The Federation of Saiva (Hindu) Temples UK made a public appeal to the heads of all four religious faiths in Sri Lanka to take steps to address the progressing extremism, citing the case of Buddhist monks destroying a Hindu temple in Kanniya, Trincomalee.

Today marks thirty-six years since the horrors of the anti-Tamil pogrom of 1983, when thousands of Tamils were killed by Sinhala mobs backed by the then UNP government and state forces.

Armed with electoral rolls, Sinhala mobs targeted Tamil homes and businesses, looting and ransacking property. Driven from their homes, particularly in Colombo, over 3000 Tamils were massacred, whilst thousands more were effectively deported by the state to the North-East.

Tamil families of the disappeared who have been demanding information on the whereabouts of her loved ones, held a rally in Batticaloa this month, marking more than two years since they began their protest.

The head of Sri Lanka’s Roman Catholic Church Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith lashed out at the Sri Lankan government and called for its leaders to resign, accusing them of weakening the country’s intelligence services and acting at the behest of “international NGOs”.

Rameshkumar disappeared during the final stages of the war. For his parents, Pushpanathan and Indrani, their grief in searching for him is five-fold. Rameshkumar had been their only surviving child out of five. His four siblings had been killed in the Sri Lankan military attack remembered as the Suthanthirapuram massacre.

The Sri Lankan army continued its militarisation of the North-East, organising a seminar for school children in Muttur last week.

A two-day seminar was held for A Level students in the region, reportedly “under the guidance of Major General Nevil Weerasingha, General Officer Commanding 22 Division”.

Tamils in Jaffna protested on Saturday against the assault by Sinhalese traders of a Hindu spiritual leader and a temple landowner in Trincomalee last week.

The Sri Lankan military announced it had renovated and released two irrigation tanks in Karainagar in Jaffna, at the request of a Rajapaksa-backing parliamentarian.

UPDATED JULY 21

A Tamil man was shot and killed by the Sri Lankan police in Manipay on Saturday evening.

Initial reports from the police suggested that the man was travelling in a group of 6 men on 3 motorbikes through the town in Jaffna. Police claimed the shooting took place after the man failed to stop at a checkpoint.

Major General Ruwan Wanigasooriya, the lastest commander of the Sri Lankan security forces in the Jaffna district met with Dr Suren Raghavan, the governor of the Northern Province, earlier this week, as both men faced criticism from local Tamils.