Sri Lanka’s former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa once more vowed to release Sri Lankan troops accused of rights abuses and pledged to ensure the end of “foreign... interference” as he launched his election manifesto for next month’s presidential polls on Friday.

Rajapaksa claimed that his government had taken steps “to pardon, rehabilitate and release 13,784 Tiger members who surrendered with arms” and lamented how that process was not in place for Sri Lankan soldiers accused of war crimes.

Sri Lanka’s security forces received intelligence that an attack was due to take place on Easter Sunday but may have allowed it to proceed in order to “create chaos and instil fear” ahead of presidential elections, said a parliamentary select committee report this week.

The report which was presented to Sri Lanka’s parliament on Wednesday, found that though members of the security apparatus, including chief of the State Intelligence Service Nilantha Jayawardena, received information on possible attacks more than a fortnight before the bombings, there were delays in sharing the intelligence.

Kalaiyarasi Kanagalingam, a 14-year-old survivor of Mullivaikkal, spoke about the last memory of her father and the importance of Tamil genocide recognition at a conference hosted at the Houses of Parliament and attended by several senior British politicians and international legal experts on Thursday.

Read her full speech to the conference below.

On Thursday, the APPGT (All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils) hosted it's first-ever conference on Tamil Genocide Recognition in the Houses of Parliament were politicians from across the political spectrum voiced their support in obtaining justice and accountability for the massacres of Tamils.

The conference was well attended by MPs from all major political parties, including the leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn, the former Conservative party leader, Iain Duncan Smith, and the Deputy Leader of the Liberal-Democrats, Sir Ed Davey. The conference also featured a number of eminent academic and legal experts including a panel featuring former UN Assistant-Secretary General Charles Petrie, former UN Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights Ben Emmerson QC, current Member of Canadian parliament Gary Anandasangaree, and head of Together against Genocide, Jan Jananayagam. 

The 32nd anniversary of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) massacre was marked at the Jaffna Hospital, with staff and family members holding a commemorative ceremony this week.

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

Human skeletal remains have been uncovered in Mullaitivu this week, in yet another discovery of potential graves in the North-East.

The remains were found in the Swaddapuram area in Puthukudiyiruppu, Mullaitivu.

US officials have threatened to curtail security operations with Sri Lanka following the appointment of war criminal, Shavendra Silva, as army chief back in August.

The official in charge of human rights at the State Department, Robert Destro, responded to Silva’s appoint by stating;

The deafening din of explosions; chaotic coughs through the black smoke; mechanical murmurs of invading tanks, as the international community looks away. The indigenous civilians of the land - retreating in tears. Forced to leave their homes without the remains of loved ones, for family members and martyrs are not distinct. Through their pain, they strive to survive clutching to the dream, that the homeland they loved was not lost. As they navigate the forced disorder, they maintain the belief that the oasis they had built will not be drained. Does this tragedy sound familiar?

Senior Sri Lankan navy commanders are complicit in serious crimes including torture, disappearances and murders, revealed a new report by the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) on Wednesday.

Tamil families of the disappeared protested in Jaffna on Tuesday, calling for the arrest of former defence secretary and presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Chanting the slogan “where are our children?”, the families called for Rajapaksa to be taken before the International Criminal Court to answer for their forcibly disappeared relatives.