The Chavakachcheri, Mallakam and Point Pedro Magistrates Courts have dismissed applications filed by Sri Lankan police seeking bans on the Maaveerar Naal events within their respective jurisdictions.

Police attempted to use both the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and current Covid-19 regulations to clamp down on commemorations of Maaveerar Naal in the Jaffna district.

Sri Lanka’s Office of Missing Persons (OMP) called for 20 documents from Tamil families of the disappeared last month, stating it was apparently required “to search” for their disappeared loves ones, despite having been in operation for several years.

The call for documents comes after many Tamil families co-operated with the government mechanism despite their wariness that this was to be another façade by the state and a move to obfuscate accountability for the enforced disappearances.

Mallakam District Court has summoned Valikamam East Pradeshiya Sabha chairman Thiyagaraja Nirosh and deputy chairman Kapilan over Maaveerar Naal commemorations as Sri Lankan police push for more bans across the North-East. 

Kokkadichcholai police officer hands court order to former TNA MP  P Ariyenthran. Photograph courtesy of Pathivu.

Seven individuals, including Tamil MPs, have been banned from participating in any commemoration events to mark Maaveerar Naal. 

Members of the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) have launched a palmyrah tree planting programme to commemorate Maaveerar week, with the aim of planting 100,000 Palmyra seeds in Jaffna. 

Sri Lanka's security forces have set up a series of new checkpoints in Mullaitivu ahead of Maaveerar Naal, as the state ramps up it's crackdown on Tamil memorialisation of LTTE cadres. 

The Tamil Rights Group filed a Communication to the International Criminal Court (ICC) last week, seeking a preliminary examination into crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution committed against Eelam Tamils within the territories of state parties to the ICC.

The Tamil National Green Organization (TNGO) opened 'Karthika Vaasam' flower garden at Nallur Kittu Park in Jaffna on Saturday, as karthigaipoo flowers were pinned on participants including the Indian Deputy High Commissioner, ahead of Northern Tree Planting Month.

Shanakiyan Rasamanickam, a parliamentarian from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), addressed an audience of Tamil diaspora in Toronto, Canada, stating that the party was progressing towards a "permanent solution" to the ongoing ethnic conflict.

Writing in the Hindu, Meera Srinivasan highlights ongoing uncertainty over who will run the India-funded Jaffna Cultural Centre which currently remains vacant despite being completed in early 2020.

Sri Lankan singer, Yohani De Silva, is to be congratulated in Sri Lankan parliament on 23 November following criticism over her repeated public praise of her father, army commander Prasanna De Silva who is credibly accused of overseeing war crimes.

The Sri Lankan military have set up new checkpoints on the A9 and A32 highways in the lead up to Maaveerar Naal, the Tamil national remembrance day for fallen Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres.

Following the launch of the first FIFA approved tournament in Sri Lanka last week, the President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, met with the Rajapaksa clan despite ongoing grave human rights concerns.