Sri Lanka has publicly released details of a Defence Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with the United States, following criticism over the government’s refusal to disclose the agreement at the time of its signing earlier this month.

Families of Maaveerar - or Great Heroes - were honoured at an event in Vavuniya Municipal Cultural Hall today. 

The mother of three fallen cadres lit the sacrificial lamp before flowers were laid in front of portraits of Tamil fighters who died in the armed conflict. 

The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) commemorated fallen Tamil fighters in Mannar to mark Maaveerar Remembrance week. 

Tens of thousands of men and women sacrificed their lives in the struggle for Tamil Eelam. But not every single one of them was ethnically Tamil.

In this brief sample, we publish the names and details of fighters with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who joined not simply due to their ethnicity or religion, but to liberate the North-East from Sri Lankan oppression. 

Photograph: Koppay Thuyilum Illam, Jaffna, before its destruction by the Sri Lankan Army

As the Tamil nation prepares to mark Maaveerar Naal - or Great Heroes’ Day - on November 27, Tamils in the North-East will gather at Thuyilum Illams across the homeland to remember the Tamil fighters that sacrificed their lives for liberation.