Sri Lankan police have said that access to an ancient Tamil temple in the Vavuniya district would not be restricted as previously announced, but that the land on which the temple is situated would still be under the control of Sri Lanka’s Archaeology Department.

After warning locals that the Aathi Aiyanar temple on Vedukkunari Malai in the Nedunkeni-Olumadu area was off-limits and that trespassers risked arrest, Nedunkeni police clarified on Sunday that the temple could still be accessed by worshippers and visitors.

Sri Lanka's election monitor, People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) said today that the coalition government did not have the political will to hold provincial council elections, highlighting the lack of agreement on the holding of the elections between coalition partners. 

Eastern Provincial Council in the North-East, along side Sabaragamuwa and North Central provincial councils, has been under the authority of commissioners following the end of its term last September. 

The Northern Provincial Council's term of office will 
end this October along side Central and Wayamba provinces. 

Speaking at the opening ceremony of an Indian housing scheme on Sunday, which sees 10,000 homes handed over to the predominantly of Indian origin Tamils in Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka's prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe made a point of saying that these Tamils had not called for a separate state like Tamils in the North.

“We launched the Suwaseriya Ambulance service all over the country, while the Mahatma Gandhi Housing Scheme, opened today in Nuwara Eliya, had brought equality to all people in the estate sector. People in the plantation sector did not have villages and a house of their own like other people elsewhere,” Mr Wickremesinghe said.

The US State Department today announced it would be providing approximately $39 million in Foreign Military Financing for Sri Lanka, pending approval from Congress.

"We look forward to discussing with the Government of Sri Lanka how this contribution can support our Bay of Bengal initiative and Sri Lanka’s humanitarian assistance and disaster response priorities," the US embassy said in a statement.

The decision to grant the additional funds comes despite ongoing criticism from Tamils and human rights groups on impunity for mass atrocities committed by the Sri Lankan military and on the military's involvement in civilian affairs. 

Sri Lankan police have established a special phone line for the public to call and give information on 'Ava gang' which the police say is operating in the North, Hiru News reports. 

The Senior DIG in the Northern province, Roshan Dernando claimed that all information would be kept confidential. 

The phone line comes amid increased arrests by Sri Lankan police of Tamil youth over accusations of involvement in gang violence. 

Sri Lanka's president, Maithripala Sirisena has appointed a committee to study the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed with Singapore in January after the Joint Opposition this week reiterated its threat of legal action against it. 

A five member committee was appointed yesterday, the Sunday Times reports. Read more here. 

Sri Lanka's president, Maithripala Sirisena this week summoned former military commanders in order to write a 'history' of the end of the armed conflict, the Sunday Times reported. 

Stating that "no proper historic record" existed, Mr Sirisena made the commanders swear to secrecy about the project, the paper said. 

The former defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and the former army commander in May 2009, Sarath Fonseka, were notably absent. 

Read more here. 
 

Sri Lanka's prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe claimed today that reconciliation was taking place in Sri Lanka as a result of visits by the Sinhala people to the North and Tamil people to the South. 

“Many Sinhalese from the South are increasingly visiting the North, especially the Nagadeepa Vihara and Naga Vihara, while many from the North are visiting the South particularly to see what Colombo looks like,” Mr Wickremesinghe was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying at the launch event of a housing scheme in Nuwara Eliya. 

“These visits are gradually becoming a mode of reconciliation. Northern and Southern people are more reconciled today than in the past,” he added. 

Sri Lankan troops who took part in the the US-led Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) navy exercise for the first time, have returned to the island.

Sri Lanka was invited to join the exercise, alongside twenty-five other states, despite concerns regarding Sri Lankan troops having committed human rights abuses. During the final phase of the armed conflict tens of thousands of Tamil were massacred by a Sri Lankan military offensive, which saw widespread shelling of civilian centres, including schools and hospitals. To date, there has been no accountability mechanism to deal with the reports of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Sri Lanka’s archaeology department declared that a large swathe of land in Nedunkeni, where a Hindu temple is situated, has now come under their control and warned locals that it is now off limits.