Veteran Tamil playback singer Hariharan has cancelled his concert tour to Colombo which was set to begin on Saturday, reportedly yielding to anti-Lankan sentiments in Tamil Nadu. "My music has spread peace, happiness and love throughout the world for at least three decades. "If one concert could create so much of hurt and anguish among my fans, the concert loses its purpose," said Hariharan in a statement to The Times of India . Tamil Nadu based human rights group May 17 Movement, among many activists had been campaigning for Hariharan to boycott the concert. “These events are designed to...
India and Sri Lanka held maritime discussions on Saturday, including the treatment of fishermen crossing territorial waters. The issues were discussed at the 21st International Maritime Boundary Line meeting, on board a Sri Lankan naval ship, Sagara, off the coast of Kankasanthurai. The meeting comes as reports emerge that Sri Lankan air force officers were instructed to leave Tamil Nadu after protests.
Photographs Uthayan Hundreds of Tamil men and women gathered in Mannar, holding a satyagraha in protest on Saturday, at the government and military's ongoing illegal expropriation of land in Tamil areas, reported Uthayan. The military has seized over 5,200 acres of land in Mannar alone, TamilNet said in its report on the protest, citing Tamil activists in the northern region. Video Uthayan The protest was organised by youth activists of Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK), a constituent of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). It was supported by the other parties in the TNA and Tamil parties outside the alliance, including the Tamil National People’s Alliance (TNPF), as well as the Democratic People’s Front from South. Mannaar Bishop Rt. Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, together with Catholic priests, elected representatives of the civic bodies and other civil activists from Mannaar also took part. Several TNA parliamentarians attended - Mavai Senathiraja, M.A. Sumanthiran, M. Saravanapavan, Selvam Adaikalanathan, Sivasakthi Ananthan, Vino Nokarathalingam, Appathurai Vinayamoorthy and M.A. Sivajalingam - as well as V. Anandasangaree of the TULF and Bhaskara of the DPF (Democratic Peoples Front).
Extracts from a report by The Washington Post on Friday: Gathering in a spot that they judged safe enough to speak freely, a group of Tamil women recounted th e daily humiliation of life under the victorious Sri Lankan army — almost exclusively made up of ethnic Sinhalese Buddhists. Twice a month, the women said, soldiers enter their homes to photograph everyone. Permission from the military is required for even the smallest gathering , or just to collect firewood in the nearby forest. “I even have to go and ask someone for permission to have a birthday party for my daughter in my own home,”...
Sri Lankan authorities have turned down a request by the parents of slain Tamil political prisoner Ganeshan Nimalaruban for his body to be handed over to them, reported JDS today. Nimalaruban died on Tuesday after sustaining serious injuries in an attack on several Tamil detainees by security forces. Government officials claimed he was admitted at Ragama hospital on Tuesday evening, however hospital authorities told journalists on Wednesday that they were given a dead body by prison officials. JDS reported that according to legal sources, Nimalaruban was arrested on suspicion of links with the LTTE and was held without charge for 7 months. Police officials told Mahara Magistrate Mapa Bandara that a funeral may disrupt law and order in the region. The magistrate issued an injunction, preventing the the removal of the body by the parents and ordered the burial of Nimalaruban by the government. Arrangements to bury the body in the Western Province are currently being made, reported JDS.
The Indian Defence Ministry has announced it will move members of the Sri Lankan Air Force from Tambaram air base in Tamil Nadu. A day after strong condemnation from all major parties in Tamil Nadu, the Ministry of Defense released a statement saying the personnel will be moved. "All Sri Lankan trainees are being sent off today from this Station as per instruction of the Ministry of Defence," said the statement. The Sri Lankan government dismissed reports that the airmen were being sent back to Sri Lanka. "Reports about a group of Sri Lankan Airmen under training in Chennai being sent back to...
Sri Lanka Cricket has named 56 foreign players who will play in the inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League. The list is dominated by players from Australia (18) and Pakistan (13). There are no India or England players - apart from Azhar Mahmood. See ESPNcricinfo’s report here , including the list of names and values of their signings.
Seven people, including two local government members of the ruling party UPFA, have been arrested in connection with the rape of two teenage girls, reported The Island . Among the arrested is Liyanage Sunil, Chairman of Akuressa Pradeshiya Sabha, who pleaded guilty to raping a 13-year-old at the Matara Magistrate Court yesterday. He has been remanded until July 16th. Two others had also raped the child and were remanded after pleading guilty. In another case, a UPFA member of the Tangalle Municipal council has surrendered along with three others for raping a 13-year-old girl. Colombo Page...
Tamil Nadu chief Minister Jayalalitha has objected to nine Sri Lankan air force personnel being trained at an Indian airbase near Chennai, and called on the Central government to immediately cancel the programme and send the participants back, PTI reports. “At a time when there are voices demanding equal status for Tamils in Sri Lanka, reports about Sri Lankan Air Force personnel receiving training at the Tambaram Air Force Station near here was something against the Tamils. I strongly condemn this,” she said in Chennai. She slammed the Centre for remaining “silent” on a resolution moved by...
Sri Lanka’s defiant response to criticism of its clampdown on press freedoms by the United States and rights groups came from none other than Prof. GL Peiris, the former peace negotiator held in high esteem by the international community, now Foreign Minister in President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Sinhala-nationalist government. “Look at the newspapers in Sri Lanka. Can you possibly say that there is no freedom of press in the country? There is so much,” Prof. told reporters in Tokyo. See AFP’s report here . “If you look at Sri Lankan newspapers, if you look at Sunday papers, they are full of the...