Villagers gathered in Muttur today to mark 21 years since the Kumarapuram massacre, where 24 Tamil villagers were killed by a group of Sri Lankan soldiers.

The Tamil People’s Council reiterated its calls for transparency in the constitution making process, and the resultant formation of a sovereign institution of self-governance which recognised the Tamil people in the North and East as a distinct nation, whilst acknowledging their right to self-determination.

 In a declaration made at the second ‘Ezhuka Tamil’ gathering, which saw thousands of Tamils march through the streets of Batticaloa, the TPC said,

Sri Lanka’s foreign minister said his government would not allow foreign judges to hear cases in an accountability mechanism for human rights abuses committed during the final stages of the armed conflict, in which tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were killed.

Mangala Samaraweera said his government was in “no great hurry” to devise an accountability mechanism to try those accused of war crimes, but was clear on the level of foreign participation Colombo would allow.

The Sri Lankan army distributed artificial limbs to former LTTE cadres and civilians in Kilinochchi.

At an event funded by USAID, artificial limbs were presented by Sri Lankan army officers to thirty Tamils, including former LTTE cadres, that had lost limbs during the war.

The United States’ Acting Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs highlighted Sri Lanka’s potential to “become a leader in contributing to peacekeeping operations across the globe (and) promoting human rights abroad” in a speech delivered in Washington this week.

Bruce Wharton addressed a ‘Sri Lanka National Day Reception’, where his speech said “Sri Lanka has the potential to become the next Asian Tiger”.

Mr Wharton hailed the “unprecedented” level of cooperation between the two states, but added “there is always more progress to be made”.

Sri Lankan Independence Day was not a day of celebration for Tamils given the ongoing plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka, the British Tamils Forum said in a statement.

A Tamil boy died on Sunday after falling into an unprotected waste oil pit dug by the Sri Lankan army.

The body of 10-year-old Gajenthirakumar Sajinthan was retrieved from an 15-foot deep oil pit which has been in Kankensanthurai for ten years.

Locals expressed concern that the waste oil pit was uncovered, adding that it contributed to making their community spaces unsafe.

British Tamils gathered outside Downing Street last week to protest the Sri Lankan government's inaction on accounting for missing and disappeared persons.

A group of NGOs and individuals have called on the European Parliament to reject the EU Commission’s proposal to restore the GSP+ trade preference status to Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka was suspended from the preferential tariff in August 2010 in response to the deteriorating human rights situation in the country.

In a letter to the European Parliament, the organisations noted concern about a number of “factual inaccuracies and omissions with the EU Commission ‘Report on assessment of the application for GSP+ by Sri Lanka.’”