The former head of Sri Lanka’s army has slammed attempts to release military held lands in the North-East to Tamil civilians as “stupid” and vowed to block any attempts at demilitarisation of the region, as Tamil calls for the army to leave continue.

In an interview with the Daily Mirror, Mr Fonseka, who is the first Sri Lankan Army officer to be promoted to the rank of Field Marshal and a minister in the current government, criticised any attempt to release military held land.

A 54-year-old man was murdered in Kayts on Saturday, Ada Derana reports.

The victim, identified as a Karainagar resident, sustained severe injuries after being assaulted by three persons who arrived in a small lorry.

Although he was admitted to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital he succumbed to his injuries and died later that day.

Kayts police said suspects had been identified and investigations were underway.

India’s late former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee helped Sri Lanka weaken wings of the LTTE with extended military training and economic development, Sri Lanka’s prime minister has said.

"When I was the prime minister of Sri Lanka previously, the LTTE was in a very strong position. Our economy was weak. Mr Vajpayee helped us develop the economy and extended military training. We were able to stop the Sea Tigers (LTTE's sea wing) because of him," Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said, according to PTI.

The Prime Minister made the comments when visiting the Indian High Commission to offer condolences for Vajpayee who died on Thursday.

"He was one of the great prime ministers. He was a true friend of Sri Lanka, he stood for Sri Lanka at all times," Wickremesinghe said.

Mullaitivu politicians called a meeting with the Chief Minister of the Northern Province this week to discuss increasing concerns about the future of the Tamil people in the district, saying the region is being targeted on all sides with militarisation and Sinhalisation.

In a meeting led by the MP Charles Nirmalanathan, local representatives said that the district’s Tamil population was being pushed out by the Mahaweli scheme on one side and the settling of Sinhalese fishermen on the coastal side.

Whatever remained of the district was being targeted by the Archaeology Department and others, representatives said.

Sri Lankan Task Force troops assaulted a driver in Kilinochchi, creating tension between locals and troops, Uthayan reported last week.

The driver of a dipper vehicle who had obtained permission to excavate sand was followed by STF troops and arrested at Paranthan junction.

The troops took the driver to the Paranthan bus station and assaulted him.

Eyewitnesses described how the driver was beaten with guns and punched by the troops.

The incident sparked confrontations between Paranthan residents and STF troops and a tense situation in the area.

Industries in Colombo have warned that Chinese companies are taking over local industry and this would bring about the "collapse of local construction companies within years", the Sunday Times reports. 

Stating that Chinese companies were handling around 40 percent of construction projects, the Construction Industry Development Authority (CIDA) claims the China International Construction (CHINCA) intends to take over 70 percent. 

CIDA has called on the government to approve legislation to protect local construction companies, the paper reported.  

Sri Lankan police increased their security presence in Nayaru, Mullaitivu, citing security concerns for Sinhala fishermen who continue to fish the region. 

Tensions have continued in the area after locals protested this month over police and local government inaction over illegal fishing by Sinhala fishermen. 

Three Sinhala fishermen were arrested this week over the torching of Tamil fishermen's boats and huts in Mullaitivu on Monday, which destroyed hundreds of thousands of rupees worth of fishing equipment. 

Whilst some of the Sinhalese settlers left the area on Thursday under heavy police escort, some have remained. 

A Tamil journalist has been summoned by Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Division (CID) on August 24. 

The journalist, Nadarajah Kuharajah was working for a private television station based in Jaffna

The investigation is in relation to the arrest and bail of 'Swiss Kumar', a suspect in the case of the murder of a Pungudutivu school girl. 

Sivaloganathan Vithiya, 18, was raped and murdered in May 2015. 

The violence and brutality of the crime shocked the North-East, with widespread protests calling for her perpetrators to face justice. 

Last year a tribunal sentenced seven men for the crime. 

The Tamil UNP MP, Vijayakala Maheswaran, who was forced to resign from her ministerial post after Sinhala politicians objected to her call last month for a resurgence of the LTTE to control the violent crime in the North-East, said she was not sorry for her comments. 

“I will not succumb to others’ sentiments or pay a price that I am not entitled to settle," she told Ceylon Today in an interview. 

“I was born on Tamil soil and if the people from the South had lived with us they will have the same sentiments I have expressed."

500 acres of military-occupied land in the North-East is to be released at a cost of Rs 780 million to relocate the camps, the Sunday Times reports.

Around 500 acres of privately-owned land including some located in High Security Zones are to be released before December, the resettlement ministry secretary told the newspaper.

The Government would allocate Rs 780 million to relocate the camps, the secretary said.