Tamil rights

Image: Sri Lanka’s President-elect Gotabaya Rajapaksa waves at his supporters as he leaves, after the presidential swearing-in ceremony in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka November 18, 2019. Photo: Reuters/Dinuka Liyanawatte. As was widely predicted, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), decisively won Sri Lanka’s presidential election on November 16. His opponent, Sajith Premadasa, of the United National Party […]

People’s democratic choices must be accepted, says the senior Tamil leader. Meera Srinivasan./The Hindu. It is unfair to attribute a “racist” dimension to the Tamil vote in Sri Lanka’s presidential election, according to senior Tamil leader R. Sampanthan. His remark comes a day after the results of the country’s biggest election were declared. The winner […]

The people have spoken. President-elect Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been given a mandate by the people to govern the country for the next five years. The Elections Commission, public employees, Police and the voters deserve credit for the conduct of a free and fair Presidential Election where a record number turned out to exercise their franchise. […]

In the wake of his younger brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s victory in the presidential election 2019, former strong man Mahinda Rajapaksa issued a statement on their immediate plans. They include (between the lines  reforming or removing the 19th amendment,  action to deliver justice for the persons persecuted for  corruption  and human rights violations since 2015 and steps to stop Tamil […]

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who spearheaded the brutal crushing of Tamil Tigers a decade ago, stormed to power Sunday but promised to be a president for all Sri Lanka’s races and religions after a divisive election. Seven months after Islamist extremist attacks that killed 269 people, Rajapaksa was elected on Saturday on the back of a nationalist […]

 The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) urges Tamil people from the North-East and throughout Sri Lanka to freely exercise their franchise at the November 16 Presidential Election, giving careful consideration to the political formations and agendas of the major contenders.  After playing a decisive role in the political change of 2015 and experiencing disappointments on the […]

Image: Peter Ilancheliyan. Peter Ilancheliyan, a prominent member of ITAK’s youth wing and son of the late former deputy chair of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) Anthony Jeyanathan, is the fourth Mullaitivu-based individual to be summoned for questioning in recent weeks. Journalist Shanmugam Thavaseelan, former NPC member A Puvaneswaran, and vice chair of the Puthukudiyiruppu […]

(File photo by AP) The upcoming Presidential Election seems far from the troubled mind of Pari Amma. Living in a partially built home on her land returned by government forces three years ago, her thoughts these days are consumed by raising funds to dig a much needed well in her garden. Having struggled during the country’s […]

 FILE PHOTO: Chief of staff of Sri Lankan army Shavendra Silva attends a news conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka May 16, 2019. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte/File Photo (Swiss Info) WASHINGTON (Reuters). Sri Lanka’s president appointed Shavendra Silva as its army chief in August, drawing sharp criticism from the United States and the United Nations. A U.N. panel […]

Cartoon by @tmdsbekanayaka “Deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance” – Oscar Wilde. Elections are here, time for pacts, pledges and promises – the time-tested Sri Lankan way of savouring democracy. The sooner you get them negotiated and sealed the better. Formation of alliances before a Presidential Election is normal in Sri Lanka. […]

Image courtesy of Tamil Guardian. Sri Lanka Podu Jana Peramuna  and its presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa have rejected the demands submitted by five major Tamil parties to prsidential candidates, reports pro Rajapaksa web site lankaeyewitness,  Calling the demands as an Eelamist proposal,  It further says that Gotabaya Rajapaksa will only adhere to 13th amendment. Sajith Premadasa, […]

By Meera Srinivasan. “For three years now, Sri Lanka’s tea estate workers have been agitating for a daily basic wage of LKR 1,000.” A tea estate worker in the Dambatenne tea plantation in Haputale, Uva Province. Often described as the backbone of the economy, close to 1.5 lakh tea estate workers have been agitating for fair […]

The United Kingdom Minister of State for the Commonwealth, UN and South Asia and Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon met with the Tamil National Alliance Leader AR. Sampanthan and the Spokesperson Hon M A Sumanthiran in Colombo Yesterday (01.10.2019). Apprising the Minister on the resolution […]

TO THE ATTENTION OF HIS EXCELLENCY ANTONIO GUTERRES, SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS. UN’s Participation is Vital to Establish Rule of Law and to Protect the Rights of Minorities in Sri-Lanka. Since 1948, we the minority people of Sri-Lanka have continuously been subjected to oppressions by the discriminatory ethnic policies of the governments that […]

Image; Tamil residents of Mullaitivu protest against BBS head Gnanasara, who led the illegal cremation . Northern Province Governor Dr. Suren Raghavan yesterday insisted that politicians should not create communal and religious tensions ahead of the presidential election, targeting the Northern voters and hindering their democratic rights. “As the Northern Province governor, I urge politicians not […]

Introduction On the late evening of 20 February 2009, two diminutive aircrafts swiftly approached Sri Lanka’s capital with the intention of launching an attack against the military’s defense base in Colombo. The Zlin Z-143 airplanes were flown by ferocious Air Tigers; the air-wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), fueled with determination to […]

Image: People of kokkuthoduvai, Kokkilai and karunatkerni villages held a campaign in Mullitivu town to stop encroaching their lands under the name of Mahaweli “L” Zone development. Nearly 300 farmers both men and women who have been deprived from their  agricultural lands and water resources peacefully marched to the Mullaitivu Government Agent”s office and handed over […]

The European Union Delegation Comprising of Mr Riccardo Chelleri, (Policy Officer Democracy and Electoral Observation) and Ms. Anne Vaugier Chatterjee (Deputy Head, Political, Trade,and Communications Section) and others met with the Leader of the Tamil National Alliance Mr. R Sampanthan today in Colombo. Briefing the Delegation Mr. Sampanthan highlighted that the people in this country […]

Image: “So, please remember this and the earlier  you do it, the better. If you do not do it and abstain from doing the right thing, I do not think the Tamil people will take it lying down for too long,” Sampanthan tells the govt. NEW CONSTITUTION WITH NATIONAL CONSENSUS. R. Sampanthan. Mr. Deputy Speaker, […]

Today in this House it is the UNP that is in Government. The responsibility is with you. The Prime Minister became the Chairman of the Steering Committee that has met over 80 times and has brought two comprehensive reports. The second one includes a draft of the constitution made by the experts to the steering […]

Speech delivered by Hon R Sampanthan MP, at Matara on 7th July 2019, at the event to felicitate Hon Mangala Samraweera MP, Minister completion of 30 years in active politics. Hon Mangala Samaraweera my dear friend for a long time, Hon Sajith Premadasa Minister, Hon Ministers Hon State Ministers, Hon Deputy Ministers Hon Members of […]

(Republic next) A senior constitutional expert has expressed concern over President Maithripala Sirisena’s appointment of a professional advisory board on national security chaired by Parliamentarian Dr. Sarath Amunugama earlier today. Edinburgh Centre for Constitutional Law Director Dr. Asanga Welikala speaking to RepublicNext said while the creation of such a body is not strictly unconstitutional in […]

Image: Tamils being attacked in 1958 ethnic violence in Sri Lanka. Since then ethnic violence has been permanent feature in post independent Sri Lanka. The terrorist attacks that took place on the 21st Sunday 2019 caused grave loss and damage to many Sri Lankans. The multiple explosions island wide, including those that followed over the next […]

 19 April 2019.  Tamil Guardian’s correspondent Shanmugam Thavaseelan was summoned for questioning by Mullaitivu police on Thursday, after the Sri Lankan navy filed a complaint against him for reporting on a disappearances rally in the district. The complaint against the Mullaitivu journalist was filed following a rally by Tamil families of the disappeared on Vadduvakal […]

Image: Disappearances by S.P. Pushpakanthan. (10 April 2019, London) The statements made by the Sri Lankan delegates at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) 40th session and again within a week after returning from Geneva are highly disappointing. The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) finds this disconcerting, considering Sri Lanka has just taken the positive step of co-sponsoring […]

Image: A  house of a ex-female cadre in Vanni, 2016. Inequality is now one of the most internationally researched and debated social issues. Rising income inequalities between and within countries after the neo-liberal turn of the 1970s gained further attention with the global economic crisis of 2008. As inequality became a central concern of studies […]

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s main minority Tamil party demanded Friday that foreign judges be included in a special court to investigate war crimes, a day after the UN again granted Colombo more time for a much-delayed probe. Government troops have been accused of killing at least 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians in the final months of the island […]

Image: Thousands of mothers are still waiting for the answers and justice for their disappeared children. (c)s.deshapriya. (GENEVA, March 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ ) The Australian Tamil Congress (ATC), the British Tamils Forum (BTF), the Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) and the US Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC) today welcomed the UN Office of the High Commissioner’s report to […]

In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court has ruled that the lower courts were wrong to override the conclusions of a medical expert when considering forensic evidence of torture in an asylum claim.  An asylum seeker from Sri Lanka, known as ‘KV’, appealed a Home Office decision to refuse his asylum claim. Expert medical opinion […]

(Tamil Guardian) The judge at Westminster Magistrates Court today concluded the Sri Lankan Brigadier, accused of making a death threat to Tamil protesters in London last year, was not covered by diplomatic immunity whilst making the gesture. Stating the Brigadier Priyanka Fernando’s threats were not part of his job description as Sri Lanka’s then defence attache, […]