• War affected women demand future president demilitarises North-East

    Jan 05
    Over a hundred war affected women and several women's organisation predominantly from the North-East, listed their key demands of the new president following the election on January 8, including addressing the issue of enforced disappearances,  demilitarisation of the North-East, repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and prosecution of those responsible for torture and sexual violence.

    "The forthcoming election is the second Presidential election after the war. Since then, the North and East of Sri Lanka has undergone heightened militarisation. Around 89,000 women headed households in the former war areas struggle to address livelihood needs, look after their remaining family and in many cases also look for their missing loved ones."

    “Despite numerous promises, no independent investigation into serious human rights violations has resulted in a successful prosecution and conviction of alleged perpetrators, a sign of the culture of impunity pervasive in post war Sri Lanka."

  • UN Sec General urges election to be inclusive of minorities
    The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, urged Sri Lanka to ensure that the upcoming presidential elections on January 8 was "inclusive, including for minorities".

    "Obviously, we've seen the recent events in Sri Lanka, even those today and I think it makes the Secretary‑General's call for reconciliation and political dialogue that much more important and also his call to the Government to ensure that the elections are peaceful and that they're inclusive, including for minorities,” Ban Ki Moon's spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying to a press briefing this week.

  • Ensure people can vote without fear says Amnesty
    Amnesty International urged officials in Sri Lanka to ensure that people could vote in the presidential election on January 8 "without fear", amid what it described as a "surge in election-related harassment and violence".

    “The growing harassment and violence against those campaigning in the coming elections is deeply troubling – the authorities have a responsibility to ensure that all people in Sri Lanka can exercise their rights to political participation and freedom of expression without facing threats or violence, and that on election day they can vote without fear,” said David Griffiths, Amnesty International’s Deputy Asia Pacific Director.

  • Challenges Ahead: Sri Lanka's mass atrocities and international justice
    Detailing the difficulties faced by Tamil voters in the North-East during Sri Lanka's presidential election on January 8, the exiled journalist Nirmanusan Balasundaram, called for a strong international justice mechanism to be set up, stating that regardless of who wins the election, Tamils could not expect justice through a domestic process.

    "A gruelling battle is taking place in Sri Lanka between both leading presidential candidates despite certain factors which keep them united, such as ‘war victory’, denial of mass atrocities and rejection of an international investigation into such atrocities. Disturbingly all leading figures in the presidential debate are in competition with each other for self-proclamation and self-promotion in terms of credibility for the war victory, and complete denial of responsibility or acknowledgement of mass atrocities during the war," Mr Balasundaram wrote.

    "Regardless of which leading candidate is to win Sri Lanka’s seventh presidential election, victims and survivors of mass atrocities will find it difficult to expect justice or a genuine and credible domestic mechanism into these heinous crimes. Considering Sri Lanka’s political dynamics, the culture of impunity in Sri Lanka will remain unchanged regardless of the outcome of the election. The colour may change but the cage will remain the same," he added.

  • Sritharan and Maavai campaign for Maithri in Kilinochchi


    The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MPs S. Sritharan and Mavai Senathirajah held a campaign rally in Kilinochchi on Monday, urging locals to come out and cast their vote.

    The rally took place at the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi's Kilinochchi office.



  • Army attack in Killinochchi injures two children
    An adult and two children were admitted to hospital after being injured after army soldiers attacked a shop owner in Killinochchi reports the Uthayan.

    A 46 year old man, who runs a sewing shop in the region, was attacked by an Sri Lankan army on Sunday night, resulting in injuries to his head.
  • Indian foreign minister orders return of mistreated workers in Sri Lanka
    Indian workers in Sri Lanka will be returned home after the Indian high Commission in Colombo intervened following allegations of mistreatment by management in Sri Lanka, reports The Hindu.
  • Sri Lankan navy chase away Tamil Nadu fishermen
    The Sri Lankan navy reportedly threatened and chased away a group of Tamil Nadu fishermen at gunpoint, early on Tuesday.

    The president of the Rameswaram Fishermen Association stated that over 1,000 boats had left Tamil Nadu to fish near Katchatheevu.
  • No justice for assassinated human rights lawyer Kumar Ponnambalam, 15 years on
    Kumar Ponnamabalam, assassinated 5 Jan 2000.


    Fifteen years after Kumar Ponnambalam, a prominent human rights lawyer and leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) was assassinated in a busy Colombo suburb during Chandrika Kumaratunge's government, his killers have not been brought to justice.

    Mr Ponnambalam, who was renowned for his pro bono work in defending Tamil and Sinhala youths detained under Sri Lanka's draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act, had filed reports in important human rights cases that incriminated the Chandrika government, including the gang rape and murder of the Tamil girl, Krishanthi Kumaraswamy and mass graves in Chemmani. 

    He was shot dead by unidentified gunman on January 5th, 2000, whilst in his car on Ramakrishna Lane, in the Tamil area of Colombo, Wellawatte.

  • No demilitarisation of North, no agreement on devolution - Maithri
    Reiterating his earlier statements vowing to ensure the military remained in the Tamil areas, the common opposition's presidential candidate, Maithripala Sirisena, said he had "no intention of withdrawing the army from the north" if he wins the election on January 8.
  • International pressure for accountability will not go away whoever wins election says ICG
    The International Crisis Group (ICG) warned that international pressure on Sri Lanka to ensure accountability for the mass atrocities against the Tamil people at the end of the ethnic conflict in 2009 would not go away whoever won the presidential election on January 8.

    "Sirisena [the common opposition's presidential candidate] has promised to continue the current government’s policy of rejecting efforts by the international community to ensure accountability for the thousands of civilian deaths incurred at government hands at the end of the civil conflict in 2009," the ICG's senior Sri Lanka analyst, Alan Keenan, wrote on Monday.

    "These efforts have not gone away, even five years after that bloody denouement, but rather have intensified."

    "Thus whether Rajapaksa or Sirisena, whoever wins will need adequately to address the many credible allegations over the army’s conduct at the end of the war if they are effectively to reduce international pressure."

  • TNA yet to decide on whether to join govt if Maithri wins
    The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has not reached a decision on whether to join a government led by the common opposition's candidate Maithripala Sirisena if he should win the presidential election on January 8, said the TNA MP M. A. Sumanthiran.

    Asked by LankaSri whether the TNA would join the government, Sumanthiran replied: "When a question was asked regarding this at a press conference the other day, [TNA leader] Sampanthan said we [TNA] had not made a decision on this yet."

    "However, until the party takes a decision I would like to state my own views. My view is that we should not take part in such a government. There are many reasons for this," he said.

  • Body found in Eravoor
    The body of a man in his late 30s was found in the Murakkoddanchenai river in Eravoor, reports BattiNews.

    The body, which has not been identified was spotted by locals on Saturday morning.

    Eravoor police are reportedly investigating the death.


  • Stones thrown at Ananthy Sasitharan's house
    20:54 GMT

    Stones were thrown at the house of Ananthy Sasitharan, the TNA's popular Northern Provincial Councillor by unidentified persons during the early hours of Tuesday morning local time.

    "I was sleeping at my house in Vadakkamparai, Chullipuram with my three daughters and a lady who stays with us, when I heard stones smashing against the house at around 1.30am," Sasitharan told the Tamil Guardian shortly after the incident.

    "I got up and switched on the light and then they ran away," she said, adding that she had reported the incident to the police and the NPC chairman C. V. K. Sivagnanam via telephone.

    The house in Vadakkamparai was previously attacked ahead of the Northern Provincial Council election in 2013.

  • SL military placed on standby to 'control violence'
    The Sri Lankan military said that it will be on standby to prevent and control violence on and before election day.

    Speaking to the Sunday Leader, military spokesperson, Ruwan Wanigasooriya, said,

    "in the event that troops are needed, we are prepared to offer assistance of the police and civil authorities formally requested."
Subscribe to Tamil Affairs

Most-Read Articles

Senior Buddhist monk from Anuradhapura remanded over sexual abuse of minor
A senior Sri Lankan Buddhist monk and chief prelate of the Anuradhapura Atamasthana,…
Velupillay makes history as first Tamil at a FIFA World Cup
Photograph: @Socceroos Nishan Velupillay has been selected in Australia's squad…
17 years today - A massacre in Mullivaikkal
To mark 17 years since the Sri Lankan military onslaught that massacred tens…
In Pictures - Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day commemorated in Mullivaikkal
All photographs by Uthayarasa Shalin Thousands of Tamils gathered at Mullivaikkal…
Tamil rapper arrested for ‘terrorism’ over TikTok video
A Tamil rapper from Kilinochchi has been arrested and remanded under Sri Lanka's…