The Indian government is planning to allow a ferry service from North-East to Tamil Nadu, India, in order to facilitate travel of Tamil Hindu pilgrims wishing to travel to Chidambaram for a Hindu (Saivite) festival. 

The service would run from Kankesanthurai in the North-East to Chennai. 

In a statement India's ministry of external affairs said "a large number of Sri Lankan Tamil pilgrims" were expected to attend, The Hindu reported. 

Tamil National Alliance MP M A Sumanthiran met with T T V Dhinakaran on the eve of his election victory in Tamil Nadu this week, where they discussed a political solution to the Tamil question.

Mr Sumanthiran was visiting India for the ‘Arumanai Christmas Vizha’, reports The Hindu, where he met with Mr Dhinakaran. Originally, TNA leader R Sampanthan was invited but could not attend due to illness.

Despite repeated calls for demilitarisation, the Sri Lankan military held a medical clinic for Tamil civilians in Jaffna on Sunday, a service that the army called a ‘Christmas gift’.

Tamils in the North-East held memorials for the 35,000 people that perished during the catastrophic tsunami that hit the coasts of the North-East and South of the island of Sri Lanka, thirteen years ago.

The assassinated Tamil MP Joseph Pararajasingham was remembered across the Tamil homeland on Christmas Day, on the 12th anniversary of his killing.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena oversaw a meeting of the National Buddhist Think Tank this week, where he pledged his government’s support for a host of new initiatives.

Defying calls for demilitarisation of the North-East, the Sri Lankan military held public Christmas celebrations in Batticaloa this week.

The former Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa visited the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader, R Sampanthan while he was in hospital with an illness.

Mr Sampanthan was admitted to a private hospital in Colombo on Thursday with an undisclosed illness. 

Churches across the North-East celebrated Christmas today, December 25, with devotees gathering over night for Midnight Mass. 

Tamils gathered for Midnight Mass at St Mary's church in Batticaloa, 12 years on from the assassination of the Tamil MP Joseph Pararajasingham inside the church during the service on December 24, 2005. Devotees remembered his death, recalling that 12 years later no one has faced justice. 

There have been more than 90 incidents of attacks on Christians in Sri Lanka in 2017 alone said the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL), noting a rise in the number of assaults.

NCEASL general secretary Godfrey Yogarajah told Christianity Today that there have been hundreds of attacks on Christians since the government of Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena came in to power, adding that the number of incidents rises in the run up to Christmas.