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…

Annual ritual to humiliate SL at UNHRC' - SL HC to India

Defending bilateral ties between India and Sri Lanka, the High Commissioner of Sri Lank to India, Prasad Kariyawasam, said told The Week that the resolution was brought about by "LTTE lobbies from the west".

He added:

“There is no dispute between India and Sri Lanka. Our bilateral ties are not at all affected,”

Sri Lanka will not be discussed at CMAG – spokesperson

A spokesperson for the Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma has said that Sri Lanka will not be on the agenda at the forthcoming Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group.

Several countries have tried to include Sri Lanka on the agenda, especially due to November’s controversial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, hosted by Colombo.

IPL teams request dropping of Chennai venue

After demands by Tamil Nadu students that the IPL bars cricket players from Sri Lanka, reports have emerged that teams of the Indian Premier League have told the Indian cricket board to drop Chennai as a venue for matches.

USTPAC: 'Strong international action on Sri Lanka is well overdue'

Commenting on the UNHRC's resolution on Sri Lanka, the US Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC) said that “strong international action on Sri Lanka is well overdue”.

USTPAC spokesperson, Dhamy Rajendra said:

Soldiers busy with beauty salons

A piece in The Economist examines the military’s role in Sri Lanka.

See extracts below, for full article click here.

JOSEPH STALIN is unhappy. The boss of a Sri Lankan teachers’ union claims that the country’s schools are losing their independence. Last month, unions say, nearly 4,000 headteachers were invited to interviews at the National Cadet Corps. Successful applicants will get 45 days of training, and then full military titles. The idea, supposedly, is to improve discipline in schools.

The army’s grip is spreading across Sri Lankan society. Activists talk of a general effort to promote military culture among the young, especially among the ethnic Sinhalese majority.

Sri Lankan group’s threat to Indian Tamils

A Sri Lankan organisation has said they will attack Indian Tamils who visit Sri Lanka as revenge for attacks on Singhalese in Tamil Nadu.

Leader of the Ravana Balaya, Saddhatissa Thera, said the Indian government was scared of political parties in Tamil Nadu and said unless the safety of Sri Lankans in Tamil Nadu is assured by the Indian High Commission in Colombo, it will “have to think of a system to protect people who visit Sri Lanka from Tamil Nadu”.

“It’s enough that we have waited like cowards,” he said.

Diaspora Tamils protest in solidarity with Tamil Nadu

Tamil groups across the world held protests, hunger strikes and awareness events in solidarity with the demonstrating students in Tamil Nadu earlier this week.

Hundreds of primary school students in Idinthakarai and Kanchipurum marched through the streets of Tamil Nadu wearing masks of 12-year-old Balachandran Prabhakaran, who was executed by Sri Lankan Army soldiers.

 

Amnesty, HRW criticise UNHRC resolution for falling short of international probe

The UNHRC resolution passed Thursday highlights past and ongoing human rights violations in Sri Lanka, but regrettably fails to establish an independent and international investigation into alleged crimes under international law, Amnesty International said.

Human Rights Watch similarly criticised the UNHRC resolution, saying:

ICJ calls for CHOGM venue change

The International Commission of Jurists have welcomed a recently passed UN HRC resolution on Sri Lanka, and called upon the Commonwealth to change venue for the upcoming CHOGM away from Sri Lanka.

Responding to the passing of the resolution, Alex Conte, of the International Commission of Jurists, said,

Failure of the UN system - BTF

Commenting on resolution 22/L1 British Tamils Forum (BTF) said the "United Nations have failed a people on its own mandate of human rights," adding, "a clear political divide is apparent on the resolution passed today after being watered down to gain support of some voting member States."

See here for full statement.