Mullaitivu villagers continued their sit-in protest for a fourth day, staying three nights outside an Sri Lankan air force camp.

A Sri Lankan government body has threatened that Tamils will not be given housing if they continue to protest against Sinhalisation. 

Last week Jaffna citizens and politicians condemned plans to build a permanent Sinhalese settlement in Naavatkuli.

The foundation stones for the scheme, which would see houses built for 50 Sinhalese families, was laid on Monday, alongside foundation stones for a Tamil settlement housing 200 families.

The British Tamils Forum (BTF), Swedish Tamils Forum (STF) and United States Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC) called on the European Union to seek a briefing from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights before deciding on whether to reinstate trade concessions for Sri Lanka.

In a statement released on Wednesday the diaspora organisations said the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament must take the full four months provided to thoroughly evaluate Sri Lanka’s GSP+ application, after it was withdrawn in 2010 in response to persistent human rights abuses.

Residents of a Mullaitivu village continued to protest for a second day, having spent the night outside an air force camp, demanding the return of their lands.

Sri Lanka’s president stated that his government would “extend its highest respect to the security forces,” as he praised troops at a military ceremony on Monday.

Maithripala Sirisena stated that his government “will execute its responsibility to strengthen them to help to win their future challenges, gratefully remembering their commitment made through many a sacrifice during the period of conflict”.

The Sri Lankan government must turn “words into action” said Ann Hannah, head of International Advocacy at Freedom from Torture, warning that every new case of torture or harassment by security forces undermines Colombo’s rhetoric on reconciliation.

Responding to the release of a report by the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Torture, FFT said the release “demonstrates the need for a real political commitment from the Sri Lankan government to end torture”.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) had a 75-member delegation participate at the eighth annual Jaffna International Trade Fair (JITF).

The 32nd anniversary of the Vaddakkandal massacre was marked today at the Vaddakkandal Government Tamil Mixed School in Mannar.

Former Sri Lanka Army commander Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka claimed that there may be “seven or eight” individuals in the armed forces who are responsible for war crimes, as he lashed out against Sri Lanka's former president for a loss of "discipline" in the army.

Mr Fonseka, who is now Sri Lanka’s Regional Development Minister, said that in Sri Lanka 200,000-strong army “there might have been seven or eight” individuals responsible for human rights abuses that blighted the final stage of the island’s armed conflict and called for them to be punished.

Sri Lankan soldiers in Jaffna took part last week in a programme designed to improve their knowledge of humanity and human life.