Responding to the arrest of Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) parliamentarian, Selvarasa Kajendran,  for commemorating the death of Lt Col Thileepan; C.V Wigneswran, leader of the Tamil Makkal Thesiya Kootan (TMTK), condemned the police's actions and maintained the right of Tamils to remember their dead and to pursue self-determination.

Responding to the arrest of Tamil National People’s Front’s General Secretary, Kajendren Selvarajah, the British All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPGT) have expressed deep concern and urged the Foreign Secretary to raise it with her counterpart in Sri Lanka.

Speaking to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Sri Lankan President, and accused war criminal, Gotabaya Rajapaksa claimed that he would take "immediate action" to address the issues of enforced disappearances and "would not hesitate to grant a presidential pardon to the Tamil youths who have been in custody for a long time".

Senior Tamil journalist P.A. Antony Mark passed away at the age of 78 due to ill health in a Mullaitivu hospital on Tuesday. 

Mark had been involved in a number of activities throughout his long career and in particular, he made significant contributions to the movement for justice for the families of the forcibly disappeared Tamils and for the release of political prisoners. He had also been at the forefront of protests and collective action that demanded justice for the Tamil community. 

Sri Lankan Justice Minister, Ali Sabry, has denied that there was a "racial motive" incident in Anuradhapura prison in which State Minister Lohan Ratwatte forced Tamil inmates to kneel before him at gunpoint.

Sabry maintained that he would appoint a committee to investigate the matter but so far the only consequence the Minister has faced is to resigned from his post as State Minister for Prison Management and Prisoners Rehabilitation. Despite this Ratwatte has been able to maintain different cabinet portfolio.

The Jaffna Magistrate Court issued a ban earlier today commemorating the 34th anniversary of Lt. Col. Thileepan’s hunger strike unto death.

Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) MP Selvarasa Kajendren has been released on bail after he was arrested earlier today for paying his respects to Lt Col Thileepan, who sacrificed his life in protest against the failure of the Indian government to honour the pledges made to the Tamil people. 

Speaking at the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa claimed a willingness to work with "all domestic stakeholders" but maintained that domestic institutions were "essential to achieve lasting peace".

"Fostering greater accountability, restorative justice, and meaningful reconciliation through domestic institutions is essential to achieve lasting peace" Gotabaya stated.

Today marks the 26th anniversary of the Nagarkovil massacre, where the Sri Lankan air force bombed a school in Jaffna killing dozens of Tamil school children.

On September 22, 1995, a SLAF aircraft bombed the Nagarkovil Maha Vidyalayam schoolyard crammed with 750 children on their lunch break, killing more than 30 – of whom 12 were six or seven-year-olds – and injuring 150 others. The overall death toll from the raids reached 71. The bombing occurred just hours after the Sri Lankan government imposed press censor­ship on the reporting of military events.

Leader of the Liberal Democratic party, Ed Davy, has called on the British Foreign Office to impose sanctions on Sri Lankan army commander, and alleged war criminal, Shavendra Silva.

“Now is the time for the government to prove its commitment to deliver justice for the victims of genocide in Sri Lanka” Davies said.