More signatures calling for the repeal of the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) were collected in Anuradhapura and Puttalam today after a mass campaign was launched last week.  

The campaign initiated by the Ilankai Thamilarasu Katchi Youth Wing, Justice for All and the Alliance of Trade Union & MassYouth Front organisations, demands the Sri Lankan government to repeal the notorious legislation which has been used disproportionately to detain and torture Tamils and Muslims.

Speaking with Tamil Guardian, Sandya Ekneligoda, wife of forcibly disappeared journalist and human rights activist Prageeth Ekneligoda, gave a damning indictment of Sri Lanka’s judiciary maintaining that it is not “free and independent” and could not deliver justice for victims.

During the 51st session of the UN Human Rights Council, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesperson and MP MA Sumanthiran spoke with Tamil Guardian on a range of topics, including the latest UN resolution, the economy of the Tamil homeland, the need for an ICC referral and current geopolitical tensions between India and China.

“He’s holding the seat for the Rajapaksa government”

Speaking to Tamil Guardian at the 51st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), representatives of the Tamil families of the disappeared reiterated their lack of confidence in domestic mechanisms such as the Office of the Missing Persons (OMP) and how the Sri Lankan state has been trying to quash their continuous roadside protests. 

Vanessa Nanthakumaran, a 56-year-old British Tamil, was the first person to pay her respect to the late British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, and has been interviewed by a range of British media outlets.

“It was an emotional experience," she told The Guardian. "I was fighting back tears as I approached the coffin and I managed to dignify myself,” added Nanthakumaran, from Harrow in London.

Responding to the planned visit of Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe to the UK to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, British Tamils have expressed their concerns.

In Britain and in the Tamil homeland, Tamils commemorate the passage of Britain’s longest-ruling monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away on 8 September.

The first person to pay respects to the queen's casket was British Tamil, Vanessa Nathakumaran who described the experience as follows:

The latest draft United Nations Human Rights Council resolution on accountability for massacres in Sri Lanka shows yet again the ineptitude of the international system to deliver justice for crimes committed more than 13 years ago. Following years of growing militarisation, crackdowns on civil society actors, and ongoing human rights violations, the latest resolution asks victims and survivors to place their faith in the Sri Lankan state. This is the same Sri Lankan state that the former UN High Commissioner acknowledges has actively reversed progress on accountability by appointing war criminals to head government ministries. The latest draft falls far short of what has been needed for years.

A remembrance event was held in Mullaitivu yesterday to mark 23 years since a Sri Lankan military airstrike killed at least 24 Tamil civilians in Manthuvil.

To date, no one has been held accountable for the killings.