Thousands in Norway marked Maaveerar Naal on Sunday,as Tamils across the world remembered their fallen heroes.

Tamil Guardian sat down with Spokesperson for the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and MP, M. A. Sumanthiran at his home in Colombo last week to discuss matters of the constitution, transitional justice and the budget.

The full transcript of the hour-long interview (with minor edits) is available here.

On the Constitution

The Sri Lankan president, Maithripala Sirisena, oversaw the meeting of the National Buddhist think tank on Wednesday. 

The meeting included discussions on developing Privena education, building institutions for novice monks, establishing a Theravada Buddhist cnetre and launching an international festival to mark Vesak in 2017. 

See more here. 

Sri Lanka's cabinet this week approved the construction of two wind power plants of 10 megawatts each in Chunnakam, in the North-East. 

“The government has paid its attention on generating a larger portion of electricity requirement by renewable energy sources and it is proposed to establish solar and wind power plants,” the cabinet statement was quoted by LBO as saying. 

See here for more. 

A series of commemorations events took places across Australia on Sunday, as Tamils across the country came together to mark Maaveerar Naal and remember the lives sacrificed for the liberation of the Tamil homeland.

Thousands of people in five different locations across the country - Syndey, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne - held memorial events in line with Eelam Tamils across the world.

See photos from the events below.

A group of 11 Tamils who were detained in Jaffna by Sri Lanka’s counter-terrorism police have been granted bail by a court in Colombo on Wednesday.

The Tamils were arrested by the Terrorism Investigation Division for allegedly with committing offences under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). They have been granted bail in two sureties, worth one million rupees for each suspect. 

Reports indicate that the initial charges of violating the PTA would be dropped and instead the group would be tried for money laundering.

Student commemorations of Maaveerar Naal were held at the University College London, led by Tamil Youth Organisation UK last Wednesday.

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) led by Sirisena would not agree to a federal set-up in the new Constitution said senior minister of transport, Nimal Siripala de Silva this week. 

Addressing reporters in Kandy, Mr. De Silva stated clearly, "[t]here are three things that our party believes very strongly in the current constitutional reform process...The position for Buddhism must not be diluted, the unitary character of the state must be preserved and there cannot be a federal system."

The Sri Lanka government earlier this month gazetted a new "List of Designated Persons" under Regulation 4(7) of UN Regulation No. 1 of 2012, removing 69 names from the list last amended in November 20, 2015. 

In March 2014, the Sri Lankan government proscribed 424 individuals and 16 Tamil diaspora organisations, alleging they had links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). 

Sri Lanka's defence secretary, Karunasena Hettiarachchi called for investigations into events in the North-East marking Maaveerar Naal or Tamil national remembrance day over recent days. 

Mr Hettiarachchi said the law and order ministry and police should lead the investigation at a media briefing in Colombo on Tuesday. 

See here.