Category: Breaking News

Rameswaram fishermen in Tamil Nadu have commenced an indefinite strike condemning frequent arrests by Sri Lanka Navy, according to India media reports.

A unanimous decision was reportedly taken by members at the Tamil Nadu’s All Mechanised Fishermen Consultation meeting.

Accordingly, over 700 mechanised boats remained anchored in fishing harbours in Rameswaram islet, demanding the Indian central government to secure release of fishers arrested by Sri Lanka.

Around 10,000 fishermen are taking part in the indefinite strike.

According to fishermen associations in Rameswaram, 61 fishers have been arrested by Sri Lankan navy since June 15. None of them has been released by the Sri Lankan government so far.

The fishers said the Indian central government must immediately start dialogue with Sri Lanka and secure the release of all the fishers along with their boats.

They also demanded that Katchatatheevu island must be taken back from Sri Lanka.

Further, fishermen have announced a protest in Thangachimadam today, hunger strike on August 15 and rail roko on August 19 to press for their demands.

Army Headquarters yesterday (12) denied accusations regarding a person, Ethirmanasingham Kapilraj, found dead in the Muththaiyankaddu tank.Army spokesman Brigadier Varuna Gamage said that there was absolutely no basis for these accusations against the Army. Responding to The Island queries, Brig. Gamage said that troops, based at a camp, along the Oddusuddan-Muththaiyankaddu road, on the night of 07 August, had thwarted an attempt by a group of persons to enter an Army camp. “Troops apprehended one of them, while the rest fled. We didn’t pursue them,” Brig. Gamage said, adding that on the directions of Army Headquarters the camp fully cooperated with the police.

The spokesman said that three soldiers had been taken into custody and remanded till 19 August, pending further investigations. Contrary to claims, two of them had been arrested on the charge of cooperating with the intruders, while the other for assaulting them. The spokesman emphasised that none of them had been taken in regarding the recovery of Kapilraj’s body.

According to him, the camp is manned by the 12th battalion of the Sinha Regiment and the person, who had been apprehended on the night of 07 August, was later handed over to his parents. Brig Gamage said that various interested parties were seeking to exploit the incident but those living in the area maintained good relations with the 12 SR base.

The spokesman denied claims that troops attacked the group after asking them to come to take away some discarded items. That was nothing but a blatant lie, Brig. Gamage said, adding that the Army wouldn’t hesitate to deal with the wrongdoers. The officer was referring to the soldiers remanded for allegedly cooperating with the intruders. (SF)

A youth-led protest took place in Mannar on Wednesday under the rallying cry ‘Protect Black Soil’, as young people took to the streets to oppose proposed ilmenite mineral sand mining by multinational corporations in the district.

The demonstration, held on 6 August at 10:30 a.m. in the Mannar Bazaar area, comes amid growing concerns over the irreversible environmental damage posed by large-scale extraction projects, particularly those spearheaded by an Australian-based company that has long sought to exploit the district’s ilmenite-rich sands.

Protesters marched through the heart of Mannar town, carrying placards and chanting slogans as they moved from the town circle past the local police station, district hospital road, and public grounds, before returning to their starting point. The procession marked the latest escalation in a rising grassroots campaign determined to halt the destruction of ancestral Tamil lands.

For years, local communities have resisted the encroachment of mining corporations, warning of the dire consequences such projects would have on the environment, livelihoods, and water security. Experts and residents have sounded the alarm that ilmenite mining could result in seawater intrusion into freshwater aquifers within the next decade, potentially devastating farming and drinking water sources across the region.

Although mining operations had previously stalled due to delayed permits, it has now emerged that the Sri Lankan government is preparing to greenlight the project. An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) submitted by the Australian firm received a favourable response from the Central Environmental Authority, paving the way for permit approvals.

In response, Mannar’s youth have launched a wider awareness campaign to educate the public and resist what they describe as an existential threat to their future. A petition campaign was launched at the protest, with signatures being collected to be delivered to Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake, demanding an immediate halt to the project.

Ilmenite mining has become one of the latest flashpoints in the Tamil North-East, where resource exploitation, militarisation, and land grabs continue to threaten the Tamil homeland.

A petition has been filed by the SLPP member before the Supreme Court challenging the government’s bill seeking to revoke privileges granted to former Presidents.

The petition was submitted by Renuka Perera, Administrative Secretary of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), with the Attorney General named as the respondent.

The petitioner stated that the government had presented this bill to Parliament on the 7th to revoke the legal rights granted to former Presidents.

The petition highlighted that clauses 1 to 4 of the proposed bill violated the principle of the separation of powers guaranteed by the Constitution.

Furthermore, the petition alleged that one or more clauses in the bill infringed upon the sovereignty of the country and the people’s sovereignty as guaranteed by the Constitution.

Overall, the petitioner contended that the clauses of the proposed bill violated the fundamental principles enshrined in the entire Constitution.

He further alleged that through this bill, fundamental human rights guaranteed under Articles 1, 3, 4, and 12(1) of the Constitution were directly violated.

Accordingly, the petitioner requested the Supreme Court to issue a ruling stating that for the questionable clauses of the bill to be approved, they had to be passed by a special two-thirds majority in Parliament and be subject to a referendum.

The Presidents’ Entitlements (Repeal) Bill, aimed at repealing the Presidents’ Entitlements Act, was presented to Parliament by Minister of Justice Harshana Nanayakkara on 7 August. The bill was gazetted on 31 July and seeks to abolish special privileges extended to former Presidents and their widows.

Earlier in July, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal to gazette and present the draft bill to amend the Presidents’ Entitlements Act (No. 4 of 1986).

High Commissioner of India in Colombo Santhosh Jha has called on Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya at the Prime Minister’s Office.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister highlighted the importance of building stronger cooperation between the two countries, especially in the areas of Education., according to a statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Amarasuriya also highlighted the need for a training programme for officials in the education sector to develop the skills in the area of leadership and planning, and pointed out the urgent need to address the teacher shortage of Tamil medium.

She has reportedly shared an update on the ongoing education reforms in Sri Lanka aimed at improving access and quality.

Meanwhile, the High Commissioner of India had briefed on the ongoing projects and further elaborated on school projects in the plantation sector, Smart classroom and Teacher training programme and expressed interest in working more closely together in this area.

Both sides also had a productive discussion on the importance of future collaboration in the field of scholarships between universities, the PMO added.

Three Sri Lankan army soldiers have been arrested in connection with the murder of 32-year-old Tamil civilian Edirmanasingham Kapilraj, whose body was discovered in the Muththaiyankaddu tank in Mullaitivu on Saturday.

The arrests were made following allegations by local residents that Kapilraj was beaten to death by soldiers after he and four others were summoned to the 13th Battalion of the Sri Lanka National Guard in Muththaiyankaddu on August 7 to collect scrap metal.

Upon arrival, the group was allegedly assaulted by around 20 soldiers inside the camp.

While three of the men fled by jumping into a nearby tank and another escaped with the help of bystanders, Kapilraj went missing. His body was found the following morning.

Relatives of the deceased allege that Kapilraj was murdered by the military and that his body was dumped in the tank.

Mullaitivu District Judge Dharmalingham Pratheepan has ordered a post-mortem examination.

Local journalists allege the army had been using village youth to illicitly sell military scrap and channel the proceeds towards drug smuggling into the camp.

Villagers claim this shadow operation was run by several soldiers from the 13th Battalion, and that Kapilraj may have been killed after being drawn into this illegal network.

Police teams, including officers in charge of Mankulam, Oddusuddan, and Puthukkudiyiruppu stations, are conducting an ongoing investigation.

Tensions escalated during a visit by police to the military camp, where local residents staged a heated protest demanding swift justice.

The mobile phone numbers of several implicated soldiers, allegedly used to summon villagers to the camp, were handed over to the police by local residents.

This led to the arrest of four more soldiers, two of whom have since been remanded along with the earlier suspect.

The three soldiers have been remanded until August 19.