A demonstration was held in Jaffna against a planned land-grab to relocate a police department notorious for human rights violations.

The protest outside Uduvil district secretariat on Monday condemned attempts to relocate Chunnakam police station to privately-owned land in a residential neighbourhood.

Tamils in Trincomalee protested for the release of all lands under Sri Lankan military occupation, in a demonstration to mark International Human Rights Day today.

Protesters slammed claims from various state sources that 90% of land in the North-East had been returned, asserting that the claims were false.

A local government official in Mullaitivu is facing disciplinary proceedings for using his position to target a former LTTE cadre and another individual.

The official, a village officer (grama sevakar) within the Thunukkai division was accused of abuse of power, acting on personal likes and dislikes, revenge, and irregular use of state funds.

The targeted victims initially lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission Sri Lanka (HRCSL) at its district office in Vavuniya.

The Commission carried out more than two direct investigations and also received copious evidence from the victims.

Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves continued to fall this month as the political crisis in Colombo continues.

Forex reserves reportedly fell by 884.9 million US dollars in November 2018, to 7,018.38 million dollars, though the data does not include forex reserves released through swap agreements to maintain a peg or transactions with the Treasury.

The latest fall comes amidst measures taken by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka including cutting the statutory reserve ratio and injecting an estimated 90 billion rupees of cash at zero interest rate into the banking system.

Economy Next reported:

President Maithripala Sirisena, Ranil Wickremesinghe and Mahinda Rajapaksa are all racists and whoever comes to power will not advance the Tamil people, the Democratic People's Congress leader and former minister under Mahinda Rajapaksa, Prabha Ganesan has said.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Mannar District Office of Democratic People's Congress, Ganesan questioned what the so-called good-governance government had done for the Tamil people.

The Norwegian government has partnered with UNDP Sri Lanka and agreed to support projects on “Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions”, in an announcement this week.

The USD $1.5 million partnership will see Norway reportedly “select policymaking and oversight structures to perform core functions for improved accountability and inclusivity, provide marginalized and vulnerable communities increased and equitable access to justice,” according to a report in Lanka Business Online.

Supporters of Mahinda Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party held a rally in Mannar on Friday.

Participants in the rally in Mannar town called for a general election, and said a new government was needed to address the development needs of Mannar district.