India has granted a 300 million rupee grant to support the renovation of the Jaffna Palaly airport which is expected to be a centre for business and tourist traffic between Sri Lanka’s North and India.

Earlier, the Indian ministry of external affairs (MEA) had stalled the development of the airport due to concerns over political instability.

Read more here: India foreign ministry hesitates over Palaly airport due to 'political climate'

The villagers of Keppapilavu who have been calling for the released of their occupied land for more than 863 days criticised Tamil politicians, stating that they have been “forsaken”. 

Speaking to reporters in Mullaitivu, where the Sri Lankan security forces have continued to occupy private Tamil land, protestors slammed leaders from the Tamil National Alliance as well as the governor of the Northern province Suren Raghavan.

Reports have emerged that the Sri Lankan army is building a vihara on occupied land in the so-called 'High Security Zone' of Valikamam North, leading residents to fear that they will not regain their lands.

A Sri Lankan soldier has died and eight others were injured in an accident in Keppapulavu, Mullaitivu on Sunday.

The military vehicle’s driver lost control after speeding round a bend in the Keppapulavu army camp area.

Three of the injured were admitted to Mullaitivu district hospital, while five were admitted to the military hospital.

The Indian government is pushing Sri Lanka to fulfil its commitments to Tamils, according to a minister responding to a question in the Lok Sabha concerning the protection of Tamil interests.

In his written response on June 10, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan emphasised that India has consistently called upon SL to fulfil its commitments and that the end of the civil war a decade ago brought a unique opportunity to provide a last peace to the island.

In the minister’s statement he writes:

The Sri Lankan army continued with its militarisation of the Tamil North-East as it handed out wheelchairs to disabled Tamil civilians in Jaffna last week.

Facebook has increased its investments in Sinhala and Tamil language experts in order to curb online hate speech and other malicious content from Sri Lanka, as attacks on Muslims have risen since the Easter Sunday bombings earlier this year.

In a press statement, a Facebook spokesperson said:

“We have invested heavily on Sinhala and Tamil language expertises as we have promised. We significantly ramped up our language expertise in Sri Lanka through hiring more experts after the Digana riots.”

Tamil families of the disappeared protested in Mannar and Jaffna on Thursday, demanding justice for their forcibly disappeared relatives.

In Mannar, families were joined by civil society members including religious leaders, in a demonstration outside the district secretariat.

Several thousand Sri Lankan soldiers attended a military talent show held at the occupying military base in Jaffna this week, as the army continued its decades-long militarisation of the region.

The Sri Lankan and Indian armies engaged in joint visits last month, with troops from both militaries touring each region as relations between them continue to grow despite reports of continued human rights abuses.