Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

Sri Lanka claims commitment to repeal PTA in talks with EU 
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,…

CHOGM development will benefit the people of the country - Rajapaksa

Oct 24, 2013

Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa said today that expenses incurred by the government to host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo next month will be  an investment for the future of the country and its people.

Raped, murdered and mutilated body found in Jaffna temple

Oct 23, 2013
The dead body of a 47-year old Tamil woman was found on the premises of Naachchimaar Kovil in Jaffna this month, badly mutilated and raped according to medical sources.

The Sri Lankan military has been accused of the rape and murder.

The victim was identified as 47-year-old Markandu Yogarany, a war displaced woman from Vavuniya who was suffering from mental health issues, following the end of the armed conflict. She was staying with the Holy Family Convent who had reported her missing since the 4th of October.

The body was discovered on the temple premises on the 17th of October.

WARNING: Graphic images are featured below.

BBC hear stories of torture and rape victims in the North-East

Oct 23, 2013

In a recent report from the North-East of Sri Lanka, BBC correspondent heard the stories of  Tamil victims of torture, rape and arbitrary detention by the Sri Lankan military.

Click here for the full interview.

Tamil Nadu passes resolution calling for Indian boycott of CHOGM

Oct 23, 2013

The Tamil Nadu Assembly, convened today to unanimously pass a resolution that called on India to ‘completely’ boycott the upcoming Common Wealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo.

SL army chief meets high brass of US army

Oct 23, 2013

The Sri Lankan Army Commander Daya Ratnayake attended the 60th annual meeting of the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) in Washington earlier this week.

Channel 4 questions director of Commonwealth Secretary General's office

Oct 23, 2013

Unable to establish correspondence with the Commonwealth Secretary General, Kamalesh Sharma, Channel 4 news anchor, Jon Snow, questioned the director of the Secretary General’s office, Simon Gimson, on the purpose of holding Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka. 

Suu Kyi agrees with Cameron on engagement with Sri Lanka

Oct 23, 2013

The Burmese opposition leader and human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi has said that David Cameron should engage with all parties in Sri Lanka, after increasing pressure on the prime minister not to attend the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting on the island.

Resort to prostitution a result of militarisation - Ananthy Sasitharan

Oct 23, 2013
Recently elected Northern Provincial Councillor and civil society activist Ananthy Sasitharan has criticised many claims in an IRIN article on why more and more women are turning to sex work in the Northeast. Ananthy criticised the article for trivialising Tamil women turning to prostitution as purely finance-driven, arguing instead that in reality militarisation in the Northeast has created a culture where abuse, harassment and rape of Tamil women at the hands of the Sri Lankan Army has become commonplace.

Writing on globaltamilnews.net (in Tamil) Ananthy blamed the regime in Colombo and its associates for repeatedly “dragging through the mud” the women trying to recover from the horrors of Mullivaaykkal.

Ananthy disputed the IRIN article’s reasoning that seasonal demand has encouraged the increase in Tamil women turning to sex work. Instead, Ananthy says that the resort to prostitution is not a last resort decision based on financial desperation, but one that vulnerable Tamil women are in the end reduced to, after widespread experience of abuse at the hands of the Sri Lankan army.

Jaffna hospital remembers IPKF massacre

Oct 22, 2013
Staff at Jaffna Teaching Hospital held a remembrance event for the massacre of over 60 doctors, staff and patients committed by Indian Peacekeeping Forces (IPKF) in 1987.

LTTE not entitled to cemeteries - SL commander

Oct 22, 2013
Responding to resolutions taken by various Pradeshiya Sabais earlier in the week to restore Maveerar Thuyilum Illangal - martyr cemeteries - in Kilinochchi, Jaffna Security Forces Commander Mahinda Hathurasinghe said that a 'banned terrorist organisation' like the LTTE could not lay claims to tombs or monuments.
Raped, murdered and mutilated body found in Jaffna temple
BBC hear stories of torture and rape victims in the North-East
Tamil Nadu passes resolution calling for Indian boycott of CHOGM
SL army chief meets high brass of US army
Channel 4 questions director of Commonwealth Secretary General's office
Suu Kyi agrees with Cameron on engagement with Sri Lanka
Resort to prostitution a result of militarisation - Ananthy Sasitharan
Jaffna hospital remembers IPKF massacre
LTTE not entitled to cemeteries - SL commander
Tamil Nadu spurns Cameron's decision on CHOGM
Raped, murdered and mutilated body found in Jaffna temple
BBC hear stories of torture and rape victims in the North-East
Tamil Nadu passes resolution calling for Indian boycott of CHOGM
SL army chief meets high brass of US army
Channel 4 questions director of Commonwealth Secretary General's office
Suu Kyi agrees with Cameron on engagement with Sri Lanka
Resort to prostitution a result of militarisation - Ananthy Sasitharan
Jaffna hospital remembers IPKF massacre
LTTE not entitled to cemeteries - SL commander
Tamil Nadu spurns Cameron's decision on CHOGM