The Sri Lankan army has formed a new corps for Agriculture and Livestock under the army’s existing Directorate of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL), as militarisation becomes rampant in the public sphere and amidst attacks on Tamil farmers.

Accused war criminal Shavendra Silva, attended an event where he signed into the order the formation of the Corps of Agriculture and Livestock earlier this month. The newly raised unit is set to focus on collaborating with ‘all agrarian stakeholders’ in its effort towards ‘nation-building tasks’. The DAL has previously used ‘army lands’ to cultivate a variety of crops across plantations. A report released by the South Asian Centre for Legal Studies (SACLS) detailed the ‘deepening consequences’ of the continuous military occupation of civilian spaces which curtail local economic development, particularly in the North-East.

In an unprecedented show of unity, major Tamil political leaders, Tamil civil society actors and Tamil victim community representatives have signed a statement declaring that there is "no scope" for a domestic accountability mechanism within Sri Lanka and jointly called for an international accountability process, including a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Reconstruction of a memorial that was destroyed by authorities last week has begun at the University of Jaffna this morning.

A banner has been hosted at the site of the demolished memorial, which reads ‘Mullivaikkal Ninaivu Mattram’ – or Mullivaikkal memorial monument.

Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, Prime Minister of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), urged the government of Tamil Nadu to build a monument commemorating the Mullivaikkal massacre in a recent webinar.

In a digital gathering convened as a mark of protest against the demolition of the Mullivaikkal memorial monument in Jaffna University, Rudrakumaran said that Chennai should erect a monument in the Marina Beach, a prominent landmark in the capital. In a further appeal, he requested the government to declare May 18 as the 'Global Tamils' Mourning Day'.

The Sri Lankan navy has stepped up land grab operations in Pungudutivu, a coastal island off the Jaffna peninsula.

Earlier this year the navy attempted to expropriate 14 acres of publicly owned land, including land occupied by the Malayadi Nachimar Temple with the permission of the Velanai Divisional Secretary, for the Kottayam navy camp.

The soil in the area is known to be the most fertile region in Pungudutivu.

A cinema theatre in Jaffna has been shut down for at least 14 days, after an early morning screening of Vijay’s latest ‘Master’ movie drew complaints from Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Health.

Fans began gathering for Vijay’s newest movie at midnight, all eager to catch the morning screening when doors opened. However, fans failed to adhere to social distancing and were reportedly shoving past each other to get to the front of the ticket line.

<p>Amnesty International called the acquittal of Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, alias Pillayan, over the assassination of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP a "failure of justice".&nbsp;</p> <p>The rights group <u><a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/01/sri-lanka-collapse-of-jo…">responded </a></u>to the decision by Sri Lanka's Attorney General Department to drop the charges against the suspects involved in the murder of Joseph Pararajasingham:</p> <blockquote><p>

British politicians from across the political spectrum praised the Tamil community for their contribution to life in the United Kingdom in their Thai Pongal wishes. 

Boris Johnson, the UK's prime minister, thanked the British Tamil community for their contribution towards the coronavirus pandemic response in the country. 

During his Thai Pongal message, Sam Tarry, MP for Ilford South, has expressed his concern over the detonating human rights situation in Sri Lanka for Tamils and Muslims and has called for sanctions against Sri Lankan officials accused by the UN of war crimes.

In its Word Report 2021, Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticised the worsening human rights situation in Sri Lanka and called on the international community to speak out to prevent a return to "the bad old days of rampant human rights violations".

Justice and accountability