Sri Lanka’s former president and accused war criminal Mahinda Rajapaksa has been elected as leader of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), vowing to secure victory in elections and return to power.

For years the Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) called for an international accountability mechanism for mass atrocities and for sanctions to be placed on Sri Lanka. Yet, last week, they met and posed for photographs with the man who bears chief responsibility for those very massacres. Tamil Canadians across the political spectrum, and the country, are furious.

In a wide-ranging visit to Sri Lanka, US Special Representative for Racial Equality and Justice, Desirée Cormier Smith, met with Muslim and Tamil representatives during her first official trip to South Asia in this newly established role.

During her visit she met with community leaders, civil society actors, members of parliament and journalists.

Tamils

Despite growing concerns of religious majoritarianism, US ambassador, Julie Chung, participated in a Buddhist ceremony to appoint the new Chief Sanganayake of the Kotte Chapter, Thalangama Dewananda.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, the ambassador expressed her gratitude to be able to participate in the ritual which included a photo of her kneeling before the Buddhist clergy.

Image courtesy of Newscutter.lk

ICIJ have reported that Tiran Alles, the sitting Public security minister used a network of shell companies based in the British Virgin Islands to own properties across London. 

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)  analysis shows that Alles’ Brompton Properties Ltd. owns a flat in an affluent area of London that was purchased for about $960,000 in 2006.

Sri Lanka’s president Ranil Wickremesinghe personally instructed his cabinet to crack down on Tamils who commemorated their war dead on Maaveerar Naal last month, according to press reports.

Thamilan, a newspaper based on the island, reported that on December 5 Wickremesinghe ordered Sri Lanka’s Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe and Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles to take action against those who marked Maaveerar Naal.

At least two former LTTE cadres were arrested by Sri Lankan police on charges of ‘preparing claymore mines’, just weeks after one of them organised an event to honour the parents of fallen Tamil fighters.

A collection of Tamil civil society groups which includes families of the disappeared, women’s organisations, students and clergy from across the North-East rejected an initiative led by the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) and Sinhala Buddhist monks for “totally ignoring Tamil grievances and the pain and suffering Tamils have undergone since independence”.

A collective of Tamil organisations have spoken out against a declaration signed by the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) and Sinhala Buddhist clergy, which was shortly followed by a meeting with Sri Lanka’s former President, and accused war criminal, Mahinda Rajapaksa.

In a joint statement, the collective of Tamil organisations labelled the initiative as “treacherous” writing: 

The Sri Lankan security forces and a notorious, racist Sinhala Buddhist monk blocked two Tamil parliamentarians from visiting protesting Tamil cattle farmers in Batticaloa earlier today.