A group of around 80 Tamil detainees have launched a hunger strike in Welikada Prison in Colombo. The group started the hunger strike on Thursday morning, demanding immediate court hearings or release. The hunger strikers have been detained without trial for several years, with some having been in custody for over 5 years.
The secretary of the Jaffna University Student Union has been attacked hours before he was due to address a Mullivaikkal remembrance event in Jaffna, reports Lankasri News. See report on TamilNet here . Paramalingam Tharsananth was assaulted with iron bars by an unknown gang at Kalladdy junction in Jaffna and has since been transferred to Jaffna General Hospital for his injuries. Reports have since emerged of students protesting inside Jaffna University against the attack, alleged to have been carried out by army intelligence and connected to Tharsananth's role in the remembrance event.
Students at Jaffna university staged large scale protest outside the university grounds condemning the attack of the secretary of student union, Paramalingam Tharsananth. See reports here , here and here . Demanding that the university officials act to safeguard the rights of students, the protesters burnt an effigy of the university's vice chancellor, prompting her to call for discussions. According to reports, the situation remains tense, after the protest has resulted in a large deployment of Sri Lankan police officers to the area.
In defiance of intimidation and attacks by the military, students at Jaffna University marked the massacre of Mullivaikkal at an event held at the university on 18th May. See reports here , here , and here . Hundreds of students gathered to light candles in memory of those who had been killed.
In a joint message, two worldwide diaspora groups, Global Tamil Forum (GTF) & Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), remembered the events of Mullivaikkal and urged the international community to act quickly and decisively. "History has recorded the abject failure of the international community, including the United Nations, to take any form of sensible action to prevent the mass killings of Tamils in Mullivaaikkaal" " A substantial body of evidence is in our hands and those of the international community incriminating the Sri Lankan Government of its mass killings, war crimes...
In a statement published on Friday, the leader of the UK Labour Party, Ed Miliband MP remembered the " appalling loss of life ", noting that the " terrible events that took place in 2009 resonate to this day ". See here for statement in full. Extracts have been reproduced below: "Three years on, no credible accountability process has been initiated from within Sri Lanka to investigate the serious allegations of war crimes detailed in the UN Panel of Experts report." "In addition, the Labour Party remains deeply concerned by the plight faced by many Tamils on the island, as well as violations...
Amnesty International has called for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to press visiting Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister GL Peiris to address past and continuing human rights abuses and accountability issues. Head of Amnesty’s Washington DC office, Frank Januzzi, said in a statement released on Friday that the international community cannot wait while the government ‘makes empty promises’ and that an independent international investigation should be established immediately. "Secretary Clinton should use this meeting to follow up on her decisive action during the March session of the...
British Prime Minister, David Cameron, may warn Mahinda Rajapaksa personally he would consider boycotting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting due to be held in Colombo unless there is faster action on demilitarisation and devolving power, The Times newspaper reported on Friday. According to the report, 'senior sources' informed The Times, that the UK prime minister may deliver the message personally next month as Rajapaksa attends a lunch marking the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. See also: UK opposition leader marks Mullaivaikkal (18 May 2012)
Rajiva Wijesinha, Sri Lanka's presidential advisor on reconciliation Tensions ran high at a live public debate run by London based media forum, The Frontline Club, on Wednesday, as the Sri Lankan president's advisor on reconciliation, Rajiva Wijesinha, accused fellow panellists talking “ complete nonsense ” and called the Sri Lankan researcher at Amnesty International a “ vengeful harridan ”. Chaired by the BBC's Stephen Sackur, the panellists considered the impact of the Channel 4 documentary 'Sri Lanka's Killing Fields' and the situation in Sri Lanka today three years after the end of the armed conflict. Panellists included the director of 'Sri Lanka's Killing Fields' - Callum Macrae, Yolanda Foster of Amnesty International, Jan Jananayagam of TAG (Tamils Against Genocide), Arun Thambimuttu – the presidential coordinator for Batticaloa district and Batticaloa's SLFP organiser and the president's advisor on reconciliation - Rajiva Wijesinha.
Increasing Sinhalisation feared in the North-East, as attacks on Hindu temples escalate. The past few weeks has seen a string of attacks targeting Hindu priests, Hindu sacred shrines and the forceful demolition of Hindu temples. On 15th May a Sivalingam statue a sacred shrine was reported as missing in Polanaruwa. PhotographsTamilwin Two days before, in Punanai, a village near Batticoloa, a Pillaiyar statue was reported missing.