The TNA has called for unity among Tamil parties in the face of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s party’s landslide victories in the South.

In an interview with Tamil media on Sunday, TNA MP and spokesperson M. A. Sumanthiran said that they were pleased with the result in most districts of the North-East, while conceding that the party suffered setbacks in the Jaffna district.

Mr Sumanthiran said that the South’s overwhelming vote for Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna cast a bleak outlook on the Tamil people’s political aspirations.

The Tamil National People's Front made significant gains in local government polls in the North, particularly in the Jaffna district, while the Tamil National Alliance held most of its wards across the province.

Running under the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, TNPF won the most seats for Jaffna's two largest urban councils Point Pedro and Chavakachcheri.

While the TNA, under Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi, kept hold of the Jaffna Municipal Council with 16 seats, the ACTC came a close second with 13 seats.

Today marks 22 years since the Kumarapuram massacre when Sri Lankan army corporals went on a murderous rampage through the Trincomalee village, raping and killing 24 Tamils. 

The victims included two young girls who were raped before being murdered. 

Survivors of the massacre identified the soldiers, who reportedly screamed "Death to the Tamils", as they drunkenly proceeded towards the village in 1996.

Though six former Sri Lankan army corporals went on trial for the killings in 2016, they were all acquitted of the 101 indictments they each faced. The High Court judge overseeing the case decided the soldiers could not be prosecuted.

The Sri Lankan president and prime minister face mounting calls to step aside after early results showed a resounding defeat for Maithripala Sirisena's SLFP and Ranil Wickremesinghe's UNP at the local government election held yesterday, and a sweeping victory for the former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa. 

At a press briefing this morning, the leader of the Joint Opposition, Dinesh Gunawardane said the unity government had "no option but to resign", arguing the mandate given to it by the 2015 election had expired yesterday. 

Myliddy residents have complained that fishermen are unable to restart their livelihoods properly as Myliddy harbour remains partially occupied by the navy. The Myliddy resettlement committee also accused the Sri Lankan government and navy of spreading false propaganda about having released the harbour.

Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) claimed victory in Sri Lanka’s local government polls, with early results suggesting the recently formed breakaway of the SLFP swept a majority of local government wards in the south.

The party was claiming victory early yesterday evening, before official results were announced, with Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son Namal tweeting, “Thank you to the people of Hambantota and those around the country for this resounding victory for the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna. The people have spoken their minds. They want change.”

The militarisation of education in the Tamil homeland continues, as high school students in Batticaloa are sent on military training by the Sri Lankan Army.

Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena told an election rally this week that “the unity and national security of the motherland will be secured” as he made a final push for votes ahead of local elections on Saturday.

Sri Lankan police warned that they “will not hesitate to shoot” those obstructing a “free and fair” election this morning.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying, “police will not hesitate to shoot anyone who attempts to loot ballot boxes or act in a manner that will obstruct the holding of a free and fair election”.

As many as 3,000 patrols from the Special Task Force (STF) and the Civil Defence Force (CDF) had been deployed across the island, he added, stating that they would be patrolling until Sunday evening.

The Tamil National Alliance has joined several Tamil diaspora groups in calling for Sri Lanka’s Defence Attache to Britain to be expelled from the country, after he motioned a death threat to Tamil protestors last week.

The letter, sent to the UK’s Foreign Secretary, calls for Brigadier Priyanka Fernando to be declared a “persona non grata” not only for making a throat slitting gesture last week, but also for his role as a military commander in the Sri Lanka army, where he has been implicated in mass atrocities committed during the military offensive in 2009.