Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

Hundreds march in Kilinochchi against limestone, sand mining and wind turbines
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…

TNA urges Sri Lanka to ensure justice for murdered journalists

May 2, 2016
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader, R Sampanthan, marked World Press Freedom Day on Tuesday, calling on the present Sri Lankan government to protect press freedom immediately and investigate the killing of murdered journalists.

"At a time when the freedom of press is being subjected to oppression worldwide, I request the Sri Lankan government to take all necessary steps to ensure the freedom and protection of press immediately in Sri Lanka," Mr Sampanthan said in a statement on Wednesday.

"It is a matter of concern that Sri Lanka ranks 141st place among the list of press freedom of 180 countries."

"It is is no secret that the previous governments turned a blind eye to many incidents of ill treatment, violence and murders that took place against journalists."

"I urge the current government to conduct proper investigations of these incidents and bring the perpetrators before justice."

Sri Lanka’s TID arrest Tamil youth over Facebook messages

May 2, 2016

Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) arrested the leader of the ITAK youth wing over messages that he had reportedly sent to diaspora Tamils on Facebook.

Subramaniyam Sivakaran was detained under Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act last week, before being released on bail.

Mr Sivakaran’s private Facebook messages with Tamils living outside of the island were reportedly cited by Sri Lankan police as why the youth leader was detained under anti-terrorism legislation.

It is not yet known how the Sri Lankan police gained access to Mr Sivakaran's Facebook account or the number of social media accounts the government is monitoring.

Amnesty to collect missing arms retrieves weapons from South

May 2, 2016
The Sri Lankan government declared firearms amnesty to collect weapons that had gone missing after the military had recovered them from the LTTE, has so far retrieved 84 weapons from the South.

Guns were collected from Puttalam, Ratnapura, Kandy, Matara, Galle, Kalutara, Gampaha and Colombo.

None have been reported from the Tamil North-East of the island.

Sri Lankan troops ‘assist’ with Hindu temple ceremony

May 2, 2016

Parliamentary brawl as Sri Lanka's former army chief admits staging LTTE bombing to gain sympathy

May 2, 2016

Sri Lanka’s parliament erupted into a brawl after Sri Lanka’s former army chief claimed that a previous bomb attack that had been blamed on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was actually staged-managed by Sri Lanka’s defence secretary at the time.

Soon after the attack, the Sri Lankan government, withdrawing from the internationally supported ceasefire and peace talks, called on Norwegian peace facilitators to halt communication with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Sri Lanka military enrol pre-school Tamil children in Vanni

May 1, 2016


The Sri Lankan military's civil security division enrolled pre-school children in Vanni, forcing children to wear uniforms bearing the Sri Lankan military emblem.

Parents have been instructed they must send their children to school in that uniform, whilst being asked to pay 600 rupees towards the cost of it.

Former LTTE Batticaloa intelligence head arrested

May 1, 2016
The former head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) intelligence wing in Batticaloa was arrested by Sri Lankan police officers on Monday in Eravur.

Sri Lanka's Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) told the family of Krishnapillai Kalainesan, known as Lt. Col. Prabha that he was arrested in relation to an investigation of the alleged regrouping of the LTTE.

Mr Kalainesan was arrested at his home on Monday at 6.30am and has now been taken to Kalmunai for further interrogation, his wife, Kayalvili told reporters.

Following the end of the armed conflict in 2009, he was initially registered as disappeared, before reports emerged that he was in fact being held by the Sri Lankan military.

In 2013 Mr Kalainesan was released after completing the government's 'rehabilitation' programme. 

Husband was stripped by Sri Lankan army after his surrender - relatives testify in Kilinochchi

Apr 30, 2016

Sri Lanka’s Presidential Commission on disappearances made its final sitting in Kilinochchi last week, calling over a thousand witnesses to testify about their missing relatives.

The wife of former LTTE member Kannan, alias Gnanaselvan Uthayarasa, testified after seeing a photo of her husband with other captive LTTE cadres stripped naked and alive at the hands of the Sri Lankan military.


“My husband is an LTTE member that surrendered to the army on May 18, 2009.

I and my two children witnessed it in person. Thereafter there is no information about my husband

Under these circumstances I got photo evidences of war crimes telecast by Channel 4. There were photos of my husband taken while he was taken by the army in stripped condition, and was seen sitting near a ditch.”

Supreme Court orders Wigneswaran to appear over NPC resolution

Apr 30, 2016

Updated 2300 GMT

Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has ordered Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran and other Tamil politicians to appear before it with regards to the resolution calling for a federal solution in a merged North-East passed by the NPC last week.

The chief minister, NPC Chairman CVK Sivagnanam, Chief Secretary A. Paththinathan, and President of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) and MP Maavai Senathiraja were asked to submit explanations.

Federalism will not cause secession says Wigneswaran

Apr 30, 2016
The chief minister of the Northern Province rejected assertions that the call for federalism was racist and aimed at secession, stating that it was "madness" to suggest so.

In an interview with the Tamil newspaper, Virakesari this week, Mr Wigneswaran said,

"For many years politicians have been ceaselessly saying federalism would secede the nation. That makes you also believe in those lines. You have become accustomed to such remarks. Read newspapers and books to understand about federalism. Federalism is in vogue in India. It is followed in Canada and Switzerland also. A country will never be divided because of federalism."

Sri Lanka’s TID arrest Tamil youth over Facebook messages
Amnesty to collect missing arms retrieves weapons from South
Sri Lankan troops ‘assist’ with Hindu temple ceremony
Parliamentary brawl as Sri Lanka's former army chief admits staging LTTE bombing to gain sympathy
Sri Lanka military enrol pre-school Tamil children in Vanni
Former LTTE Batticaloa intelligence head arrested
Husband was stripped by Sri Lankan army after his surrender - relatives testify in Kilinochchi
Supreme Court orders Wigneswaran to appear over NPC resolution
Federalism will not cause secession says Wigneswaran
Journalists in Colombo demand justice for Sivaram
Sri Lanka’s TID arrest Tamil youth over Facebook messages
Amnesty to collect missing arms retrieves weapons from South
Sri Lankan troops ‘assist’ with Hindu temple ceremony
Parliamentary brawl as Sri Lanka's former army chief admits staging LTTE bombing to gain sympathy
Sri Lanka military enrol pre-school Tamil children in Vanni
Former LTTE Batticaloa intelligence head arrested
Husband was stripped by Sri Lankan army after his surrender - relatives testify in Kilinochchi
Supreme Court orders Wigneswaran to appear over NPC resolution
Federalism will not cause secession says Wigneswaran
Journalists in Colombo demand justice for Sivaram