Speaking with People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL), both Sinthujan Varatharajah, an expert political geographer, and Thanges Paramsothy, a renowned anthropologist, gave enlightening discussions on the nature and continued presence of caste as well the history of resistance to it.

At age seven, I joined the Jaffna Library as a member of its children’s section. Every Saturday my friend and I would take orange juice and beetroot and Kraft cheese sandwiches, and go with her mother, then English teacher at Vembadi Girls School, to the library.

The US State Department said it had received “isolated reports of officials allegedly complicit in trafficking and reports of inadequate investigations” as it kept Sri Lanka on its Tier 2 Watch List on the Country Trafficking Scale, in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report.

The report notes that the Sri Lankan government continues in its failure to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is “making significant efforts to do so”. However, it went on to state the government did not demonstrate overall increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period. 

Commemorating International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, Pink News has interviewed a Tamil refugee and dancer who shared with them his experience of recovering from trauma, surviving as a refugee, and discovering his sexuality.

File photograph: US Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court has ruled in a landmark decision for the expedient removal of Vijayakumar Thuraissigiam, a Tamil asylum seeker from Sri Lanka.

According to the Court’s ruling, asylum seekers will not be required to be given a hearing in federal court before being removed if they cannot prove their initial claim. This judgement has raised concern from the civil liberty and human rights advocated as they maintain that it sets a dangerous precedent.

Sri Lankan security forces have reportedly arrested at least two people and carried out raids in Jaffna over the last week, stating that they have discovered guns and explosives in the region.

The army and police carried out a three-hour search of approximately 40 homes in Valvettithurai, after reports of explosives and a gun being discovered in a well. An arrest warrant was subsequently issued, with reports that two Tamils have been arrested.

Shops across Tamil Nadu have closed in protest after the deaths of a father and son in Tamil Nadu police custody earlier this week, with widespread outrage across the state.

Jayaraj, aged 58, and his 31-year-old son Fenix had been questioned by Sathankulam police for violating lockdown rules and keeping their mobile phone shop open for half an hour past lockdown in Thoothukudi.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) called for the Sri Lankan government-backed paramilitary leader Karuna to be investigated for crimes under international law, announcing that “accountability should apply to everyone in Sri Lanka".

"We note that Karuna former LTTE commander and Government minister, is being questioned for alleged past crimes,” said the office in a tweet yesterday. “He should also be investigated for wholesale recruitment of child soldiers, a crime under international law. Accountability should apply to everyone in Sri Lanka."

^{Karannagoda sits in between Mahinda and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa}

Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal issued an interim injunction Thursday, preventing the Colombo High Court from hearing a case against Former Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda and thirteen others accused of the disappearance and abduction of 11 youth.

Shanthi Sriskantharajah, a parliamentary candidate from Vanni, has written to the election commission in which she called for the reduction of the Sri Lankan military presence in Mullaitivu, to create conditions conducive for conducting peaceful and democratic elections this year.