Sri Lanka should replace the abusive Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) with legislation that respects international human rights obligations, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said.

The call comes after the Sri Lankan president announced last week that his government would scrap plans to replace the law.

TNA parliamentarian M A Sumanthiran warned that the island may step “into naked majoritarianism” unless the equal status of all peoples on the island was respected, pointing out that repeated assurances had been made to India to the Tamil people that a political solution would be found to the ethnic conflict.

Tamil National Alliance leader R Sampanthan has praised Sri Lanka’s war crimes accused president, calling him someone “who is prepared to speak the truth and to do the right thing” in a speech to parliament earlier this week, where he outlined the international community’s role in a military offensive that killed tens of thousands of Tamil civilians.

Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) have summoned the head of Vavuniya’s families of the disappeared association and her husband for questioning this week, as activists continue to report harassment from state authorities.

Sri Lankan intelligence officers have erased a mural after they threatened local Tamil artists in Jaffna this week, following a youth street art initiative included a painting of a tiger on a wall in Valvettithurai.

Street art initiatives have taken place across the island with many in the North-East using it as an opportunity to express various aspects of Tamil culture. In Jaffna, images of the famous Jaffna Library and other landmarks were painted on walls.

However, as young artists began to paint a mural in Valvettithurai, part of which included the image of a wild tiger, Sri Lankan intelligence and police officials began to threaten them.

A large Buddhist vihara and multiple residences for Buddhist monks are currently being hurriedly constructed at the Killinochchi Ariviyal Nagar campus of Jaffna University, as Sinhalisation efforts continue across the North-East.

The head of the International Press Institute (IPI) has slammed the Sri Lankan government for failing to investigate the murder of Sinhala journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge and called for his killers to be brought to justice on the 11^th anniversary of his death.

"It has been 11 years since Lasantha Wickrematunge was assassinated, yet virtually no progress has been made in securing justice", IPI Director of Advocacy Ravi R. Prasad said.

Tamil Guardian's Batticaloa-based correspondent Selvakumar Nilanthan, who appeared in court on Wednesday after reporting on alleged corruption against a local government official, was released on bail.

S Nilanthan appeared at Eravur Circuit Magistrates Court on Tuesday, where he was summoned to answer charges of reporting about protests and disclosing the opinions of local residents on Tamil-language news platforms against the divisional secretary (DS), N Vilvarathnam.

India’s central government has consistently rejected the Tamil Nadu government’s proposition to release seven people who have been convicted over the killing of Rajiv Gandhi to avoid “international ramifications”, it was revealed this week.

Sri Lankan government minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage told parliament he had obtained evidence that former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had conspired to assassinate him.

Aluthgamage, Sri Lanka's State Minister of Power, said that following the arrest of UNP parliamentarian Ranjan Ramanayake, evidence had been retrieved that contained telephone conversations between Ramanayaka and Wickremesinghe with details of an assassination plan.

Former Sri Lankan Deputy Minister Sarana Gunawardena was sentenced to three years in jail today for "misusing public funds”, during his term under the previous Rajapaksa government from 2005 to 2007.