Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, Ali Sabry, decried calls for devolution whilst speaking to journalists in Colombo on Wednesday evening, claiming it would lead to greater politicisation.

Noting concerns over Sri Lanka’s abusive police force, Sabry claimed:

The Tamil National Alliance has released a statement reiterating their commitment to a federal solution and urging the Sri Lankan government to immediately hold provincial elections and provide for meaningful devolutions.

Foreign ambassadors met with Tamil Families of the Disappeared in Colombo today where they were pressed to launch an independent international investigation into the crimes committed during the final stages of the armed conflict and the fate of their loved ones.

Sinhala journalist Tharindu Uduwaragedara was detained and arrested whilst covering a union-led protest in Colombo last Friday.

According to AidData, Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka remains a top option for China’s next naval base within the next few years, raising security concerns for the US and India.

Given its “strategic location, the popularity of China among elites and the population, and Sri Lanka’s alignment with China in UNGA voting, Hambantota is our top candidate for a future base” AidData reports.

The report adds:

“China’s single largest port investment anywhere is at Hambantota, and Beijing exercises direct control over the facility,”

A hartal was carried out across the North-East yesterday as Tamils across the homeland demand for an international investigation into the Kokkuthodavai mass grave. 

In rememberance of 40 years since the anti-Tamil pogroms of 1983, British Tamils assembled in Trafalgar Square.

Marking the 40^th anniversary of Black July, an anti-Tamil pogrom that saw the slaughter of over 3,000 Tamils, British MPs are calling on the British government and the international community to recognise the pogrom as an act of genocide.

In a video statement, MP Elliot Colburn, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils stated that:

The North-East Coordinate Committee, a collective of 16 civil society organisations across the North-East, has urged the international community to reject the Sri Lankan government’s proposed National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC) and instead implement an independent international investigation into war crimes.

The 40th anniversary of the Welikada prison massacre was commemorated at Valvettithurai, Jaffna. The massacre which resulted in the murder of 53 political prisoners was instigated during the Black July pogrom by prison officials.

The memorial was held under the leadership of Tamil MP M K Sivajilingam.

Among the victims were: