This week has made one thing abundantly clear: Sri Lanka will never voluntarily deliver justice. Whether in Geneva or on an international news broadcast, its leaders lie, deflect, and evade.

Tamil families of the forcibly disappeared in Mullaitivu marked International Women’s Day this week with a protest through Mullivaikkal, the site of the 2009 genocide, as uniformed Sri Lankan police officers watched on.

Former Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe has attempted to shift blame onto “pro-LTTE” figures after his disastrous interview on Al Jazeera English’s Head to Head, in which he floundered over questions on war crimes, enforced disappearances, and his defence of war criminals such as Shavendra Silva.

The interview, aired earlier today, saw Wickremesinghe visibly uncomfortable as he was pressed on allegations of war crimes, government corruption, and his administration’s failure to credibly investigate the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.  He threatened to walk out several times.

The Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) has reiterated its demand for Sri Lankan to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC), in a letter addressed to the Heads of Missions in Geneva of the UNHRC Core Group on Sri Lanka. Written earlier this week, the TNPF criticised previous UN HRC resolutions as ineffective, stating that they have failed to deliver justice for Tamil victims.

A new documentary aired on TRT World last week, travelled to the Tamil homeland and spoke to former LTTE fighters, activists and journalists on the situation almost 16 years after the end of the armed conflict.

Amongst those interviewed were former LTTE fighter Kokilavany Navalan, Tamil politician Ananthy Sasitharan and journalist Kumanan Kanapathipillai.

India is set to increase services along a historic maritime route with the launch of a second passenger ferry service between Rameswaram and Talaimannar this July. 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reiterated its warning to Sri Lanka that there is "no room for policy errors", following concerns that the government’s decision to cut electricity tariffs by 20% has breached a key structural benchmark under the IMF programme.

Illegal sand mining has escalated in Sembiyanpatru North, Vadamarachchi East, despite repeated complaints from local residents and environmental activists

Sri Lanka’s ongoing campaign to Sinhalise Tamil sites continued last week as a large number of Buddhist monks, escorted by military and police personnel, marched towards the Vedukkunaari temple in Nedunkerni, Vavuniya. 

A groundbreaking archaeological discovery in Tamil Nadu is set to rewrite global history, with new evidence suggesting that iron smelting in the region dates back to as early as 3,345 BCE—over a thousand years earlier than previously believed. 

 

A Tamil schoolteacher was subjected to eight hours of interrogation by Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) in Paranthan, as the security forces continued to crackdown on Tamil activists.

Hundreds of Tamil activists, youth, and diaspora members gathered outside the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva on Monday, demanding international justice for the Tamil genocide and the liberation of occupied Tamil Eelam.

Sri Lanka’s Cabinet Spokesman and Minister of Media, Nalinda Jayatissa, has stated that intelligence agencies are monitoring an “extremist group” reportedly operating from Kalmunai in the Eastern Province.