The secretary of the Vavuniya Families of the Disappeared association, Gopalakrishnan Rajkumar, has called on the EU delegation visiting Sri Lanka to visit the North-East and to speak with Tamil victim communities to understand their plight, particularly the mothers of children enforcibly disappeared.

Speaking at a side event at the UK Labour Party conferece this week, Shadow Minister for Asia, Stephen Kinnock, slammed the British government for not doing enough on Sri Lanka and describing the situation as "a scar on the conscience of the world".

Senior Tamil National Alliance (TNA) officials met with an EU delegation visiting Sri Lanka as part of their review of the General Scheme Preference. 

During this meeting TNA  officials stressed the need for Sri Lanka to repeal its draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act which allows for arbitrary detntion without charge and has been linked to accounts of torture.

_London

Events were held by Tamils across the UK in London, Leicester and Nottingham earlier this week, to mark the 34th anniversary of the death of Lt Col Thileepan, a political wing leader of the LTTE who fasted to death in 1987, after the Indian government failed to acknowledge the promises made to the Tamil people. 

London

In the midst of the 48th UN Human Rights Council session, six Tamil American organisations have signed a joint statement calling on the international community to refer Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the crime of genocide and for an internationally conducted referendum.
The referdum, they note, would allow the Tamil people in the North-East to "find a democratic, peaceful, permanent, and political solution that meet Tamil's aspirations.

Further demands included for a repeal of Sri Lanka's sixth amendment to the constitution which was enacted in 1983 and makes it a criminal offence  to advocate secession and establishing a separate state within Sri Lanka.

A former LTTE cadre was abducted at gunpoint from his home in Trincomalee this morning.

Family members of 39-year-old Manoharadas Subas said unknown persons arrived at the home in Varodayanagar and forced him into a vehicle, stating that he was being taken to the Uppuveli police station.

The family went directly to the Uppuveli police station but were told that no police officers there had any involvement in the incident.

A large military presence in Nedunkerny, Vavuniya has prevented worshippers from praying at the Vedukkunaari Lingeswarar Temple, with some locals noting that some idols had been damaged in recent days.

^{Trincomalee relatives of detained political prisoners} 

The relatives of Tamil political prisoners detained under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) have held a press conference calling for the release and a presidential pardon of those detained. 

Two Tamil National Alliance (TNA) members of parliament have visited  Anuradhapura prison where Tamil prisoners were forced to kneel at gunpoint by a drunken Sri Lankan minister. 

M.A Sumanthiran and Shanakiyan Rasamanickam visited the prison and inquired into the recent events which took place earlier this month. Shanakiyan called on the Sri Lankan Government to "take necessary steps to hold those involved accountable for their actions."

An art exhibition was held in Zurich, Switzerland by the Phoenix The Next Generation Worldwide project, dedicated to Lt Col Thileepan on Sunday, for the 34th anniversary of his passing following his twelve day fast-unto-death.