Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development stated the government would not allow any Indian fishermen into their waters, even for short periods of time.

Deputy Minister Sarath Kumara Gunarathne dismissed the notion of allowing Indian fishermen permission to enter Sri Lankan waters saying,

“We cannot agree to let Indian fishermen fish in Sri Lankan waters even for a day.”

His comments come after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting in Delhi to discuss the issue of repeated arrests of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy. Frequent attacks on Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy has led to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalithaa writing several letters to the Prime Minister, expressing her concern and calling for a “strong and robust" response to the arrests, whilst protests against the arrests have taken place in Tamil Nadu.

The Commander of the Sri Lankan Army said that the military was still working on the “psychological elimination of the threat” since the end of the armed conflict and rejected suggestions of reducing the size of Sri Lanka’s armed forces.

Speaking in an interview to Adaderana, Lieutenant General Daya Ratnayake justified the increased involvement of Sri Lanka’s expanding military in civilian affairs, saying,

“Winning a war of this nature has basically two parts. That is physical elimination of a threat and psychological elimination of the threat. What we achieved in May 2009 is physical elimination of the threat. Thereafter achieving psychological elimination is a process and there are no shortcuts to it,” added Ratnayake.

Sri Lanka’s External Affairs ministry has confirmed that a visa for US journalist Gardiner Harris has been “put on hold” following advice from the Sri Lankan High Commission in India, reports the Sunday Leader.

Harris, South Asia Correspondent for The New York Times, tweeted that he had applied for a visa more than 50 days ago, yet was still waiting to hear from Sri Lankan authorities.

I applied for a J-visa to Sri Lanka on June 30. 50 days later, still no word. Press freedom? @Abeynayake @tingilye @CHOGMSriLanka — Gardiner Harris (@GardinerHarris) August 18, 2014

 

Tamil National Alliance MP P Ariyanenthiran called for the release of Tamil labourers, held against their will in Kurdistan.

Over 100 Tamils from Batticaloa were being held as hostages, he charged in the letter dated August 11, adding that family members of the men approached him about the issue.

The police spokesperson Ajith Rohana confirmed on Thursday that a 14 year old girl in Mannar had been sexually assaulted by a Sri Lankan army soldier, reports BBC Tamil.

The attack took place at the beginning of this month said Rohana, adding that a complaint had been filed with the police four days after.

Bones have been unearthed in farm land in Pandariyaveli in Batticaloa by the Kokkaddicholai police, reports Uthayan.

According to the paper, the police are suspecting the discovery is that of human bones, with one fragment representing a bone in the wrist.

Families of Tamil workers in Kurdistan continued to express concern over the welfare of the men, who the families say are being held against their will and forced to work for Kurdish forces in the fight against Islamic State militants.

The families, many of whom reside in Pallaisuddi, Jaffna, have named 28 workers who they say remain in detention, and have been forced to carry out military activities, including the building of bunkers and fortifications and the unloading of arms.

“My son and many others are still in Kurdistan. They were not sent back with the other men, as the government claims," the mother of one of the men told Tamil Guardian, speaking anonymously for fear of her son's safety.

"He was beaten and hospitalised when he initially resisted. If they were well looked after as they claim, how does the government explain his injuries?” she added, stating that the men have only been in touch sporadically, calling in secret as they feared being beaten.

Satellite images show the Sri Lankan military has been consolidating its presence in the Tamil North-East of the island, increasing the number of permanent structures that it has built on land seized from Tamil civilians since the end of the armed conflict.

Images released by the Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights Project of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) at the request of the Sri Lanka Campaign, show the Valikamam High Security Zone (HSZ), located in the Jaffna peninsula, has seen a dramatic rise in the number of structures that have been constructed inside it.

AAAS reports “there was a significant increase in structures between 2011 and 2014, with the total structure count rising by nearly 1,500 structures. The structure count includes all types of structures, including guard posts, military buildings, and individual, housing-sized structures.”