On the 13 July 1985, the initial draft of the Thimpu principles was read aloud during “peace” negotiations mediated by the Indian government. Whilst the supposed peace negotiations have themselves come under criticism as merely being a ploy by the Sri Lankan government to stall the armed conflict and rearm themselves, this was a defining moment in the Tamil liberation struggle. It was the first time that a coalition of Tamil political organisations had unanimously agreed on a set of basic principles which centred on the right to self-determination.

Former TNA MP and Kilinochchi candidate Sivagnanam Sritharan backtracked on comments he made comparing TNA spokesperson M A Sumanthiran with LTTE political strategist Anton Balasingham, just three days after making the initial remarks.

Following weeks of controversy after Sumanthiran was criticised for expressing anti-LTTE sentiments which he was forced to recant, Sritharan urged Tamils to accept Sumanthiran’s “immense skillset and analytical strategies”, even commenting on his resemblance to Anton Balasingham.

Elliot Colburn, MP for Carshalton and Wallington, was elected as the new Chair for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPGT).

"I am delighted to have been elected as chair of the APPG for Tamils. My constituency is home to a significant population of Tamils, making Tamil the second language in the borough of Sutton," the MP said in a press release. 

A committee of seven members has been assigned by Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to explore possibilities of granting pardons to convicts imprisoned for ‘minor offences’.

The committee is reported to be headed by the lawyer Kalinga Indatissa. Official estimates of prisoners in Sri Lanka is currently 26,000, a great deal higher than the maximum limit the prisons are intended to hold. The measure is purportedly to reduce overcrowding in prisons.

The Sri Lankan navy announced it has “doubled” its patrol units in the Northern seas, after a father and daughter from Mannar crossed “illegally” to the island, after decades living as refugees in India.

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Chairman G.L. Peiris claimed yesterday that a two-thirds majority was needed to draft legislation that would “rid the country of extremism” and “strengthen the defence apparatus”.

Sri Lankan aviation authorities have stated that they are leading reach into the mythological character King Ravana’s “aviation routes”.

Former Chief Minister and leader of the Thamizh Makkal Thesiya Kootani (TMTK) C V Wigneswaran has said that a senior Jaffna University was barred from his private legal practice to protect the interests of the Sri Lankan army.

Three members of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) in the North-East have been questioned and intimidated by the Sri Lankan military, the party said.

The SEP, who are running for seats in Jaffna, Colombo and Nuwara Eliya, have reported that military intelligence personnel have violated the democratic rights of the party by visiting the houses of key SEP candidates to extract information.

“The army is going door-to-door collecting young people’s personal information supposedly for government jobs’’ claimed Vijayakala Maheswaran, a former foreign minister and United National Party (UNP) candidate, during an election campaign meeting in Inuvil last week.

‘‘The army is not required to collect this information in order to provide government employment. This practice must be stopped immediately. Such events did not take place during the United National Party’s governance’’ she added.