A Tamil man from Mannar has been arrested by the Terrorism Investigation Department, the Uthayan reported.

Thangathurai Jeyins, 38, attended a court hearing, when he was arrested and taken to Vavuniya, his wife told the paper.

She said that Sri Lankan intelligence officers in a letter told her that he was arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and needed to be rehabilitated due to his membership of the LTTE 20 years ago.

Sri Lanka has been appointed to chair the Meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). The country was proposed to the 118 high contracting parties by the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), who selected Sri Lanka to represent the bloc.

Sri Lanka's ambassador to the UN, Ravinath Ariyasinhe expressed appreciation for the faith put in Sri Lanka by the group and said their acceptance showed the government's commitment to the UN's multi-lateral system.

"I am deeply humbled by the confidence placed in Sri Lanka, and the recognition of Sri Lanka's contribution to the field of disarmament over many decades - through the the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace initiative, the Conference on Disarmament (CD), the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA), the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and particularly since the ending of the terrorist conflict by its comprehensive demining programme, a key focus area of the CCW," he said.

Sri Lanka says it is still considering ways to release the five Tamil Nadu fishermen who were sentenced to death for drug trafficking.

“The process is being discussed at the highest levels and the issue is being looked at from all angles. A decision may be taken in a day or two,” presidential spokesperson Mohan Samaranayake told The New Indian Express on Friday.

“One of the options discussed is a staggered process beginning with the commutation of the death sentence to life imprisonment, followed by repatriation to India under the 2010 bilateral agreement on the transfer of sentenced prisoners, and then lastly, setting them free through a presidential pardon,” Samaranayake said.

A group of Eelam Tamil refugees and a Malaysian citizen have commenced a hunger strike, after being quarantined and charged with a range of offences at a refugee camp in Tiruchirapalli, India.

The group of 26 people, which includes 25 refugees who have fled from Sri Lanka and a Malaysian citizen, are being charged with illegal entry into India and for being associated with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a banned organisation in the country.

The hunger strikers have called for the cases against them to be completed as soon as possible.

A South Korea Destroyer and Combat Support Ship docked at Colombo port this week, where they were ceremoniously greeted by the Sri Lankan navy.

The Sri Lankan president accused Norway of funding the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Tamil Eelam during the three-decade ethnic conflict reports Colombo Page.

Speaking at a function in Kurunegala on Sunday, Mahinda Rajapaksa, alleged that the government had received evidence suggesting the former Norwegian government’s involvement in funding the LTTE.

The Sri Lankan president said that the Norwegian government and peace envoy, Eric Solheim, had discouraged him from pursuing a military solution, reports Colombo Page.

The Sri Lankan government has announced Rs 45.5 million got welfare grants to disabled soldiers and their children from the military.

The grants, which were organised by the Ranawiru Seva Authority (RSA) were presented by the Secretary of Defence, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa at a ceremony on November 14.

The ceremony was also attended by General Jagath Jayasuriya. See more here.

A land survey carried out by military personnel in the Vettrilaikeni Kattaikadu Mulli region and Vadamarachchi East was halted on Thursday morning, after locals protested against further land grabs.

The surveyors arrived in the morning together with a large number of police officers.

"More than 3 acres of land were going to be surveyed today in Vadamaratchi East, Vettrilaikenu]i Kattaikadu Mulli region for military use, without land owners knowing," Northern Provincial Council member P. Gajatheepan told Uthayan.

2nd lead

The murder weapon used to shoot dead a former LTTE policeman at his home in Mannar on Wednesday night was found by sniffer dogs in Vellankulam on Friday morning, 200m away from the site of the shooting.

The victim, 34 year old Naguleshwaran Krishnasuwamy was in his own backyard working towards constructing his own home on Wednesday night, when unidentified gunmen entered his house and shot him at 8.30pm.