The Sri Lankan military announced that it had constructed houses in at least two Sinhala settlement villages in the North-East, as the militarised colonisation of the Tamil homeland continues.

The leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) accused the Sri Lankan government of wanting to “keep the Tamil people as second-class citizens”.

A protest in Mandaitivu prevented government officials from surveying land intended for appropriation by the Sri Lankan navy.

The navy has been occupying the island since 1990 with its camp based on over 18 acres of land belonging to 11 Tamil owners.

Sri Lanka is among countries with a rising interest burgen, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned this week. 

“Many economies saw rising interest burdens, which exceeded 20 percent of total revenue in 2018 in Egypt, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka,” the IMF said in its latest Fiscal Monitor report.

“As a result, emerging market economies have become vulnerable to rollover risks if they face large financing needs.”

The IMF urged countries like Argentina, Sri Lanka, China and Turkey to end tax exemptions and improve administrative efficiency in order to generate increased revenues. 

Roy Samathanam, a Tamil torture survivor, who filed a civil lawsuit against Sri Lanka's former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, described how his experience of torture at the hands of Sri Lankan security forces "never goes away" speaking in London today.

A photography exhibition depicting the struggle of Tamil families of the disappeared to find their loved ones was showcased at Vadduvakal Bridge this week, a site where many of their families handed over their loved ones to the Sri Lankan military almost a decade ago.

^{Vavuniya. January 2019} 

Citing public safety concerns during the upcoming Tamil new year and Sinhala new year celebrations, the Sri Lankan police said it would be deploying 8000 extra officers. 

China says it stands ready to broaden cooperation with Sri Lanka, under its Belt and Road Initiative.

The Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPGT) has called on the torture victims in the Britain to join a civil lawsuit that has been filed against Sri Lanka’s former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Paul Scully said the APPGT welcomed the news of the lawsuit, of which Rajapaksa was served notice of on Sunday whilst he was in California.

“We hope the hundreds of victims of torture in Sri Lanka under the Rajapaksa administration who are now refugees in the UK can join this action and also seek compensation,” said Scully in a letter released earlier today.

See the full text of the letter below.

More than 100 victims of an infamous disappearance from 1990 may be buried in a mass grave on the islet of Mandaitivu, said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Sritharan in a statement to Sri Lanka’s Office on Missing Persons (OMP) last Thursday.

Sritharan told the OMP that hundreds of youth had disappeared from Mandaitivu, Allaipaddy and Mankumban from August to September 1990, as the Sri Lankan military launched an offensive.