With Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe to visit Jaffna, Tamil activists have denounced his history of broken pledges and vowed to continue protests.

Students attached to the Jaffna University filed a formal complaint at the Human Rights Commission (HRC) office in Jaffna over the conduct of Sri Lanka police during the Shivarathri observances at the Vedukkunaari Temple in Vavuniya. 

The chief priest of the Vedukkunaari Adi Shiva Temple who was among the devotees released from Vavuniya prison earlier this week has been admitted to the Mullaitivu District General Hospital due to an illness he had developed while in prison. 

Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister, MK Stalin, alongside a number of other chief ministers, including West Bengal, has vowed that he will not allow for the implementation of Indian Citizen Amendment Act which specifically excludes Muslims and Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka from being granted citizenship.

Sri Lanka’s Vavuniya remand prison holds three times its capacity and is “worse than a concentration camp”, one of the eight Tamil detainees who was arrested during the Shivarathri prayers at the Vedukkunaari earlier this month, told reporters after their release. 

Human Rights Watch has called on the Sri Lanka to order its archaeological department to end its “discriminatory interference” in Hindu sites and protect their rights as well as other minority communities.

The Sri Lanka government opened a new consulate and engaged in expanded trade talks with Israel this week, despite purportedly calling for a ceasefire to its offensive in Gaza in which tens of thousands have been killed.

The UNDP in Sri Lanka released its Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) in Sri Lanka which shows a large percentage of individuals in North-East live below the poverty line and have several vulnerabilities, with some of the districts being the worst affected on the whole island.

<p>China’s embassy in Colombo has objected to a decision by Sri Lanka authorities to permit a German research vessel to dock on the island amidst a one year ban on foreign research vessels.</p>

India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka detailed how his government was “taking the first steps” to construct a land corridor between the two regions, calling it a “game-changing initiative”.

The Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) commemorated Annai Poopathy today to mark 36 years since she began her fast unto death to protest the atrocities committed by the Indian Peace Keeping Forces (IPKF). 

Sri Lanka’s former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa received a warm welcome on his return to the island from the USA earlier this month, as he called for elections to be held.

The Jaffna regional office of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) has initiated an investigation over the murder of a youth in Karainagar, in which the Sri Lankan Navy have been accused of being complicit in.