“I find it very disturbing that a country whose independent history is rooted in the struggle for democratic rights and free speech should have taken what is, in effect, an act of overt political censorship”.

Members of the military are demanding information from the Divisional Secretariats about the people who reported to the presidential commission on the disappeared in Jaffna,  reported the Uthayan newspaper.

The Buddhist organisation Sinhala Ravaya has called off its campaign to ban the slaughter of cattle in Sri Lanka after President Mahinda Rajapaksa assured that necessary action will be taken to address the issues raised.

Three monks from the organisation started a fast-unto-death, which turned out not to last that long, after the presidential intervention.

The Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council, CV Wigneswaran has told the BBC in an interview that the Tamil people feel very strongly about accountability and that’s why the NPC passed a motion calling for an international probe into war crimes.

Asked by Charles Haviland on his views about the president, the Chief Minister was reluctant to answer, but said that the perception the Tamil people have is that the "majority community" does not want the NPC to work due to “a far more deep-seated attitude”.

See below for response given by Wigneswaran when asked for his view on the NPC resolution passed last month, and the rest of the interview.

CVW:  You see that is the feeling of the people. Every person who has lost somebody in that war feels very strongly about it. There must be some sort of a judicial inquiry into this and those who have done wrong must be brought to book. So it is easy to say, "well, it is all in the past why are you worried about the past". No. everything that has been done, if it has been done deliberately, you can’t say, a person can’t be heard to say, "well I murdered somebody, but then now that is of the past let’s forget about it", no you can’t. So it’s in that spirit that the people, people’s representatives, wanted a resolution to be passed.

CH:  Obviously you meet the president regularly, how is your relationship with the president and to what extent do you see him as a man that wants you to have appropriate powers or do you feel he is really representative of a government that just wants to keep all the powers for itself and mistrusts the idea of devolving power to the north?

CVW:  You are trying to put me against the president..

CH:  No I’m asking…

TNA MP Suresh Premachandran stated that the Sri Lankan government was trying to 'Sinhalise' the whole island, as he condemned the government’s grabbing of traditional Tamil land in the North-East.

According to a report in the Uthayan, Premachandran compared stated that Tamil people were having their land taken against their will, with the help of the armed forces and at many times at gun point. He went on to state the government was attempting to ‘Sinhalise’ the whole island, comparing the situation to that of the Chinese in Tibet and the Jews in Palestine.

At the 28th excavation of the Mannar mass grave more remains have been unearthed, resulting in a total of 77 bodies so far.

The 29th excavation is set to take place tomorrow.

See more from the Uthayan here.

Also see our earlier post:

The Congress party in Puducherry has called for all Tamils from the island of Sri Lanka who are staying in India to be deported, in the aftermath of a decision to free those alleged to be behind the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

According to a report by Outlook India magazine, former Chief Minister and Leader of the opposition V Vaithilingam told reporters,

"All Sri Lankan Tamils staying in India should be deported".