Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

Sri Lanka has chosen not to proceed with a proposed land connectivity project with India at this time, despite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi referring to the initiative during recent bilateral discussions during his three-day visit, reported by the Daily Mirror on Friday. The concept of a land bridge linking the two countries was first proposed during the 2002–2004 premiership of Ranil…

Cameron warns Sri Lanka of CHOGM boycotts

British Prime Minister David Cameron has spoken to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and warned him that he must show progress on human rights in order to have countries attending the 2013 CHOGM and once again called for an independent investigation into war crimes.

Speaking at the 2011 CHOGM in Perth, Cameron aligned himself with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper who has threatened to boycott the next meeting in Perth, unless war human rights law violations were addressed.

Attacks by SL navy on Indian fisherman must stop: LK Advani

The leader of the BJP, India’s main opposition party, has demanded an immediate stop to the attacks perpetrated by the Sri Lankan Navy on Tamil Nadu’s fishermen.

"Sri Lanka must be told firmly that the repeated attacks on Indian fishermen must end," he told reporters in Madurai.

"It should not be regarded as a local matter as it does not relate to Tamil Nadu only. It must be regarded as a part of the national strategy and the government must evolve a plan on how to deal with it," he said.

Toronto Star on Sri Lanka and Commonwealth …

“[Canadian] Prime Minister Stephen Harper deserves credit for making Sri Lanka an issue at the Commonwealth summit in Australia this week.

“There are other human rights offenders in the [Commonwealth], to be sure. But Sri Lanka is in a class of its own.”

See the full text of the editorial here.

See no evil - Australia's way on war crimes

“Australia’s Attorney-General, Robert McClelland promptly quashed the case [against President Rajapaksa], claiming it breached domestic law and Australia's treaty pledges of diplomatic and sovereign immunity for visiting leaders.

A smokescreen, of course, since domestic law does allow private war crimes prosecutions - if they are taken over by federal prosecutors and approved by the attorney-general.

Sri Lanka confident amid Indian backing

A senior Sri Lankan diplomat says that "plans have been" made to thwart any attempts to bring out issues related to Colombo's human rights at the Commonwealth summit in Austrlia.

He said several Commonwealth countries have shown solidarity towards Sri Lanka and have dismissed those accusing Colombo of human rights violations.

The unnamed diplomat added:

‘Resettlement’ in Sri Lanka – what the figures show and conceal

Rather than resettling displaced Tamils, since the war ended, the Sri Lankan armed forces have occupied a further 7,000 sq km of land owned by Tamil people.

So what do the government’s claims of resettlement mean?

Asset expropriation bill expected to be passed soon

Sri Lankan courts are expected to pass a law that will allow the state to expropriate any assets from citizens that they deem “underutilized”.

According to reports, anyone found guilty of not handing their assets over to the Sri Lankan government will be “liable to imprisonment of ten years or a fine or both".

It targets not only "underperforming enterprises”, but “underutilized assets" also, allowing the state to seize land and any other asset from individuals to large businesses.