Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

A protest march was held last month opposing limestone excavation, mineral sand mining and a proposed wind power project across the villages of Veravil, Valaipadu, Ponnaveli and Kiranchi, in the Poonakary Divisional Secretariat division of Kilinochchi. The demonstration was organised against plans to establish wind power stations and to carry out mineral sand and limestone extraction in the…

Sri Lanka to appoint committee for Sinhala, Muslim settlement into North

The Sri Lankan cabinet has decided to appoint a committee to looking into a method for settling Sinhalese and Muslim people into the North, Colombo Page reports.

The government estimates that 5543 houses are needed to settle Sinhalese families, which it states moved to the South during the armed conflict, and over 16,000 houses are needed to resettle Muslim families.

The committee is to be chaired by the president and will include the prime minister, as well as other relevant ministers.

See more here.

Report on constitutional reform consultations is published

The final report of the Public Representations Committee On Constitutional Reform was published on Tuesday.

The over 300-page long report made recommendations on the proposed constitutional reforms, after island-wide consultations. Issues including the nature of the state, devolution, the Sri Lankan flag, language rights and the role of religion were discussed.

Several Tamil civil society and political groups took part in the consultations, alongside civilians in the North-East.

The 18 member committee examined the over 4,000 submissions to compile the report and suggested recommendations to the constitutional assembly.

Notably, the committee members were often unable to agree on recommendations regarding specific topics, in which case they made different, sometimes opposing recommendations. For instance, on the issue of the Sri Lankan flag, a few committee members suggested changing the design of the flag, while the vast majority recommended to keep the flag as it is.

Tamil youth arrested in Mullaitivu released on bail

A 27 year old Tamil man who was shot at by Sri Lankan police before being taken into custody has been released on bail by Mullaitivu magistrate court.

Vivekanandan Thijeevan's lawyer told the court of how the police officers had threatened him repeatedly and fired two shots towards his feet, after he had demanded to see an arrest warrant.

Condemning the incident, the TNA MP in Vanni, Sivasakthi Ananthan called for an inquiry.

Insufficient progress on resettlement and demilitarisation in Sri Lanka says US think tank

A new report by US think tank, the Oakland Institute, into internally displaced people in Sri Lanka has revealed how “insufficient the new administration’s actions have been to address these injustices.”

The report, ‘Waiting to Return Home,’ released on Tuesday, examines various pledges made by new President Sirisena to return land to reveal ‘vast inadequacies including resettlement on lands that are not fertile.”

Batticaloa Tamil Journalists Association protest for justice

The Batticaloa District Tamil Journalists Association staged a protest on Wednesday demanding justice for the demanded justice for the murder of journalist Ayuthurai Nadesan who was killed in Batticaloa twelve years ago.

Norway's state secretary meets with Wigneswaran



Norway's State Secretary, Tore Hattrem, held discussions in Jaffna with the Northern province's chief minister, C V Wigneswaran on Wednesday.



"Reconciliation between the victims and those who inflicted the harm will only be possible in a country when the affected people's requests, appeals and point of view is understood and acknowledged," Mr Wigneswaran said during the meeting.

Jaya urges Modi to ensure release of fishermen arrested by SL navy

The chief minister of Tamil Nadu, J Jayalalitha has written to the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi requesting his intervention in securing the release of seven Tamil Nadu fishermen who were arrested by the Sri Lankan navy on Tuesday.

"Sri Lankan Navy has escalated the frequency and magnitude of instances of abduction of our fishermen and the seizure of their boats and fishing equipment over the last two years," Ms Jayalalitha said in a letter. See more here.

JVP unhappy about progress on KP investigation

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) said it was unhappy about progress made on the government's investigation of the former LTTE member, Kumaran Pathmanathan, known as 'KP'.

Lawyers representing the JVP MP Vijitha Herath made a submission to the Court of Appeals urging him to be arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and for an investigation to be conducted into Mr Pathmanathan's involvement with the LTTE, Colombo Page reported.

See more here.

EU to prioritise implementation of UNHRC resolution in Sri Lanka development strategy

The Working Group on Co-operation under the framework of the European Union –Sri Lanka Joint Commission is to set priorities to assist Sri Lanka in the areas of accountability, transitional justice, resettlement and durable solutions reports Xinhua news.

Tamil NGO worker arrested by TID in Kilinochchi

Updated 06:54 GMT

Another Tamil man was arrested by the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID), who accused him of plotting to restart the LTTE.

Father of two Sankaralingam Sasikaran, 30, was arrested on Monday evening in Kilinochchi and taken to the 2nd floor of the TID headquarters in Colombo, according to his wife.

Mr Sasikaran, originally from Sinnaoorani, Batticaloa, was living in Bharathipuram, Kilinochchi, where he was employed by a local NGO, which worked with war-affected households and providing education to children.