Updated 2000 GMT

A fast-unto-death protest launched by a Sinhala Buddhist monk against signing a United States Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) grant ended just hours after it started when the Sri Lankan government and leading candidates rushed to assure the monk that it would not be signed before this month’s presidential elections.

A Tamil activist who has been searching for her abducted husband for over a decade has spoken on her disappointment with the Sri Lankan government over its lack of progress in investigating enforced disappearances.

Preparations are underway in the North-East to clear Maaveerar thuyilum illams, LTTE cemeteries, ahead of Maaveerar Naal on November 27.

Last week a local farmer lent his tractor to clear the ground at Theravil thuyilum illam in Visuvamadu. However Sri Lankan soldiers stationed nearby collected the details of all who had come out for the clear-up before they could access the cemetery.

A public awareness campaign demanding justice for the Tamil journalists killed, disappeared and attacked in Sri Lanka was initiated by Jaffna journalists to mark International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists on Saturday.

The Jaffna Press Club inaugurated the campaign with a vigil to their fallen colleagues at the monument to murdered journalists in Jaffna Town.

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Controversial British politician Lord Naseby continued to push widely debunked casualty figures relating to the final stages of the Sri Lanka military’s offensive in 2009, claiming that less than 6,000 civilians were killed.

Naseby, who has been courted by Colombo, and in the past been labelled an “apologist” for the Rajapaksa regime, continued to table questions in Britain’s House of Lords calling for the release of the diplomatic despatches from UK Military Attaché Colonel Anton Gash, from 2009.

US-based advocacy group PEARL (People for Equality and Relief in Lanka) launched the second in their series on Sinhalisation of the North-East last month, examining the state-sponsored demographic changes in the Kokkilai region of Mullaitivu.

Despite over a decade since the end of the armed conflict, Tamils in the North must wait another two years for their land to be returned from military occupation if New Democratic Front (NDF) presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa is elected, claimed a current Sri Lankan government minister.

Failing to fulfil previous promises, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremsinghe and Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne gave these assurances during their recent visit to the North, where thousands of acres of land remains occupied by the Sri Lankan military.

A Batticaloa based journalist for Vasantham TV was admitted into hospital on Friday, after being attacked by a group of unknown persons.

Mohamed Saji of Kattankudy was reportedly on his way to his office on Friday, when he was assaulted.

Saji told police that the attackers also warned that Irfan Mohamed, the manager of Vasantham TV, “will also be dealt with” reports Daily News.

As Sri Lanka gears up for a presidential election in just a few weeks time, Tamils on the island find themselves faced with a familiar decision. Almost five years after an election that was hailed as the dawn of a new era for Sri Lanka, the island has instead seen pledges of reforms broken and the failure to address key issues towards accountability, justice and a lasting peace. With leading candidates choosing to boast their Sinhala nationalist credentials, for Tamils in particular, the future seems bleak.