Pro-Sri Lankan government paramilitary leaders Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, also known as Karuna Amman, and Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan laso known as Pillayan, have formally reunited after 21 years, signing a memorandum of understanding in Batticaloa on 22 March 2025 to work together under a new political alliance.

The move saw the formation of the Eastern Tamil Alliance.  

Fifteen Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers, including at least one United Nations employee, were killed by Israeli forces “one by one” and buried in a mass grave eight days ago in southern Gaza, the UN has said.

The Commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), Admiral Samuel J. Paparo, visited Colombo from 19 to 21 March 2025, reinforcing the growing military relationship between the United States and Sri Lanka. 

Tamil diaspora groups and international human rights organisations have welcomed the United Kingdom’s decision to impose targeted sanctions on four individuals implicated in grave human rights violations during Sri Lanka’s armed conflict.

Eid al-Fitr was marked in Tamil Eelam this week, as Muslims in the Tamil homeland joined those around the world to celebrate the festival.

See footage from across the North-East below.

Mannar

A direct flight service between Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu and Jaffna in Sri Lanka officially commenced on 30 March 2025, marking the first such connection between the two cities in nearly five decades.

India and Sri Lanka are set to sign their first-ever defence cooperation agreement during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Colombo, with reports that a deal to link electricity grids with a cable connecting Mannar to Tamil Nadu will also be inked next week. 

Modi is set to visit Colombo from April 4 to 6, where the agreements are slated to be finalised and signed. 

The arrest of eleven Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy last week has reignited tensions between New Delhi and Colombo over the decades-long maritime conflict in the Palk Strait, as India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar acknowledged the enduring diplomatic and historical challenges behind the crisis.

Sathiyalingam condemned the Sri Lankan government’s continued refusal to investigate or acknowledge the existence of torture camps and other human rights violations committed in the North-East, as he welcomed the recent set of sanctions by Britain on Sri Lankan war criminals.