The death of 2nd Lt. Maalathy, the first female fighter of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to lose her life in the Tamil armed struggle, was commemorated by Tamil activists in Mullaitivu today. 

Tamil activists, including former Northern Provincial Councillor Thurairasa Ravikaran and Peter Ilanchezhiyan, lit a flame and laid flowers to mark 36 years since her death. 

Sri Lanka’s president Ranil Wickremesinghe lashed out during an interview with Deutsche Welle when asked for a response to serious concerns raised by the Channel 4 documentary on the Easter Sunday bombings and the need for an international investigation, earlier this month.

Read a transcript of the interview below.

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The eagerly anticipated ferry service between Kankesanthurai in Jaffna and Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu has once again been postponed.

Today marks thirty-six years since the death of 2nd Lt. Maalathy, the first female fighter of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to lose her life in the Tamil armed struggle.

Across the world, the day is being commemorated as Tamil Women’s Day, an opportunity to honour women’s involvement in the fight for Tamil rights.

Sri Lanka’s aviation minister has threatened to withdraw an exclusive agreement with the state-owned Sri Lankan Airlines, after flight delays and cancellations impacted several parliamentarians in recent weeks.

Nimal Siripala de Silva said the government is considering withdrawing the exclusive rights of SriLankan Airlines to operate and manage long haul flights in and out of Colombo, relegating it only to short-haul flights within Asia and domestically.

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In a display of solidarity with Mullaitivu judge T. Saravanarajah, who recently resigned from all his positions and fled the country due to death threats, youth in Mullaitivu organized a protest.

Tamil lawyers and other legal professionals from across the North-East were joined by their Sinhala counterparts in Colombo today, as they rallied in support of Mullaitivu judge T Saravanarajah, who was forced to flee the island in the face of death threats last month.

Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe dismissed political and ethnic divisions on the island as “small things” and told a Tamil audience in Batticaloa not to seek “external intervention,” at an event in the East on Friday.

Addressing an audience at St. Michael’s College in Batticaloa, Wickremesinghe downplayed unaddressed historical grievances and instead called on the audience “to come together as one people”.

A group led by a Buddhist monk has been observed entering and exiting an abandoned army camp in Kinniya - Kurangupanjan. This activity has raised concerns among villagers in the surrounding area, particularly those from the majority Muslim community.