<p>Sri Lankan Muslim&nbsp;authorities, such as the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama, have called upon the government to end the discriminatory mandate for cremation which goes against World Health Organisation advice (WHO).</p> <p>The introduction of compulsory cremation on 11 April was intended for victims of COVID-19, however, was unnecessary and disregarded WHO advice which maintained that victims “can be buried or cremated”. The mandating of cremations runs in direct violation of traditional Islamic burial practices.</p>

Sri Lanka's former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe warned that a partial lifting of Sri Lanka’s curfew, without provisions for adequate testing, may lead to a worse crisis amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

Wickremesinghe stated:

“I have requested that at least 3,000 tests should be carried out daily. Sri Lanka would be plunged into a worse crisis if the lockdown is lifted without adequate testing,”

On Friday night, Sri Lankan army personnel assaulted women and children at the home of a former LTTE cadre, hospitalising an elderly woman. The army had rounded the house in Nagarkovil, Jaffna, in search of the householder Aingaran, purportedly in connection with an attack on a soldier on January 15. In the last four months, several Tamils have been arrested and bailed for the incident, which involved the soldier being confronted by locals for speeding and narrowly missing hitting a child with his motorcycle. Aingaran’s wife said on learning that he was not inside, the army proceeded to assault the women and children that were present. They left, dropping army insignia including a hat with a logo and a mobile phone, only to return in three vehicles bearing groups armed with swords and poles. The returning group smashed two motorcycles parked at the property, as well as furniture and other possessions.

Tamil families of the disappeared in Vavuniya voiced their criticism of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) last week, as it became the only major opposition party to attend a meeting convened by Sri Lankan prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, after all other major parties boycotted it.

On the 1,173th day of their protest the Tamils families in Vavuniya displayed banners slamming the TNA, accusing them of “electoral duplicity”.

Thampi (little brother), our dog Singaa, my 30 pet doves and myself in Eelam at the end of 2008 moving from Vaddakkachchi to Visuvamadu.

I was 15 years old at that time and thought it’d only be two or three weeks then we’ll be back to our place and continue with our normal lives. But I was wrong.

File photograph

"As sale and exports of fish crash, another huge crisis is staring at Sri Lanka's fisherfolk," writes Meera Srinivasan for The Hindu. 

I am from Vadduvaakal, Mullivaaikaal. I was a fisherman before the war. I used to do all my work, no matter how much work I have.

I lost both my legs during a Kfir attack during the last days of the war.

I wanted to die when I knew that I lost my legs. I asked the doctors at the hospital I was being taken care of, to please kill me with an injection; but they helped me recover.

11 years have gone by since the Tamil diaspora community mobilized and took our voices to the streets. We raised our voices in an effort to raise awareness on the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka. 

I was 15 at the time, but I remember that day so clearly. It was Mother’s Day, and I was sitting with my family at my grandmother’s house feeling hopeless about what was happening to our people back home. My father and I quickly left to join the thousands of Tamils protesting on University Avenue. After chanting and pleading, we started marching, soon enough we ended up on the Gardiner Expressway. 

The Gardiner protest was pivotal in shaping the political identity of many young Tamils. It inspired a new generation of activists and my own in continuing to demand justice for Tamils on the island while also carrying on the fight for liberation. 

The protest, which occurred on Mothers day, had predominately negative public perception and media coverage, evidenced through their use of language - which often carried racial undertones - and played a role in delegitimizing the protest itself. Rather than centring the story around the genocide and international intervention – the purpose behind the protests, the coverage focused on dominant narratives surrounding the Tamil community as being ‘disruptive’, an ‘inconvenience’ and ‘ungrateful’ and labelling us as ‘others’ and ‘terrorists’ while also removing women from their political agency. 

On May 10, 2009, Catholic Priest Father Francis Joseph wrote to the Pope from inside the No Fire Zone, calling on the Church to break its silence on the massacre of Tamils. Father Francis Joseph disappeared after surrendering to the Sri Lankan Army alongside hundred of LTTE cadres and high ranking LTTE officials in May 2009.