Tamil politicians joined locals in Mandaithivu and Pungudutivu yesterday as they halted attempts by Sri Lankan government officials from the survey department to acquire land for the navy.

The protest came after officials from the survey department announced that public owned lands would be acquired in three places under the Velanai Divisional Secretariat - Pungudutivu, Mankupam and Allaipiddy - for the Sri Lankan navy.

Hundreds of families have been displaced by coastal flooding, which has severely disrupted the livelihoods of villages in Vidataltivu, Mannar. 

Seawater flooded homes and damaged fishing boats following heavy rain, early Sunday morning. As many as 1,200 people from 352 families are reported to have been affected by the flooding.

Displaced residents of three Grama Niladhari divisions were forced to take refuge in the homes of friends and family.

The Batticaloa High Court rejected the bail petition of the wife of the alleged ringleader of the Easter Sunday attack, Zahran Hashim, on Monday. 

In 2019, a series of bomb attacks, targeted churches and luxury hotels on Easter Sunday, killing 279 people and injuring more than 500. The attacks, staged by eight bombers who all killed themselves in the attack, were members of National Thawheed Jammath (NTJ), reportedly led by Hashim. 

Tamil farmers in Mannar recently expressed their disgruntlement with Sri Lankan government officials whose decisions to allow cattle grazing in farmlands has adversely impacted those dependent on agriculture. 

Former UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and secretary-general of the Global Campus of Human Rights, Professor Manfred Nowark, has urged Holyrood to launch an inquiry into allegations of Sri Lankan police brutality against Tamil refugees who fled the island for Scotland.

A discussion on the problem faced by Mullaitivu fishermen was held on Saturday in Mullaitivu between Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP, lawyer and spokesperson M.A. Sumanthiran and the fishermen. The meeting was also attended by former Northern Provincial Council members Thurairasa Ravikaran and Chandralingam Sukirtan.

Sri Lankan security forces administered the first dose of Pfizer vaccine for students aged 18 and above in Jaffna, in a move that entrenches the militarisation of the Tamil homeland.
 
Troops of the 4th Battalion Medical Corps facilitated and administered vaccines alongside Medical Officers and Public Health Inspectors in select schools in Chankani, Jaffna, Kareinagar, Karaveddy, Kopay, Muruthankerny, Nallur, Point Pedro, Sandilipay, Tellipalai, Uduvil and Velanai. 

Tamils joined a larger protest against climate change in London yesterday, as they called for climate justice and an end to crimes against humanity committed by Sri Lanka’s president Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The protest, which took place on Saturday 6 November, saw Tamils join tens of thousands of others in demanding climate action whilst the global COP26 summit is underway in Glasgow.

Amnesty International has called on the Singaporean government to cease the planned execution of Tamil Malaysian national, Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam who has been charged with carrying drugs in 2009. 

The execution which is scheduled to take place on 10 November has drawn criticism from numerous human rights organisations. 

Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Amnesty International’s Singapore Researcher, said:

Responding to the trilateral security pact between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Qi Zhenhong, has slammed the agreement claiming that it was “opening the Pandora’s Box of the arms race, and undermining peace and stability in the Pacific and Indian Ocean”.