Students at the University of Jaffna held a vigil in memory of two of their peers who were shot dead by Sri Lankan police three years ago.

Sri Lanka's upcoming presidential election may bring a new face to power, but concerns remain from Tamils on the island and around the world that their plight may remain unchanged.

Memorial services for the slain Tamil journalist, Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, was held in Vavuniya, Batticaloa and Jaffna, on the 19th anniversary of his death. 

In response to the retrial of Brigadier Priyanka Fernando, which will be adjourned by the 19 November, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry has defended the Brigadier, maintaining that under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, he is entitled to diplomatic immunity.
 

Families of the disappeared in Vavuniya protested on Wednesday, condemning presidential candidate and former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s denial of hundreds of cases of disappearances of surrendered Tamils from the end of the war.

Mangala Samaraweera, Sri Lanka’s finance minister and leading UNP member, called on Sri Lankan voters to reject Gotabaya Rajapaksa and warned that Sri Lankan soldiers may face prosecutions abroad through universal jurisdiction cases if “a Sri Lankan judicial mechanism” is not enacted.

Sri Lankan Prime Minster, Ranil Wickremesinghe, says Jaffna will return to normalcy and become an economic hub within five years.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of Jaffna International Airport yesterday, the Prime Minster said opening the airport was just the first step and several other steps are to follow. Once the runway is extended, “flights from the Middle East, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand will be available to Jaffna.”

President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe declared Jaffna International Airport open yesterday.

The Pirampadi massacre in Kokkuvil, when over fifty Tamil civilians were shot dead or crushed with an armoured vehicle by Indian Peacekeeping Forces (IPKF) was remembered in the village on Saturday, 32 years after the massacre.

Brigadier Priyanka Fernando, former Sri Lankan Defence Attaché to the United Kingdom, will face a new trial tomorrow at the Westminster Magistrates Court for motioning a death threat to Tamils in London, protesting Sri Lanka's celebration of Independence Day last year. 

The head of Sri Lanka’s army and accused war criminal Shavendra Silva, landed himself in trouble with the country’s election commission this week, after he endorsed former defence secretary and fellow accused war criminal Gotabaya Rajapaksa ahead of the island’s presidential elections.