Julie Chung has taken up her posting as the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka this week, describing it as a “dream come true” to return to the island.

“I first visited the island 10 years ago, and those memories are still vivid and fresh,” said Chung, in a video released to mark her taking up the post earlier today.

A Buddhist monk, aided by Sri Lanka's Department of Archaeology, has banned the cultivation of water in the fields belonging to Tamils in the village of Kumalamunai, Kurunthurmalai in Mullaitivu. 

Although the Divisional Secretariat has confirmed that the 36 acres of land belongs to seven Tamil families, Sinhala Buddhist monk, Galgamuwa Chandabothi Nayaka Thera, has blocked the families from cultivating on their land. 

A Tamil fisherman who took part in the Pottuvil to Polikandy (P2P) protest rally last year, is one of at least 89 Eelam Tamil refugees being held at a US naval base at Diego Garcia, reports Jacob Goldberg for Novara Media.

The rally, which spanned the breadth of the Tamil homeland across the North-East, saw tens of thousands of participants. However, the Sri Lankan state has repeatedly harassed, intimidated, arrested and even attacked participants of the rally.

Sri Lankan intelligence officers have attempted to kidnap a Tamil activist in a white van earlier today, according to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) lawmaker Shanakiyan Rasamanickam.

The parliamentarian tweeted that “unidentified men who claimed to be part of the state intelligence apparatus” had attempted to abduct the assistant secretary of the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) youth wing in Kalmunai earlier today.

“Something is being organised,” warned Colombo Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, stating that Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church is currently working with the Vatican on a secret plan to ensure justice for victims of the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks.

“The plans cannot be revealed yet, but something is being organised,” the cardinal said, according to a report in Economy Next. “If we cannot find a solution within the country, we will try going through international organisations.”

The first and most important thing to understand about the Sri Lankan flag is that every version of the lion flag is, definitionally, racist and fascist in symbolism, including the official one. It was intentionally designed that way, by committee.

Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa said that there was only a “small shortage of certain essential items” on the island, claiming that other stocks were “sufficient” even as reports of families going hungry on the island emerged.

During a meeting last week, Rajapaksa admitted that there was “a small shortage of milk powder, gas, wheat flour, and cement” but claimed that “there are sufficient stocks of all other essential items”.  

In a movement of historic unity, 12 opposition MPs have called on the Sri Lankan government to negotiate a postponement and restructuring of its $25 billion debt repayments due between now and 2026.

Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) has issued a summons to a Tamil political activist in Mannar this week, demanding he appear before them in Colombo for questioning.

V S Sivakaran, a former head of the ITAK youth wing and well known political activist, was called for questioning yesterday and is due to appear before the TID in Colombo on Friday 18 February at 9.30 am.

^{Photo credit: Shehara De Silva (via @Charindra_chan)}

As a Sinhala Buddhist festival kicked off in Colombo yesterday, Sri Lankan flags associated with the racist ‘Sinha Le’ movement – displaying only the lion symbol – were seen being paraded as part of the procession.