Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

Illustration:  Aravinthan Ganeshan Familiar scenes played out across the island last week as Sri Lanka marked 77 years since the end of British rule. In the Sinhala south, lion flags were hoisted with pride and Colombo’s streets saw yet another military parade. But in the Tamil North-East, a starkly different picture was evident once more. Black flags were raised, protests were held…

Russian ambassador slams Sri Lanka critics

The Russian ambassador to Sri Lanka says that countries criticise Sri Lanka’s human rights violations, while ignoring their own record.

“Sometimes people point at a speck in the others eye without knowing a whole lot about the board in theirs,” Alexander Karchava said in an interview to the Daily News.

Karchava said that while western countries can suggest ideas to improve the human rights situation, they shouldn’t pressure Sri Lanka to implement measures that those countries may seem fit.

Rajapaksa's Christmas cheer

Mahinda Rajapaksa on Christmas day...  

"The teaching of love and understanding that brings the spirit of sharing, which marks the celebration of Christmas, can help in strengthening the bridges of peace, tolerance and reconciliation that are being built in our country."

"The birth of Jesus Christ in a stable at Bethlehem shows the world the importance of love extending to all, moving beyond all barriers, extending from the highest to the humblest in society, to all beings who share this earth with us, and to nature that sustains us all."

Here's a round-up of articles on Christianity and Sri Lanka from 2012:

Monks attack pastor and vandalise church (13 Dec 2012)

Church and mosque vandalised and burnt (27 Oct 2012)

Chauvinism in Sri Lanka's trade policies - international economist

An economist from Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy says Sri Lanka has been withholding trade from India, most notably the neighbouring Southern states, "for a combination of chauvinistic reasons and defensive economic reasons of some [local] business."

Dr. Razeen Sally, formerly of the London School of Economics (LSE), stated,

Flooding continues to affect North-East

Flooding has continued to affect parts of the North-East, including Batticaloa and Vavuniya, following heavy rains over the past few days.

In Batticaloa, 22 people have been killed in the floods, and 50 injured. Meanwhile in Vavuniya, 3428 families have been displaced, according to the Vavuniya district disaster management agency.

SL Navy arrests 26 TN fishermen

Photograph Daily Mirror

Chinese firms bypass tender process in Sri Lanka – The Sunday Times

Chinese companies are investing into mega projects in Sri Lanka, avoiding tender procedures and hence emerging as the only bidders for contracts, reported The Sunday Times on Sunday.

The paper quoted a local agent of an Indian construction company as saying that the Chinese companies pay commissions to its local agents, depending on the value of the project negotiated.

Tamil families face more intimidation

Tamil families face more intimidation

No mental trauma or sexual abuse, just madness

In an interview with BBC Tamil, Sivasubramaniyam Sivadas, the medical doctor who reportedly treated the 15 Tamil women who were admitted to Kilinochchi hospital shortly after being recruited into the Sri Lankan army, dismissed reports of sexual abuse or mental trauma, and claimed that they fifteen had suffered from a case of 'collective hysteria'.

See here for full interview in Tamil. See below for a transcript of the interview:

Dr Sivadas: There are 15 of them. Out of that 02 are admitted to the wards. The remaining 13 are kept in a room in the upper floor in order to be consulted by me. Many people requested me to see them. I clearly informed them about two matters. I will see them if only you accept my decision after I diagnose them. The other one is that I wanted to meet the patients privately.

After that one medical officer from the Army arrived. He contacted higher authorities and said 'that they are ready to accept my recommendations'. After that only I met all 15 girls personally.

Boycott Sri Lanka cricket campaign gains more supporters

Updated 13:15 GMT

Renowned Australian author Thomas Keneally has spoken out against Australia playing cricket with Sri Lanka and called for a break of sporting ties, as calls to boycott Sri Lankan cricket continue to grow.

Writing to Keneally, the Tamil Refugee Council stated,
“For too long Australia has turned a blind eye to the mounting evidence that the Sri Lankan Government committed war crimes against the poorest of its own people, including the slaughter of more than 40,000 innocent Tamil civilians at the end of the civil war in 2009."
“There will be a stain of injustice that won’t wash out of the cricket whites if the human rights abuses of the ruling Sri Lankan regime pass unremarked.”
Keneally, who had previously spoken out after the suicide of an asylum seeker fleeing Sri Lanka, responded,
“All the matters your letter raised are issues we can’t pretend about anymore, and if our government keeps up with their present tricks, they may be subject to bans and blacklistings, too.”
Keneally, was joined in endorsing the boycott call by Sydney Peace Foundation chair, Stuart Rees; human rights lawyer, Julian Burnside, AO, QC; former deputy Australian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Bruce Haigh; Norwegian film-maker Beate Arnestad; Greens MP in NSW Parliament David Shoebridge; independent journalist and author, Anthony Loewenstein; Associate professor and director, Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney, Jake Lynch; Professor and journalist, Wendy Bacon, Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, Tamil Youth Organisation (Sydney), Uniting Church Minister, Rev. Richard Wootton, and 3CR Radio in Melbourne.

Also supporting the campaign was the Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA), an umbrella body of Tamil organizations in the States and territories of Australia and the two cities of Auckland and Wellington in New Zealand.

See their full statement below.

United Nations release new Sri Lankan refugee guidelines

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has listed persons suspected of the LTTE links, journalists, opposition politicians, political activists, gays and lesbians, as groups of people in Sri Lanka that are “likely to be in need of international refugee protection.”

The updated guidelines also include witnesses and victims of war crimes within the risk profiles, along with diaspora activists and individuals who previously worked in the LTTE’s civil and administrative setup, who did not receive any military training.