Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

A protest march was held last month opposing limestone excavation, mineral sand mining and a proposed wind power project across the villages of Veravil, Valaipadu, Ponnaveli and Kiranchi, in the Poonakary Divisional Secretariat division of Kilinochchi. The demonstration was organised against plans to establish wind power stations and to carry out mineral sand and limestone extraction in the…

Mullivaikkal genocide commemorated in Denmark

Tamils in Grinsted, Denmark, held a memorial on May 11 to commemorate the victims of the Mullivakkal genocide. 

Candles were lit and flowers were laid to remember the tens of thousands of Tamils that were killed by Sri Lanka's military offensive in the final months of the armed conflict. 

Gary Anandasangaree appointed as Canada’s next Public Safety Minister

Tamil Canadian MP Gary Anandasangaree has been appointed today as the Minister of Public Safety in Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new cabinet.

Anandasangaree will oversee key agencies tasked with Canada’s national security, including the Canada Border Services Agency, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. 

Second day of Mullivaikkal Remembrance Week marked in the North-East

Tamils in the North-East served and ate kanji today to mark the second day of Mullivaikkal Remembrance Week. 

In the week leading up to May 18, also known as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day, Tamils hold commemoration events and serve kanji to remember the 169,796 people who went unaccounted for during the genocide at Mullivaikkal as well as the victim survivors. 

Kanji served across Jaffna as Mullivaikkal Remembrance Week begins

Mullivaikkal remembrance week was observed across the North with porridge distribution, protests, and tributes honoring the victims of the Tamil genocide

Foreign Office helped former British mercenary linked to atrocities in Sri Lanka avoid court case

KMS

Photograph: Yardstick Films 

Britain's Foreign Office successfully stopped a retired mercenary being compelled to give evidence at a freedom of information tribunal in London. 

Government lawyers managed to block a witness application made by Declassified to summon Major David Walker, a former SAS officer who co-founded Keenie Meenie Services (KMS), a mercenary company active in the 1980s.

‘They fled with only a loincloth — now you ask for documents?’ Ravikaran slams land grab Gazette

MP T. Ravikaran has condemned the government’s move to seize nearly 6,000 acres in the North, warning it would betray war-displaced Tamils and echo past oppressive regimes

Residents protest soil excavation in Batticaloa, demand end to controversial land project

Residents of Kinniyadi in the Valaichchenai region staged a protest last week, blocking a vehicle transporting excavated soil in opposition to a contentious land excavation project that locals claim is being carried out under the false pretext of a fish farming initiative.

Preparations underway in Mullivaikkal for Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day

Mullivaikal commemoration preparation

Preparations are underway at Mullivaikkal memorial ground ahead of Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day which is marked by Tamils in the homeland and the diaspora.

Every year, Tamils gather at the memorial ground on May 18 to commemorate the 169,796 people who went unaccounted for in the final phase of the armed conflict. 

Sri Lankan police arrest Tamil farmers and 16-year-old after complaint by monk

Two Tamil farmers have been remanded in custody while a 16-year-old student was released on bail, following their arrest near Kurunthurmalai, after a complaint lodged by a Sinhala Buddhist monk.

Ponnambalam hails local election results as a mandate for Tamil nationalism

Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) leader and Member of Parliament Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam has hailed the results of Sri Lanka’s recent local government elections as a clear mandate in favour of Tamil nationalism, stating that the outcome represents a resounding rejection of ‘Sinhalese majoritarianism’ from the South.