Ahead of a vote to decide Sri Lanka’s care-taker President, the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) have declared their intention to abstain from voting, stating on Twitter:

 

The Sri Lankan military continues with its militarisation in the North-East by teaching Tamil school children English, claiming it is "grooming" the future of the North-East.

Sri Lanka is in an economic crisis, and the blame is being laid squarely at the door of its president Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Last weekend, tens of thousands of protesters tore that door down and stormed his official residence. Since the beginning of this economic crisis, Sri Lankans have been quick to denounce his corruption and amassing of personal wealth. They picked apart his policies ranging from his tax cuts to his pledge to ban chemical fertilizers. Sri Lanka’s protestors, however, have been conspicuously silent about one of the state’s most significant policies that have brought the country to this predicament in the first place - the Sri Lankan military occupation of the Tamil North-East.

Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa regime had the “failings of abusive political leaders around the world” wrote The Observer in its editorial this week, as it highlighted the island’s “long road to recovery”.

Read the full text of the editorial here.

Sri Lanka’s acting president Ranil Wickremesinghe has declared yet another state of emergency, as lawmakers prepare to vote for a new head of state this week.

For the first time, the secretary general of Sri Lanka’s parliament, Dhammika Dasanayake, read aloud former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation letter in which he claimed that he “took all possible steps” to prevent the crisis and did his “utmost” for the country.

 

Singapore authorities have told Sri Lanka’s former President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, that they would not extend his leave beyond the 15 days they had initially granted.

The announcement follows Rajapaksa’s resignation on Thursday whilst in exile. The disgraced former President took flight over the weekend amidst mass protest in Colombo. Without diplomatic immunity, he may face prosecution for numerous crimes, including that of genocide.

Amidst Sri Lanka’s ongoing crisis, fractures emerge within Sri Lanka’s governing party as chairman of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), Prof. G.L Peiris, rebuke’s the general secretary’s claim that the SLPP would support Ranil Wickremesinghe’s bid for the Presidency.

In a letter to the general secretary, Sagara Kariyawasam, he asked:

Speaking to the Tamil Guardian in New York last week, Tamil civil society leader and human rights activist, Velan Swamigal reiterated his call to the international community and India to support a referendum in Tamil Eelam, so that Tamils on the island could determine their own political future.

As his first official visit as Sri Lanka’s Acting President, Ranil Wickremesinghe visited an army hospital in Narahenpita, Colombo where he met with two dozen soldiers injured during the protests in the city’s capital.

<p>Tamil participation in the Sri Lankan anti-government protests, known in Sinhalese as the 'Aragalaya', has been low as the movement has failed to take up their demands and is still dominated by Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism, Tamil Solidarity has said.</p> <p>The UK-based left-wing group has put forward the following demands to the movement:</p> <ul>

A formerly staunch Rajapaksa ally, Dullas Alahapperuma has declared his intention to run for president of Sri Lanka as Sinhala politicians have begun announcing their bids following the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

We take a look at Dullas Alahapperuma’s record.

Whilst firecrackers were let off in Colombo to celebrate Rajapaksa’s resignation, he must not, however, be allowed to leave office without facing any consequences. The former defence secretary should be taken and tried at The Hague over his command responsibility for war crimes and genocide.