Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers’ Union, Joseph Stalin, and ten other people have been forcibly detained in a Sri Lankan army quarantine centre for their protest against the "Sir John Kotelawala National Defence University Bill".

The arrests came on Thursday as demonstrators protesters near Sri Lanka's parliament. Demonstrators have criticised the bill as a move to "militarise the universities on the island". Stalin has since been released on bail. 

Batticaloa-based Tamil journalist Selvakumar Nilanthan was interrogated by Sri Lankan’s Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) today.

A Sri Lankan police officer obstructed and threatened a Tamil journalist yesterday, who went to cover a story about Sri Lankan Railway Department officials obstructing Vavuniya locals from helping in the setting up of today's Saubhagya Village Program.  

The Sri Lankan army has designated swathes of grazing land in Batticaloa as “Army Firing Range”, denying entry to local Tamils including native herdsmen. 

The “Firing Range” was established last week and later the herdsmen were ordered to vacate the land which falls under the jurisdiction of the Eravur Divisional Secretary.  

A protest was held in Jaffna, calling on the Sri Lankan government to release all political prisoners and to uphold human rights across the North-East.

Despite ongoing concerns over COVID-19, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) supporters celebrated the appointment of Basil Rajapaksa last Thursday, who becomes the fourth Rajapaksa brother and fifth member of the family to enter the Cabinet. 

Quarantined house in Mannar

Mannar district council member, Anthonyamma Sritharan, blasted the Sri Lankan government for its mismanagement and neglect in appropriately providing self-isolating families in Mannar with COVID-19 relief items.

She stated that the families were pushed to the brink of starvation as they were receiving half of their promised rations, and also receiving the items up to 10-12 days into their quarantine period.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) member Ananthy Sasitharan and former Northern Provincial Councillor (NPC) M.K. Sivajilingham paid tribute to the victims of the Navaly church massacre which took place 26 years ago today.  

Vavuniya police issued a summons yesterday to V. Thavabalan, a Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) activist, for allegedly "delivering relief provisions for people below the poverty line". 

The police went to Thavabalan's house, when he was out for work and handed the official order written in Sinhala language, which ordered that he arrive at the police station on July 12 for an inquiry. 

Thavabalan, along with other social activists and political parties who have been assisting the poor during the COVID-19 pandemic, has been engaged in the provision of relief goods to those hard hit by the virus. 

The latest British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) “Human Rights and Democracy” report slams the continued deterioration of rights in Sri Lanka but reaffirms Britain’s commitment to supporting Sri Lanka through the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) programme.