At least two local Sri Lankan newspapers have reportedly claimed that the government is set to release a soldier who was sentenced to death over the massacre of eight Tamil civilians.

The papers claim that Staff Sergeant Sunil Rathnayake is to be granted a Presidential pardon by Gotabaya Rajapaksa, though a date has not yet been set for the move.

“A large number of Tamils in Sri Lanka have died while in protest demanding the government to reveal the fate of their loved ones who are victims of enforced disappearances,”Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) reports. 

“Already 69 mothers in our protest have died due to stress and various illnesses without finding solution to their grievances,” Leeladevi Anandanadaraja, the General Secretary of the Association for the Relatives of the Enforced Disappeared told the 43rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

Tamil families of the disappeared sent a joint letter addressed to the UN High Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, calling for the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to recommend that Sri Lanka is investigated for their lack of fulfilment in providing answers for their missing loved ones.

A protest calling the Sri Lanka government to release Tamil political prisoners and to address the issue of missing persons, took place yesterday in Batticaloa. 

The protest, which took place at the Mahatma Gandhi Park in Batticaloa, was set up near the site of the memorial of executed journalists. 

Local businesses in Mullaitivu have closed down in support for the families of disappeared, who held a protest today on International Women's Day to mark three years of demonstrations in Mullaitivu. 

Mothers and relatives of the disappeared marked International Women’s Day 2020 (8^th March) with a protest in Mullaitivu, as they reached three years in the struggle for truth and justice for the their loved ones.  

A Buddhist vihara, was opened in Jaffna University’s Killinochchi Campus on Ariviyal Nagar, at 4pm on Saturday, as Sinhalisation efforts continue across the North-East.

Batticaloa Campus Private Limited, a private university, is to be used a quarantine centre for coronavirus. 

Dr Anil Jasinghe, the Director General of Health Services, issued a notice of acquisition, informing the university that it would be used as a quarantine centre to contain the transmission of coronavirus until further notice.

Security measures have been tightened across the North East since Thursday, following the arrest of 'six prominent former LTTE cadres on charges of planning to assassinate a prominent Tamil politician in the North,' according to Daily Mirror.

Sri Lankan counter terrorism officers have arrested a man in Batticaloa for allegedly planning on reviving the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The suspect - a German citizen - was arrested by officers from the Terrorist Investigation Department (TID). 

The TID arrested the man after informing him that he will be arrested for his alleged plot to rebuild and revive the LTTE and suspected to have used 'Hawala' style money systems to transfer money from overseas.