Sri Lanka’s former defence secretary and frontrunner in next months’ presidential elections Gotabaya Rajapaksa has vowed to reject a UN Human Rights Council resolution on accountability for mass atrocities, which the current government has co-sponsored.

Updated

Five Tamil political parties signed a memorandum today, highlighting key demands of Tamils, which are to be presented to all of Sri Lanka's leading presidential candidates.

The demands have been formulated in order to help decide the position of Tamils in the upcoming Presidential election. 

The key demands include:

As thousands of Kurds marched through London during a mass demonstration against the Turkish invasion of the Kurdish regions of Northern Syria, Eelam Tamils joined the rally to express solidarity in their struggle for freedom.

The head of Malaysia’s Counter Terrorism Division has admitted that security forces are monitoring the activities of Tamil Nadu politician Senthamizhan Seeman, as authorities continued to crack down on Tamil activity they claim is linked to the LTTE.

Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa remains the “spiritual leader” of Sri Lanka, claimed his brother and former minister Basil Rajapaksa, in an interview with The Hindu this week.

“No matter who our candidate or President is, our leader [Mahinda Rajapaksa] will the head of the government [as PM],” claimed Basil. “So, this arrangement suits us well. He is our leader, and he is the spiritual leader of our country.”

Direct flights connecting Chennai and Jaffna will be launched as a new international airport opens in the region, reports The Hindu, with a test flight scheduled from Palaly later this week.

Sri Lankan presidential election candidate and former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa has vowed to increase powers given to military intelligence, as candidates vie for nationalist Sinhala Buddhist votes.

“We will give due powers to the intelligence officers and also the necessary legal cover to perform their duties,” Rajapaksa is quoted by AP as saying at an election rally this week. He also pledged to revive the “country’s crippled defence mechanism.”

<p>A Fundamental Rights application was filed in Sri Lanka's Supreme Court, seeking the government to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC)&nbsp;resolution 30/1 that it co-sponsored in 2015.</p> <p>The application was filed by the Truth Seekers Movement, who&nbsp;claim&nbsp;that by co-sponsoring resolution 30/1, Sri Lanka has allowed for several activities to take place which are inconsistent with the Constitution.&nbsp;</p>

On the morning of September 16th 2008, Benjamin Dix was part of a United Nations convoy that was driving out of Kilinochchi. “Civilians were protesting outside our offices begging us not to leave,” he recalls. “As we drove out that morning a Kfir - a government fighter jet - flew over the top of us and into the Vanni… It almost haunts me”. 

Former UN staffer Benjamin Dix released his first graphic novel this month, exploring the story of Tamil families trapped in the Vanni in 2009, as the Sri Lankan military launches an ominous offensive that kills tens of thousands civilians.