Devotees will be required to present proof of identity to enter the Nallur Kandasamy temple in Jaffna, the Sri Lankan police announced as the temple’s annual festival – thiruvizha – begins.

“All arrangements for the festival have been completed. All devotees visiting the temple will only be authorised to enter the temple by showing a piece of identity at a special check point set up on the temple premises’’ stated Jaffna police.

 It was further added that individuals from overseas would need to present an isolation certificate to be able to enter the temple.

A controversial immigration removal centre (IRC) in Lincolnshire, UK is to be shut down. The site called Morton Hall which has seen numerous deaths in recent times will be converted to a prison once more, as it was between the years 1985 and 2011 when accommodating female convicts.

The detention centre is currently managed by the prison service for the Home Office, and is frequently criticised for its harsh regulations and its isolated setting. 

“The fact that this place is closing is a huge thing,” said Janahan Sivanathan, a Tamil law student and refugee who was held at Morton Hall for 5 months.

Sri Lankan police recovered 14 motor bombs in the area of Omanthai, Vavuniya last week.

A resident in the area noticed suspicious objects in the well, and informed the Omanthai police.

Following this lead, the police and Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) troops retrieved and defused the 14 motor bombs. 

Since the end of the bloody war in 2009, there have been several findings of this kind in the North-East.

The Ceylon Communist Unity Centre (CCUC) urged people to use the upcoming parliamentary elections to vote against and “prevent Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and the forces aligned with it” coming into power.

The CCUC stressed the importance of exercising the right of ballot to prevent SLPP from achieving the two-thirds majority it needs in the upcoming parliamentary elections to amend the constitution.

The Mannar families of the disappeared association secretary, Sharmila Madutheen urged the future parliamentarians that be elected from the upcoming parliamentary election to “seek immediate justice for the missing persons”.

“While these canvass efforts are supposedly putting pressure on the state, these campaign promises should not simply be about winning votes in the election, but ultimately also about finding a solution for those of us who are mourning the loss of our children and husband and not given answers for their whereabouts,” she said.  

Special Task Force (STF) and police officers took photographs of devotees and intimidated them with their heavy presence at the Pongal event held at the old Semmalai Neeraviyadi Pillaiyar temple in Mullaitivu, yesterday.

The presence of police and state investigators intimidated devotees as they took photographs of everyone who came to the temple, including the priest, the temple administration and all devotees.

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) supporters in Mannar attempted to assault Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Vanni candidate Senthilnathan Mayuran, while he was campaigning on Thursday.

Mayuran, who was campaigning in Uyilankulam, Mannar ahead of the parliamentary elections on August 5^th, was intercepted by the SLPP supporters. After recognising Mayuran as a TNA candidate, the supporters attempted to assault him in his car.

A petition submitted by former member of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC), Ambika Satkunanathan challenging the presidential pardon granted to a Sri Lankan soldier convicted for the ‘Mirusuvil massacre’, has been fixed for support on 24 September 2020.

Former Prime Minister and United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremasinghe claimed that “only the UNP can strengthen the home economy and requested the people to elect an UNP government,” according to ColomboPage.

On the 1250^th day of continuous protests in Vavuniya, the families of the disappeared initiated a rotating hunger strike in protest at the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) failure to champion their issue.

 ‘‘We have been fighting for the last 1250 days. We have made a request to the International community to provide us with a solution. All the election parties are focussed on the elections, instead of working towards resolving our problem’’ said the protesters.