Controversial former MP, Ranjan Ramanayake has received today a conditional pardon from Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe over his conviction for “contempt of court” hower little has been said over his alleged attacks on Buddhism and conspiracy to murder a former government minsiter.

Writing to India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister M.K. Stalin urged India to demand the release of 10 Tamil Nadu fishermen from Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai who were detained by Sri Lanka’s Navy.

“This is the fifth such instance since June and these incidents continue unabated intimidating the fishermen and hampering their livelihoods”, Stalin wrote.

The ship that arrived in British Columbia 13 years ago carrying Tamil refugees fleeing their genocide-afflicted homeland is being broken up for scrap after being deserted in nearby coastal waters.

Amidst discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has made an urgent request to China to restructure the country’s debt, however, the Chinese government appears hesitant.

“We have informed the Chinese government [of] the need to restructure [the debt] and the need for all the creditors to sing from the same hymn sheet,” Wickremesinghe told Nikkei Asia.

In response to a private member’s bill which seeks to decriminalise same-sex relations between consenting adults, a collection of over thirty civil society organisations and individuals questioned this gesture as Sri Lanka’s president continues a “systemic campaign to arrest and detain protesters involved in the aragalaya protests”.

Tamil Guardian hosted a Twitter space joined by Dr. Madurika Rasaratnam where the causes of the current economic and political crisis in Sri Lanka were discussed. 

^{The uniform of the Jaffna task force.}

Jaffna’s Municipal Council task force will take to the streets wearing blue uniforms once more, announced the mayor of Jaffna after a case against him was dropped last month.

As the Nallur Temple Thiruvizha is underway and set to conclude with a grand chariot festival this week, Jaffna Mayor V Mannivannan said the blue uniforms that he was arrested over will be seen in public at the festival.

German Tamils held a remembrance event in Berlin last week, to commemorate 16 years since the Sri Lankan air force massacred 53 school girls in the Vanni.

The event consisted of poetry recitals and speeches, as well as a moment of silence to commemorate those killed. Members of the public were also given flyers on the massacre and other atrocities committed by the Sri Lankan state.

See more photographs below.

At least two more Eelam Tamil families fled Sri Lanka and arrived in Dhanushkodi as refugees this week, with more looking to flee to Tamil Nadu in the wake of a worsening economic crisis and military occupation on the island.

Sri Lanka’s former resident and ex-prime minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, broke his silence over the weekend as he defended the record of his war-crimes accused brother and maintained that his only folly was that “he became soft”.

“Gotabaya Rajapaksa is not responsible for all the country’s ills. Everybody, including me and the previous governments, would have to answer,” Mahinda Rajapaksa told the Sunday Times.