Sri Lankan Director of National Intelligence, Major General Kapila Hendawitharana, the longest serving intelligence officer of the military, is in charge of the covert and overt programme of dividing and conquering the Tamil diaspora, alludes a British Tamil doctor, who visited the island recently as part of a ‘Tamil diaspora visit’ organised by Colombo through Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias KP. TamilNet releases an exclusive video interview it had with the British Tamil doctor Arudkumar Velauthapillai a couple of days back [...]

Sri Lanka’s Defense Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, who is widely believed to be the key Sri Lanka official responsible for instituting procedures and issuing commands that allegedly violated international norms in the conduct of war, has provided enlightening clues to inner workings of his mind in several interviews recorded on film by reputable international media. "His unchecked power, authorized by his brother and Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse, appears to have blunted his reasoning faculty, triggering him to compulsively express open [...]

Followed by Norway, Switzerland, Italy and France, Eezham Tamils in Canada are going to elect representatives on Sunday for their Country Council named National Council of Canadian Tamils (NCCT). The NCCT will be a grass-root organisation composed of democratically elected Canadian Tamils focused on strengthening the Tamil community within the Canada. The bicameral national assembly of 27 Council Members consists of 22 elected members on 3-year-term and 5 elected members by Tamil organisations on 1-year-term. In addition, 6 regional [...]

British Prime Minister, David Cameron, addressing the House of Commons Tuesday afternoon after the release of Saville Report on the killing of thirteen civil rights marchers in Northern Ireland in January 1972, acknowledged that British paratroopers had fired on fleeing unarmed civilians, that British soldiers had fired the first shot, many of the soldiers lied about their actions, and that British soldiers had shot and killed already wounded civilians. The Prime Minister then apologized on behalf of the British Government, [...]

Stephen Sackur looks at the Sri Lankan government’s child soldier rehabilitation programme. During Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war, hundreds of children were conscripted and forced to fight for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). He talks to the programme director, teachers and to the teenagers themselves about their horrific experiences and new lives.

The programme poses a troubling question – should the victorious Sri Lankan military be responsible for the rehabilitation of traumatised and vulnerable Tamil teenagers?

[Full Coverage]

Sri Lanka is now at peace after decades of civil war. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has consolidated his power by winning both the presidential and parliamentary elections. However, there are serious questions about his government’s commitment to the rule of law and to human rights.

In the second of Hardtalk’s exclusive series of programmes in Sri Lanka, Stephen Sackur talks to journalists who live with the threat of intimidation and murder. He talks to the opposition presidential candidate, former General [...]

Hardtalk is on the road in Sri Lanka. In May 2009, after almost 30 years of civil war, Sri Lanka’s government announced its defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). But with the government refusing to talk of autonomy for the Tamil people, is the current peace sustainable?

Hardtalk gains rare access to some of the north’s former conflict zones and reports on the still raw wounds of the people and the landscape of northern Sri Lanka. [...]

The war in Sri Lanka was not just a war of the Sri Lankans against the Tamil people, according to writer-activist Arundhati Roy. "That was a corporate war. All the large Indian companies are now heading to Sri Lanka to make more money," Roy said on Friday speaking at a Chennai convention on attacks by India against tribal resistance movements, Times of India said. Roy has previously voiced her opposition openly on Sri Lanka’s war against Tamils and had [...]

What happens to child soldiers when the army they are fighting for loses the war? In Sri Lanka, some teenagers who fought for the Tamil Tigers have gone back to school, to be rehabilitated by an officer from the victorious government forces.

Just before 7.30 in the morning a steady stream of teenagers heads across a courtyard in Colombo’s Hindu College.

The boys have neat haircuts and crisp white shirts. Some are sporting the sort of fluff on their upper lips [...]

As protests gathered momentum in Tamil Nadu and Mumbai, with the support of South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce (SIFCC), against holding International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards weekend in Colombo, big stars from the Indian film industry have decided to avoid participation, media reports from Mumbai said. Hindustan Times reported that the event was turning out to be IIFAs most controversial, even before it has been held. The protests in South India have also brought media attention in New [...]

Israeli commandos, dropped from a helicopter onto the main ship of a humanitarian flotilla carrying aid to the besieged Gaza, opened fire killing at least 16 humanitarian workers, 6 of them believed to be Turks and 10 from other countries Monday early morning, under darkness of night, in the international waters off Israel. The activists were fired upon after they beat the commandos with batons, Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said. Despite the explanation, the way Israel has chosen to deal [...]

The United Nations human rights chief, Navaneetham Pillay Monday reiterated her call for an "independent international probe" into Sri Lanka Government’s final offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam during the final months of the war in 2009. While noting the appointment of "post-war reconciliation commission" by Colombo, Navi Pillay said, "based on previous experience and new information, I remain convinced that such objectives [looking into alleged human rights violations, and provide justice to victims] would be better served [...]

One year ago, Sri Lanka ended its battle against the Tamil Tigers after almost 30 years of fighting.

The government has promised a new era of national reconciliation and unity and is banking on economic growth to overcome the legacy of decades of bloody conflict.

But Sri Lanka is still feeling the effects of the war. Over 80,000 internally displaced people remain in government-run camps. While others that return home are struggling to restore their livelihoods.

Critics say that unless grievances for [...]

Amnesty International in Australia have slammed the Federal Government’s decision to freeze asylum claims from Tamil and Afghan refugees, accusing both Ruling and opposition parties of “using some of the world’s most vulnerable people as political footballs”, and urging the nation to adhere to its “legal and moral obligation” to provide protection to refugees who have “suffered torture, violence, fear and persecution that we could never imagine”.

An estimated 350 people from the wider community gathered at Sydney’s landmark [...]

TamilNet has released video clippings from a lecture conducted by late D. Sivaram (Taraki), the well-known political and military analyst and senior editor of TamilNet, on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of his assassination, at a remembrance event held in Oslo by the Norwegian Council of Eelam Tamils on Thursday.

The lecture in Tamil, recorded in December 2002, deals with the role of media in general and the role of TamilNet in shaping the national strategy of the Eezham [...]