Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the Sri Lankan government to ensure all voters in the upcoming general election are protected from violence and that the Sri Lankan security forces remain impartial.

In a statement released just days before the general election, HRW noted that 135 major incidents of election violence, including the use of firearms, had been noted in the last month alone, primarily in Jaffna, Colombo, Batticaloa, and Gampaha districts.

“With evidence already of violence in the run-up to these elections, Sri Lankan authorities should take all necessary steps to protect voters and party supporters from attacks, threats, and intimidation,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW.

Tamils in Jaffna are living in slums whilst the Sri Lankan military runs a luxury holiday resort on land seized from them, reports the BBC.

More than 200 people, which includes 58 families, were driven from their homes to make way for the "Thalasevana Holiday Resort” inside the Valikamam North High Security Zone, reports BBC South Asia correspondent Justin Rowlatt.

Speaking to the BBC, one of the displaced villagers Julius Selvamalar said: "We are forced to live like refugees in this slum. It is like living in hell. I had to bring up my children here".

“I don’t think we will ever get our land back,” she continued.

Just last month, the Sri Lankan army was engaged in fortifying the Valikaamam North High Security Zone, despite previous government statements that the area of land would be released back to the local civilian population.

Sri Lanka’s former President Mahinda Rajapaksa criticised Tamil leaders for allegedly “dividing the country” in comments made to the BBC, in the run up to next week’s general elections.

Speaking to the BBC’s Justin Rowlatt, Mr Rajapaksa was asked whether he thought it possible that Sri Lanka would be split under the current government. “Yes, certainly because this is the feeling of the people,” he replied.

Mr Rajapaksa went on to criticise Tamil political leaders for remarks made in the run up to the elections.

“I mean you just listen to the Tamil leaders speeches,” said Mr Rajapaksa. “They have already divided the country.”

In the run up to the election, Tamil political parties in the North-East were unanimous in their calls for an international investigation into the massacre of tens of thousands of Tamils during the closing stages of the armed conflict in 2009. Mr Rajapaksa was president and commander in chief of Sri Lanka at the time, overseeing the military assault on the North-East.

Almost 3000 Tamil youth from across the North-East and from Upcountry demanded political parties call for and end to Sinhalisation of historically Tamil areas and immediate demilitarisation, ahead of the island’s parliamentary elections on Monday. 

As part of an event titled, “The Power of Youth is the Zip Code of Democracy” last week, thousands of youth came together in Kilinochchi to put forward a set of 25 demands to political parties.

Amongst the demands, which they handed to the Chief Minister of the Northern Province C V Wigneswaran, were the demilitarisation of the North, East and Hill Country, the administrative merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces and an investigation into violations of international humanitarian law.

They also passed a resolution, stating the youth would “support only to those who accept our demands in promoting genuine democracy”.

The event also saw the discussions on the role of youth in democracy and strategies to make informed electoral choices.

See a full list of their demands below.

Speaking at a press conference at the SLFP headquarters the party’s Senior Vice Presi

The following account written by Shash Trevett is based on interviews to Together Against Genocide (TAG). Personal details of Meena (not her real name), place names and dates have been changed to protect her identity.

It was early in the morning of 14th August 2006. Meena was at home getting ready to attend a computer course at her school. She had completed her A Level examinations a couple of months before, and was shoring up her qualifications further. At 7.30am that morning, Meena was outside her family home when she saw Kfir planes belonging to the Sri Lankan Air Force fly over her house. A few seconds later she heard a loud explosion, accompanied by a bright light. Terrified, she dropped to the ground, covering her ears, trying to protect herself from the sounds of the aerial bombardment.

The Jaffna University Student’s Union (JUSU) condemned the circulation of false political statements that aligned the organisation to political parties.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the JUSU said,