Journalists and media workers who have been killed by Sri Lankan state forces were remembered on Thursday, marking Press Freedom Day. 

A memorial event, organised by Jaffna Press Club, took place at the memorial erected for massacred media workers in Jaffna, whilst another event was organised at an art gallery in Jaffna. 

Flowers and lamps were laid in their memory. 

Sri Lanka’s president and prime minister both commemorated ‘war heroes month’ on Wednesday, where they paid tribute to Sri Lankan troops for a military offensive that saw tens of thousands of Tamil civilians killed.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka called for “political stability” on the island, as growth of the economy slowed to the lowest level in 16 years.

"Political stability is essential for sustained growth and development," the bank said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Sri Lankan government has been in increasing turmoil since this year’s local elections, which saw former president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s party making sweeping gains across the south, as the ruling parties suffered heavy losses. Tensions have increased between the Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, with the latter battling of a no confidence vote last month.

The Sri Lankan Army has built a Buddhist vihara in the occupied land of a Hindu temple in Valikamam North.

Sri Lankan soldiers station in the East had a training session n “riot control” last month, announced an official military website.

Journalists and media workers massacred by Sri Lankan state forces were remembered today at an event organised by the Uthayan newspaper. 

The leader of the Bodu Bala Sena Galagodaaththte Gnanasara, who stands accused of hate crime, conducted rituals for the State Vesak selebratiosn on this week, reports Colombo Telegraph.

The Media Department of the Buddhasasana said Gnanasara conducted the “atavisi buddha vandanava,” for the state Vesak celebrations.

Last month the leader of the Sinhala extremist organisation was invited to an official meeting with a Sri Lankan minister, which was later widely publicised on social media.

Sri Lanka’s that failure to address past abuses contributes to ongoing torture on the island, wrote Ann Hannah, Acting Director of Policy and Advocacy at Freedom from Torture in a blog post last week.

“There is a culture of impunity that has very few structures in place to challenge it, coupled by at best ambiguous political messaging about investigations and justice for past abuses,” she said.

She noted that Sri Lanka remains the top country of origin for referrals of torture survivors for her organisation, which helps provides support for victims in the UK. Despite this the British government has been criticised over its approach with Sri Lanka.

Several Tamil diaspora organizations have written to the Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations urging a response to the issues surrounding the involvement of Sri Lanka’s paramilitary police in international peacekeeping.

The request follows the release of a report by the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) that outlines the several human rights violations committed by the paramilitary police (commonly known as the Special Task Force - STF) over the course of three decades.

The South Asian Centre for Legal Studies (SACLS) released a report on the increased level of military presence in civilian life in post-war Sri Lanka.

Informed through primary research in Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Jaffna, Mannar and Vavuniya, as well as secondary data, the report outlines the military’s involvement in humanitarian relief, infrastructure development, as well as the establishment of business enterprises –such as hotels, restaurants and farms.