Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary, and accused war criminal, Kamal Gunaratne, has refuted the claim that Sri Lanka’s military will be used to suppress peaceful demonstrations but maintained that they will assist Sri Lankan police in the event of a violent uprising.

In his statement, he lashed out against those with ulterior motives and lavished praise on Sri Lanka’s war crimes accused military, describing it as a “morally upright force”. He further denied rumours that the military would send in intelligence services to dispel peaceful protests.

Celebrations took place in the North-East to mark Easter Sunday and Good Friday. 

In Mannar, Bishop Emmanuel Fernando presided over a midnight mass to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

A large service was held at St. Jacob's Church in Kurunegala, Jaffna, on Good Friday to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. 

Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, sent his Puthandu wishes to the Tamil community in a statement earlier this week. 

The Sri Lankan government has taken “minimal steps to identify, investigate, prosecute, and punish officials who committed human rights abuses” said the US State Department in its human rights report for 2021, highlighting the level of impunity still present on the island.

The report, released last week, broadly highlighted human rights issues across the island, from the lack of accountability for conflict-era abuses to ongoing torture, arrests, land grabs, press intimidation and racism.

Hundreds of Tamil Canadians held a car rally this week demanding Canada and the international community to recognise the Tamil people's right to self-determination and to send Sri Lankan war criminals to the International Criminal Court (ICC). 

The car rally saw hundreds of cars from Brampton and Scarborough make their way through Dundas Square to downtown Toronto. 

In a recent press release, the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) expressed solidarity with those protesting the Rajapaksa regime in Sri Lanka and called for “the governance structure” of the country to be “comprehensively overhauled”, stating that the current demonstrations could serve as a catalyst for structural and meaningful change in Sri Lanka.

As Sri Lanka continues to grapple with its worst political and economic crisis in recent history, senior officials in Delhi express an interest in providing an additional $2 billion in aid whilst those in Beijing remain tight-lipped on assistance.

Tamil families of the disappeared in Vavuniya continued their protest earlier today, marking 1,881 days of their continuous demonstration as they demanded justice for the forcible disappeared of their loved ones.

^Jaffna

Despite Sri Lanka’s ongoing economic crisis, the Tamil New Year, which falls on the first day of the month of Chithirai in the Tamil calendar, was celebrated across the North-East earlier today.

With some referring to the April festival as an exclusively Hindu and sanskritised holiday, there is debate among Tamil communities as to whether the day truly represents a Tamil New Year.

Speaking in parliament, leader of the Tamil National Peoples' Front (TNPF) Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam called into question Sri Lanka’s exorbitant military spending of 10.35% of the annual budget

“10.35% in a situation where there is no war” he stated. “Who is your enemy?”