‘Tamils of Lanka’ -  Showcasing history, culture and politics

Review in the Tamil Guardian

An exhibition was held by the Tamil Information Centre this weekend, showcasing the history, culture and politics of the Tamil people on the island in memory of the massacres in Mullivaikkal a decade ago.

Funding Varadakumar’s Last Project

Funding appeal for TIC on Sangam

We at TIC have had many requests about how the community can contribute to Varadakumar’s legacy.At the time of his death, Varadakumar was working hard to organise an exhibition to memorialise the end of the war, to be held in Tolworth Recreation Centre on 18-19 May.

33 MPs sign Early Day Motion against UK arms sales to Sri Lanka

Action taken in Parliament after TIC research

That this House notes the Tamil Information Centre's report of June 2017, Armament for Repression: Militarization of Sri Lanka, detailing the UK's arms trade with Sri Lanka and training of security forces... believes licensing arms exports to Sri Lanka given these circumstances could contravene international humanitarian law and exacerbate conflict, with weapons being used for internal repression and crime; and calls on the Government to end all arms exports to Sri Lanka immediately.

Files on Tamil Tigers and MI5 in Sri Lanka erased at Foreign Office

TIC quoted in the Guardian

Britain’s Foreign Office destroyed almost 200 files on Sri Lanka dating from the start of a Tamil Tiger uprising during which MI5 and the SAS secretly advised the country’s security forces, it has emerged.

Vairamuttu Varadakumar, executive secretary of the Tamil Information Centre, said: “The Tamil community is taking strenuous efforts to collect and preserve records on history and the human rights situation in post-independence Sri Lanka. We are horrified to learn that the UK’s Foreign Office has destroyed vital information on the British government’s training and arming of Sri Lankan security forces, which were involved in widespread human rights violations against the Tamils.

“It is improper for the UK government to deceive the public, who have the right to know. It appears that the Foreign Office’s action is designed to cover up the involvement of the SAS and MI5 in the training of Sri Lankan security forces that might be potentially embarrassing to her majesty’s government.”

Tamil widow blames RUC for training team she says killed her family

TIC quoted in the Irish Times

A Tamil widow who says 10 of her relatives were massacred by Sri Lanka’s police in 1986 has lodged a complaint with Northern Ireland’s Police Ombudsman after RUC links to the country’s security forces emerged.

Vairamuttu Varadakumar, director of the Tamil Information Centre, said: “We support the complainant’s efforts to seek accountability for the brutal violence against their family".

He said his organisation, which has documented violence against Tamil people for 35 years, was “painfully aware of the murders, rape, disappearances and torture of the Tamil people” at the hands of Sri Lanka's Special Task Force.

http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/07/31/sri-lanka-no-justice-aid-worker-massacre

http://www.dailymirror.lk/news/33146-us-concerned-over-deraniyagala-atrocities.html

http://www.forum-asia.org/?p=16336

http://www.ceylontoday.lk/52-38739-news-detail-dont-make-it-an-empty-promise.html