Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

Jaffna and Palaly protests mark 36 years since Valikamam North displacement
Displaced residents of the Valikamam North region of Jaffna held protests on Monday, in front of the Jaffna District Secretariat and near Palaly Junction, marking 36 years since their forced displacement and demanding the right to return and resettle in their lands. The people of Valikamam North were displaced from their homeland on 15 June 1990 by the Sri Lankan military. Thirty-six years on…

The Pope and the war criminal

Nov 21, 2013

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa with Pope Francis (defence.lk)

The Sri Lankan Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, was granted an audience with Pope Francis.

Compulsory ‘leadership and positive attitude’ training for Sri Lanka's university entrants

Nov 20, 2013

Sri Lanka’s mandatory military-run ‘Leadership and Positive Attitude’ program for new university students begins this weekend.

The three-week training program, conducted for the third consecutive year, is to be held for three waves of students in 22 military camps island wide, Colombopage reports.

Monks protest outside UK High Commission

Nov 20, 2013
Buddhist monks held a protest outside the British High Commission in Colombo today, rallying against calls for an international independent inquiry into war crimes committed during the final stages of the armed conflict in 2009.

Monks from the Ravana Balaya movement accused Britain of committing their own war crimes in 1818, which they went on to demand an investigation for.

Scotland's silence over Sri Lanka disappointing

Nov 20, 2013
Richard Hamer, programme director of Amnesty International in Scotland criticised Scotland’s sports minister Shona Robison for not speaking out about human rights while in Colombo. Writing in the Scotsman, Hamer argued that the UN Human Rights Council must establish an international investigation in its March session.

See here for full article. Extracts reproduced below:
“THERE has been much talk of the legacy the 2014 Commonwealth Games will leave for the people of Glasgow and Scotland as a nation, but becoming a
silent witness to war crimes was not the sort of thing we had in mind.”

The time for an international investigation is now

Nov 20, 2013
J. S. Tissainayagam
Acclaimed journalist J. S. Tissainayagam in an opinion on Thursday, argued that an international investigation into Sri Lanka's war crimes is long overdue.

See here for full article. Extracts reproduced below:

"British Prime Minister David Cameron’s presence at last week’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) facilitated coverage that might not have been possible otherwise for media organisations. But if the human rights and war crimes issues highlighted by the international media are to be redressed and Commonwealth values and international law upheld, the band-aid solution proposed by the Sri Lanka government and aided by the Commonwealth Secretariat has to be dismissed. Instead, what is required is implementing an international investigation into war crimes."

Taxes raised on food items in 2014 budget

Nov 20, 2013

Sri Lanka is raising taxes on food and telecommunication services, and will remove VAT exemptions on several goods, the 2014 budget revealed.

Taxes have been raised on wheat flour, cheese, curd, margarine, sauces, sausages, sweets, chocolates, cereals, pasta, nuts and fruits.

Australia policy emboldens Sri Lanka

Nov 20, 2013
Dr Nick Cheesman, a research fellow at the department of political and social change in the Australian National University's College of Asia and the Pacific, writes in the Canberra Times arguing that Abbott's deportation policy damages Australia's credibility and endangers the rights of asylum seekers coming from Sri Lanka.

See here for full article. Extracts reproduced below:
"At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka at the weekend, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that while his government ''deplores the use of torture, we accept that sometimes, in difficult circumstances, difficult things happen''.

Land-sale to foreigners to be banned - Mahinda

Nov 20, 2013

Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa has announced in his 2014 budget speech that free-hold sales of land to foreign nationals will be stopped, and any leases will be taxed 15%.

"From this year foreigners can have access to state and private land only through long term lease arrangements," President Rajapaksa said to parliament.

Tourism boom? Bailout to save state-owned airlines making ‘record losses’

Nov 20, 2013

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has announced in his budget speech to parliament that state-owned airlines SriLankan and Mihin Lanka will receive a $200mn bailout.

SriLankan will receive $150mn and Mihin Lanka $50mn from the state, according to LBO, which described both companies as making “record losses”.

Sri Lanka accuses Cameron of ‘breaching protocol’

Nov 19, 2013

The Sri Lankan government has accused British Prime Minister David Cameron of failing to follow protocol during his visit to Sri Lanka last week.

A government source told the BBC that Cameron had “breached protocol several times”.

The source claimed the prime minister had “brushed aside” the main local Tamil official, who was supposed to escort him around a refugee camp.

Compulsory ‘leadership and positive attitude’ training for Sri Lanka's university entrants
Monks protest outside UK High Commission
Scotland's silence over Sri Lanka disappointing
The time for an international investigation is now
Taxes raised on food items in 2014 budget
Australia policy emboldens Sri Lanka
Land-sale to foreigners to be banned - Mahinda
Tourism boom? Bailout to save state-owned airlines making ‘record losses’
Sri Lanka accuses Cameron of ‘breaching protocol’
Human rights violators can't be trusted not to do it again and again' - Geoffrey Robertson QC
Compulsory ‘leadership and positive attitude’ training for Sri Lanka's university entrants
Monks protest outside UK High Commission
Scotland's silence over Sri Lanka disappointing
The time for an international investigation is now
Taxes raised on food items in 2014 budget
Australia policy emboldens Sri Lanka
Land-sale to foreigners to be banned - Mahinda
Tourism boom? Bailout to save state-owned airlines making ‘record losses’
Sri Lanka accuses Cameron of ‘breaching protocol’
Human rights violators can't be trusted not to do it again and again' - Geoffrey Robertson QC