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…

Is remembrance enough?' - Imperial College London Tamil Society

Speaking at the recently held "Youth Maaveerar Naal" in London, Imperial College London student Visakan Balakumar called on his fellow university students to intensify the struggle against genocide during a speech on behalf of his university's Tamil Society.


The speech has been reproduced in full below.

"Dear ladies and gentleman. We gather here today to remember those brave souls who gave their lives. Those brave souls who gave their lives for us, for our homeland and our nation. Their selfless acts of bravery in the line of duty mark some of the greatest achievements in the history of the Eelam Tamil nation, our Eelam Tamil nation.

Canadian youth commence Tamil Eelam Heroes Remembrance Week

Published 00:32 GMT

Tamil students across Canada came together to remember the nation's great heroes on 25th November and mark the commencing of Tamil Eelam Heroes Remembrance Week.

Sri Lanka’s advice to Gaza conflict parties

The Sri Lankan government has issued a statement calling on Israeli and Palestinian leaders to “display restraint and avoid civilian casualties” earlier this week.

See the full statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs below.

“Sri Lanka is deeply concerned and disturbed at the recent serious escalation of violence in Gaza and deeply regrets the loss of lives and the great suffering experienced by the people of Palestine.

"We will rise and rise again" - Jaffna Students on Remembrance Day

Photographs Uthayan

In another bold act of defiance by Tamil students in the North-East, posters commemorating Tamil Eelam National Remembrance Day were seen posted around Jaffna University's campus on the eve of November 27th.

Sri Lankan Uni students in US ‘appalled’ by Amnesty

The Sri Lankan Students Association of the University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA, organised an awareness event on Sri Lanka’s conflict and ‘post-conflict developments’, reported Colombo page.

The president of the society, Kasun Frenando, said that the event was organised to combat  “a malicious propaganda campaign carried out by the Amnesty International against Sri Lanka.”

Murugathasan memorial stone unveiled

The newly built memorial stone to mark the grave of Murugathasan Varnakulasingham - the Tamil youth who, outraged at international apathy and inaction in the face of the genocide of Tamils, self-immolated in protest outside the United Nations in Geneva on 12th February 2009 - was unveiled formally on Sunday by his mother, Mrs Varnakulasingham.

Rajapaksa's Malaysia visit is cancelled

The Sri Lankan President’s visit to Malaysia has been cancelled following strong discontent surrounding the initial announcement of the visit.

The Malaysian Sri Lankan High Commission’s, media affairs counsellor, Rizvi Hassen, confirmed that,

SL evades Iran sanction restrictions

Sri Lanka has agreed a deal with Iran that allows it to pay Tehran money for oil without breaking the US-led sanctions.

Over Rs 2 billion in unpaid bills will be used for an irrigation project which is funded by Iran.

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad pledged $450 million to fund the scheme during his visit in 2008, but Iran has been unable to do so due to a lack of funds.

SL dismisses “erroneous” UN report

The Sri Lankan government has slammed the recently released United Nations internal report as  “unsubstantiated, erroneous and replete with conjecture and bias” earlier this week.

In a statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs, the government went on to question “the bona fides of the authorship of the document and its underlying motivation”. They also stated,

Pillars of our nation' - King's College London Tamil Society


"Maaveerar naal serves not only as a reminder for us to call for the end of oppression of Eelam Tamils, but for us, as a Tamil nation, to stand strong and united as we always have to commemorate our brothers and sisters who have sacrificed their lives, their youths and their ambitions for our homeland.

Today, we students have once again reunited to honour thousands of our fallen heroes who have sacrificed their lives for the freedom of Tamil Eelam. It’s heartbreaking to say that all of their graves have now been desecrated and destroyed by the Sri Lankan state. However, our maaveerar will never remain unmarked pages in our history. Each one of these courageous men and women will remain forever engraved in our hearts, serving as pillars of our nation.