The Madras High Court confirmed that Sri Lankan minister Douglas Devananda can face trial for a murder charge through video conferencing from Colombo on Tuesday.

Devananda, who also heads the government-linked paramilitary Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), faces a murder charge relating to a 1986 shoot-out in Chennai which killed one person.

India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested a Sri Lankan citizen on suspicion of spying for Pakistan on Wednesday.

The man, Arun Selvarajan, had reportedly gained access to several high security installations and also had criminal cases pending in Sri Lanka. See an official NIA statement on the arrest here.

The Hindu reported an NIA official as saying,

Sri Lankan Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne declared in Parliament that the government is to purchase all stocks of potatoes currently being held by farmers.

Jayaratne made the announcement, stating that the Sri Lankan cabinet had approved the purchase of all remaining potato stock at a price of Rs. 80 per kilo.

The move comes as Sri Lanka banned the import of potatoes earlier this week in a bid to protect local farmers.

Jayaratne also said that all district secretaries and government agents were instructed to continue with a fertiliser subsidy for the farmers, provide agriculture loans at 7% relief interest and to supply locally produced seeds at concessionary prices.

See more here.

Also see our earlier posts:

Sri Lanka bans import of potatoes (09 September 2014)

Atchuthan Sivasubramaniyam, a 25 year old who was the sole earner supporting his parents and 3 siblings, committed suicide on Wednesday, after struggling to maintain a lease hold on a lorry that helped provide for his family, reports the Uthayan.

Sivasubramaniyam’s lorry was violently repossessed by t leasing company before the incident occurred.

The latest suicide comes as residents in Jaffna were forced to attend a ‘suicide prevention event’ organised by the Sri Lankan military last week, on Wednesday.

The United Nations Secretary General, noted the Sri Lankan government had failed to reply to concerns raise by special mandate holders regarding the intimidation of human rights campaigners, in a report entitled “Cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights.”

The Northern Provincial Council passed a resolution calling on the Sri Lankan government to allow United Nations investigators into the country, in order to carry out a probe into mass atrocities.

The resolution, which was adopted on Wednesday, said,

“This Council calls upon the Government of Sri Lanka to cooperate with the UN and allow the UN’s OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) team to enter the country to perform its mandate of comprehensively investigating the alleged serious violations and abuses of human rights, and crimes.”

The Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi passed a series of resolutions this week, condemning the Sri Lankan government's genocidal actions and calling for the maximum possible devolution of power to a merged North-East province.

On the 15th National ITAK Convention held last week, a series of 15 resolutions were passed condemning Sri Lankan government land grabs, the pillaging of natural resources from Tamil areas and the abuse of women and children, amongst others.

One of the declarations stated that,

Photograph: Uthayan

Hundreds of protestors took to the streets of Chennai earlier this week, to rally against Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing the United Nations General Assembly later this month.

The protest, organised by the MDMK was addressed by party leader Vaiko, who said,

The Sri Lankan government has introduced another new bill into parliament, looking to restrict land ownership by foreigners, foreign companies and companies registered in Sri Lanka that have foreign owners.

The bill entitled “Land (Restrictions on Alienation)” is set to be debated on in Parliament before it is passed.

(Pictures: BattiNews)

A commemorative event for Tamils killed in the 1990 Saththurukondan Massacre, committed by Sri Lankan forces in Batticaloa, was stopped by a court order, preventing relatives of those killed and Tamil politicians to observe the anniversary on Tuesday.

Tamil National Alliance MPs P Ariyanenthiran, P Selvarasa and C Yogeswaran, along with several family members of those massacred, attempted to proceed to the site of the event in Kokkuvil, however police read out a court order which banned the event to “prevent damage to people and properties”, issued by Batticaloa District Court.

At least 184 Tamil men, women and children were hacked to death after being taken to the Sathurukondan army camp, on September 9, 1990.

The relatives and the MPs were forced to go to a temple in Saththurukondan, and lit candles there in remembrance of the dead.

TNA MP Ariyanenthiran condemned the hypocrisy shown by the authorities in cracking down on Tamil remembrance events, while allowing Sinhala and Muslim events to go ahead.

“Muslims and Sinhalese are free to hold events to commemorate their dead, but Tamils are not able to do so,” he said to the Tamil Guardian.