Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

Tamil residents, landowners and activists in Maruthankerni have halted a land survey linked to an attempted acquisition reportedly for Sri Lankan military purposes in Vadamaradchi East. The move, which took place in the Maruthankerni area of the Jaffna district, drew strong opposition from the landowner and local residents, who warned that handing land to the Sri Lankan military could lead to…

Sinhala cricket fans racially abuse Tamil team after Hambantota defeat

A Tamil cricket team from the North-East was racially abused by Sinhalese cricket fans during a match in the south, causing the match against Gampaha to be halted, reported Global Tamil News.

Gampaha fans shouting “get out Tamil dogs" and throwing rocks and rubbish at the Tamil players who were from Valvettiththurai in Jaffna.

Sexual violence and militarisation in North-East are closely interlinked – K Guruparan

Militarisation of the North-East and sexual violence against Tamils are "closely interlinked" said Jaffna University Lecturer of Law, Kumaravadivel Guruparan, commenting on the recent release of 7 Sri Lankan navy rape suspects, accused of the rape of an 11 year old girl in Karainagar.

"It is noteworthy that the incident took place in the Karainagar Island," said Mr Guruparan to the Tamil Guardian.

"In the mid 1980s a colonial era navy camp in Karainagar was expanded and in 2003 (during the ceasefire period) 153 families were sent legal notice regarding acquisition of more than 78 acres of land. When I was carrying out some research on this in 2012 I was told by people that even those who lived within 1 1/2 km radius to the camp didn't want to live there for reasons of insecurity," he said.

"The incident is yet another reminder of the closely interlinked issues of militarisation and sexual violence," Mr Guruparan added, drawing attention to another recent rape case, where the suspect was a Sri Lankan soldier.

Sri Lankan Minister warns against 'foreign countries and NGOs'

Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris has warned that non-governmental organisations and foreign countries were attempting to interfere in Sri Lanka and called for an uprising against those moves, reports Colombo Gazette.

Speaking in Kandy, Peiris said that certain countries were looking to take away the right of the people of Sri Lanka, adding “They created problems in those countries, took away the resources those countries had, killed their leaders and have pushed them towards an unstable future”.

Man dead after being attacked in Trincomalee

A 24 year old man died following an attack by four unidentified men in Trincomalee, Batticaloa News reported.

The attack occurred in Mavadisenai region of Batticaloa. The man who is yet to be identified was admitted to hospital, where he died, succumbing to his injuries.

A post-mortem investigation is to be carried out, said police.

53y old man found dead in Batticaloa

Photograph Ada Derana

Body of youth found inside Batticaloa woods

Photograph Ada Derana


The body of 22 year old man was found on Sunday within cashew tree woods in Batticaloa, Ada Derana reports.

The body has been identified as that of a 22 year old Tamil man named Nallaratnam Uthayakumar.

UNP leader warns Sinhala Buddhists will be at risk if other races not safeguarded

Ranil Wickramasinghe, the leader of the opposition party, UNP warned that "to save the Sinhala Buddhists in the island, all the other races must also be safeguarded," the Colombo Page reports.

"If this is not guaranteed, the other races might go to international community to ask for their rights," he said, speaking at a UNP event at Gampola, in Kandy district, criticising the government for not taking action to "save the name of the Sinhala Buddhists".

Refugee amongst three extradited to Sri Lanka by Malaysia

Three men, including at least one refugee, who were arrested by the Malaysian authorities earlier this month for alleged links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, have been handed over to Sri Lanka and are being interrogated by the notorious Terrorism Investigation Department.

“The three LTTE suspects- Edmond Singharaja alias Seelan, Angurukankanamlage Indika Sanjeewa alias Mohamed Sanjaya Abdul and Abdul Saleem Bin Mohamed- were brought to Sri Lanka last night,” the Police media unit said in a statement, according to the Daily Mirror.

Locals protest against rape of 11y girl by SL navy in Karainagar



Locals in Karainagar protested on Friday against the rape of an 11 year old girl by Sri Lankan navy personnel in the town earlier this week.

Marching across the town, locals held placards demanding the Sri Lankan military end their occupation of the Tamil areas.

TNA says it has no faith in Presidential commission

The main Tamil party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) rejected the Sri Lankan president's recent appointment of three foreign experts to his commission into disappearances, stating that it had "no faith" in it, the Colombo Gazette reported.

Drawing attention to previous appointments to previous commissions the TNA spokesperson, MP Suresh Premachandran stated that those attempts "ended in failure", and pointed out that the "mandate of Presidential Commission had been expanded only after the UN Human Rights office launched an investigation on the war."