Tamil families of the disappeared are protesting across the North-East today to mark International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. 

In a wide-reaching dialogue with MedyaNews, Viruben Nandakumar, an editor for the Tamil Guardian spoke on the continued struggle for Tamil Eelam, the current crisis in Sri Lanka and the need for international action.

A global Tamil community

This week thousands attended the Nallur Kandasamy Kovil’s annual grand chariot festiva - therthiruvizha. 

The iconic festival garners devotees from around the world who gather to see the temple's primary deity Murugan paraded through Jaffna. 

All photographs are by photographer V Mathumegalan.

Across Sri Lanka, the country’s flag is flown at half-mast on 12th July to mourn the sudden assassination of Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “We have lost a prime minister who gave leadership to Asia,” wrote Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe in an obituary guestbook commemorating the Japanese leader. Despite Sri Lanka’s melancholic posture towards the Japanese leader’s demise, Sri Lanka’s foreign policy has posed a consistent thorn in Abe’s vision for a “free and open Asia-Pacific”.

Ahead of UNHRC session, Sinhalese protest in Geneva

'The appeal from Sri Lanka to UNHRC follows a deeply antagonistic relationship in which the country’s leaders have consistently attacked the institution and alleged a bias'

: @sunandadesh https://t.co/DyObc9izSz pic.twitter.com/v5LzfiC51h

Writing in the Sri Lankan Guardian, Chinese Ambassador Qi Zhenhon sparked outrage as he publicly attacked India for its attempt to block a Chinese military vessel, “Yuan Wang 5”, from docking at the southern Sri Lankan port of Hambantota and slammed the US House Speaker’s visit to Taiwan.

As the 51st session of the UN Human Rights Council nears, Sri Lanka’s Sinhala leaders scramble to present the country as on the verge of a democratic breakthrough. Plans to reform Sri Lanka’s draconian counter-terrorism legislation, decriminalise same-sex relations, and delist select Tamil diaspora organisations have been met with broad scepticism across the island. An illusion of a liberal bastion is impossible to maintain amidst a brutal crackdown on peaceful demonstrators. Such gestures are nothing but a desperate smokescreen.

In early April, hundreds of thousands of primarily Sinhala protestors filled the streets of Colombo, enduring tear gas and water cannons, as they inched closer to the presidential compounds, demanding the resignation of Sri Lanka’s President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Sri Lankan cabinet spokesman Bandula Gunawardena informed reporters of plans to replace the island’s draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), which has been linked to torture and disappearances, with a new National Security Act.

Thousands attended Jaffna's iconic Nallur Kandasamy Kovil's annual chariot festival, ther thiruvizha, yesterday.

The climax of the temple's annual festival (thiruvizha), draws devotees from around the world who gather to see the temple's primary deity Murugan paraded through the town's streets.