Sri Lankan police hesitate to uphold President’s order by failing to keep Sinhalese Buddhist encroachers away from Tamil livestock farmers’ land in Batticaloa. The order was made after a new Buddhist statute was erected under the leadership of notorious Buddhist monk Ampittiya Sumanarathna Thero, in the Mayilathamadu Madhavanai area of Batticaloa.

In a video tweeted on X on Saturday, Ampittiya Sumanarathna Thero is seen rebelling against and violently resisting a police officer attempting to stop the monk:

This weekend marked the 36th year since the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) massacred Tamil hospital staff and patients at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital. A commemoration event remembering the victims of the massacre took place on Saturday at the Hospital.

At least 68 civilians, including 21 medical personnel, were killed by Indian troops as they stormed the hospital building on the 21 and 22 October 1987, throwing grenades and firing indiscriminately at staff and patients. The building had been shelled by artillery before the raid.

Protests calling for an end to the mass killings of Palestinian civilians by Israel armed forces took place opposite of Central Jaffna Bus Stand, Jaffna on Saturday.

Comparing the May 2009 mass killings that Tamils in the North-East were subjected to and which the Sri Lankan state remains accused of, to the present situation of the Palestinians in Gaza, TNPF leader and MP Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam accused Sri Lankan ministers of being hypocritical in calling for UN intervention in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Image courtesy of @awanthaartigala on Twitter.com

The Committee to Protect Journalists has joined the many voices that have come forward to highlight the dangers to democracy that the Anti-Terrorism Bill and the Online Safety Bill pose. Their statement insists that the government should withdraw the bills to protect democratic values in the country. 

A hartal has taken place across the Mullaitivu district today, protesting against the intimidation of a Tamil judge who was forced to resign and flee the island last month.

The hartal was initiated due to the resignation of Mullaitivu Judge, T. Saravanarajah. The Judge had resigned from all his posts due to the threats that had been issued against him and the pressure for him to change his verdict regarding the Kurunthurmalai archeological site. As an extension of these demands, Tamil politicians demanded that the independence of the judiciary be preserved, and highlighted the ramifications of the ongoing Sinhala colonisation project of the North-East that is being carried out by the state. 

The 23rd anniversary of the murder of Tamil journalist, Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, was commemorated at the Jaffna Press Club and at the Vavuniya Press Club on October 19th. Nimalarajan was one of the few independent reporters in the Tamil homeland who contributed to both local and international press. Nimalarajan’s murderers, who shot him to death in his house in a high-security zone, are yet to be prosecuted. 

Seeing success in every feature since his 2017 debut ‘Maanagaram,’ Kanagaraj has quickly become a directorial darling in Tamil cinema, featuring acting titans of the industry in his last three films. Kanagaraj joins hands once again with actor Vijay, following their 2021 film ‘Master,’ for one of the most highly anticipated releases of the year ‘Leo.’ Unfortunately, the film fails to live up to expectations. 

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Agriculture called for further police intelligence officers to be deployed to the already military-occupied Jaffna district, in order to arrest a “gang” that is reportedly extorting local farmers in the region.

The University of Jaffna has appointed a committee to investigate reported attempts to remove the reconstructed Mullivaikkal monument, according to an article in the Uthayan this week.

The monument, which was dedicated to the tens of thousands of Tamils killed in the genocidal offensive at the end of the armed conflict in 2009, was originally constructed in 2019.