'If Only Sharukh Khan', a play by Raani Moorthy, premiered in London yesterday, November 27th. Framed around three characters' love of the Bollywood actor, Shahrukh Khan, the play allows the audience enter the lives of three South Asian women including a former member of the LTTE. Watching the premier last night and reviewing the play for Tamil Guardian, was Sinthujan Varatharajah...
The Sri Lankan government has received $1.9bn worth of loan commitments from other countries, with China leading the way. China has committed $517mn up to September this year, with Japan committing $421.5mn, Asian Development Bank £371.2mn, World Bank $196.4mn, The UK $103.7mn and the US $64.9mn, according to LBO . China supplies long-term loans on higher interest, semi-commercial terms, while Japan, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank give the loans at low interest rates. Overall Sri Lanka has $1.9bn of commitments from China, $1.5bn from Japan, $1.2bn from ADB, $730mn from the...
The Bodu Bala Sena, an organisation of Sinhala Buddhist monks has called for the arrest of TNA MP Sritharan for his comments in parliament praising LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, while defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa accused the TNA of trying to sabotage the reconciliation process. Gotabhaya said to The Island that Sritharan’s comments were designed to provoke the government and the military , causing instability and political turmoil ahead of the UN Human Rights Council session in March. The Defence Secretary further said that the TNA still continues to take orders from the “LTTE...
The Chinese embassy in Colombo said that Sri Lanka has made progress on human rights and reconciliation and called on the international community not to complicate matters. "We believe that the Sri Lankan government and people have the wisdom and capacity to deal appropriately with their internal affairs," an emailed statement said.
A preview screening of the BBC World documentary ‘Sri Lanka’s unfinished war’, which outlines several cases of rape and torture against Tamils in the North-East, took place at the Frontline club today. The screening was followed by a panel discussion with the producer of the documentary, Frances Harrison, producer of the No Fire Zone documentaries, Callum Macrae and policy and advocacy manager at Freedom from Torture, Sonya Sceats. The Sri Lankan High Commission to the UK refused an invitation to participate in the discussion. The panel, chaired by a barrister at a London chamber who acted as a rapporteur to investigate the impeachment of Sri Lanka’s Chief Justice, Sadakat Kadri, discussed various issues and answered questions from the audience. Full discussion can be viewed below. Macrae outlined that the lack of credibility of any investigative initiative set up by the Sri Lanakan government, “The Sri Lankan government has an endless history of commissions that have amounted to nothing. And I think we’re going to see a lot in the run up to the UN sessions in March. I think a spurious reconciliation commission will be offered with the unfortunate help of South Africa, which will be used as an excuse to prevent things form happen. I’m sorry but from what they’ve done in the past, we can guarantee that almost any investigation will be spurious.”
Today the Tamil nation unites in an act of collective remembrance. From gatherings in diaspora locales to silent moments of thought in the occupied homeland, Tamils pause to remember all those who gave their lives in protracted struggle against the genocidal onslaught of the Sinhala state. What began as commemoration of those who fell in a war of liberation is today the defining moment of solidarity in the cause of national resistance. Marking not the finality of death, but the solemnity of sacrifice, the symbolism of this single day, like no other, is a thread that unites the Tamil nation across the world’s borders and reiterates at once its identity and its unyielding defiance in the face of genocide.
Published 11:29 GMT Thousands of Tamils have started streaming through the doors at the ExCel convention centre in London's Docklands, as the UK's Maaveerar Naal remembrance event opened its doors a little while earlier. Follow @TamilGuardian for live twitter updates of the event. Preparations for similar remembrance events are taking place across the world, whilst remembrance events in the North-East continue to be quashed by the Sri Lankan government and military.
In amidst the Sri Lankan government's stifling repression of any acts of remembrance, staff at the Jaffna based newspaper, the Uthayan , planted trees and donating blood today.
The Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council, CV Wigneswaran, was blocked from planting trees at the Thanthai Chelva memorial square in Jaffna, in remembrance of Heroes Day. The CM and three of his councillors proceeded to plant trees on the premises of the provincial council’s education ministry. “This is about our emotions and feelings. If the [SL] government didn't allow us to proceed with this, the outcome would be much more drastic,” he said, according to TamilNet . “No government can stop us from planting trees in our private lands. I have planted a tree at my house also. We...
The Indian government is continuing its post-CHOGM boycott grovelling to Sri Lanka, by sending a navy ship to the island on a “goodwill visit”, on the day Tamils mark their fallen. See more here .