The Sri Lankan government has announced that it will be appropriating houses and lands in the Northern Province found to be owned by Tamils now living abroad, reported the Jaffna based newspaper, the Uthayan.

The government will be using the data collated by the census to identify those properties belong to Tamils who have fled the island, the paper added.

This development comes after a series of measures by the government since the end of the armed conflict in 2009 that have made it increasingly difficult for Tamils living abroad to own land and property in their Northeast homeland.

The Sri Lankan Army has opened a new pre-school in Vellamullivaikal, with the assistance of a Dutch non-governmental organisation, reported the Sri Lankan Army's website.

The army proposed the project to Netherlands-based Caridas Cutex, who then provided sponsorship for the school and were subsequently invited to the opening in the presence of the 68 Division of the Sri Lankan Army.

Japan’s special envoy to Sri Lanka Yasushi Akashi has criticised Sri Lanka’s repetitive appointment of commissions and failure to act on them, in a press conference held at the Japanese Embassy in Colombo yesterday. 

Speaking after a 6-day visit to the island, Akashi stated,

“There is a certain amount of impatience and frustration on these matters and there is a notion that the Sri Lankan Government has taken too much time appointing commissions and then shelving their reports without taking any action.”

“I hope the government of Sri Lanka is reflecting upon these past repetitions."

"I think time has come for action and I hope that kind action is needed, the implementation of the LLRC report is a good testing case of real action, it’s the people in Sri Lanka not those in other countries are anxiously waiting for action and not just sound and fury”.

The Sri Lankan Army has distributed free school accessories to 500 Tamil school children at a ceremony in Mullaitheevu.

Sinhalese priests, Father Roshan Wikremasinghe and Father Gamini Perera, from the 'Pragna Pradhana' programme, along with several military officials, took part in the ceremony.

See our editorial on militarisation here.

The European Union Parliament has passed a resolution stating that the United Nations should initiate an international investigation into allegations of violations of international humanitarian law, if Sri Lanka fails to start one itself, before March 2014.

Passed on Thursday, the resolution called for,

"an independent and credible investigation into alleged violations by March 2014, and considers that otherwise the UN should initiate an international investigation".