Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

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The Association for Relatives of the Enforced Disappeared in the North-East (ARED) has appealed to the United Nations to ensure an international investigation into enforced disappearances and mass graves across the Tamil homeland, including the ongoing excavations at Chemmani, where more than 380 human skeletal remains have been uncovered. In a letter dated 19 June 2026, the association called…

Sri Lanka alerts airport that assaulted Swiss employee may flee island

The Sri Lankan government has reportedly alerted Colombo’s international airport that a Swiss embassy employee who was abducted and assaulted by unknown men last week, may plan an attempt to leave the island.

NewsIn Asia quotes a highly placed source on Monday as saying that Colombo airport was alerted about the possibility of the employee leaving “as a precautionary measure”.

‘Justice must be done’ says Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Commission on Swiss abduction

Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Commission said that “justice must be done” in response to the abduction and threatening of a Swiss embassy employee in Colombo last week.

In a letter written to Sri Lanka’s police chief, the Human Rights Commission said it was “deeply concerned” over reports of the abduction and said that holding those responsible to account was “absolutely essential” to strengthen public confidence in law enforcement.

Sri Lankan President prorogues Parliament until next month

Sri Lanka's President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, issued a gazette stating that he is proroguing Parliament with effect from midnight of December 2 until January 3 2020.

TNA leader warns Sri Lanka may be a ‘failed state’

The head of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) warned that if the Sri Lankan government continued to avoid its international commitments, it may soon be termed a “failed state”.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror with regards to a UN Human Rights Council resolution on accountability for violations of international law, TNA leader R Sampanthan said, "If Sri Lanka keeps avoiding its international commitments, it will soon lose its legitimacy and be termed a failed state”. 

Former Sri Lankan soldier protests outside Swiss embassy

A former Sri Lankan army soldier and lawyer has commenced a protest outside the Swiss embassy in Colombo, demanding the victim of an abduction last week be interviewed by Sri Lankan authorities.

The Sri Lankan military’s Major (Rtd.) Attorney-at-Law Ajith Prasanna began his protest this morning, with a placard that states:

“The Ambassador of Swisterland, do not tarnish the good name of my motherland. Let the lady to give a statement to the Sri Lanka police”. (sic)

‘Honouring a government for mass murder’ - Vaiko slams Indian aid to Sri Lanka

Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) leader Vaiko has slammed the Indian governments announcement that it will provide over $450 in credit for development and security despite concerns over the newly appointed Sri Lankan president’s human rights record.

Remembering the 1984 Cheddikulam massacre - 52 Tamil men rounded up

Thirty-five years ago, while many slept and some were already in the fields, the Sri Lankan army declared a sudden curfew in the town of Cheddikulam and surrounding villages on the border of Vavuniya district.

As news of the curfew seeped through the town through radio and word of mouth, residents scrambled to their homes or the closest house of someone they knew so as not to be caught outside.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister visits Sri Lanka

Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, has arrived in Sri Lanka for a two-day state visit after the election of Gotabaya Rajapksa.

Massacre by Sri Lankan air force remembered in Mullaitivu

The massacre of 12 civilians by the Sri Lankan air force was commemorated in Oddusuddan, Mullaitivu on November 27.

The twelve were killed in an air raid on Oddusuddan on November 27, 1990. 

Sri Lanka dismisses Swiss staffer abduction and calls for victim to be examined

The Sri Lankan government has dismissed information given by Swiss authorities regarding the abduction and threatening of an embassy employee in Colombo last week, and instead called for the victim to be questioned by the Sri Lankan security forces.

Sri Lanka’s newly appointed defence secretary Kamal Gunaratne, who stands accused of overseeing war crimes, met with Switzerland’s ambassador to Sri Lanka and claimed that the information they were given by Swiss authorities “did not in any way correspond with the actual movements of the alleged victim”.

A statement from Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Relations went on to say,