The UK government said it “continues to be concerned by increasing tensions around land" in the North-East in response to a question raised by Scottish National Party (SNP) MP Patrick Grady about the arrest of eight Tamils at Vedukkunaari Hill temple in Vavuniya last month. In her response , Anne-Marie Trevelyan the Minister of State for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: "We continue to be concerned by increasing tensions around land in Sri Lanka, including at the Vedukkunaari Aadhi Sivan temple in Vavuniya. We welcome the release of the eight arrested Hindu worshippers...
Tamils in Vakarai, Batticaloa, held a protest this week to oppose the establishment of an ilmenite mine and a prawn farm due to the impact they will have on their livelihood and the environment. Protestors sat outside Koralaipottu North Divisional Secretariat and blocked its entrance on Monday as they demanded that ilmenite mining be banned and to stop a prawn farm from opening up in the area as both projects would deplete the area of its natural resources. A prawn farm is likely to cause water pollution if chemical waste from the farm is discharged into the rivers. The water pollution would...
SJV Chelvanayakam, fondly known as Thanthi Chelva, is being remembered in Batticaloa and Jaffna today to mark 47 years since his death. Chelvanayakam was responsible for spearheading the Vaddukoddai resolution, which was overwhelmingly ratified by the Tamil votes in the 1977 parliamentary elections. In Jaffna , Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) leader S Shritharan and former MP Mavai Senathirajah were present at a memorial event at the Thanthai Chelva Memorial Square. ITAK's youth wing held a memorial event in Batticaloa , where lamps were lit to commemorate the father of Tamil nationalism...
Ahead of his headline London show, the comedian sat with the Tamil Guardian in London, wearing his “Seeni Appa" (Sugar Daddy) T-shirt, to speak about his Tamil identity and how it has been integral to his comedy and to his audience.
Argentina called on Sri Lanka to arrest Iranian minister Ahmad Vahidi, who was touted to visit the island alongside Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi this week, accusing him of orchestrating a 1994 attack on a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people. The request from the Argentinian government comes less than two weeks after a court in the country held Iran responsible for the attack and demanded Sri Lanka, as well as Pakistan, which the Iranians visited before arriving in Colombo on Wednesday, arrest Vahidi. Interpol issued a ‘red notice’ requesting police agencies...
As part of their global annual report, Amnesty International slammed the Sri Lankan government’s human rights record noting that “impunity remained entrenched with the Sri Lankan government making no notable progress around the right to truth, justice and reparation for those affected by war”.
Nishan Duraiappah, the Chief of Peel Regional Police, was aware of a Supreme Court ruling that found Sri Lanka’s police chief had personally participated in torture, and still decided to meet him in Colombo, according to a report in Global News.
The Sri Lankan government reportedly summoned the Canadian High Commissioner in Colombo over plans to construct a monument to victims of the Tamil genocide, thousands of miles away in the Canadian city of Brampton.
Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam, the Jaffna-born activist and athlete, who competed in the 1952 Olympics and won the first Gold Medal in any sport for Ceylon passed away on Thursday, 18 April 2024, aged 89 years old.
Tamil residents and members of the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) held another protest to demand the removal of a Sinhala Buddhist shrine, the Tissa Rahamaha Vihara, which was built illegally and on land occupied by Sri Lanka's military. Tamils in Thaiyiddy, Jaffna, have been protesting every Poya (full moon) day for nearly a year, to demand the removal of the illegal structure. 12 acres of land surrounding the shrine are owned by 14 farming families but are currently occupied. Protesters had camped outside of the Buddhist shrine last night ahead of today's Poya worship and vowed to...