Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

Pon. Sivakumaran, the first Tamil to die in the liberation struggle, was remembered today in Urumpirai, Jaffna, on the 52nd anniversary of his death.  Sivakumaran was a member of the Tamil Manavar Peravai (or Tamil Student Federation, TSF) and a leading militant in the early armed Tamil struggle. On 5th June 1974, Sivakumaran was surrounded by Sri Lankan security forces. He had…

‘No vision, no courage’ – Families of the disappeared in Vavuniya condemn Tamil political leadership

Marking the 3,036th day of their continuous protest, the Association of Families of the Disappeared in Vavuniya issued a scathing condemnation of Tamil political leadership, accusing them of lacking vision, courage, and a strategy for securing justice for the Tamil people.

UK MP calls on Foreign Secretary to press Sri Lanka over Chemmani mass grave

British MP Uma Kumaran has called on Foreign Secretary David Lammy to take urgent action following the discovery of a mass grave in Chemmani, Jaffna, which included the remains of at least three infants.

Minister announces compensation for Tamil landowners of occupying Buddhist temple

Fisheries Minister announces plans to resolve Thaiyiddy Vihara land issue within a month through compensation or alternative land allocation

From fear to violence: Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism still fuels persecution in Sri Lanka

A report titled ‘From Fear to Violence: Religious Attacks in Sri Lanka’ has revealed an alarming escalation in religiously motivated violence across the island, exposing a pattern of aggression, impunity, and systemic discrimination that disproportionately targets non-Sinhala Buddhists.

UN marine survey in jeopardy amid Sri Lankan government delays

vessel

 A US$1 million United Nations-funded initiative to conduct an extensive marine scientific survey in Sri Lanka’s coastal waters is under threat due to the government’s failure to finalize a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for foreign research vessels, according to media reports.

Dozens released without authorisation under Sri Lankan presidential pardons, CID admits

presidential pardon

A report submitted to court by Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has revealed that 69 inmates were released under the guise of presidential pardons despite lacking official authorisation.

Mass graves are not history

More grisly discoveries were made in Tamil Eelam this week. These findings serve as a sobering reminder that Sri Lanka’s atrocities are not relics of a distant past. Nor can they be buried forever. The crimes will return to haunt those who seek to cover them up.

Indictments over bomb plot at All Saints’ Church in Colombo

Sri Lanka’s Attorney General has indicted three men over an alleged 2022 plot to detonate a bomb at All Saints’ Church in Borella, Colombo.

British Tamils Forum urges UN rights chief to visit Mullivaikkal

The British Tamils Forum (BTF) has written to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk urging him to visit Mullivaikkal, the site of the 2009 genocide, and Chemmani, where mass graves have been unearthed, during his forthcoming visit to Sri Lanka in June 2025.

State-backed land disputes remain key barrier to peace in North-East, warns report

land

Land disputes centred on access, control, and distribution remain a major challenge to peacebuilding in the North-East, according to a recent report supported by the UN Sri Lanka SDG Fund. 

The report warns that post-conflict contestations over land frequently involve state actors, including the occupying military, as well as government agencies such as the Departments of Archaeology, Wildlife, Forest, and the Mahaweli Authority.