Tamils in the North-East continued to serve kanji across the homeland as part of commemoration events taking place during Mullivaikkal remembrance week. 

In Mullaitivu, families of the disappeared defiantly distributed kanji today despite being targetted by plainclothes Sri Lankan police officers the day before. The officers circled the area in a white van and took photographs of those handing out kanji in Oddusuddan. 

he Sri Lankan defence ministry has said it is taking further steps to strengthen the security in the country, after a report that the ex-LTTE cadres were planning to regroup in India.

Following a report published in The Hindu, which noted that Indian intelligence services had shared information internally, Tamil Nadu had stepped up coastal surveillance. The report had noted that “some erstwhile cadres” had entered Tamil Nadu to “plan and execute” attacks in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence initially denied the claims, calling the report “baseless”.

Tamil civil society groups in the North-East condemned the violence against Sri Lanka’s anti-government protestors and urged them to go beyond “the narrow goal of removing Rajapaksa family members from office,” in a statement issued last week.

The statement calls on the anti-government protests to transform “into a revolutionary struggle that is conducive to creating the change of thinking that is needed to create a secular federal country, which is accountable to the people and has liberated itself from the Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinist ideology, which is at the root of all the problems in this country”.

As protests against the Sri Lankan government continued in Colombo last week, one demonstrator defied authorities and publicly praised LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, stating he was “the person who truly fought for our country”.

The woman’s remarks, which came to rapturous applause from the protesting crowd, were in an interview given to LankaSri from a Colombo suburb last week.

Occupying Sri Lankan soldiers in Mullaitivu handed out juice and biscuits to locals, whilst hoisting lanterns and makeshift lotus flowers in Nandikadal lagoon this morning, as they celebrated Vesak during Tamil Genocide week.

Uniformed soldiers were seen stopping passers by and offering the refreshments earlier today.

The Association of Relatives of the Disappeared in the North East began a three day rally from Pottuvil in the East, towards Mullivaikkal to commemorate the tens of thousands of Tamils massacred in Mullivaikkal by the Sri Lankan state 13 years ago. 

Tamils marched from Pottuvil through Thirukovil, Akkaraipattu, Karai Island, Kalmunai, Kaluvanchikudi and ended at Kallady bridge for the day. 

The Tamil National People’s Front launched a float that drove across the Jaffna district today, as part of a campaign to commemorate the Tamil genocide across the North-East in the days leading up to May 18^th.

As Tamils handed out flyers on the upcoming Genocide commemorations at an anti-Sri Lankan government protest in Australia, they were harassed and subjected to racist abuse with at least one man tearing up their flyers – all of which was caught on camera this week.

A remembrance event was held earlier today to remember the 36 Tamils that were massacred by Sri Lankan navy officers on board the Kumuthini boat on May 15, 1985. 

This morning, flowers were laid at a memorial in Neduntheevu dedicated to the victims. 

Eye witnesses reported seeing six plain clothed Sri Lankan navy officers boarding the Kumuthini boat and pointing a gun at passengers before ordering them to come up to the main deck one by one and shout their name and destination. 

Sri Lankan state minister and paramilitary leader Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, also known as Pillayan, reportedly fled the country following the resignation of former Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Reports indicate that he had fled to Malaysia and plans to travel to a European country from there.

Pillayan is the head of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), a government-aligned paramilitary group, and is accused of assassinating former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Joseph Pararajasingham amongst other abuses.