Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami of Tamil Nadu denounced the three-language formula contained in the New Education Policy (NEP) recently unveiled by the central government, which critics claim is a tacit attempt to impose Hindi in the state. 

“The Tamil people have stood firm on the two-language policy (Tamil and English) over the past 80 years and have expressed their feelings regarding the three-language policy in various forms of protest,” the statement read. 

Sri Lanka’s upcoming parliamentary election, scheduled to take place this week, will be the “most expensive election” in the island’s history according to officials, as the island struggles with an economic crisis in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Four people including a candidate of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) in the upcoming parliamentary election for the Vanni constituency have been arrested in the Puthukkudiyiruppu, Mullaitivu for allegedly possessing sample ballot papers.

The Election Commission undertook investigations after it was secretly informed that supporters of certain parties were holding the sample ballot papers.

The arrests also included reported supporters of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), EPDP and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).

They were handed over to Sri Lankan police who are reportedly conducting further investigations into the matter.

Ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections, the Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) called on the Tamil people to vote in such a way that they "elect those representatives whom they can hold responsible,” as it reflected on the “abject" performance over the past decade to deliver on Tamil rights.

Noting that the election scheduled to take place on August 5 is the third parliamentary poll since the end of the war, the statement evaluated the performance of the Tamil nationalist parties over the past 10 years in the following three issues:

The Tamil National Alliance’s (TNA) E Saravanapavan had full-page advertisements in newspapers superimposing his photograph over a map of Tamil Eelam this week, as politicians paraded their Tamil nationalist links with campaigning for general elections drawing to a close.

The campaign poster on Sudar Oli, owned by Saravanapavan himself, contained a few lines of lyrical prose exhorting the Tamil people to choose the TNA so that their “dream of attaining the dawn could be fulfilled”.

The latest official figures from the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) in Sri Lanka reveal that authorities have failed to provide drinking water to the country’s worst drought-hit northern region – in particular Jaffna and Mannar – for over three months, according to JDS Lanka. 

The report states the total number the number affected by the dry weather in the North is 115,542 as of 28 July 2020 and emphasises “it is nearly half the drought affected in the whole island.” The report also highlights the districts of Jaffna and Mannar as among the worst-affected and Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi and Vavuniya also among the drought-hit areas.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in its manifesto has again promised to spend the next parliamentary term demanding a federal political solution for the Tamil people and a re-merger of the Northern and Eastern provinces. Touching on key Tamil issues such as militarisation, land return, political prisoners and accountability, the TNA also warned that international pressure was needed now more than ever.

Political solution

The militarisation of the Tamil homeland continues as an army farm was set up last week in Vavuniya - part of the a project led by the war crimes-accused Sri Lankan army commander, Shavendra Silva. The farm in Andiyapuliyankulam in the Cheddikulam division is expected to cultivate coconuts, mangoes, and other crops, and is anticipated to increase in cultivation size to 1000 acres. According to the Sri Lankan army’s official website, the crops will be produced on ‘state-owned land’.

The Sri Lankan election commission has confirmed that all election laws will come into effect at midnight on Sunday 2^nd August (48 hours before the elections); after which all campaign actions for the 2020 parliamentary elections must come to an end.

Activities such as canvassing, visiting houses, giving out leaflets and displaying posters will be prohibited, from then on.

Priya Murugappan, a Tamil asylum seeker detained by the Australian government who was urgently evacuated to Perth for urgent medical treatment, was unexpectedly transferred back to Christmas Island without any prior notice on Wednesday.

Mrs Murugappam had called the Tamil Refugee Council on Wednesday in distress when border force guards suddenly arrived to take her to the airport.

"I could hear she was in distress, and all of a sudden the phone hung up," said Mr Mylvaganam, member of the Tamil Refugee Council.