Mullaitivu Magistrate's Court heard an appeal yesterday on behalf of the Athi Aiyanar temple administration over the illegal construction of a Buddhist temple in Kurunthurmalai, a hill-top site of an ancient Tamil temple in the district’s Thannimurippu area.

Hundreds of people gathered in Vavuniya to protest the destruction and vandalism of the Athi Sivan Kovil on the Vedukkunaari mountain.

Perhaps it is due to the subpar content being dished out by the star vehicles of Tamil cinema in recent times, but Obeli N. Krishna’s ‘Pathu Thala’ was surprisingly palatable. Starting out as an associate director to Gautham Vasudev Menon in the early part of his career, Krishna’s directorial debut, 2006’s ‘Sillunu Oru Kadhal,’ was mostly remembered for its great soundtrack and the buzz behind its real life lead pair. His latest offering strays from the romance genre, instead opting for a tried and tested masala gangster story. The film is a remake of the 2017 Kannada film ‘Mufti.’

India and Sri Lanka will jointly construct a 135-MW solar power plant in stages in the port district of Trincomalee. The national thermal power corporation of India (NTPC) has partnered with the Ceylon Electricity Board, and the first stage of the project will be a 50-MW solar power plant expected to be completed in two years.

Sri Lankan Cabinet has given approval for the project as the country aims to generate 70 per cent of its electricity requirement by 2030 from renewable energy sources.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Sabry and Minister of Justice Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms Wijeyadasa Rajapakse recently took a trip to South Africa from 21 - 25 March. The intended purpose of this trip was to study the concept of a Truth and Reconciliation mechanism. 

A statement issued by the Foreign Ministry on 28 March stated: 

Douglas Devananda, the Minister for Fisheries announced that fishermen in the Vadamarachchi are now required to obtain clearance from the Navy before going out into the sea. 

The announcement was made at the Jaffna District Secretariat office on the 29th of March. 

Two idols in the Rajarajeshwari Amman temple located in the high-security zone in Palaly have been stolen. 

An idol of Murugan has been missing since the 28th of December last year. On the morning of the 20th March, this year, when the temple was opened to conduct a pooja, the administration discovered that the Pillaiyar idol was missing. Following this second theft, the administration lodged a complaint at the District Secretariat, and also in the Police station. 

Tamil families of the disappeared protested in Mullaitivu today as they continue their roadside protests demanding to know the fate of their relatives who were forcibly disappeared at the hands of the Sri Lankan state. 

“We don’t need death certificates, we don’t need compensation, we don’t need the Office of Missing Persons (OMP), give us international justice,” said the protesters.

Activists from the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF), including MP Selvaraja Kajendran, joined locals to protest in front of Vediyarasan’s fort, in Neduntheevu (Delft) following the Sri Lanka Archaeological department’s declaration of the fort being a Buddhist site.

The Tamil National’s People’s Front remembered the struggle and life of Annai Poopathy, a member of the Batticaloa-Amparai Mother’s Front, who fasted unto death to protest the violence of the Indian Peace Keeping Forces (IPKF). 

Annai Poopathy, a mother of 10 children, was an active member in the Batticaloa-Amparai Mother’s Front for many years.

The presence of the IPKF and ensuing violence was acutely experienced by Tamil people particularly in the East.