^{Photograph: A UK mercenary pictured training Sri Lankan soldiers in the 1980s. JDS Lanka}

Britain’s Foreign Office plans to shred dozens more files about its relationship with Sri Lanka, in addition to the hundreds of diplomatic it has already destroyed, writes Phil Miller in JDS Lanka this week.

“I found, from British air force files that had survived the shredder, that a senior British intelligence officer made two visits to Sri Lanka in 1979 to advise how to deal with the Tamil militancy,” writes Miller. “In 1980, a British special forces training team visited Sri Lanka to help set up an army commando unit.”

<p>A Tamil school student has been attacked and hospitalised after reporting to Sri Lankan police about illegal drug dealing in his local area.</p> <p>The student informed police about activity in his local area when police visited his school to raise awareness about the illegal drug trade and ways to report it.</p> <p>The police used the student’s information to arrest two individuals, following which the student was repeatedly harassed and threatened by local drug dealers.</p> <p>Although awareness and complaints were raised about the threats, no action was taken.</p>

<p>The father of one of the Tamil students gunned down in the infamous ‘Trinco 5’ massacre has spoken of how despite the Sri Lankan government’s intransigence, he will continue his struggle for justice more than 13 years after the killings.</p> <p>“The current Government promised me, when they met me in Geneva, that a hybrid court would be established,” said Dr Manoharan, the father of 20-year-old Ragihar,&nbsp;summarily executed by Sri Lanka's Special Task Force, whilst he spent an afternoon with friends on the beach in Trincomalee..</p> <p>“But later, they said the President and Attorney General said no to a hybrid court.”</p>

Sri Lankan police have arranged security to guard an illegally-built Buddha statue while a court injunction on its construction remains in place.

Submissions on the legality of the statue encroaching a Hindu temple in Neeraviyadi, Semmalai were heard by the Mullaitivu magistrates court last week. The case was adjourned to February 12, until which time an injunction was placed on any construction work on the premises.

Employees of Vavuniya urban council held a strike on Friday, protesting the unnecessary and aggressive intrusion of United National Party (UNP) supporters into their duties.

Council workers had been instructed by the council chair to clear unauthorised and outdated posters, including political ones, from public spaces.

As concerns over military involvement in civilian activity in the North-East continue, the Sri Lankan military handed out accessories to Tamil schoolchildren in Poonakari last week, taking charge of an initiative that was begun by Jaffna University students.

The Sri Lankan air force announced that it had held a golf tournament earlier this month, at a luxury gulf resort in Trincomalee which is run entirely by the military.

The announcement of the tournament comes as Tamils across the North-East continue their calls for the military to vacate land in the region and cease involvement in civilian activities.

<p>Civil society groups working on issues in the North-East have written to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressing concern over the Sri Lankan government’s pledges to implement a UN resolution and called for the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on the issue.</p> <p>Noting that the Sri Lankan government had pledged to implement a UN resolution that “supported the establishment of a special court with international participation,” the organisations said that it has since “been proactively and deliberately abandoned by the Sri Lankan State”.</p>

Families of the disappeared in Vavuniya today urged the United Nations to ensure Sri Lanka was referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its genocide of Tamils. 

Holding a demonstration in Vavuniya calling for justice and for answers over the tens of thousands of Tamils who were disappeared, families expressed anger and a feeling of betrayal over the current government's failure to fulfil its pledges. 

 

Families of the disappeared in Amparai yesterday held a demonstration and signature campaign, demanding answers over the unearthing of hundreds of skeletons at a mass grave in Mannar. 

"Tell us the truth about the skeletons excavated in Mannar and who those people are," demanded protesters as they marched from the 'Office for the Families of the Disappeared in Thirukkovil' to Amparai clock tower.