MPs joined British Tamils as they celebrated Tamil new year across the country.

In London, Conservative MP Paul Scully and leader of Kingston Council Kevin Davis joined celebrations at the Sri Raja Rajeswari Amman Temple, Stonleigh.

Speaking at the end of ceremonies, MP Paul Scully shared wishes from British Prime Minister Theresa May’s, who was due to join the visit.

Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, praised Tamil Canadians in a message to mark the Tamil New Year on Saturday.

“Today, Tamils in Canada and around the world will celebrate Puthandu and welcome the beginning of a new year,” said Mr Trudeau.

Sri Lankan police have made four arrests after a group of foreign tourists were assaulted by locals in Mirissa on Sunday, as they resisted attempts to sexually assault the women in the group.

The Sri Lankan government has made no meaningful progress on justice and reconciliation, the British MP, Joan Ryan, has said.

In a statement for Tamil New Year, the Labour MP for Enfield North said:

I send my warmest wishes to all Tamils in the UK as you celebrate Puthandu. 

Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena is set to visit the UK later this month, as part of a trip to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London.

Op-Ed by Paul Scully, MP

Today Tamils living in the United Kingdom and across the globe will be welcoming a new year. 

The head of Sri Lanka’s army has attacked the Tamil diaspora for criticising the military, stating that they have been supplying “distorted, malicious and untrue information”.

A Tamil political prisoner has been hunger striking since Monday, demanding his trial and release.

36-year-old Irapallavan Thaporuban was arrested by the Terrorism Investigation Department in 2009 and kept in detention in Jaffna until 2012 when he was moved to Anuradhapura prison.

The Sri Lankan government has failed to respond to a United Nation Committee Against Torture (CAT) report, which called for information on the “establishment of a judicial mechanism” to investigate torture and information on the role of a former Criminal Investigations Department head, confirmed a UN official this week.

Sri Lanka had until December 2017 to respond to the report, which was issued after the state was discussed at the 59th session of the UN CAT in 2016. However, the Tamil Guardian confirmed with the United Nations this week that Sri Lanka is yet to provide a response, though several months has passed since the deadline. Other states such as Armenia, Ecuador and Turkmenistan, which were also discussed at the 59^th session, have responded to the global body as required.

The families of the disappeared protest in Mullaitivu was attacked by a knife-wielding individual on Thursday on its 400th day.

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi was forced to take a helicopter ride from Chennai airport to a speaking engagement at India’s mega defence exhibition at Thiruvidanthai,

Mr Modi was met in Chennai by a sea of black flag protests over the centre’s failure to resolve a water despite between neighbouring state Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The Sri Lankan military has admitted to detaining and questioning a Tamil journalist, whilst he was reporting on the army’s plans to appropriate land in Mullaitivu last month.

Whilst calls for the Sri Lankan military to vacate their military bases in the North-East continue, the army held a talent show at its military base in Palaly last month, the site of a massive High Security Zone which remains inaccessible to locals and landowners, nine years after the end of the war.

Sinhalese fishermen are openly engaging in illegal and pollutive methods of fishing in Mullaitivu with no fear of legal censure.

During a research trip to document the extent of Sinhalisation and land appropriation in Mullaitivu’s border villages, members of the Northern Provincial Council came across Sinhalese fishermen using tractors to pull their nets out of the water in Kokkulai.

This method results in the pollution of the waters due to leakages in tractor fuel, with harmful effects on the sea life and underwater habitats.

Tamil fishermen are prohibited from such methods and their fishing activities are strictly monitored by Sri Lankan armed forces, in particular the Navy.

Journalists noted that the tractors used in the process were unmarked and bore no license number plates.

A Tamil fisherman native to the area said that while Tamil fishermen held permits to sail only five boats in total, individual Sinhalese fishermen were granted permits to sail up to twenty-five boats.