Features

Features

Latest news from and about the homeland

Remembering Pon. Sivakumaran 52 years on
Today marks 52 years since the death of Ponnuthurai Sivakumaran, the first Tamil to die in the liberation struggle.  Sivakumaran was a member of the Tamil Manavar Peravai (or Tamil Student Federation, TSF) and a leading militant in the early armed Tamil struggle. With decades of Sri Lankan state repression and deadly anti-Tamil pogroms already having taken place, Tamil militant…

Trincomalee Buddha shrine controversy explained

Nov 17, 2025
This explainer outlines what happened, why it matters, and how the reactions so far reveal deeper issues around colonisation of the North-East.

Sri Lankan police return Buddha statue to unauthorised Sinhala shrine in Trincomalee

Nov 17, 2025
There has been outrage in Trincomalee after Sri Lankan police removed, then hastily reinstated, a Buddha statue placed without authorisation on a public beachfront.

Remembering Raviraj - 19 years since assassination of Tamil MP in Colombo

Nov 10, 2025
Today marks 19 years since Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP and human rights lawyer, Nadarajah Raviraj was assassinated in Colombo.  Raviraj was shot in Colombo at close range by unidentified gunmen on a motorbike at around 8:30am on November 10 2006, as he got into his car after giving an interview. The MP died later in hospital. His bodyguard was also killed. 

Mannar residents triumph, as Dissanayake halts new wind power projects

Nov 4, 2025
In a significant victory for the people of Mannar, Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake has ordered the termination of all new wind power projects on Mannar Island, instructing that no future developments take place “without the consent of the people living in the Mannar Island.”

Remembering Thamilselvan

Nov 2, 2025
Today marks 18 years since S. P. Thamilselvan, the head of the political wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was assassinated by the Sri Lankan air force (SLAF).

‘The greatest humanitarian crisis of the war’ – Press coverage of the Jaffna Exodus

Oct 30, 2025
As we mark 30 years since the Jaffna exodus, which led to over half a million Tamil men, women and children fleeing their homes, we look back at press coverage from the time.

Remembering the Jaffna exodus – 500,000 displaced

Oct 30, 2025
On this day 30 years ago, over half a million Tamil men, women and children fled their homes in Jaffna as the Sri Lankan military launched a military offensive to capture the peninsula, under the leadership of then president Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Swiss Social Democratic Party calls for international genocide investigation into Sri Lanka

Oct 27, 2025

The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP Switzerland) has unanimously passed a resolution on the situation in Sri Lanka, calling for an international genocide investigation at their party congress on the 25th of October 2025 in Sursee, Canton of Lucerne.

Sri Lankan police open fire on Tamil youth in Jaffna, say relatives

Oct 26, 2025
Relatives of an 18-year-old Tamil youth have accused the Sri Lankan police of opening fire on him while he was operating a tractor in Kodikamam, Jaffna, on Friday night.

Still no justice for Tamil activists shot dead in Paris

Oct 26, 2025
Today marks 28 years since two Tamil activists were shot dead in a Parisian neighbourhood, a murder that shocked the Tamil diaspora worldwide and remains unsolved to this day.
Trincomalee Buddha shrine controversy explained
Sri Lankan police return Buddha statue to unauthorised Sinhala shrine in Trincomalee
Remembering Raviraj - 19 years since assassination of Tamil MP in Colombo
Mannar residents triumph, as Dissanayake halts new wind power projects
Remembering Thamilselvan
‘The greatest humanitarian crisis of the war’ – Press coverage of the Jaffna Exodus
Remembering the Jaffna exodus – 500,000 displaced
Swiss Social Democratic Party calls for international genocide investigation into Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan police open fire on Tamil youth in Jaffna, say relatives
Still no justice for Tamil activists shot dead in Paris
Trincomalee Buddha shrine controversy explained
Sri Lankan police return Buddha statue to unauthorised Sinhala shrine in Trincomalee
Remembering Raviraj - 19 years since assassination of Tamil MP in Colombo
Mannar residents triumph, as Dissanayake halts new wind power projects
Remembering Thamilselvan
‘The greatest humanitarian crisis of the war’ – Press coverage of the Jaffna Exodus
Remembering the Jaffna exodus – 500,000 displaced
Swiss Social Democratic Party calls for international genocide investigation into Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan police open fire on Tamil youth in Jaffna, say relatives
Still no justice for Tamil activists shot dead in Paris