^{File photograph: A Sri Lankan military plane at Palaly}

The announcement that commercial flights from India will soon be visiting Jaffna’s recently expanded Palaly airport excludes all flights from Chennai and the rest of Tamil Nadu, in an act of “Sinhala hegemony” said a Tamil politician this week.

Palaly airport is currently occupied by the Sri Lankan military which has used the region as an air force base for its fleets of jets that were extensively used in bombing raids thorughout the armed conflict.

A massive Buddhist stupa built by the Sri Lankan military was opened to serve the growing Sinhala settlements in the Navatkuli area.

The construction of the shrine has been fiercely opposed by locals and was even subject to legal action, which was withdrawn due to political pressure.

Sri Lanka’s former president who oversaw a military invasion of the North-East in the 1990’s was the recipient of the 2019 Common Ground Award in London last month, just weeks before Tamils gathered to mourn the death of those killed in an offensive she ordered.

A Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP has slammed the Sri Lankan president for denigrating the LTTE leader V Prabhakaran, whom the MP described as the ‘leader of the Tamil people’.

TNA MP Shanthi Sriskandarajah had taken exception to Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena’s comments claiming that the LTTE leader was connected to drug cartels. Ms Sriskandarajah also raised concerns about the timing of Sirisena’s remarks: with the president attempting to press on with executions for drug convictions, the MP accused Sirisena of laying the groundwork to further scapegoat former LTTE cadres as responsible for the drug problem in the North-East.

Twenty-nine years ago, Vellupillai Viyazhamma’s son, V. Ranjan, was forcibly disappeared. Viyazhamma appeared before multiple commissions and inquiries over the years, refreshing her trauma each time in a desperate attempt to find answers to her endless question — what happened to my son? Last week, Viyazhamma passed away in Keppapilavu. At least twenty-one mothers, including Viyazhamma, have died in their pursuit to learn the truth about their disappeared loved ones.

The United Kingdom said that it holds “regular discussions” with Sri Lankan officials regarding implementing a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution on accountability for mass atrocities, and that “more needs to be done” to ensure progress.

Responding to a question from parliamentarian Theresa Villiers on discussions regarding the aftermath of the armed conflict, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs said the British government wanted to see Sri Lankan implement the UN resolutions on accountability.

A small commemoration ceremony was held in Sampur, in the Trincomalee district, earlier this month, to mark 29 years Tamils were killed by advancing Sri Lankan soldiers.

More than 150 Tamils are thought to have been killed in the offensives which started on 7 July 1990.

General Jagath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka’s former army chief, has called for military rule in Sri Lanka to resolve the “situation after April 21”, the Easter Sunday Bombing.