Prayers organised for those displaced in Valikaamam North were called off this week after organisers received threats from military personnel, warning them there would be "consequences" if they went ahead with the prayers, Uthayan reports.

The prayers had been organised by the Poonthalir Women's Forum at the Sunnaakam Sabapathipillai Welfare Centre to pray for the resettlement of those displaced in the region.

Hundreds of Tamils were blocked from delivering a petition in Vavuniya on Saturday, marking the International Day of the Disappeared.

Relatives of disappeared from across the Northeast attended an event at Vavuniya Urban Council, before a protest march towards the Government Agent offices at Vavuniya Kachcheri but police stopped the protestors from proceeding, saying that they did not have permission, sources at the scene told the Tamil Guardian.

Buddhist communities in Sri Lanka and Myanmar “are being swept up by a rising tide of extremist sentiment against other groups,” said the United Nations Secretary General.

See full statement here.

Speaking at the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations (UNAOC) forum on Friday, Ban-ki Moon said he was “alarmed by the rising level of attacks in Sri Lanka against religious minorities.”

Tamil Nadu has reiterated its demand for the immediate release of its fishing boats held by Sri Lanka.

Speaking during the first India-Sri Lanka Joint Committee (JC) meeting on fisheries in New Delhi, Tamil Nadu’s Fisheries Secreteary S Vijayakumar reiterated the state’s “firm commitment” to the restoration of traditional fishing rights of Tamil fishermen, including fishing unhindered in the Palk Strait.

The Government of India should not treat the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) with Sri Lanka as settled, since the constitutional validity previous agreements have been challenged on “extremely valid and legal grounds” by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in the Supreme Court of India, he said according to The New Indian Express.

The Indian delegation was led by Dr Raja Sekar Vundru, Joint Fisheries Secretary, and Sri Lanka was led by Nimal Hettiarachchi, Director General of the Department of Fisheries and Agricultural Resources.

(Picture: The Nation)