Tamil News Network (TNN) » Video

STF killed Trinco students, Basil Rajapakse told Blake

TamilNet — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:52:05 +0000

In a classified memo written by US’s Sri Lanka Ambassador Robert Blake in October 2006 to Washington, ten months after the extra-judicial execution of five students at a Trincomalee beach, Basil Rajapakse, advisor to Sri Lanka’s President and brother Rajapakse, had told Ambassador Blake that Special Task Force (STF) was responsible for the killings, according a Wikileaks document. Father of Ragihar, one of the student killed, is one of the three plaintiffs who have filed a civil case against Sri [...]

Sri Lanka worries over US Iran action

BBC — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:32:19 +0000

The US has started to enforce its sanctions on Iran. That’s likely to have knock-on effects on many countries that depend on Iran for oil.

One of the most vulnerable in this regard is Sri Lanka, as the BBC’s Charles Haviland explains from its capital, Colombo.

[Full Coverage]

Tamil sovereignty alone can check protracted genocide: Jose Maria Sison

TamilNet — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:52:29 +0000

"The Eezham people have a very direct obligation of fighting for their own sovereignty against a state that presumes to have a unitary power over them," stressed veteran Filipino left ideologue, Prof. Jose Maria Sison. In an exclusive interview to TamilNet on Sunday, Prof. Sison spoke on the questions of sovereignty of the Eezham Tamil nation, the protracted nature of genocide that Sri Lanka imposes on Tamils in their homelands, the principled position of leftists on the national question, and [...]

How hard is it to admit fault, Ambassador Wickramasuriya?

Groundviews — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 09:23:14 +0000

Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the US, Jaliya Wickramasuriya, recently responded to the Crisis Group Report’s assertion that assault on women in Sri Lanka is on the rise. On the one hand, the Ambassador denies the very existence of rape or violence against women in Sri Lanka – “Rapes, this and that not taking any place in Sri Lanka”. On the other hand, he admits that is does exist, by saying that “Like any other country, we have, like couple [...]

Extra-judicial execution of Trincomalee students, Sixth anniversary

TamilNet — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 11:11:59 +0000

Two Tamil organizations in the U.S. jointly issued a commemorative stamp to mark the 6th anniversary of the extra-judicial execution by Sri Lanka security forces of five Trincomalee high school students on the 2nd January 2006, when the highly accomplished students were spending an afternoon at a seafront in Trincomalee. The stamp, the issuing organizations said, is a mark of respect to the families that are fighting for justice, and to celebrate the indomitable spirit of Dr Manoharan, the father [...]

Lankan takes ‘Kolaveri di’ to another level

MISC — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 10:52:15 +0000

The Tamil hit song ‘Kolaveri di’ has become a hit in India and Sri Lanka thanks to its catchy beat and words.

Now a Sri Lankan born British singer Arjun Coomaraswamy has released an English remix of the track in London and it has reached almost 2 million hits on YouTube.

The English version of ‘Kolaveri di’ has been named ‘How Could you do this to me’ and it has become one of the most viewed songs by an independent South [...]

Searching for the boy with the violin

BBC — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 09:37:43 +0000

As Sri Lanka’s civil war came to a bloody end in May 2009, the BBC’s Priyath Liyanage was struck by video footage of a boy walking through the war zone holding a violin. Two years on, can this boy be traced and why did he make such a perilous journey with only a musical instrument?

In the last months of Sri Lanka’s civil war, nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians – driven out of their homes with the retreating Tamil rebels – [...]

Sri Lanka government war report

BBC — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:30:53 +0000

A report commissioned by the Sri Lankan government has concluded civilians caught up in Sri Lanka’s civil war were not deliberately targeted by the country’s military.

The UN has called for an independent international investigation.

The civil war was one of the world’s bloodiest and longest-running, leaving parts of the island devastated and hundreds of thousands of people displaced.

[Full Coverage]

UK to return refused Tamil asylum seekers to Sri Lanka

TamilNet — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:39:36 +0000

Despite ongoing concerns over risks of torture in Sri Lanka, including to Tamils returning to Sri Lanka, the UK government continues to remove refused Sri Lankan asylum seekers, with a charter flight planned for 15 December, a UK-based activist group, Freedom from Torture (FfT) said. The group has recently launched a public action calling on the UK government to take urgent steps to ensure that they are not returning anyone to a serious risk of torture in Sri Lanka following [...]

‘Tamil Sovereignty Cognition Declaration a conceptual reference point’

TamilNet — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 08:43:57 +0000

The Tamil Sovereignty Cognition declaration released this year on Heroes Day would serve as a ‘conceptual reference point’ in ensuring that Tamil sovereignty is never compromised, writes RM Karthick, research scholar at a British university, in an article published in Countercurrents, an Indian on-line journal. “It is naivety to expect anything democratic from a unitary state of Sri Lanka,” he argues drawing parallels between the observations by the military analyst and senior editor late Mr. Sivaram Dharmeratnam with the Declaration [...]