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'How can we trust them?' - Sri Lankan minister ignores families of the disappeared at Chemmani
Families of Tamil victims of enforced disappearance protested near the Chemmani mass grave excavation site in Jaffna on Friday as Sri Lanka's Justice Minister, Harshana Nanayakkara, and officials from the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) proceeded past the demonstrators without stopping to engage.

Tamil Affairs

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Tamil Affairs
Kepapilavu residents commence hunger strike as Sri Lankan military films protesters
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Tamil Affairs
Rajapaksa son questioned over Rs. 19 million investment probe
Tamil Affairs
Three thousand years deep - Evidence uncovers Velanai's ancient seafarers
Tamil Affairs
Rights group flags 184 Sri Lankan prison deaths to visiting UN delegation

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Kepapilavu residents commence hunger strike as Sri Lankan military films protesters
Residents of Kepapilavu in Mullaitivu District launched a hunger strike on Wednesday, demanding the release of 171 acres of ancestral land that remain under the occupation of the Sri Lankan military more than 17 years after the end of the armed conflict. The protest was held outside the Sri Lanka Army's 59 Division headquarters, where demonstrators reiterated their longstanding demand for the return of their lands and rejected claims that they had agreed to accept alternative land allocations in place of their ancestral property.
Rajapaksa son questioned over Rs. 19 million investment probe
Picture : AdaDerana  Rohitha Rajapaksa, the son of former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, was questioned for nearly six hours by the Central Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) on Thursday as part of an investigation into the source of funds allegedly used to invest Rs. 19 million in two private companies. According to Ada Derana, investigators questioned Rajapaksa over the origin of the Rs. 19 million allegedly invested in two private institutions based in Mirihana and Boralesgamuwa. He arrived at the CCIB headquarters at around 9:30 a.m. to record a statement and remained there for almost six hours.
Three thousand years deep - Evidence uncovers Velanai's ancient seafarers
A newly published study has identified the earliest scientifically confirmed evidence of prehistoric human settlement on Velanai Island in the Jaffna Peninsula, dating back around 3,460 years and overturning an erroneous long-held Sri Lankan assumption that the region was largely uninhabited until much later.
Rights group flags 184 Sri Lankan prison deaths to visiting UN delegation
The Committee for Protecting Rights of Prisoners has formally raised concerns with a visiting United Nations delegation over custodial deaths, prison overcrowding, alleged torture and deteriorating detention conditions in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan army moves to cement occupation of farm in Valikamam
The Sri Lankan military has erected a signboard designating a military-run agricultural farm on privately owned land inside the Valikamam North High Security Zone (HSZ), entrenching its presence even as landowners campaign for the return of their property.
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Hakeem rejects Katchatheevu handover calls in Tamil Nadu
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader and Member of Parliament Rauff Hakeem has said that the sovereignty of Katchatheevu is already settled under international law and bilateral agreements, warning that attempts to reopen the issue are not a practical solution to the long-running dispute between fishermen on both sides of the Palk Strait.
Vijay looks back on Eelam solidarity, but not forward
The Tamil Nadu chief minister, Vijay, made a brief reference to Eelam Tamils during a speech in the state legislative assembly on Tuesday, recalling his participation in a 2008 hunger strike in support of Tamils during the final stages of the armed conflict, in remarks that looked back to his own activism rather than to the realities facing Tamils in the North-East today. "Back in 2008, we undertook a hunger strike in support of Eelam Tamils. We demanded that the war come to an end and that Eelam Tamils should be able to live peacefully," he said.
Chemmani mass grave excavations halted again at 412 remains
Excavation work at the Chemmani mass grave, the largest uncovered on the island, has once again been temporarily halted, with officials planning to resume around 15 July. The dig has so far yielded 412 sets of skeletal remains, of which 409 have been exhumed, yet the work of identifying any of the dead has still not begun.
Chemmani toll rises to 412, but the work of identifying the dead has not begun
Thirteen more skeletal remains were exhumed from the Chemmani mass grave on Monday and a further seven newly identified, bringing the total identified at the site to 412, of which 390 have now been exhumed, as the excavation, the largest at any mass grave on the island, entered its 31st day. Monday, the 31st day of the third phase of the court-supervised process, saw three sets of remains identified in a single straight line and a further nine in an irregular arrangement, with staff currently working to clean and document the newly identified remains.
US courts Colombo on trade and the Indian Ocean
The United States Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, S. Paul Kapur, met the Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the Presidential Secretariat during a three-day visit to the island, in talks centred on trade, investment and security cooperation.

The arithmetic of a grave

Scared of a song

Monks above the law

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Tamil News

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Kepapilavu residents commence hunger strike as Sri Lankan military films protesters

Jun 26

Residents of Kepapilavu in Mullaitivu District launched a hunger strike on Wednesday, demanding the release of 171 acres of ancestral land that remain under the occupation of the Sri Lankan military more than 17 years after the end of the armed conflict.

Rajapaksa son questioned over Rs. 19 million investment probe

Three thousand years deep - Evidence uncovers Velanai's ancient seafarers
A newly published study has identified the earliest scientifically confirmed evidence of prehistoric human settlement on Velanai Island in the Jaffna Peninsula, dating back around 3,460 years and overturning an erroneous long-held Sri Lankan assumption that the region was largely uninhabited until much later.
Rights group flags 184 Sri Lankan prison deaths to visiting UN delegation
The Committee for Protecting Rights of Prisoners has formally raised concerns with a visiting United Nations delegation over custodial deaths, prison overcrowding, alleged torture and deteriorating detention conditions in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan army moves to cement occupation of farm in Valikamam
The Sri Lankan military has erected a signboard designating a military-run agricultural farm on privately owned land inside the Valikamam North High Security Zone (HSZ), entrenching its presence even as landowners campaign for the return of their property.
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Hakeem rejects Katchatheevu handover calls in Tamil Nadu
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader and Member of Parliament Rauff Hakeem has said that the sovereignty of Katchatheevu is already settled under international law and bilateral agreements, warning that attempts to reopen the issue are not a practical solution to the long-running dispute between fishermen on both sides of the Palk Strait.
Vijay looks back on Eelam solidarity, but not forward

Chemmani mass grave excavations halted again at 412 remains

Chemmani toll rises to 412, but the work of identifying the dead has not begun

US courts Colombo on trade and the Indian Ocean
The United States Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, S. Paul Kapur, met the Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the Presidential Secretariat during a three-day visit to the island, in talks centred on trade, investment and security cooperation.
‘Before we too pass away’ - Tamil families appeal to UN over Chemmani mass graves
The Association for Relatives of the Enforced Disappeared in the North-East (ARED) has appealed to the United Nations to ensure an international investigation into enforced disappearances and mass graves across the Tamil homeland, including the ongoing excavations at Chemmani, where more than 380 human skeletal remains have been uncovered.
Chemmani excavations pass grim milestone with 405 remains identified

As Burnham eyes Number 10, British Tamils face a largely untested record
As Andy Burnham emerges as the frontrunner to succeed Keir Starmer as Labour leader and British prime minister, British Tamils are weighing a record on Tamil justice that is far thinner than the outgoing premier's, yet not quite the blank slate it might first appear.
STF officers filmed assaulting woman during Kilinochchi arrests of children and elderly
Footage from in Umaiyalpuram, Kilinochchi, shows officers of Sri Lanka's Special Task Force (STF) assaulting a woman during a confrontation with residents, after which fourteen Tamil civilians, among them young children, schoolgirls and elderly residents, were remanded, in an operation that began over alleged illegal sand mining.
Keir Starmer, British Tamils and the promises still unmet

Keir Starmer at Downing Street Thai Pongal reception with British Tamils

Suresh Sallay's wife alleges surveillance of children, seeks independent probe

Fifty years on, Jaffna conference reaffirms the Vaddukoddai call for self determination
The Vaddukoddai-50 Ezhuchi (Resurgence) Conference was held at the Thanthai Selva Auditorium in Jaffna on Saturday, marking fifty years since the 1976 Vaddukoddai Resolution, in which the Tamil political leadership first declared the goal of an independent, sovereign state of Tamil Eelam.
Shritharan takes Tamil grievances to the BJP's Tamil Nadu leadership

The arithmetic of a grave
This week, the number of skeletal remains uncovered at Chemmani reached a stark record of 387. With that figure, a patch of earth on the edge of Jaffna town became the largest mass grave ever uncovered on the island, surpassing the 376 remains recovered at Mannar. Recent days alone have seen the bodies of several children exhumed, alongside beads and bangles. These are the contents of the largest crime scene in the Tamil homeland, being catalogued one body at a time.
Activists protest mineral sand mining threatening East coast
Environmentalists and civil society activists protested at Galle Face in Colombo on 17 June against proposed heavy mineral sand mining along the eastern coastline from Oluvil to Pothuvil, warning that the project threatens the land, fisheries and livelihoods of Tamil and Muslim communities across the Eastern Province.

World News

UN experts demand independent investigation into death of Indigenous leader in Nicaragua

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Baloch activists accuse state-backed death squads of new killings
A fresh wave of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances has been documented across Balochistan this month, as Baloch rights groups recorded the recovery of several bodies of men who had earlier been forcibly taken, and appealed once more to international institutions that have largely ignored the province.
UN experts demand investigation following Israel’s killing of Lebanese journalists
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Two Indian journalists detained for filming docked Iranian warship
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Spain withdraws ambassador from Israel amid Gaza genocide and Iran war tensions
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Former Syrian colonel charged with crimes against humanity in landmark UK case
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UN peacekeepers refuse order to leave South Sudan opposition stronghold

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'India stands with Israel,' Modi says during state visit
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Scotland’s ‘independence within reach’ says first minister
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UN investigators warn RSF assault on El Fasher bears ‘hallmarks of genocide’
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UK moves toward new law to ban Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
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'Mother of all deals’ - India and EU forge landmark trade and security pact
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