Accused war criminal and Sri Lankan Defence Secretary, Kamal Gunaratne, has pledged that “operations to curb illegal drugs rings in the island would be further strengthened during the next year”.

Australian authorities have continued the detention of a Tamil asylum-seeking family from Biloela, which has spanned over a thousand days, despite the concern of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) which has called for their release until their legal case has been finalised.

An estimated 700 healthcare professionals have signed an open letter, supported by the AMA, expressing concern over the harm detention is inflicting upon the detained children, Kopkia, aged five, and Tharunicaa, aged tree.

Environmentalist express concern over the planned tripling of exploratory drilling done by Australian drilling company, Titanium Sands Ltd, in Mannar, which was announced in May of this year.

Daniel Franks, program leader of the development minerals strategic program at the University of Queensland, warns that such drilling could “dramatically transform the ecosystem”. Frank warns that it would “limit the land uses that the community already has for the islands” and that mining could impact groundwater in the region.

Tamils across the homeland held commemorative events today to remember the 35,000 victims of the devastating tsunami on December 26, 2004. 

Speaking on the issue of Tamil political prisoners, C.V. Wigneswaran, leader of the Tamizh Makkal Thesya Kootanii (TMTK), highlighted the issues with the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) which he has described as an “aberration”.

The legislation, Wigneswaran, whilst initially introduced 42 years ago as the “Temporary Provisions Act”, is now “used mostly now against the Tamils and all those arrested and kept in prisons for political reasons. 

Demonstrators in Jaffna voiced their discontent concerning Sri Lanka’s policy of compulsory cremations, as campaigns against Sri Lanka’s forced cremations intensify across the island.

Jaffna Muslims, Mosque authorities, Ulamas, and Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) activists and members held the protest at the 5-Lane Junction area in Jaffna today, condemning the state’s policy which opposes Islamic practices, and despite concerns raised by the UN, and World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines stating that cremations for COVID-19 deaths are not compulsory.

The Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) has reported that on Christmas Eve, livestock owned by Tamil farmers in Mylathamadu and Maathavanai districts in Batticaloa has been killed and injured by Sinhala settlers settled by the Mahaweli Development Authority. 

Responding to an inquiry into the economy and political situation, by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley, Lord Ahmad, Britain’s Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth, the United Nations and South Asia, maintained that the “human rights situation remains concerning”.

The issues highlighted by Lord Ahmad includes the “harassment of civil society, continued militarisation of civilian functions, and increased anti-Muslim sentiment”. 

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, Dinesh Gunawardena, has met with the Ambassador of the Netherlands, Tanja Gonggrijp, and Ambassador of Turkey, R. Demet Sekercioglu, this past week to discuss areas of assistance including tourism, archaeology, and responding to the coronavirus.

Following growing domestic and international condemnation of the Sri Lankan government’s decision to forcibly cremate Muslim victims of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) demanded the government to “immediately halt this cruelty” and emphasised that “the numerically smaller communities of this country for far too long have been treated as second or third class citizens”.

In a statement released last week, the TCSF stated it “condemns the Government of Sri Lanka most vehemently for denying Muslim families their right to bury their loved one who died owing to COVID-19.”