Vavuniya

The Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) held a march in Vavuniya today reiterating the party’s stance in calling for justice, accountability, and an international mechanism to investigate allegations of human rights violations perpetrated by Sri Lanka. 

Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa issued a statement refuting allegations made against him by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith and claimed the Catholic leader “glosses over the responsibility of, or expressly absolves” the role of Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the Easter Sunday attacks.

Tamil families of the disappeared held a rally in Vavuniya yesterday as they continue to call on the international community to investigate the fate of their loved ones, who were forcibly disappeared by the Sri Lankan state. 

Several human skeletal remains were uncovered in Muhamalai, alongside uniform believed to belong to an LTTE cadre, as yet another mass grave was discovered in the Tamil homeland.

The United States military concluded their four day Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) maritime exercise with the Sri Lankan Navy, which included training in “anti-terrorism security”, in Trincomalee.

The Canadian government said it “supports meaningful action leading to justice, accountability, peace and reconciliation,” when asked by the Tamil Guardian about the Sri Lankan government’s objection to the genocide monument in Brampton.

File photograph: Jaffna Press Club journalists remember Rajivarman and Sivaram in 2014. 

Today marks 17 years since the killing of the young Tamil journalist Selvarajah Rajivarman. 

A Sri Lankan court has sentenced five Sri Lankan police officers over their role in the killing of eight Tamils in 1998, an incident dubbed the Thampalakamam massacre, more than 26 years after the murders.

The US Ambassador to Sri Lanka celebrated the Tamil and Sinhala New Year alongside a Sri Lankan commander who is currently barred from entering the US over his role in executing Tamils.

Slain Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram was remembered in Batticaloa, Jaffna, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya today to mark 19 years since his abduction and murder. 

This month marked the anniversary of the deadly 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, which killed hundreds in hotels and churches across the island. Five years have passed, and there are now more questions than answers - particularly around the role of the Sri Lankan state. What has become increasingly clear, however, is that Sri Lanka remains incapable of transparency, and of delivering justice to the victims and their families. As even the most hardcore proponents of domestic mechanisms have come to realise, just like for the atrocities before them, the Easter Sunday attacks deserve international accountability.

^{Image courtesy of Tamil Narratives}

Today marks the 19th anniversary since the abduction and murder of Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram.

Father Cyril Gamini Fernando, the spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Colombo, was summoned to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), just days before Sri Lanka marked the 5th anniversary of the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings last week.