Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

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Amnesty International has called for the release of detained Tamil rapper Sangeethan Ganeshkumar and renewed demands for the repeal of Sri Lanka's Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), warning that the legislation continues to facilitate arbitrary detention and human rights abuses. In a statement issued this week, the international rights organisation expressed concern over the continued use of…

Restoring political stability is crucial' - US ambassador

<p>The United States ambassador to Sri Lanka, Alaina Teplitz urged the government to resolve the political crisis promptly in an interview with the Daily FT, warning the that "restoring political stability is crucial".&nbsp;</p>

2 police officers arrested drunk at tourist hotel

<p>Two drunk police officers were arrested at a tourist hotel in Weligama for 'unruly behaviour', <a href="http://www.colombopage.com/archive_18B/Dec08_1544287973CH.php">Colombo Page</a> reports.&nbsp;</p> <p>The officers had damaged the hotel and had started a fight with officers from a different unit, the police officers making the arrest said.&nbsp;</p> <p>The officers are to be produced before court today.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;</p>

Tamil civil society discuss Sinhala colonisation and land-grabs with UN officials

Tamil civil society representatives in Mullaitivu met with UN human rights officials and discussed growing concerns in the district about systematic Sinhala colonisation and violations carried out by the Sri Lankan state under various wings, particularly the archaeology department.

The Tamil Heritage Council, a civil society organisation, said they had published a detailed report about Sinhala colonisation and land-grabs in the district and handed it over to the officials.

Image of vihara vandalised on Nainativu sign board

The image of a Buddhist vihara on the sign board for Nainativu was found covered with red paint on Saturday. 

Nainativu, which is site of an iconic Tamil Hindu temple, has become a focal point of Tamil anger towards the military's Buddhisation of the Tamil homeland. 

Conflict is between national and foreign forces' warns Sirisena

Sri Lanka's president, Maithripala Sirisena warned against what he described as "the shadows of old Imperialism", arguing that the current political crisis was not a conflict between political parties, but a !conflict between national and foreign thinking". 

"When I act according to the principles of nationalism without giving into foreign forces and without intimidated by their threats, foreign forces have now become a challenge and the shadows of the old Imperialism stand in our way," he told an audience at him home town, gathered at Polonnaruwa Royal College. 

Militarisation: More soldiers in Tamil school at Kilinochchi

The Sri Lankan army announced that soldiers had been involved in carrying out repair work at a Tamil school in Kilinochchi last month, as the military continued to involve itself with civilian activities in the region.

The military announced that soldiers helped to repair a fence at the Thevanpiddy Roman Catholic Tamil Mixed School in Kilinochchi.

Militarised Sinhalisation: Army assists Buddhist ceremony in Mullaitivu

Buddhists monks and the Sri Lankan military partnered up once more to hold religious ceremonies in Mullaitivu last month, despite concerns over the militarised Sinhalisation of the North-East.

Jaffna police chief appointed head of Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Division

<p>Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in charge of Jaffna Police, W S E Jayasundera has been appointed as Sri Lanka’s new director of the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID).&nbsp;</p> <p>Jayasundera’s appointment comes after the former director of the TID, was arrested over an alleged plot to assassinate Sri Lanka’s president Maithripala Sirisena and former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

The right to remember - Maaveerar Naal 2018

At destroyed LTTE cemeteries scattered across the Tamil homeland, tens of thousands across the North-East commemorated Maaveerar Naal on the 27th of November.

The events took place despite reports of intimidation and harassment from the military, which continues to be stationed across the region, and a deepening political crisis in Colombo.

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Muslim journalist reported missing from Amparai

<p>A Muslim journalist from Amparai was reported missing last week, reports TamilWin.</p> <p>A L Shiyan, a father of two from Pothuvil - Mathuchenai in Amparai and a journalist for a private media organisation has been missing since Thursday according to a report filed with police.</p> <p>Police said Shiyan’s travelling bag had been recovered on the seaside in front of Pothuvil Buddhist vihara.</p> <p>Pothuvil police said further investigations were taking place.</p>