Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera has denounced a letter that has been circulating on social media calling for the suspension of Sri Lanka's Defence Attache to London as “fake”.

In a tweet on Thursday, Mr Samaraweera said the letter was produced by the “Rajapaksa clan” and said it had been reported to the CID to “bring the perpetrators to justice”.

A TNPF candidate in Vadamarachchi was assaulted on Wednesday night.

K. Kiritharan, a candidate for the Vadamarachchi South West divisional council (prathesa sabai) was attacked on Wednesday night and hospitalised with head injuries.

Tamil first year students studying at southern universities have reported harassment from Sinhalese seniors who are preventing them from going home to vote.

The Tamil students said that they were being targeted for extreme ‘ragging’ by senior Sinhalese students who were harassing them and preventing them from going to their home districts to vote in the local elections.

The MP for Kingston and Surbiton, Ed Davey on Thursday joined fellow UK parliamentarians in calling for Sri Lanka's Defence Attache to be expelled after he was filmed making a throat slitting gesture to Tamils protesting in London. 

In a letter to the foreign secretary, Mr Davey said, "I share the view that you should withdraw Brigadier Priyanka Fernando's diplomatic papers and immediately expel him from this country". 

Describing the incident, Mr Davey said the gesture "was clearly meant to intimidate the British Tamils who were peacefully protesting."

Sri Lankan ministers today came out in support of Brigadier Priyanka Fernando, the country's Defence Attache to London who was filmed making a throat slitting gesture to Tamils protesting outside the Sri Lankan High Commission on Sunday, just days after his suspension was revoked by the Sri Lankan president. 

Sri Lanka's State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene praised Brigadier Fernando for giving what he described as the "right signal the pro-LTTE diaspora". 

“My preference is for Brigadier Fernando as he had given the right signal to pro LTTE Diaspora,” Mr Wijewardene was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying. 

The Sri Lankan army commander on Wednesday rejected the possibility of an inquiry into the country's Defence Attache, Brigadier Priyanka Fernando, after he was filmed making a throat slitting gesture to Tamil protesters, claiming that he had only been explaining that the LTTE leader had been 'taken care of' by the military. 

"On the day of the incident the protesters who were carrying LTTE flags had shouted slogans against the Sri Lankan government and sung songs in praise of Prabhakaran," Commander Mahesh Senananayake said. 

The Sri Lankan military will be deployed to 155 “vulnerable points” during the upcoming local government elections with thousands of troops awaiting on standby, reports the Daily News.

Sri Lankan Military Spokesperson Brigadier Sumith Atapattu said 855 security personnel would be deployed from today onwards, though it is unclear where the “vulnerable” points are.

In addition to the hundreds of troops to be deployed, a further 6,200 would be kept “on standby” said the spokesperson “to respond to any situation as required”.

A Sri Lankan court has issued yet another remand to two Tamils accused of sharing a Facebook post with ‘LTTE symbols’.

BBC Sinhala reported that the two Tamil men, both residents of Ratnapura, were detained after a complaint was lodged with Sri Lanka’s Terrorist Investigation Department, after they shared posts on social media.

The two men are now to be further remanded until February 21. Bail was denied.

The Sri Lankan army has announced that yet another contingent of troops will leave on a United Nations peacekeeping mission later this month.

The British prime minister this week appointed the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Sri Lanka, MP Jayawardena as a new trade envoy to Sri Lanka. 

The role would be 'to support and enhance the development of Britain's trade and investment with Sri Lanka', the government said in a statement. 

His appointment was welcomed by the UK High commissioner to Sri Lanka, James Dauris. 

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