UK Parliamentarians urged the Sri Lankan state to decriminalise the Tamils' right to self-determination at an event last week at Westminster, London, organised by the World Tamil Co-ordinating Committee in association with Tamils for Labour and other British Tamil organisations. International scholars and activists also expressed their solidarity with the Tamil struggle for an independent state at the event.

Tamil fisherfolk in Jaffna held a rally on Tuesday, demanding authorities take action to solve the issue of Indian trawlers encroaching on their fishing grounds as tensions continued to flare across the Palk Strait.

Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Katchi (ITAK) MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam told Sri Lanka’s parliament that Sinhala lawmaker Rohitha Abeygunawardena attempted to assault him, whilst they were in the Prime Minister’s  office earlier today.

Sinhala Buddhist monks are planning to disrupt Maha Shivarathri festivities at Vedukkunaari Adi Shiva temple, after having appealed to Sri Lankan police to halt the festival this week.

The Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) commemorated the assassination of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Kiddinan Sivanesan at their Jaffna office today. 

(Image Courtesy: U Solar Clean Energy)

Following the sudden suspension the Chinese-Sri Lanka energy agreement, that would have seen a Chinese company construct solar power systems in in Jaffna's Delft, Nainathivu, and Alanathivu islets, India has struck and agreement to take on these projects.

Sri Lanka’s former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was forced to resign the presidency in July 2022 following mass protests, has announced that he will publish a book entitled, “The Conspiracy to oust me from the Presidency”.

Delivering his message to mark the holy period of Lent, Bishop of the Diocese of Mannar Rev. Emmanuel Fernando said that Tamils in the region continue to face hardships, from poverty, to drugs and environmental damage.

“The livelihood of the people in Mannar continues to deteriorate,” said Bishop Fernando.

Sri Lanka's army has dispatched its 15th contingent of the Sri Lanka Force Protection Company (SLFPC) on a peacekeeping mission under the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), despite serious concerns over the human rights record of the military.

Sri Lanka’s opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) welcomed more senior military figures, including those accused of overseeing the slaughter of tens of thousands of Tamils, to the party as it looked to expand its Sinhala nationalist support ahead of elections touted for later this year.

The death of Santhan, one of the freed convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case who was laid to rest in his hometown in Jaffna, was a “planned act of vengeance”, his counsel Pugazhendi told reporters during a media briefing.

People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) told the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that the Sri Lankan government “sells empty reconciliation mechanisms” as the current regime touts its latest commission to the international community.

A statue of Buddha which has recently appeared near the Suzhipuram Chaukkadi Pillaiyar temple has caused uproar among the local Tamil community, who fear that the latest construction may be yet another Sri Lankan attempt to erect a Sinhala Buddhist vihara in the region.