The monument erected in memory of the 87 prawn farm workers who were massacred by Special Task Force officers in 1987 in Kokkadichcholai, Batticaloa was reopened this week after being restored. 

The monument was previously destroyed by government troops. 

On January 27, 1987 STF officers raided a prawn factory in the village, shooting dead the workers, which including seven boys aged between 12 to 14.

According to relatives of the victims, the night before the massacre, government helicopters were seen circling the area.

The Tamil National Alliance says it will only support the 20th Amendment to the constitution, which abolishes the executive presidency, if the resolution to the ethnic conflict is also proposed.

TNA spokesperson MA Sumanthiran said according to The Island: "We support the abolishing of the executive presidency. This system was introduced in 1978 and ever since it has lead to a lot of problems. In 2015, President Sirisena promised to scrap the post. Just like this the ethnic problem has created issues in Sri Lanka. A lot of people have died because of this. So equal attention should be paid to solving this as well."

The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) launched its latest report “Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force," at the Houses of Parliament last week.

The full report and summary, which outlines further evidence of torture carried out by Sri Lanka's Special Task Force STF, can be found here and here.

The Sri Muthumari Amman temple in Valvettithurai held its annual festival this week, with music and dance events to celebrate. 

Nadhaswaram and thavil play the famous Black Tiger LTTE song 'Karumpulikal Enna Naangal'. 

Students from the University of Jaffna travelled to Mullivaikkal on Monday to begin clearing the memorial ground ahead of commemorations of Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day on May 18. 

The Sri Lankan army stationed in North-East commenced celebrations for the Buddhist festival of Vesak on Sunday across the Tamil homeland, with prominent events in Jaffna, Batticaloa and Mannar. 

A panel event by the Congressional Caucus on Religious and Ethnic Freedom in Sri Lanka saw a lively discussion on the link between Sinhala Buddhism and extremist violence in Washington DC last week.

The panel, moderated by the co-chair of the caucus Representative Bill Johnson, saw contributions from PEARL's Advocacy Director Mario Arulthas, Associate Professor at Youngtown University Dr Michael Jerryson and Dr Robert Oberst, professor at Nebraska Weselyan University.

Sri Lanka’s president told a group of senior Buddhist monks that his government would ensure “all duties” are carried out in accordance with their advice, as he marked Vesak this weekend.

Speaking at Buddhist ceremony, Maithripala Sirisena said that “all the duties will be conducted as a government in accordance with the advices of the Maha Sangha”.

A former LTTE cadre died on Sunday from cancer, which was diagnosed after his release from 'rehabilitation' by the Sri Lankan state. 

Sunthirasekaram Piratheepan, originally from Oddusuddan, Mullaitivu, surrendered to the military after the end of the armed conflict and was forced into the 'rehabilitation' programme.

He was diagnosed with cancer in August 2016.

His parents and family wept as his last rites took place on Monday. 

Pressure on the Sri Lankan government from the international community led to the military releasing occupied Tamil land in the North-East, stated the chief minister of the Northern Province Justice C V Wigneswaran this week.

In an interview with the Sunday Observer, the chief minister dismissed remarks that the Sri Lankan military’s release of land earlier this month was a “gesture of goodwill”.

“The release of land recently is not a gesture of goodwill,” he said.