Tamil families of the disappeared marked the 40th anniversary of the burning of the Jaffna library in Vavuniya yesterday. 

“The burning of Jaffna library was tantamount to genocide against Tamils,” said Ko. Rajkumar, secretary of the organisation. 

“The burning took place in the early hours of June 1, 1981 by a mob orchestrated by Sinhala chauvinists with the support of the Sri Lankan government,” he added.  

The public vaccination program against COVID-19 began in Jaffna, on Sunday.

During a British parliamentary debate on Sri Lanka community policing, former Scottish Justice Minister and MP Kenny Macaskill,  questioned the resumption of the UK's police training in Sri Lanka and highlighted the controversial appointed Minister of Community Police Services, Dilum Amunugama.

Sriranjani Anandakumarasamy who taught English at the University of Jaffna passed away last Friday, May 28, after contracting the coronavirus. 

One of Anandakumarasamy’s family members who works at a private firm contracted the virus first, after which she was also detected positive for COVID-19 through the PCR test. 

The Sri Lankan army has been reported to be illegally fishing in a pond near Thiruketheeswaram, Mannar, owned by the Thiruketheeswaram farmers’ organisation.

In spite of the pond belonging to a private body, the army deployed in Mannar has been repeatedly fishing in it day in and day out without any permission from the owners. The pond was reported leased to an individual for a period of three months but the army's activities has caused the person great distress.

Approximately 80 families residing in Karkulam village in the Vavuniya Divisional Secretariat, who relied on daily-wage work such as construction and cutting timber for their livelihood, have been rendered jobless due to the ban on travel and pushed to the point of starvation.

Families across the North-East have report similar conditions due to the deprivation of work causing acute economic distress. 

Sri Lankan government spokesman, Keheliya Rambukwella, rebuked claims that Sri Lanka was importing garbage from Chin describing them as mere gossip.

Rambukwella made these remarks during a press conference where he further claimed that Sri Lanka was receiving its vaccine from China at a lower price than the price given to other countries.

Meeting with Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to the UK, Saroja Sirisena, Britain’s Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle reportedly spoke on the need to strengthen bilateral relations and agreed to a controversial cricket match between British and Sri Lankan parliamentarians despite concerns over human rights abuses.

The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) said the recent appointment of war time police chief to the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) "completes the militarisation of this transitional justice mechanism" and "obliterates any chance of truth and justice" for Tamil families of the disappeared.

On May 20, the Parliament Council appointed former Inspector General of Police, Hapu Arachchige Jayantha Shantha Kumara Wickremaratne as a member of the OMP. 

Australian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, David Holly called on Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday to voice support for development in Sri Lanka despite ongoing concerns over Sri Lanka’s human rights record.