Responding to increasing demands for war crimes accountability from Tamil civil society actors and international human rights bodies, Sri Lanka’s former army commander, Sarath Fonseka, addressed the media and maintained that there was no cause for concern as no government would “betray” the military.

“The forces will not be betrayed. And no harm will be allowed to come to them. Whatever the party, it is our policy as a country.”

Responding to a question, Tamil Makkal Thesiya Kootani (TMTK) leader C.V. Wigneswaran has defended leader of the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF), Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam’s use of the word “genocide” to describe the on-going suffering of Eelam Tamils.

We are always committed in ensuring that our Tamil brothers and sisters in #srilanka live with Dignity, Equality, Justice & Peace : PM @narendramodi in Tamil Nadu pic.twitter.com/fd1L0oh8u2

The Kalmunai Magistrate Court has issued summons to seven people who participated in the Pottuvil to Polikandy (P2P) march earlier this month.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam is amongst the seven who have been summoned, the Colombo Gazette reported. 

In a letter to the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations in the US, as well as the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, several French MPs highlight the “repeated attacks on individual rights and freedom” of Tamils in Sri Lanka, and requested France to indicate its intended role at the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) later this month.

An excavation by Sri Lanka's archaeological department recovered ancient remains of a structure resembling a Shiva Lingam at the site of the Athi Aiyanar temple located in the Kurunthoormalai area of Mullaitivu. 

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) alongside Centre for Justice and Accountability (CJA) has issued a report calling calls on the United Nations Human Rights Council to hold Sri Lanka accountable for crimes committed against journalists.

Tamil journalist Puniyamoorthy Sathiyamoorthy, who was killed by a Sri Lankan artillery barrage inside the 'No Fire Zone' in February 2009, was remembered in Batticaloa and Jaffna yesterday. 

Sathiyamoorthy began contributing to 'Pulikalin Kural' (Voice of Tigers) and later wrote the military column for the 'Eezhanaatham' daily. He was reporting from inside the 'No Fire Zone' when Sri Lankan artillery shells landed in the Mullaitivu district. 

Writing in the Daily FT, Mario Arulthas, strategic advisor for People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) and PhD student at SOAS University, reflects on the legacy of the P2P marches and notes that “the fundamental spirit […] echoes that of the first significant post-independence mass-mobilisation in 1956”.

The former US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Stephen Rapp revealed that Sri Lanka’s current president Gotabaya Rajapaksa admitted to killing LTTE leaders instead of arresting or putting them on trial after surrender in 2009, during an offensive that saw tens of thousands of Tamils massacred.