• Parliamentary committee questions UK arms exports to Sri Lanka

    Jul 16

    A report by a parliamentary committee has criticised exports of arms to countries that the Foreign Office has expressed human rights concerns about.

    The House of Commons Committees on Arms Export Controls concluded in their 2013 report that over 3,000 export licenses, worth over £12bn, were approved by the UK to the 27 countries in question, including Sri Lanka.

    The report says the sales to Sri Lanka, worth over £8mn raised “very serious questions”.

    The committee’s chairman, Conservative MP Sir John Stanley, said he was astonished at the scale of the exports, to countries including China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Zimbabwe.

  • Peiris delights in victory over human rights campaigners
    External Affairs Minister G L Peiris boasted of Rajapaksa's imminent chairmanship of the Commonwealth at an External Affairs Ministry press conference on Wednesday.
  • EU delegation will travel to North
    An EU Parliamentary Delegation, currently in Sri Lanka to observe EU funded development projects in the North, will reportedly be travelling to the North to see their progress.

    The delegation is also expecting to hold meetings with civil society activists as well as politicians and international agencies.
  • SLMC to contest alone 

    Sri Lanka's Muslim party, SLMC, which is currently part of the ruling UPFA coalition,  announced on Tuesday that it is to contest the North Provincial Council election on its own. 

    The leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Rauff Hakeem, is Sri Lanka's minister of justice.

    SLMC national organiser Shafik Rajabdeen told reporters, 

  • SL diplomats awarded ‘war hero’ medals

    Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse has awarded hundreds of military personnel who took part in the last phase of the armed conflict with medals for gallantry.

    Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN and war crimes accused Major General Shavendra Silva was amongst the recipients of the highest honour, the Weera Wickrama Vibhushana medal.

  • Tamil diaspora accused of funding 'insulting' film

    The Director of the Media Centre for National Security in Sri Lanka, Lakshman Hulugalla described a film that recently halted a French festival in Sri Lanka as insulting to the government and its Security forces.

  • Sri Lanka considering nuclear pact with Pakistan, snubbing India – paper

    The Hindustan Times has reported that Sri Lanka is moving towards a nuclear agreement with Pakistan.

  • TNA appoints C.V. Wigneswaran as NPC candidate
    C.V. Wigneswaran, a former Supreme Court judge, has been appointed as the Tamil National Alliance's Chief Minister candidate for the upcoming Northern Provincial Council election.

    In a statement, the TNA leader R. Sampanthan said:
  • French film festival halted
    The French Film Festival in Colombo was halted after the screening of an internationally-acclaimed film that the Sri Lankan military considered insulting.

    A defence ministry official told reporters that the film, "Flying Fish" had been banned in Sri Lanka saying:
  • Solution within unitary state is 'unfeasible' say diaspora youth
    In a joint policy statement published on Monday, eight young Tamil activists from the UK, Germany, Australia and Canada reiterated the call for Tamil sovereignty "to be the basis of a principled minimal demand of the Eelam Tamil nation", and asserted that "a solution for the Eelam Tamil nation within a Sri Lankan unitary state is unfeasible".
  • Commonwealth Lawyers Association call for CHOGM venue change

    The Commonwealth Lawyers Association, whilst calling for a venue change, questioned the validity of holding the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka, in an interview today.

  • Sri Lanka ready to face ‘LTTE propaganda’ during CHOGM

    Senior government officials have told The Sunday Island that international media, including Channel 4, would not be barred from attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November.

  • SL deputy High Commission receives bomb threats
    Sri Lanka's Deputy High Commission in Chennai has stepped up security after officials received bomb threats via a letter, reports Hirunews.lk.

    According to officials, a postcard warned that bombs would go off at the mission, and condemned the Sri Lankan government's activities.

    The Chennai police's cyber crime wing will be investigating the incident.
  • "Firstly, we need to secure the Tamil nation from the ongoing genocide" - Gajendrakumar
    Speaking to The Weekend Leader, the leader of the Tamil National Peoples' Front (TNPF), Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, explained his reasons for calling for a Transitional Administration in the North-East, stating that "firstly, we need to secure the Tamil Nation from the ongoing Genocide."

    See here for part 1 of the interview, extract reproduced below:
  • Jayalalithaa calls for ‘bold stand’ from India

    Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has called upon India’s central government to "take a bold stand in support of (Sri) Lankan Tamils" and stated that the aspirations of Tamils on the island could only be realised through an independent state.

Subscribe to Tamil Affairs

Most-Read Articles

Velupillay makes history as first Tamil at a FIFA World Cup
Photograph: @Socceroos Nishan Velupillay has been selected in Australia's squad…
Tamil rapper arrested for ‘terrorism’ over TikTok video
A Tamil rapper from Kilinochchi has been arrested and remanded under Sri Lanka's…
Supreme Court challenge filed as Tamil artist remains jailed under PTA
A fundamental rights petition will be filed before Sri Lanka's Supreme Court seeking…
Archuna tells Seeman ‘I would have shot you’ during parliamentary speech
Jaffna District Member of Parliament Archuna Ramanathan used proceedings in Sri Lanka’s…
Catholic divide deepens as North-East clergy defend Tamil genocide recognition
A Tamil woman mourns in Mullivaikkal on Tamil Genocide Remembance Day, May 18. A…