<p>Two Tamil youths were arrested in connection with the burning of tyres during the hartal which took place across the Batticaloa District on Friday in protest of the appointment of former UPFA MP Hizbullah as governor of the Eastern Province.</p> <p>The youths aged 19 and 23 were arrested by Kattankudy police and were due to be produced in court.</p> <p>There were also reports of vandal attacks on Muslim-owned businesses which stayed open during the hartal.</p>

<p>Sri Lanka’s prime minister has vowed to ensure that Buddhism will continue to hold “foremost” place in the island’s constitution and denied that there had been any federal proposals for power sharing to Tamil provinces, as he presented an experts’ report on the proposals to draft&nbsp;a new constitution.</p> <p>Presenting the report Ranil Wickremesinghe declared:&nbsp;"there is no federal proposal in this. All have accepted the unitary character, although they may have different views on its terminology”.</p> <p>"There were no plans to divide the country," he added.&nbsp; "This report consists of proposals made by all parties including the chief ministers of provinces."&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Batticaloa High Court ruled last week that the confessions of the two main suspects in the murder of TNA MP Joseph Pararajasingham were made voluntarily and admissible in court.</p> <p>Judge M.Y.M. Irshadeen granted permission to the prosecution to produce the confessions of Rengasamy Kanaganayagam alias Kajan Mama and Edwin Silva Krishnanantharajah alias Pradeep Master.</p> <p>Lawyers for paramilitary leader and former Chief Minister of the Eastern Province Sivanesanthurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, had refuted the confessions which linked Pillayan to the murder.</p>

<p>The promotion of Shavendra Silva to chief of staff of the Sri Lankan army <strong>“highlight(s) the urgent need for thorough, impartial, independent and effective criminal investigations into war crimes and crimes against humanity,”</strong> said Amnesty International in a statement this week, accusing the government of failing to investigate war crimes.</p> <p>“Vetting of military personnel is furthermore needed as an important feature of postwar security sector reform to guarantee against future violations,” continued the statement, released in the wake of Silva’s appointment.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Sri Lankan government has sent a “clear message to the international community that the country cares little about its views and the potential consequences of its failures in faithfully implementing the UNHRC resolution” with its appointment of Shavendra Silva as the army’s chief of staff, said the Global Tamil Forum in a statement this week.</p> <p>Stating that the appointment of Silva has “sent shock waves through the Tamil community, and to all those interested in human rights and accountability in Sri Lanka” the diaspora organisation called on the international community to “face up to these challenges”.</p>

The Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) has claimed the lives of many Tamil youths, while war criminals in Sri Lanka walk free, a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP has said.

Speaking in Parliament last week, Amparai district representative K Kodeeswaran said it was unjust that Tamil political prisoners were still wasting away in detention while war criminals were being promoted into high positions in Sri Lanka.

"The PTA has severely affected our Tamil people. Our youths have been brutally murdered through this act," Kodeeswaram said.

"Yet those who committed war crimes walk free," he said.

<p>Sri Lanka does not even attempt to start an investigation into the murder of journalist ‘if there is a Tamil name’ claimed Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian M A Sumanthiran, in a speech where he called for an international accountability process for war crimes.</p>

The Sri Lankan army, occupying the Mulliyavalai thuyilum illam (LTTE cemetery) in Mullaitivu, has started selling cement bricks, angering residents who say that the army has involved itself in every small-scale commercial activity in the district, undercutting local traders.

Adverts for the business appeared outside the 59th division camp this week with a telephone order service.

Tamils in Batticaloa observed a hartal, a business-strike, in protest of the appointment of former UPFA MP M. L. A. M. Hizbullah as governor of the Eastern Province.

 

Organisers of the protest said that Hizbullah, a pro-Rajapaksa politician who is being investigated for corruption, was unfit to to represent the Eastern Province.

<p>The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced that it was granting Sri Lanka an unprecedented 15-day amnesty, as it continues its investigation into corruption on the island.</p> <p>The sport’s governing body said that those who come forward with information on corruption will not be charged during the amnesty period, which runs until the end of this month.</p> <p>"This is the first time the ICC has held an amnesty and it is in response to the very specific challenges we face in Sri Lanka,” said Alex Marshall, general manager of the ICC's anti-corruption unit.</p>