A prominent Sri Lankan Buddhist monk and academic has urged the government to escalate its efforts to ‘dismiss the Tamil Diaspora’ and instead write a ‘victor’s history’ of Sri Lanka.

Medagoda Abhayatissa, a Sinhala Buddhist monk and professor in Pali at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura made the comments in an interview with Sri Lankan newspaper Daily News.

The monk said the previous government had been prone to “give in to the malevolent scripts of the Tamil Diaspora”.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called for “proper police protection” and a “thorough investigation” after journalists in Batticaloa received death threats yesterday, amidst a ramped up climate of harassment of media workers in recent months.

A number of journalists from the Batticaloa district were issued death threats, with leaflets of their photographs circulated warning that they will soon be executed.

The press freedom organisation tweeted that it “demands proper police protection for the seven journalists and a thorough investigation into these unacceptable death threats”.

In light of the Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s declaration last week that the thousands of forcibly disappeared and missing Tamils “are actually dead”, People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) and 47 Roots released a video calling on government officials around the world to take action.

Shavendra Silva, the head of Sri Lanka’s army and a man accused of overseeing war time atrocities, was in Singapore this week, as he took part in an international military conference despite his chequered human rights record.

At least 13 Sri Lankan soldiers, including the former navy media spokesperson, have been granted bail, despite having been charged over the abduction and possible murder of 11 Tamil youth, after they were forcibly disappeared in 2008 and 2009.

A three member Sri Lankan Permanent High Court panel granted bail to the accused, which includes former spokesperson Commodore DKP Dassanayake.

The International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) landmark ruling that ordered  Myanmar to enact measures to halt the ongoing genocide against the Rohingya is “a ray of hope for victims and survivors of genocide around the world, including Tamils” said People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) in a statement applauding the decision.

The case hearing for the investigation into the assassination of former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Joseph Pararajasingham ruled that the case will be adjourned until February 25^th 2020. 

A number of journalists from the Batticaloa district were issued death threats, with leaflets of their photographs circulated warning that they will soon be executed

Sri Lanka’s war crimes accused president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has re-issued an Extraordinary Gazette which calls on the Sri Lankan military to “maintain public order” across the island.

Rajapaksa issued the gazette notification on Monday by virtue of the powers vested in him under Section 12 of Sri Lanka’s Public Security ordinance.

The gazette has been extended every month after initially being issued by former Sri Lankan president Maithrtipala Sirisena ever since Emergency Regulations were lifted on the island.