Founded in 1981, the magazine was published from Sutton and distributed worldwide to the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora.

The Tamil Times was founded in 1981 by N. S. Kandiah, S. Navaratnam, P. Ragunathan, P. Rajanayagam, C. J. T. Thamotheram and R.

Rajanayagam’s editorials were read with interest by various representatives of governments, members of the human rights groups, journalists and academics.

Many of these were controlled or influenced by the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which had a strong presence among the diaspora.

[9][10] The August 1999 issue of Tamil Times was devoted entirely to the assassination of Neelan Tiruchelvam, widely blamed on the LTTE.