UK Tamil students get ready for 'Breaking the Silence' genocide awareness campaign, as Cameron goes to CHOGM

Tamil students across UK universities began getting ready for the ‘Breaking the Silence’ genocide campaign this week, as the British Prime Minister is set to attend the Commonwealth leaders' meet in Sri Lanka. The campaign, which has now become an annual event that takes place each November in a number of UK universities was set up to 'break the silence' on genocide of Tamils in the North-East after the events of 2009.

Tamil youth in India and UK unite to call for CHOGM boycott

Student societies across India and the UK released a statement Tuesday, continuing calls for a boycott of the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). 28 Tamil organisations, in a joint statement, deplored the British Premier’s decision to attend CHOGM and consolidated their calls for heads of states to boycott the summit in Sri Lanka.

5 day hunger strike over land grabs begins in Vali North

Photographs TamilMirror Tamils in Valikaamam North began a five day hunger strike this morning in protest against the High Security Zone and the on-going land grabs by the Sri Lankan state within the North-East. Yesterday protest organisers received death warnings, as they woke up to the heads of dead cows on their door steps. See here . The protest takes place as Sri Lanka welcomes numerous heads of state to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo.

Mauritius PM becomes 3rd leader to pull out of Commonwealth summit

The Mauritian Prime Minister, Navin Ramgoolan, will not be attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka this week. Ramgoolan is reported to have made the announcement at the Mauritian parliament on Tuesday, when responding to a question by the opposition leader, Paul Bérenger, who has previously called for a boycott of the summit. "This is a decision taken by a sovereign Mauritius in the face of the absence of progress in Sri Lanka on the respect of human rights," Ramgoolan told parliament. He went on to add that Mauritius, which is set to host the next CHOGM, believes that "human rights are more important than everything else" .

Commonwealth risks colluding with ‘crime and cover-up on a historic scale’ – The Times

British Premier David Cameron and other Commonwealth leaders going to the summit in Sri Lanka this week “have a duty to hold their hosts to account” for crimes against humanity there during and since the war’s end, The Times newspaper said in its editorial Tuesday. By allowing Sri Lanka to host its heads of government meeting in Colombo , the Commonwealth risks “collud[ing] with crime and cover-up on an historic scale ,” the paper said. “ The evidence of crimes against humanity by [Sri Lankan] troops during and since the climax of the Sri Lankan civil war, collected mainly by British...

Tamil Nadu activists speak out: Loyola College Students

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 students from Loyola College in Chennai. Students from Loyola College in Tamil Nadu remained steadfast in their call for a complete boycott of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo by the international community, and continued to call for Sri Lanka to be suspended from the Commonwealth. In an interview from Chennai, Joe Britto from Loyola College said to the Tamil Guardian, "We, the students of Tamil Nadu, we strictly condemn that - that conference shouldn't be happening in Sri Lanka, and we will protest on the streets, and we will raise our voice against the Sri Lankan Commonwealth conference."

How Sri Lanka 'engaged' with British MPs - Telegraph

The Telegraph examined how Sri Lanka 'engaged' with certain British MPs earlier this year, by looking at a debate earlier this year regarding Sri Lanka's human rights situation at the British Houses of Parliament. The short video was released as the British government announced that MPs are now banned from accepting all expenses paid trips to Sri Lanka.

Tamil Nadu assembly calls for 'complete boycott' of CHOGM

The Tamil Nadu assembly today passed yet another resolution calling for a 'complete boycott' of Indian participation from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, due to be held in Colombo this week. The resolution, put forward by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, hit out against the Indian government's decision to still attend the summit, with foreign minister Salman Khurshid confirming his attendance earlier in the day. Jayalalithaa had told the assembly that participation was endorsing the "inhuman" deeds of the Sri Lankan government against the Tamil people "whose sufferings continued even four years after the end of the war".

Singh absence at CHOGM 'a big loss' - UNP

Sri Lanka's main opposition party, the UNP, bemoaned the absence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting, calling it a 'big loss'. Speaking to reporters, United National Party (UNP) general secretary Tissa Attanayake said , “This is a big loss, because if our relationship with our neighbour appears to breakdown, no one can say it will be a good thing,” The announcement comes after UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe announced he would be 'boycotting' CHOGM, but would still take part in the inauguration ceremony.

‘Regional interests’ of Tamil Nadu must be part of Indian foreign policy

Writing in the Weekend Leader, Karthick RM hailed the decision of Manmohan Singh not to attend CHOGM in Colombo this week as a 'symbolic victory', but stated it was not enough, calling for a 'serious re-think' of Indian foreign policy towards Sri Lanka. Stating that a complete boycott was still needed, he went on to coment that the regional interests of Tamil Nadu were integral to India's foreign policy, adding that Tamil activists from across the globe have "emerged as a well-networked community" and are "constantly expanding their spheres of influence in opinion making".

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