Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

This week, the number of skeletal remains uncovered at Chemmani reached a stark record of 387. With that figure, a patch of earth on the edge of Jaffna town became the largest mass grave ever uncovered on the island, surpassing the 376 remains recovered at Mannar. Recent days alone have seen the bodies of several children exhumed, alongside beads and bangles. These are the contents of the…

Home in Jaffna vandalised by unknown men

A group of unknown men broke into a home in Kokkuvil and vandalised the property on Friday.

Amparai village's land release protest passes 55 days

Residents of a village in Pottuvil, Amparai, are still protesting for the return of their lands, 55 days on.

Militarisation: Palaly army camp gets post office

Sri Lankan military forces occupying Palaly had a post office to meet their needs opened in the area on Saturday.

Destroyed Amparai LTTE cemetery cleared for Maaveerar Naal

Families of Maaveerar (fallen LTTE cadres) buried in the destroyed Kanchikudicharu thuyilum illam, in Amparai, cleared the cemetery on Friday, in preparation for Maaveerar Naal.

Tamils continue protests across North-East for release of political prisoners

Protests calling for the release of Tamil political prisoners have continued daily in towns across the North-East.

Tamil organiser investigated by TID

The director of the organisation Roots of the Nation has been investigated by the Terrorism Investigation Division.

Director Ganeshan Pirapakaran attended questioning on Thursday in Colombo.

Pirabakaran said he was kept from 9 in the morning until 7 in the evening, and was questioned about the organisations activities and memorial events.

The TID warned him that they could call him for investigation again in the future.

Kumarappa and Pulenthiran remembered in Valvettithurai

Twelve senior LTTE members including Lt Col Kumarappa and Lt Col Pulenthiran were remembered in Valvettithurai on the 31st anniversary of their deaths.

Almost 5000 acres privately-owned land in Mullaitivu still under military occupation

Almost 5000 acres of privately-owned land in Mullaitivu still remains occupied by Sri Lankan military forces, the district secretariat has revealed.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan president has reportedly issued a deadline to release all privately-owned lands in the North-East by December 31.

Responding to a private right to information request, the Mullaitivu district secretariat calculated that a total of 4859 acres remained under occupation, compared to 2891.75 that had been released.

Of the five divisions of the district, Karaithuraipatru (Maritimepattu) remained the most heavily occupied with over 4000 acres of the total occupation falling in this division.

Militarisation continues: New building at Sri Lanka’s Poonakari base

The Sri Lankan army continued its militarisation of the North-East with its announcement that a new “state-of-the-art modern facility complex” had been constructed at the 66 Infantry Escort Troops Headquarters in Poonakari last week.

British minister meets Sri Lankan police officers as controversy over training continues

The UK’s Minister of State for Asia, Mark Field visited a group of police officers in Colombo earlier today, just days after a Scotland’s police announced a last minute cancellation of a training visit by a contingent of Sri Lankan policemen.

Field met with the female officers and tweeted that “UK funding has been supporting police reform in Sri Lanka”.