As frustrations grow about the unabating levels of militarisation in Tamil areas, the Sri Lankan Army has created a new scheme in which soldiers plough the fields of impoverished Tamil farmers.

The Chinese Vice Premier, Wang Yang told the Sri Lankan foreign minister, Tilak Marapana who is currently visiting Beijing that the government expected the two countries to work more closely, reports Xinhua.

“China highly values its relations with Sri Lanka, and regards the country as an important cooperation partner in the Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road trade routes and beyond,” Mr Yang was reported by the Chinese state owned news site as saying.

Commemorations leading up to Maaveerar Naal have commenced in the Tamil homeland, starting with the planting of trees in Mannar.

Launched last year by the Northern Provincial Council to the honour those who died fighting in the Tamil struggle, the initiative began with special prayers at Thiruketheeswaram Kovil.

The weapon and vehicles believed to have been used by the shooters in the killing of a Tamil man in Ariyalai have been recovered from a Special Task Force camp in Jaffna, following the camp’s military personnel being interviewed as suspects in the murder.

24-year-old Don Bosco Rikman of Ariyalai East was shot in the area on October 22nd and died of his injuries in hospital shortly afterwards.

Following a fruitless search at Mandaithivu navy camp last week, police turned their attention to the STF camp in Jaffna’s Pannai.

The Sri Lankan government announced that it would be absorbing millions of dollars of losses incurred by its failing airline Mihin Lanka.

The airline, which is expected to be liquidated soon according to the Daily Mirror, will go on to sell its permit.

It is reported that Mihin Lanka owes Rs.4,860 million to the People’s Bank and Rs.1,700 million to the national carrier, SriLankan airlines.

The total debt comes to over USD $40,000,000.

Amid increasing criticism of Sri Lankan military involvement in civilian life in the North-East, the Sri Lankan army undertook a project to distribute drinking water in Jaffna last month.

Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena announced that he would be holding a series of conferences on constitutional reform in order to “prevent incorrect information” regarding a proposed new constitution.

The Sri Lankan government said it had “pledged to re-assert lost sovereignty by taking ownership of processes that were in the international domain” with regards to reports that over 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed by a Sri Lankan military offensive in 2009.

Responding to a query from a journalist from The Island, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mahishini Colonne said, “Since Sri Lanka is not a signatory to the Rome Statute regarding international jurisdiction with regard to war crimes, ensuring justice with regard to such matters will be the business of national independent judicial mechanisms”.

The statement continued to say,

A delegation from the EU is to embark on a four day visit of Sri Lanka today in order to monitor the implementation of international commitments associated with the granting of GSP+. 

“The MEPs Jean Lambert, Richard Corbett, Ulrike Müller and Wajid Khan would also visit EU-funded projects in the North and would conduct an inter-parliamentary dialogue,” the EU delegation said in a statement. 

The delegation is expected to meet with representatives of the government and civil society. 

The University of Jaffna remained shut today in an act of protest against the ongoing detention of Tamil political prisoners in Sri Lanka. 

Students and staff at the university, along side Tamils across the North-East, have held a series of protests over recent months calling for those detained to be release immediately.