Mullaitivu based pastor Fr James Pathinanthan, a priest that survived the massacres at Mullivaikkal, passed away last week.

The US Ambassador to Sri Lanka said “respect for Sri Lanka’s sovereignty lies at the heart” of their security relationship with Colombo, and cited a case of Sri Lankan soldiers accused of committing crimes overseas facing legal proceedings on the island as an example of this.

^{File photograph: A Sri Lankan military plane at Palaly}

The announcement that commercial flights from India will soon be visiting Jaffna’s recently expanded Palaly airport excludes all flights from Chennai and the rest of Tamil Nadu, in an act of “Sinhala hegemony” said a Tamil politician this week.

A massive Buddhist stupa built by the Sri Lankan military was opened to serve the growing Sinhala settlements in the Navatkuli area.

Sri Lanka’s former president who oversaw a military invasion of the North-East in the 1990’s was the recipient of the 2019 Common Ground Award in London last month, just weeks before Tamils gathered to mourn the death of those killed in an offensive she ordered.

A Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP has slammed the Sri Lankan president for denigrating the LTTE leader V Prabhakaran, whom the MP described as the ‘leader of the Tamil people’.

Twenty-nine years ago, Vellupillai Viyazhamma’s son, V. Ranjan, was forcibly disappeared. Viyazhamma appeared before multiple commissions and inquiries over the years, refreshing her trauma each time in a desperate attempt to find answers to her endless question — what happened to my son? Last week, Viyazhamma passed away in Keppapilavu. At least twenty-one mothers, including Viyazhamma, have died in their pursuit to learn the truth about their disappeared loved ones.

The United Kingdom said that it holds “regular discussions” with Sri Lankan officials regarding implementing a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution on accountability for mass atrocities, and that “more needs to be done” to ensure progress.

A small commemoration ceremony was held in Sampur, in the Trincomalee district, earlier this month, to mark 29 years Tamils were killed by advancing Sri Lankan soldiers.

General Jagath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka’s former army chief, has called for military rule in Sri Lanka to resolve the “situation after April 21”, the Easter Sunday Bombing. 

Hundreds of Tamils from across the North-East travelled to Kanniya in Trincomalee to protest the destruction of a Hindu temple to make way for a Buddhist vihara. Several protesters were obstructed and blocked en route by Sri Lankan army and police, while some were assaulted by Sinhalese as security forces watched on.