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.

Namal Rajapaksa has denied reports that Tamil Nadu actor and politician Rajinikanth had been denied a visa by the government, and instead claimed “there will be no hindrances”.

Last week, Rajinikanth had actually been invited by the former Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran following his discussion with the film star regarding issues affecting Eelam Tamils.

Following the meeting, reports emerged that the actor had been denied a visa to travel to Sri Lanka – a claim that Rajapaksa denied.

Sri Lanka’s war crimes accused president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was warned by a group of prominent Sinhala Buddhist monks to be “vigilant about the various form of invisible forces that can emerge in the future,” as he went to receive their blessings earlier this month.

Buddhist monks from Ravana Balaya, a Sinhala Buddhist supremacist organisation, and those reportedly who led the racist ‘Sinha Le’ campaign visited a Tamil Hindu temple in Mullaitivu that has been at the centre of a local dispute about land-grabs and Sinhalisation.

A Sri Lankan soldier stationed in the North murdered a Jaffna University student during a busy afternoon at a public beach earlier today.

Tamil families of the disappeared held a protest in front of Office of Missing person in Batticaloa on Tuesday, demanding an international mechanism to provide answers to the cases of thousands of forcibly disappeared Tamils.

Sri Lanka parliamentarian and leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF) Wimal Weerawansa, has forced a signboard in Mannar to be removed and changed to display the Sinhala description above the Tamil description, following a visit to Palmyrah Fibre Production Centre on Sunday.

The Sri Lankan military arrested the driver and conductor of a bus travelling from Mannar to Colombo on Saturday evening, after allegedly discovering dynamite sticks on board during a  stop and search operation.

The bus was stopped by the military at a newly opened checkpoint in Neriyakulam around 7pm Saturday, January 18.

Around 500 people in Malaysia – including family members, friends and supporters – congregated to demand the release of the 12 men that were arrested in October for alleged links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which is still labelled as a ‘terrorist organisation’ in the country.

An unknown group of men in a white van attempted to intimidate relatives of the Mirusuvil massacre victims earlier this month, as a Sri Lankan parliamentarian claimed the soldier who was convicted of the killings was freed by the president.

The four men reportedly visited neighbours of the relatives on January 11, collecting details of who was staying at each of their properties and their connections to those that were massacred almost 20 years ago.

The families filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission in Jaffna on Monday and requested the commission to help ensure their safety and security.