the LTTE regrouping and rallied against the 13th Amendment, on Sunday.

Speaking at a public rally in Passara, Dissanayake spoke out against implementation of the 13th Amendment and slammed the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), saying,

“We cannot allow terrorism to raise its head again. We cannot give what the TNA wants. We cannot give what the Northern Provincial Council wants. We cannot give land and police powers.”

Man found hanging in Thalaimannar

The body of a young male was found hanging in woods near Thalaimannar on Sunday.

The man, identified as 31 year old, Dharmaseelan Hariharan, is a father of a young child and is originally from Selvanagar in Mannar, the Uthayan reports.

His body was spotted by passersby, who reported the death to the police. The police are treating it as a possible murder inquiry, as his body was found hanging off a very small branch, with his knees touching the ground when it was found, leading police to believe he was murdered before being hung up.