<p>Athuraliye Rathana, a Buddhist monk and parliamentarian has absconded and is unable to be located state Colombo police following accusation that he abducted fellow monk Vedinigama Wimalatissa, the General Secretary of the Our Power of Peoples Party (OPPP).</p> <p>The Sinhala nationalist monk, Athuraliye Rathana was informed by Colombo police to present himself at the police station; however he did not turn up.</p> <p>Earlier in the week (August 18), another monk and member of the OPPP stated that he was “kidnapped and held illegally” by Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara, general secretary of the Sinhala supremacist Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) organisation.</p>

A tense situation prevailed in the Theravil area of Puthukkudiyiruppu, Mullaitivu, after a Sri Lankan soldier harassed a 17-year-old Tamil girl and exposed his genitals at her.

The assault took place on Sunday as the girl walked past the army camp of the 7th battalion of the Gemenu Watch, close to her neighbourhood in Theravil.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) met with the Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, in Colombo to discuss the concerns of the Tamil people following the recent parliamentary election. 

The High Commissioner, Gopal Baglay, congratulated the TNA for securing its place in the parliament again and assured that India is committed to finding a political solution to the Tamil national question. 

^{File Photograph : Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa}

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa stated that he will be removing the 19^th amendment, which currently limits presidential power, during his inaugural speech to the 9^th Parliament on Thursday.   

Rajapaksa referenced the overwhelming two-thirds majority won by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) as a mandate from the people to permit him to pass majoritarian policies and amend the constitution in ways that will uphold and extend the power of the Rajapaksa regime.

Kandhaiya Chandrasekaram, the elder brother of senior commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Brigadier Balraj, passed away in Mullaitivu on Tuesday. 

Kandhaiya was an activist against Sinhalese colonisation of historic Tamil lands such as Kokkilai, Kokku Thoduvai and Manalaru.

Kandhaiya's funeral rites were performed at his residence  in Kokku Thoduvai. Former Northern Provincial Council member Durairasa Ravikaran attended the funeral to pay his last respects. 

A 20-year-old Tamil journalist was attacked by two unidentified persons on Brown Road, Jaffna, last Friday.

Vijayanathan Janarthan, a media correspondent at Tamil newspaper, Valampuri was intercepted by two masked men on a motorbike and attacked using a barbed wire. Janarthan, who was on his way back to his hometown of Urelu from the Valampuri office after work, had his motorcycle smashed up by the assailants.

^{File photograph : Ananthy Sasitharan}

Former Northern Provincial Councillor, Ananthy Sasitharan, said “we will continue to pursue the path to seek international justice” and that the current cabinet is inherently racist and set up in a manner that leaves Tamils victim to structural genocide.

Sasitharan, the Secretary-General of Eela Thamizhar Suyaadsi Kazhakam - a subordinate party of Tamil People's National Alliance (TPNA) - said she also expects the newly-elected Tamil MP’s to also “preserve the existence of the people and the presence of the Tamils in this country.”

The 30^th anniversary since human rights activist Father Eugene John Hebert was forcibly disappeared in Batticaloa was commemorated, earlier this month.

The American-born Jesuit missionary also had a statue erected of him at St. Michael's College, where he worked as a basketball coach, in honour of his charitable, educational and sports work and contribution.

Sri Lankan soldiers engaged in a sudden round-up of a town in Jaffna last Thursday night (August 20), according to Tamil press reports. 

A large number of troops reportedly appeared in the west of Kondavil, patrolling and carrying out checks on every street in the area.

Locals report that the reason for the sudden round-up was unknown, with no official announcement or statement yet issued by the Sri Lankan military either.

Addressing Sri Lankan President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s first parliamentary address since the parliamentary elections, the Hindu urged the government to “not undo democratic gains or roll back devolution in the Constitution”.

Noting the historic two-third majority of the SLPP during the parliamentary election, the Hindu states that there “is indeed a mandate for constitutional change”; however, the question whether the reforms will “strengthen democratic institutions or weaken them”.

 

19^th Amendment