A confidential draft of Sri Lanka’s proposed anti-terror legislation has been circulated across the internet, days after it had been approved by the Sri Lankan cabinet.

The new legislation, known as the Counter Terrorism Act, has incorporated a broader range of offenses which the government has determined will amount to terrorism. In particular, and highlighted repeatedly throughout the text are “acts” or “words” that challenge Sri Lanka’s sovereignty or unity according to the draft.

A group of Sri Lankan policeman accused of torturing and killing a Tamil youth have been produced before the Kilinochchi District Court on Friday.

The four policemen, who manned the Chunnakam Police Station, stand accused of being part of a group of officers, involved in the torture and murder of Sumanan Sriskandarajah.

Mr Sriskandarajah was one of five Tamil youth who were abducted by a white van in November 2011. The group were subsequently taken to Chunnaakam police station, where police tortured them.

Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama visited Switzerland last week, where he met with Tamil Hindus at a temple in Bern as part of his visit to the country.

The Dalai Lama went to the House of Religions, a community project that opened in 2014 with eight religious places of worship housed in the building. Tamils from the North-East who now reside in Switzerland, set up the Saivanerikoodam Temple there in 2014, one of several Tamil Hindu temples dotted across the country.

Marking the 50th year since the 21st October 1966 uprising against caste and untouchability in Sri Lanka, the Mass Movement for Social Justice held a conference today in Kokuvil, Jaffna. A series of academics and activists spoke about the history of the struggle against caste on the island and also about the ongoing perpetuation of caste-based discrimination and the disregard paid to it by Tamil political parties and leaders.

8 months after the Sri Lankan government passed a resolution establishing a Constitutional Assembly to draft a new constitution, the government has launched a website detailing the constitutional drafting process and the membership of those involved in the Steering Committee, the Sub-Committees and the Panel of Experts.

Locals in Vavuniya on Friday signed their names against a petition calling for the release of Tamil political prisoners. 

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Sivasakthi Ananthan also joined locals in signing the petition. 

The event was organised by the Mass Movement for Social Justice. 

European Union Ambassador Tung-Law Margue remarked that European countries are amazed by “rapid progress made by Sri Lanka under the new government,” according to the Sri Lankan President’s Media Division, following a meeting in Colombo on Friday.

The construction of a Buddhist vihara in the Tamil North-East has continued to take place, despite the Mullaitivu District Secretariat ordered a halt to further proceedings.

The Sri Lankan military oversaw a Hindu festival inside the Palali High Security Zone this week, with devotees still requiring a military escort to attend the temple festival.

The Palali Rajarajeshwari Temple remains off limits to Tamil civilians, located inside the Sri Lankan military designated High Security Zone. The annual festival was allowed to take place with permission from the Sri Lankan Headquarters Security Force (Jaffna). 

The Sri Lankan government says it faces no pressure from the UN Human Rights Council.

Speaking at an event in Kandy, Highways Minister Lakshman Kiriella said the government had been able to implement most of the recommendations of the resolution passed in Geneva last October.

As Sri Lanka is hardly discussed at the UNHRC anymore, there is no pressure, Colombo Gazette reported the minister as saying.