Sri Lanka has signed a maritime cooperation agreement with the Maldives and India during a National Security Advisor (NSA) meeting in Colombo on Monday.

The trilateral agreement sets out cooperation on surveillance, anti-piracy operations and curbing illegal activities including maritime pollution, reported ColomboPage.

Whilst giving his blessing to External Affairs Minister G.L Peiris, a Buddhist prelate, Buddharakkitha Mahanayake Thera, described the selection of  Sri Lanka as the venue for the Commonwealth Heads of Governers Meeting (CHOGM), as a ‘great victory’ that will silence international critics.

An American tea company, Walters Bay International, has threatened to leave Sri Lanka, following the murder of the estate manager in Nooriya Tea Estate in Deraniyagala, last Friday, reports BBC Sinhala.

The estate manager, Nihal Perara was hacked to death by 5 people who reportedly objected to Perara's attempts to fight corruption and wastage.

Photographs Tamil Guardian

Canadian Tamils came together on Friday July 5th to mark Karumpuli Naal remembering the lives of the elite LTTE force - the Black Tigers.

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Commenting on the recent controversy regarding a Sri Lankan diplomat threatening to ban Callum Macrae, the director of the documentary 'No Fire Zone' from attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka, the country's Media Minister, Keheliya Rambukwella, accused Macrae of funding his journalism by the Tamil diaspora.

Speaking to Ceylon Today, Rambukwella said:

 “On the pretext of being a press personnel, Macrae is doing his rounds funded by his well-wishers – the Tamil Diaspora.”

Speaking on the recently released Country Guidance ruling on Sri Lanak, Tamils Against Genocide’s (TAG) Advocacy Manager, Hettie Briscoe said,

Following on from a MEDACT conference on asylum seekers last month, Tamils Against Genocide have analysed British Home Office policy documents and guidance for asylum caseworkers, attempting to explain why asylum claims from Sri Lanka continue to be dismissed.

Building on work by Professor Anthony Good, Professor Emeritus in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, TAG assessed Home Office policy, concluding,

“The guidance is flawed, the consequences horrible to contemplate."

Read the full post on the Free Movement blog here.

See extracts below.

"Why are asylum seekers so often disbelieved? How is it that clinical evidence of torture is oftentimes rejected on the grounds of ‘credibility’? Why has the UK judged so many Tamil asylum seekers not to be at risk, forcibly returning them to Sri Lanka where they have gone on to be tortured?"