Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

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The number of skeletal remains identified at the Chemmani mass grave in Jaffna has risen to 366, as excavators uncovered further remains of children on Tuesday, at one of the largest mass graves unearthed on the island and a site long tied to the enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killing of Tamils by the Sri Lankan military. Six sets of skeletal remains, including those of children,…

Tamil man arrested in connection with Kilinochchi shooting incident

A Tamil man has been arrested in connection with a shooting incident that was alleged to have taken place in Palai, Kilinochchi on 19th May.

A young Tamil man was arrested on Saturday by terrorism police at his home in Urumbirai, Jaffna.

The alleged incident, in which an individual was reported to have shot at a police patrol vehicle, sparked a tense situation in Kilinochchi with troops being deployed on the streets the day following Mullivaikkaal commemorations.

Sri Lankan army delivers supplies to Tamil schools in Kilinochchi

The Sri Lankan military handed out school supplies at a military conducted ceremony in Kilinochchi last week.

EU and diplomatic missions express solidarity with Muslim community in Sri Lanka

The Heads of Mission of the European Union, Australia, Canada, Netherlands, Norway, South Africa and Switzerland visited the Dewatagaha Mosque on Friday to express solidarity with leaders of Si Lanka’s Muslim community.

Speaking at the mosque, EU Ambassador Tung-Lai Margue said,

Sri Lanka elected as Vice-President of UN General Assembly

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has elected Sri Lanka to serve as Vice President of the assembly.

At a meeting of the 72nd session of the meeting Sri Lanka was chosen to act as Vice-President and representative for the Asia and Pacific Group for the period of September 2017 to August 2018.

Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Rohan Perrara will serve as the v the Vice-president during the 72nd session.

See here.

Trincomalee mosque attacked with petrol bombs

A Trincomalee mosque was attacked with petrol bombs in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The Periyakadai Jumma Mosque, situated close to a Sri Lankan Navy camp, is the latest victim in a series of anti-Muslim attacks on the island, most of which had been carried out in the predominantly Sinhala-Buddhist South.

Stories of Mullivaikkaal' documentation project launched by Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research

The Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research (ACPR) launched “Stories of Mullivaikaal,” the first series in ACPR’s “Stories of Resilience” project at www.storiesofresilience.com.

The project will document stories of resilience and agency, highlighting narratives other than victimhood within Tamil community, who have exhibited diverse forms of resilience through various stages of Sri Lanka’s unresolved ethnic conflict.

See full press release below:

36 years of burn wounds: The Jaffna Library

Thirty-six years ago today, the Jaffna Public Library, a crown jewel among Tamil cultural institutions and one of the largest libraries in South Asia, burned at the hands of Sri Lankan security forces and state-sponsored mobs.

Magistrate extends order permitting police investigation into Mullivaikkaal memorial

Today the Mullaitivu Magistrate granted an extension allowing the police to continue investigating whether any of the names on stones used for a May 18 memorial that was set up by local human rights activist, Father Elil Rajendram, are former LTTE cadres.

Day 100 of Kilinochchi families of the disappeared protest

To mark the 100th day since families of the disappeared began protesting in Kilinochchi, over 1000 families of the disappeared from across the North-East gathered to protest blocking the A9 road in Kilinochchi town for over 5 hours on Tuesday. Civil society, clergy and university students from across the North-East and the South joined in solidarity.