Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

Sri Lanka claimed it is committed to repealing the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), during the latest round of human rights discussions with the European Union, a move tied to its continued access to preferential trade benefits under the GSP+ scheme. At the eighth meeting of the Working Group on Governance, Rule of Law and Human Rights under the EU-Sri Lanka Joint Commission,…

Wigneswaran not invited to CHOGM, unlikely to attend

NPC Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran said it was unlikely that he would attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo, according to Sri Lanka’s Financial Times.

“I do not think I will be going,” Wigneswaran said.

“I will ask the TNA to advise me on whether or not to attend CHOGM. I will go along with the party’s decision,”

Commonwealth Secretary General commends NPC conduction process

Issuing the report of the Commonwealth Observer Mission to Sri Lanka’s Northern provincial Elections,  Commonwealth Secretary-general Kamalesh Sharma, commended the Sri Lankan state’s running of the Northern Provincial council elections.

Forgotten heroes of the Eelam war'

Writing an opinion about ‘Forgotten heroes of the Eelam war’  for the Weekend Leader, political researcher and member of Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), Sinthujan Varatharajah, outlined the reasons behind the organisation’s forthcoming report, “Silencing the Press: An analysis of Violence against the Media in Sri Lanka.”

Sinthujan Varatharajah, works as a London based researcher at Euro-Islam.info and teaching assistant at the University College London (UCL) Political Geography Department.

Journalists threatened with reprisals for reporting military land grab

Sri Lankan government attempts to demolish Tamil places of residence caused commotion today as Northern Provincial Tamil Parliamentarians protested the destruction.

According to journalists on the ground, the Tamil Parliamentarians were rounded up by the Sri Lankan military, and threatened at gunpoint.

Military will not leave the North-East - Mahinda Rajapaksa

Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, today reiterated that increasing demands for the removal of army camps from the North-East, would never become a reality.

Facebook a plague' - Mahinda Rajapaksa

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa labelled Facebook a 'plague' which was affecting the younger generation, at a speech given at a school in the south of the island, earlier this month.

Despite this, the ruling government have refused to state whether they will ban Facebook, after it was brought up in the Sri Lankan parliament by UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Hindu temple in Dambulla demolished


A thirty-year-old Hindu temple in the Central Provincial town of Dambulla, was demolished overnight reports Colombo Telegraph.

The shrine to Badhrakaali Amman was razed to the ground, despite appeals made to the President by Tamil politicians, and joins a long list of non-Buddhist places of worship that have come under attack.

Western Provincial Councillor N Kumar Guruparan, who had personally taken up the matter said:

No Fire Zone to be broadcast on Channel 4

The third documentary by Director Callum Macrae about the final months of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka, No Fire Zone, will be screened on British television by Channel 4 on Sunday at 22:50.

Macrae, who was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his movies on the conflict, announced the broadcast at a panel discussion on Sri Lanka in Parliament last week, saying that there would be new, previously unseen material.

SL Navy opens fire on Indian fishermen

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,calling on him to 'unequivocally condemn' an attack on Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy on Sunday.

According to reports, the Navy fired on 6 fishermen from Tamil Nadu, without warning.

In her letter to the Prime Minister Jayalalithaa said,

‘Role model’ Suresh Sriskandarajah sentenced to two years in New York

A Canadian Tamil was found guilty of providing material support to a banned terrorist organisation and sentenced to two years in prison.

Suresh Sriskandarajah, who was extradited to the US last December and has been in detention since, pleaded guilty to the charge in July and asked to be sentenced to time already served.