A Fishermen's Association chairman in Mullaitivu was assaulted by a driver accompanying Minister Ramalingam Chandrasekaran during a campaign visit on April 24th

Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s visit to Puthukudiyiruppu in Mullaitivu yesterday for local election campaigning saw an intense security clampdown across the district, with heavy deployment of armed forces and police.

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports, and Civil Aviation, Bimal Rathnayake, announced this week that the design phase for a new bridge across the Nandikadal Lagoon in Mullaitivu has been completed, with construction due to commence soon.

The Acting Director of the Jaffna Teaching Hospital, C. Jamunanantha, has issued a renewed appeal for the release of 1.4 acres of land under Sri Lankan military occupation in the Kottady–Meenatchipuram area, stressing the urgent need for the land to support the hospital’s expansion and development.

A Sri Lankan police officer stationed at Jaffna Police Station has been remanded after allegedly forcing his way into a young Tamil woman's home and acting in an unruly manner, in yet another troubling incident highlighting ongoing concerns over police misconduct in the Tamil North-East.

The Association for the Relatives of the Enforced Disappearances in Vavuniya held a memorial event today in honour of Pope Francis, amidst intimidation and surveillance by Sri Lankan intelligence officers.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Organisational Secretary RS Bharathi claimed that late Tamil Nadu leader and DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi, popularly known as Kalaignar, personally intervened to secure the release of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Prabhakaran from prison in the early 1980s.

Today marks the 20th anniversary since the abduction and murder of Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram.

Sivaram, popularly known under his nom-de-plume Taraki, was abducted in front of Bambalipitiya police station in Colombo on April 28 and was found dead several hours later in a high security zone in Sri Lanka's capital, which at the time had a heavy police and military presence due to the ongoing conflict. His killers, highly suspected to be linked to the government of then-president Chandrika Kumaratunga, were never caught.

Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) leader and Member of Parliament, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, accused the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) of deep-rooted racism and deception during a media briefing held yesterday at the TNPF’s headquarters in Kokuvil, Jaffna.

As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi departed Sri Lanka earlier this month, New Delhi’s media was already hailing the visit as a diplomatic triumph. A raft of development projects had been announced and a significant new defence pact between the two governments signed. Images broadcast showed Modi beside a smiling Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake, arms raised aloft in symbolic unity. But while Indian officials may celebrate deeper ties, in Sri Lanka, discomfort continues to simmer.