Gotabaya Rajapaksa has visited Jaffna and during his visit emphasised that he would support economic development in the north but failed to comment on political demands made by Tamil political parties.

The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), the largest party of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), has announced its decision to endorse Sajith Premadasa in the upcoming Sri Lankan presidential candidate, despite the candidate refusing to engage with demands put forward by Tamil parties.

Speaking in Vavuniya today, TNA spokesperson M A Sumanthiran said the decision to back Premadasa had been made unanimously by ITAK but that TNA leader R Sampanthan would communicate with the other constituent parties of the alliance to reach a decision.

Sri Lanka’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)announced that daily commercial flights between Jaffna and Chennai will commence from November 10. 

Alliance Air, an Indian airline,  will operate seven flights a week from Chennai to Jaffna International Airport.  Jaffna International was officially opened on October 17 by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The New Democratic Front is (NDF) was formed on Friday with several parties, including a component of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) backed by former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, to support presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa. 

The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said that the Philippines is studying the eradication of insurgency in Sri Lanka, Colombo Gazette reported.

Shobini Gunasekera, the ambassador designate of Sri Lanka met with Teodoro L. Locosin Jr, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Philippines.

An activist for Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), the largest party of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), has been summoned for questioning by Sri Lankan’s terrorism investigation division (TID).

Peter Ilancheliyan, a prominent member of ITAK’s youth wing and son of the late former deputy chair of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) Anthony Jeyanathan, is the fourth Mullaitivu-based individual to be summoned for questioning in recent weeks.

The British High Commission in Colombo has announced that the UK and Sri Lanka have conducted a joint disaster relief exercise despite concerns raised over human rights abuses committed by Sri Lanka’s army.

The news follows earlier reports that Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) had conducted training with Sri Lankan troops in Trincomalee in two weeks ago. 

Today marks twelve years since S. P. Thamilselvan, the head of the political wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was assassinated by the Sri Lankan air force (SLAF).

On November 2, 2007 Sri Lankan air force jets carried out a strike on a residence of members of the LTTE's political division. Five other LTTE officials - Lt. Col. Anpumani (Alex), Major Mikuthan, Major Nethaaji, Lt. Aadchiveal and Lt. Maavaikkumaran - were killed alongside Brigadier Thamilselvan, in the attack.

The assassination came as the Sri Lankan government ramped up its military offensive in the Tamil homeland. Brigadier Thamilchelvan was a member of the LTTE negotiating team that took part in peace talks with the Sri Lankan government in 2002 and 2003, becoming the Chief Negotiator after the death of Anton Balasingham.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' (OHCHR) report into Sri Lanka's atrocities (OISL) noted that Sri Lanka's military killed the LTTE's political head before it officially withdrew from the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) in 2008. It noted that the attack was preceded by a military budget that "had reportedly risen by 40 percent and the Army had tripled in size from 100,000 to 300,000, with almost an additional 5,000 troops recruited per month between 2005 and 2008". 

At least 13 Tamils,  including 11 men and 2 women between the ages of 21 and 44, were briefly arrested and held by Sri Lankan authorities in the west coastal district of Chilaw under suspicions that they were going to board a boat to Australia, as they fled from the island to seek asylum.

Senaratne Edirinsinghe, Sri Lanka's Chilaw police investigations chief, reported that the 13 individuals had eventually been released as they were arrested at the Far Inn guesthouse and there was little evidence to charge them under immigration law.