Sri Lanka will aim to have a military numbering at 150,000 said a state minister last week, as he rebuffed calls for further demilitarisation and stressed there would be “no impact on national security”.

Earlier this month, a Sri Lankan lawmaker admitted that the island is one of the most militarised places in the world, stating that there were 1.5 soldiers for every 100 citizens.

Sri Lankan soldiers stationed with the United Nations Peacekeepers in the Central African Republic were given medals earlier this month, despite their involvement in grievous human rights abuses during previous peacekeeping missions.

According to Sri Lanka’s ministry of defence, Sri Lankan troops were “glamorously” awarded medals at a ceremony on 15 November 2023.

^{Seized decorations which saw Tamils arrested under the PTA this week.}

Statements have been released by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the US, the UK, the EU and Canada today, condemning the continued use of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) as authorities detained several Tamils this week.

Tamil parliamentarian Selvarajah Kajendran confronted Sri Lankan police officers as they stormed Maaveerar Naal commemorations in Batticaloa on Monday.

Tamil Nadu parliamentarian Thamizhachi Thangapandian said she would apologise to Velupillai Prabhakaran - “the honourable Tamil national leader” – for the Mullivaikkal genocide which saw tens of thousands killed by the Sri Lankan army in 2009.

Tamils gathered in Almere, Netherlands to commemorate Maaveerar Naal.

Tamils across Germany gathered together in Dortmund to mark Maaveera Naal. 

Sri Lanka’s Energy Minister, Kanchana Wijesekara, has admitted that the country use of the oil tanks in Trincomalee hinges upon Indian approval due to an agreement signed in 2022.

Leader of the Tamil Makkal Thesiya Kootan (TMTK), CV Wigneswaran, accused Sri Lankan authorities of supporting Sinhala settlers to displace native Tamils in the North and East.

Responding to the arrest of 7 Tamils by Sri Lankan police during Maaveerar Naal commemorations, British MP Siobhain McDonagh stressed the need to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and respect the right of Tamils to remember their loved ones.  

Very concerned by the Sri Lankan govt preventing Tamil memorialisation, and the arrests of Tamils in the North-East.

They were arrested under the PTA for wanting to remember their loved ones. 

The U.K. govt must push for the repeal of the PTA and for Tamils’ right to remember