Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

Jaffna LGBTQIA+ community holds fifth annual Pride Walk
The LGBTQIA+ community in Jaffna held their fifth annual Pride Walk, under the theme  “We Exist For Each Other".  The walk, organised by the Jaffna Transgender Network, began outside the iconic Jaffna Public Library and proceeded along Hospital Road and Pannai Road before ending at Jaffna Fort.  Members of the LGBTQIA+ community, human rights activists, civil society…

TNPF condemns death threats against Jaffna Uni students

Nov 25, 2014
The Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) said it "severely condemns" the issuing of death threats against four Jaffna University students and one lecturer, warning them against remembering Tamil national remembrance day, Maaveerar Naal on November 27.

"Posters have been posted inside Jaffna University's premises including the names of four students and a lecturer, threatening to shoot and kill them. The names listed in the posters are english department's dean and the University Teachers’ Union Leader, Amirthalingam Rasakumaran, as well as 3rd year media studies students, Thurairasa Thamilselvan, Kanesalingam Nivas, and Thangarasa Ayngaran, and 3rd year geography student Philipeiris Britto," the TNPF said in a statement.

"The poster, written in inaccurate Tamil, warned not to observe Maaveerar Naal events, and if observed, [the students and staff] will be shot and killed. As only the Sri Lankan government and the army have been continuously making threats not to hold remembrance events, we suspect that the posters published between 21 and 27 during Maaveerar remembrance week were posted by Sri Lanka military intelligence officers," the TNPF said.

Rathika Sitsabaiesan commemorates 'Tamil Heroes Day' in Canadian parliament

Nov 25, 2014
A New Democratic Party (NDP) MP in a statement commemorating "Remembrance Day and Tamil Heroes Day," urged Canadian parliament to work towards peace and justice at "home and abroad" whilst highlighting injustices that ethnic communities faced in Sri Lanka.



Rathika Sitsabaiesan, an MP  for Scarborough Rouge River, spoke on the ongoing injustices and discrimination that ethnic and religious communities in Sri Lanka continued to face.

Full transcript reproduced below. 

Ananthy Sasitharan's office under military surveillance

Nov 25, 2014
The office of the TNA Northern Provincial Council (NPC) member, Ananthy Sasitharan is under military surveillance, locals sources said.

"The army is involved in unusual patrol activities in front of my office in Sulipuram and military intelligence are monitoring the office from shops opposite," Sasitharan told the Uthayan.

The heightened military activity comes amid the Tamil nation's annual remembrance day commemoration on November 27 - Maaveerar Naal.

Earlier in the day, trees were planted in the North-East in memory of fallen LTTE cadre.



Rajapaksa calls on SAARC to 'resist external manipulations'

Nov 25, 2014

Photograph:www.news.lk

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa called on members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to unite and resist against 'external manipulations' at the 18th SAARC summit this week.

Addressing the summit, being held in Kathmandu, Nepal, Rajapaksa said,
"While SAARC practice has been to abstain from involvement in bilateral issues of a political nature, we must resist external manipulations."

Anonymous letters urge Jaffna schools to commemorate Maaveerar Naal

Nov 25, 2014

Schools in Jaffna received anonymous letters urging them to commemorate Maaveerar Naal on Thursday, reports Uthayan.

Thoughts of you must guide our way' - Mano Ganesan on remembrance

Nov 25, 2014

Mano Ganesan, leader of the Democratic People’s Front and former MP, has posted a message of remembrance, ahead of Maaveerar Naal, on his Facebook page.

LTTE leader's 60th birthday marked across the world

Nov 25, 2014
The 60th birthday of LTTE leader Veluppillai Prabhakaran was marked today, with celebrations reportedly being held across the North-East and the rest of the world.

Jaffna-based newspaper Uthayan reported that in locations across the North-East, Tamils distributed sweets to neighbours and relatives to mark the occasion.

Secret celebrations were also reportedly held in Jaffna University, where students lit candles and cut a cake.

Jaffna

Celebrations were also held across Europe including the UK, Denmark and France, with cakes being cut and fireworks lit.

In Tamil Nadu MDMK leader Vaiko also cut a cake, whilst students across the state in Kovai, Pondy and Chidambaram held events to mark the occasion.

See photos from the various events below.

UK ‘not at all happy’ with Sri Lanka’s dismissal of UN investigation

Nov 24, 2014

The United Kingdom has condemned Sri Lanka’s continued refusal to co-operate with a United Nations investigation into mass atrocities, during a debate in the House of Lords on Monday.

Responding to a question on the refusal of the Sri Lankan authorities to grant visas to the United Nations team which was to investigate the atrocities committed, Lord Wallace of Saltaire, Government Whip acting as government spokesperson on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said,

“My Lords, the UK was a sponsor of the resolution of the UN Human Rights Council. We are actively concerned in this issue. We are not at all happy about the refusal of the Sri Lankan authorities to co-operate with the attempts to have an external inquiry, because of our concerns that the internal inquiry’s recommendations have not yet been implemented”.

Lord Wallace went on to say that the UK has “actively made our position clear to the Sri Lankan Government and will continue to do so.”

Monument for Tamil war dead to be erected in Germany

Nov 24, 2014

The Tamil monument during construction (Photo: Knut Vahlensieck, Der Westen)

A sculpture to commemorate Tamil war deaths will be erected in the German town of Essen later this week, reported the German paper Der Westen.

German sculptor Georg Schaab created the12-ton granite monument at the request of German Tamils, who funded it using donations from the community.

“Many Tamils were driven away from Sri Lanka since the civil war in the 1980s and live in exile across the world,” Schaab said.

UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues criticises BBS for preaching 'racial superiority'

Nov 24, 2014
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on minority issues Rita Izsak criticised Sri Lankan Buddhist organisation Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) in a report released ahead of the seventh session of the Forum on Minority Issues, which is currently underway in Geneva.

In the report, the Special Rapporteur stated that she considers “violence against minorities must constitute a high priority for States, regional bodies and the international community, as well as civil society”.

She went on to note that on 2 July 2014 the Special Rapporteur “along with other United Nations experts, called on Sri Lanka to adopt urgent measures to stop the racial and faith-based hatred and violence directed at Muslim and Christian communities by Buddhist groups with extremist views, and to bring perpetrators to justice”.

Rathika Sitsabaiesan commemorates 'Tamil Heroes Day' in Canadian parliament
Ananthy Sasitharan's office under military surveillance
Rajapaksa calls on SAARC to 'resist external manipulations'
Anonymous letters urge Jaffna schools to commemorate Maaveerar Naal
Thoughts of you must guide our way' - Mano Ganesan on remembrance
LTTE leader's 60th birthday marked across the world
UK ‘not at all happy’ with Sri Lanka’s dismissal of UN investigation
Monument for Tamil war dead to be erected in Germany
UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues criticises BBS for preaching 'racial superiority'
Maithripala invited us for talks – BBS
Rathika Sitsabaiesan commemorates 'Tamil Heroes Day' in Canadian parliament
Ananthy Sasitharan's office under military surveillance
Rajapaksa calls on SAARC to 'resist external manipulations'
Anonymous letters urge Jaffna schools to commemorate Maaveerar Naal
Thoughts of you must guide our way' - Mano Ganesan on remembrance
LTTE leader's 60th birthday marked across the world
UK ‘not at all happy’ with Sri Lanka’s dismissal of UN investigation
Monument for Tamil war dead to be erected in Germany
UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues criticises BBS for preaching 'racial superiority'
Maithripala invited us for talks – BBS