09:37 BST An international conference, calling for a boycott of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2013 (CHOGM 2013) due to take place in November later this year, by the Tamil Nadu based activist organisation, 'Save Tamils Movement' and 'Student Struggle committee for Tamil Eezham', is currently underway. Inviting student leaders from across Tamil Nadu, India and around the world, the conference organisers call for Sri Lanka to be expelled from the Commonwealth nations, and for member countries to boycott CHOGM 2013. The conference is being live streamed here
Speaking at the United People’s Freedom Alliance, (UPFA) election rally, Mahinda Rajapaksa warned that foreign forces were plotting schemes to destabilise the country. Urging the ethnic Tamil and Muslim communities to not be misled by false propaganda, Rajapaksa described the alleged schemes as attempts to create a situation that would lead to public revolt resulting in a regime change. Drawing upon the unrest in Libya and Egypt, Rajapaksa argued that the change of regimes had only left the nations in further turmoil. Purporting the Northern Provincial Council elections Rajapaksa as a victory...
Sri Lanka’s Minister of External Affairs, G. L. Peiris, told a seminar that the LTTE was to blame for ‘misinformation’ about the role of the army in the Northeast, which even the UN had bought into. Peiris The Sunday Leader quotes Peiris as saying: “Such misinformation is reflected in the UNHRC report too and the deliberate use of the word ‘intrusive’ for presence of the Army in the north, is inaccurate, unjustified and wrong. This assertion contradicts the OCHA report that they (UN) themselves have prepared in which their own independent surveys, conducted on 197 northern civilians at random...
The Tamil National Alliance, leader R. Sampanthan, implored southern political actors to refrain from maliciously criticising the TNA’s, recently released, electoral statement. Sampanthan reiterated that the TNA did not have any intention to harm the integrity of the country, stating, “We also want a political settlement to the Tamil question, which should be durable and ensure the dignity of the Tamils. We are for the unity of the country. We don’t want the country to be divided. Therefore, the political forces that cannot understand the political aspirations of the Tamils should not mislead...
The British based NGO Freedom from Torture has revealed that Sri Lanka was the top country of origin for those referred to the organisation for clinical services. In a statement on its website, the group said that its annual review showed that out of 1,301 people, 228 were from Sri Lanka, with the vast majority being Tamil. The individuals were referred to the group by concerned GPs or solicitors dealing with their asylum applications. “These alarming statistics mean that for the first time in years, Sri Lanka has replaced Iran at the top of the shameful table that tallies the country of...
Sri Lanka's Muslim politicians and coalition allies of the government have criticised a statement by the Defence Secretary in which he implied that the rise of religious tension was connected to a presence of extremist Muslims on the island. Speaking at a seminar hosted by the military on Tuesday, Gotabhaya Rajapakse said: "One of the consequences of the increasing insularity amongst minority ethnic groups is the emergence of hardline groups within the majority (Sinhala-Buddhist) community." "It is a known fact that Muslim fundamentalism is spreading all over the world and in this region. The...
The spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Colombo, Father Benedict Joseph has said that Pope Francis will visit Sri Lanka. State radio SLBC claimed that the dates will be announced soon. Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse extended an invitation to Pope Francis last month.
As part of our series - ' Tamil Nadu activists speak out ' - on the growing activism in Tamil Nadu on the Eelam Tamil issue, Tamil Guardian caught up with leading activists across the state. This week, we publish our interview with the Save Tamils Movement based in Chennai. It is the 'democratic wish' of the Tamil Nadu state to support Eelam Tamils, with Tamils across the world supporting a free Eelam, stated the Save Tamils Movement, in an interview with Tamil Guardian.
A UN spokesperson has stressed that the work done by Navi Pillay while she was in Sri Lanka has the full support of the United Nations. Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, Farhan Haq, was responding to a question about the intimidation of witnesses that spoke to the UN Human Rights Commissioner, during a press briefing . “[D]uring the visit of Navi Pillay to Sri Lanka, she said it in her exit press conference [...] that witnesses who spoke to her… who sought to speak to her were being intimidated and harassed immediately after, and she said the UN takes this very seriously, so I...
A 34 year old Eelam Tamil man, residing in Switzerland, self-immolated outside the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in the early hours of Thursday morning. The man is believed to be Senthilkumaran Ratnasingham, a father of 3 children, who is said to have been living there since the age of 14. According to reports, he was taken to hospital, but died of his burned shortly afterwards. Details of the incident are yet to verified, however he is understood to have campaigned against the genocide of Eelam Tamils in the North-East of the island of Sri Lanka, frequently attending protests and...