Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

Tamil residents intervene to block Sri Lankan military land grab in Maruthankerni
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…

Sexual Violence in Conflict: Sri Lanka - an orgy of rape in final days

Jun 1, 2014
Photograph Channel 4


Next week, the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict is due to take place in London, co-hosted by the UK's Foreign Secretary, William Hague and the Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie.

In the run up to the ESVC summit, we revisit the mounting evidence which documents the widespread, systematic and on-going use of sexual violence by Sri Lanka's military against Tamils, that occurs with absolute impunity.

See our full feature: 'Sexual Violence in Conflict: Sri Lanka'

As the armed conflict drew to an end in May 2009, Sri Lanka's soldiers committed acts of sexual violence against Tamil women and men, both civilians and LTTE cadre, at will.

One Sri Lankan soldier told Channel 4 in July 2011:
"They [Sri Lankan soldiers] shoot people at random, stab people, rape them, cut their tongues out, cut women's breasts off. I have witnessed all this with my own eyes. I have seen small children laying dead."

"If they wanted to rape a Tamil girl, they could just beat her and do it. If her parents tried to stop them, they could beat them or kill them. It was their empire."

"One day I saw a group of six soldiers raping a young Tamil girl. I saw this with my own eyes."

Much of the photographic and video evidence of sexual violence in the final stages of the armed conflict emerged in the form of 'trophy videos', filmed by Sri Lankan soldiers themselves whilst committing the crimes.

Tamil Eelam at World Football Cup 2014

Jun 1, 2014

The Tamil Eelam Football Association will play their first match of the 2014 ConIFA World Football Cup today against Arameans Suryoye.

The players trained for the first time since their arrival from their training camp in Norway on Sunday, with all the players fit for the big match.

School boy missing in Vavuniya

May 31, 2014
A school boy has been reported missing in Vavuniya, after he failed to come home on May 27th, Global Tamil News reports.

Seventeen year old Mahalingam Rajeevan, a student at Kalmadu MV School, left his home in Tharanikulam, Sasthiri Kulankulam at 5am that morning by bicycle with a 10kg of long green beans, which he took to a vegetable vendor at Vavuniya town.

Tamil asylum seeker dies in Australia after self-immolation fearing deportation

May 31, 2014
A Tamil asylum seeker in Australia, who self-immolated for fear of being deported back to Sri Lanka, has died after suffering 90 percent burns to his body, reports the Age.

Twenty-nine year old Leo Seemanpillai was taken to Alfred Hospital on Saturday following the incident, but died overnight.

Mr Seemanpillai fled Sri Lanka by boat and arrived in Darwin in January 2013. He was granted a bridging visa in May.

"He feared for his life if he was returned to Sri Lanka. His housemates have told me he repeatedly talked about being sent back, he was quite worried about it," a spokesperson for the Tamil Refugee Council, Aran Mylvaganam, who had known Mr Seemanpillai during the time he sought asylum, told the Age.

29 Tamil Nadu fishermen arrested by SL Navy

May 31, 2014
The Sri Lankan Navy arrested 29 Tamil Nadu fishermen today accused of poaching, reports the Hindu.

The arrests come just days after President Rajapaksa pledged to release all detained Indian fishermen as an act of goodwill towards the newly elected Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The men were arrested off the coast of Thalaimannar, along with six trailers, said the Sri Lankan Navy.

National Freedom Front rejects South African facilitation

May 31, 2014
The National Freedom Front's Wimal Weerawansa has warned Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa that no negotiations should take place over the 13th amendment and rejected the role of South Africa, as well as any other countries, as facilitators.

In a set of 12 proposals handed over to the government, Weerawansa stated,
“no negotiations officially or unofficially should be held with any state or non-state party based on amendments to the 13th Amendment or its fuller implementation that have been forced on the Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims and all citizens of Sri Lanka.”
The Minister's proposals come after newly appointed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the Sri Lankan President to go “beyond” the 13th amendment. 

The proposals submitted by the NFF, went on to add,
“In the name of reconciliation and devolution of power no intervention of external state parties or other parties including South Africa shall be considered as a facilitator.”
They come as South Africa continued efforts to facilitate negotiations between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil National Alliance.

Tamil #Boycottlka campaigners call for English Cricket Board to boycott Sri Lanka

May 31, 2014
British Tamils, calling for the English Cricket Board to boycott Sri Lanka, yesterday protested outside the 4th One Day International game between England and Sri Lanka at Lords cricket ground.

Young #Boycottlka campaigners  handed out leaflets , throughout the day, that advocated the need for a boycott of Sri Lanka to ensure justice and of the oppression of the Tamil people in the North-East of Sri Lanka.

Tamil graves in Trinco desecrated

May 31, 2014

Gravestones bearing Tamil names were desecrated by unknown assailants at a cemetery in Trincomalee reports Tamil Mirror.

Jaya urges Modi to take 'strong and robust' response to fishermen arrest

May 31, 2014
The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa, urged the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take "decisive action" and secure the release of fishermen arrested by the Sri Lankan navy, in a letter sent today, reports the PTI.

Calling for a lasting solution to the problem, Jayalalithaa said the previous administration's response to the Sri Lankan navy's continued arrests of fishermen was "meek" and had "emboldened" Sri Lanka further.

“I hope that there will now be a decisive shift in the Centre’s stance under your leadership and that India will now take necessary steps to find a lasting solution to this vexatious question,” she wrote, adding that the "resumption of abductions and detentions" by Sri Lanka came as a shock to the fishermen who had begun the fishing season on Sunday after a 45 day ban.

Remembering Nadesan 10 years on

May 30, 2014

Today is the tenth anniversary of the assassination of veteran Tamil journalist Aiyathurai Nadesan by a Sri Lankan government-backed death squad.

Nadesan was shot dead in Batticaloa on 31 May 2004 as he was on his way to work.

He reported under the nom-de-plume G. Nadesan for the leading Tamil-language newspaper, Virakesari, and the London-based Tamil radio station, IBC.

Nadesan was one of several journalists, including Mylvaganam Nimalrajan, Dharmeratnam (Taraki) Sivaram and Lasantha Wickrematunga killed as part of silencing criticism of Sri Lanka’s ruthless military campaign.

See coverage of Nadesan’s death and funeral and a report into his death by the Committee to Protect Journalists’ here.

Tamil Eelam at World Football Cup 2014
School boy missing in Vavuniya
Tamil asylum seeker dies in Australia after self-immolation fearing deportation
29 Tamil Nadu fishermen arrested by SL Navy
National Freedom Front rejects South African facilitation
Tamil #Boycottlka campaigners call for English Cricket Board to boycott Sri Lanka
Tamil graves in Trinco desecrated
Jaya urges Modi to take 'strong and robust' response to fishermen arrest
Remembering Nadesan 10 years on
Jaffna Library burns - May 31st 1981
Tamil Eelam at World Football Cup 2014
School boy missing in Vavuniya
Tamil asylum seeker dies in Australia after self-immolation fearing deportation
29 Tamil Nadu fishermen arrested by SL Navy
National Freedom Front rejects South African facilitation
Tamil #Boycottlka campaigners call for English Cricket Board to boycott Sri Lanka
Tamil graves in Trinco desecrated
Jaya urges Modi to take 'strong and robust' response to fishermen arrest
Remembering Nadesan 10 years on
Jaffna Library burns - May 31st 1981