The former head of Sri Lanka’s army announced that he will be running for president in the island’s upcoming elections, as the electoral contest between Sinhala Buddhist candidates begins to heat up.

A parliamentarian from the Tamil National Alliance said Tamils will have “have no choice but to boycott the election given the step motherly treatment that the [Sri Lankan] government gives them”.

Kilinochchi MP S Sritharan made the comments to NewsInAsia, as Sri Lanka gears up for a presidential election for November.

Sri Lanka’s archaeology department has been accused of willfully ignoring the decaying condition of the Dutch Fort of Mullaitivu, which once stood as a testament to the bravery of Pandara Vanniyan, the last chieftain of the Vanni known for his resistance against colonial rule.

Several explosives were discovered buried in polythene in Puthukudiyiruppu on Saturday.

The explosives were uncovered during the ploughing of a paddy field.

Puthukudiyiruppu police identified 8 claymore mines and 60 detonators.

The Sri Lankan government slammed the United Nations over its decision to ban “non-essential” Sri Lankan troops on peacekeeping missions, in a meeting this week where officials defended a military official accused of war crimes.

Sri Lanka’s ruling United National Party (UNP) has nominated its deputy leader and Sri Lanka’s housing minister, Sajith Premadasa to run in the presidential election on Nov.16 with the hopes of winning over Buddhist nationalists.

Marking 32 years since the death of Lt Col Thileepan, thousands of Tamils across the North-East attended commemoration events held throughout the day.

Today marks 32 years since the death of Lt Col Thileepan, a political wing leader of the LTTE who fasted to death, in a protest appealing to the Indian government to honour pledges made to the Tamil people.

Thileepan began his fast on the September 15, 1987, with 100,000 people gathered around the historic Nallur Kandwaswamy Temple in Jaffna. As he began his strike he put forward 5 demands to the Indian government.

Thirty-two years on, Tamils continue to call for the demands made by Thileepan. 

After a Buddhist mob led by Sinhala extremists defied a Sri Lankan court order this week, the Australian Tamil Congress (ATC) said rule of law on the island is “secondary to Buddhist hegemony,” in a statement released on Wednesday.

Lawyers across the North-East have continued to boycott court activities to protest the ‘lack of respect’ for the judiciary shown by Sinhala Buddhist monks and Sri Lankan police, as the former directly disobeyed a court injunction and cremated a monk in the grounds of a Hindu temple with the explicit support of police, and also assaulted Tamil lawyers who had worked to secure the injunction.

The United Nations announced that it will ban all “non-essential” Sri Lankan troops deployed on peacekeeping missions, in response to the appointment of accused war criminal Shavendra Silva as head of the country’s military.

Tamils across the North-East protested against the visit of the war crimes accused Shavendra Silva this week, as he toured across Sri Lankan military bases and Buddhist viharas in the region.

Thousands protested in Mullaitivu town on Tuesday after a controversial Buddhist monk was cremated the previous day in the grounds of a Hindu temple, despite local opposition and in direct breach of a court injunction.

The Sri Lankan is reportedly set to lose several million dollars of funding through the United States’ Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), according to reports in the Colombo press after a public forum last week.

Speaking at a forum organised by Advocata Institute, Resident Country Director for the MCC Jenner Edelman said that Sri Lanka’s transition to an upper middle-income country may no longer be eligible for the funding.