Thousands in Jaffna rallied in support of Chief Minister Wigneswaran today, while businesses across the district remained shut in observance of hartal called by the Tamil People’s Council.

With shop and office fronts shut for the day, thousands gathered in front of Nallur temple on Friday morning, before proceeding down Temple Road to the Chief Minister’s residence.

Protestors carried placards and shouted slogans in support of C. V. Wigneswaran and condemning the actions of the TNA and ITAK in the party’s attempts to oust the Chief Minister of the Northern Province from his position.

Chief Minister Wigneswaran came out of his home to thunderous applause in order to greet and speak to the crowds and thank them for their support.

21 Northern Provincial Council members wrote to the province’s governor Reginald Cooray on Wednesday night, declaring no-confidence in Justice Wigneswaran’s leadership.

The Women’s Action Network has expressed concern that instead of working to obtain justice for three young children that were sexually assaulted in Trincomalee, politicians are taking advantage of the incident to fulfil their own agendas.

Although three construction workers were initially accused of the assault of three young girls in Mallikaitheevu, Trincomalee, and beaten by locals, the victims did not identify these men as the perpetrators.

The misidentification has caused communal tensions in the area as the victims were Tamil and the beaten construction workers Muslim.

A second arrest warrant against the Bodu Bala Sen (BBS) General Secretary Gnanasara Thero has been issued for failing to appear before court, reports adaderana.lk.

Gnanasara Thero failed to appear before court in response to a case linking him and 7 others to 8 charges related to criminal force and minor assault.

The Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court issued an arrest warrant to Gnanasara Thero earlier this year on allegations of obstructing the police from exercising their duties as well as circulating hate speech.

Families of the disappeared today called on the media, local and international community to place pressure on President Sirisena to fulfil pledges he made to them earlier this week about releasing lists of surrendees, detainees, secret detention centres and political prisoners. In a press conference held today at the Jaffna Press Club, families of disappeared from across the North-East spoke about the results of their meeting with the president on June 12 and their protest which reached 100 days on May 30.

21 of the 38 members of the Northern Provincial Council have written to the Northern Province’s governor, requesting him to remove C. V. Wigneswaran from the position of Chief Minister, claiming that he no longer enjoys the confidence and support of the Council.

The Council awaits a decision by the governor, Reginald Cooray.

The Chief Minister has been left in a precarious position following investigations into corruption by NPC ministers and criticism on the CM’s handling of the allegations.

After ministers Aingaranesan and Gurukularasa were found guilty of corruption, the Chief Minister requested they hand in their resignations by tomorrow.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of judges and lawyers  Diego Garcia-Sayan, expressed concern that over the lack of equal representation of minority groups in prosecution services and the police force at the 35^th session of the United Nations Human Rights council.

Quoting his predecessor, Monico Pinto’s, report on Sri Lanka, he said,

“Problems related to language are very serious and have very serious effect on justice and on the likelihood of obtaining a fair process if you belong to the Tamil community.”

Mr Sayan noted that victims were often coerced into pleading guilty adding that,

President Maithripala Sirisena promised families of the disappeared he would issue directives to the National Security Council the following day to release lists of surrendees, detainees, and political prisoners that families were demanding.

This assurance was given during a meeting between representatives of families of the disappeared from across all eight districts of the North-East and President Sirisena in Jaffna on Monday. The meeting was arranged as a result of demands by the families at demonstrations on the 100^th day of their Kilinochchi protest on May 30.

Sri Lanka’s Police arrested five people in connection with a recent surge in anti-Muslim violence in South of the island on Sunday.

Of the 5 that were arrested, one unidentified man is thought to be linked to Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) who are deemed largely responsible for inciting violence against the Muslim community in Sri Lanka.  

“The police was able to arrest a 32 year old person who is directly related to four arson attacks. The person has direct links with Bodu Bala Sena. Since 2014 he has been associating with Bodu Bala Sena. ” Sri Lanka’s police spokesman Priyantha Jayakody told reporters.

An Eelam-Tamil authored book about land-grabs and colonisation of the Tamil homeland was seized by Sri Lankan customs last week.

The Chavakachcheri Pradeshiya Sabai has petitioned the Chavakachcheri court to halt the construction of a large-scale Buddhist stupa in Navatkuli.

While a vihara already exists in the Navatkuli Sinhalese settlement, monks began laying foundations for a new large scale stupa, costing around 1 crore rupees, in the area last month.