The Sri Lankan government is trying to change the ethnic demographics of the Tamil North-East said the leader of the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF).

Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, in an interview with the Sunday Leader, accused the government of using land appropriation, militarisation and Sinhala colonisation to change the ethnic demographics of the region.

“They are building towns within their military bases. Over time, when they take the military boundaries away there will be an entire Sinhala colonised village within that area,” he said.

Germany’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka Dr. Jurgen Morhard met with the Sri Lankan Army’s Commander of the Security Forces-Jaffna at their headquarters in Palali, reports Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence.

A Tamil student was found dead in Thalavaakkalai, near Nuwara Eliya, in the Central Province on Sunday, Ada Derana reported.

Yoganathan Sivatharshan, who disappeared from his house in Mattukalai on Friday, was found near the Melkothmalai reservoir.

People from his town protested and blockaded a road in Thalavaakalai, saying they suspected Sivatharshan’s death to be murder and charged that local police took insufficient action when he was reported missing.

The Northern Province Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran accused the Sri Lankan military of spying on northern Tamil civilians and even collecting data on their body language.

Speaking at the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi convention, Wigneswaran said that the military was using Israeli technology to collect all types of data on civilians in the North.

Several Sri Lankan government officials have repeatedly contradicted themselves on the status of the implementation of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), said the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA).

In an infographic released on Tuesday, the Colombo-based organisation highlighted claims made by senior government officials, illustrating the extent to which contradictory statements have been publicly made.

In 2013 government minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said that 99% of the LLRC Action Plan had been implemented, yet a year later the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa stated only 30% had been.

Sri Lankan government Minister Wimal Weerawansa said Western powers may use Facebook as part of an attempt to destabilise the country at an election rally earlier this week.

Colombo Gazette reports the National Freedom Front leader and government minister said Western diplomats were working to split the Sinhalese vote against Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, encouraging UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake and even the monk Venerable Maduluwawe Sobhitha thero to stand against him.

Sri Lanka reiterated its rejection of the UN Human Rights Council's inquiry to mass atrocities on the island at the opening day of the Council's 27th session.

"Sri Lanka reiterates our objection to the resolution HRC/25/L.1/Rev.1 and its call for a comprehensive investigation by the OHCHR," Sri Lanka's permanent representative in Geneva, Ravinath Ariyasinghe told member states.

Arguing that the country had made its own domestic moves towards accountability and reconciliation, Ariyasinghe slammed "some" states that he said "refused to acknowledge these [developments] and persist in heaping negative attention [on Sri Lanka]".

"Sri Lanka rejects assertions of threats leveled against the human rights community, and regrets attempts being made to portray the country as intolerant of religious minorities," he added.

Follow us on Twitter - @TamilGuardian - for live coverage of events at the Council.

See related article: UN Rights Council mandates 'comprehensive investigation' by OHCHR into Sri Lanka (27 Mar 2014)

Photograph Tamil Guardian

  Zeid alarmed at intimidation of rights activists

Opening the session earlier in the day, the newly appointed High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein, urged the Sri Lankan government to cooperate with the OHCHR Investigation into Sri Lanka (OISL), expressing concern at the intimidation of human rights activists.

"I attach great importance to the investigation on Sri Lanka mandated by this Council, on which OHCHR will report later in the session. I encourage the Sri Lankan authorities to cooperate with this process in the interests of justice and reconciliation,"

“I am alarmed at threats currently being levelled against the human rights community in Sri Lanka, as well as prospective victims and witnesses. I also deplore recent incitement and violence against the country’s Muslim and Christian minorities.” 

US, UK urges Sri Lanka to cooperate with inquiry

Reiterating the call for meaningful accountability for mass atrocities in Sri Lanka, US and UK representatives echoes Zeid's call on the Sri Lankan government to cooperate with the UN inquiry.

"We support your call for the government of Sri Lanka to cooperate with the international investigation and we urge the Sri Lankan government to facilitate access and ensure those cooperating with the investigation can do so without fear of intimidation or reprisals," said the UK.

Thanking the previous UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, "for the leadership she demonstrated in focusing the world's attention on violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and encouraging meaningful accountability and respect for human rights in Sri Lanka," the US ambassador to Geneva also urged the Sri Lankan government to cooperate with the investigation.

Rajapaksa invites High Commissioner to Sri Lanka

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa invited the new UN High Commisioner for Human Rights to visit Sri Lanka by the end of this year. The announcement was made during Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to the island, during which a joint statement by the two leaders was released.

See our earlier post: Japan signs trade agreements with Sri Lanka, calls for 'national reconciliation' (07 September 2014)

Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister, J Jayalalithaa has filed a case against the BJP’s Subramaniam Swamy, for defamation, reported IBNLive.

Swamy had written to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi claiming the chief minister of only pushing for the release of fishing boats, held by Sri Lanka, as they were owned by someone she knew.

"The reason I did not press for the release of these mechanized fishing boats is that it is mostly owned by DMK's T R Baalu and Jayalalithaa's resident friend Sasikala," said Swamy.

Swamy also said Jayalalithaa had "made a business of the plight of fishermen by doing nothing about it except writing letters to you.”

Northern Provincial Council member Ananthi Sasitharan said that despite intimidation from the Sri Lankan military, the search for justice for the disappeared will continue.

Speaking at a protest held in Vavuniya last month to mark the International Day of the Disappeared, Sasitharan said,

“Though it has been 5 years since the war ended, we continue to search for our relatives. I am speaking on behalf of everyone here as I experience the pain of this too.”

“We are intimidated for speaking like this. However, we cannot remain afraid and stay in our houses paralysed with fear.”

Hundreds of Tamil protestors were blocked by Sri Lankan police form marching to Government Agency offices last month, where they were to deliver a petition.