Tamil Families of the Disappeared staged a protest in Mannar rejecting payments from the Sri Lankan government-run Office of Missing Persons (OMP), stating that the lives of their children were worth more than the US$660 on offer.

The women who were protesting said that the OMP had assured them a sum of Rs. 200,000 as a form of reparation, as they continued to demand justice for their abducted loved ones. Tamil families have been protesting since at least 2017, continuously sat on the roadsides of the North-East, demanding the government reveal what happened to their family members.

Tensions ensued when residents of Illankulam in Kuchchaveli found that a section of their land had been cleared of trees with a chainsaw, that seemed to have been hastily left behind.

The residents who comprise of both Tamils and Muslims had lodged a complaint at the Kuchchaveli police over the unlawful trespassing on their farming lands and clearing of trees in the fields.

The European Union (EU) has extended its ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for an additional six months, despite calls for it to be lifted.

Recalling his experience of the July riots, Tamil Lawmaker M.A Sumanthiran speaking at a media briefing in Jaffna this weekend says that calling the North-East as the Tamil Homeland is justified, adding that this is the only place where Tamils can feel safe. 

Several events were held across the North-East this week to mark 41 years since the Welikada massacre, in which 53 Tamil political prisoners were murdered by Sinhala inmates and prison guards.

The massacre took place during the Black July pogrom of 1983.

Mannar

Tamil Families of the Disappeared staged a protest in Mannar rejecting payments from the Sri Lankan government-run Office of Missing Persons (OMP), stating that the lives of their children were worth more than the US$660 on offer.

Sri Lanka’s Labour and Foreign Employment Minister says he discussed with the visiting Israeli ambassador to vet and recruit Sri Lankan workers for its agriculture sector.

^{File photograph: Israeli Defense Force, 2021.}

Nanayakkara said Sri Lanka had sent unskilled workers, without any training, to Israel in the first batch, since the state had an urgent need for workers at the time.

A new organization, called the North-East Young Fishermen's Association, has been launched in Jaffna this week, with Tamil youth from across the North-East uniting to voice their concerns, formulate policies and advance the rights of fishermen across the homeland.

The association was initiated with the guidance of Mannar Social and Economic Development Organization (MSEDO) with youth from all seven districts attending the event.

Sri Lanka's Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) has summoned the leader of the Tamil families of the disappeared in Batticaloa as surveillance of Tamil activists continues in the North-East.