Reports have emerged that the Sri Lankan army is building a vihara on occupied land in the so-called 'High Security Zone' of Valikamam North, leading residents to fear that they will not regain their lands.

A Sri Lankan soldier has died and eight others were injured in an accident in Keppapulavu, Mullaitivu on Sunday.

The military vehicle’s driver lost control after speeding round a bend in the Keppapulavu army camp area.

Three of the injured were admitted to Mullaitivu district hospital, while five were admitted to the military hospital.

The Indian government is pushing Sri Lanka to fulfil its commitments to Tamils, according to a minister responding to a question in the Lok Sabha concerning the protection of Tamil interests.

In his written response on June 10, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan emphasised that India has consistently called upon SL to fulfil its commitments and that the end of the civil war a decade ago brought a unique opportunity to provide a last peace to the island.

In the minister’s statement he writes:

The Sri Lankan army continued with its militarisation of the Tamil North-East as it handed out wheelchairs to disabled Tamil civilians in Jaffna last week.

Facebook has increased its investments in Sinhala and Tamil language experts in order to curb online hate speech and other malicious content from Sri Lanka, as attacks on Muslims have risen since the Easter Sunday bombings earlier this year.

In a press statement, a Facebook spokesperson said:

“We have invested heavily on Sinhala and Tamil language expertises as we have promised. We significantly ramped up our language expertise in Sri Lanka through hiring more experts after the Digana riots.”

Tamil families of the disappeared protested in Mannar and Jaffna on Thursday, demanding justice for their forcibly disappeared relatives.

In Mannar, families were joined by civil society members including religious leaders, in a demonstration outside the district secretariat.

Several thousand Sri Lankan soldiers attended a military talent show held at the occupying military base in Jaffna this week, as the army continued its decades-long militarisation of the region.

The Sri Lankan and Indian armies engaged in joint visits last month, with troops from both militaries touring each region as relations between them continue to grow despite reports of continued human rights abuses.

Hill Country Development Minister Lakshman Kiriella has admitted that Sri Lanka’s biased education system with inaccurate historical accounts are being taught to propagate ethnic hatred. 

In the minister’s statement, he claimed that ancient Sri Lankan kings were not nationalists and that Tamils and Muslims were “relatives” of the Sinhalese as opposed to foreign invaders. 

“The Tamils and Muslims are our relatives. The Tamils came from India. We also came from India. We have to accept that. Some people are not willing to accept that”.

A Tamil newspaper distributor was arrested by the Sri Lankan army in Mullaitivu for possessing newspapers with photos of the LTTE leader Veluppillai Prabhakaran on the cover.

The distributor of a Tamil weekly was arrested and handed over to Oddusuddan police after being stopped and searched on the Oddusuddan-Nedunkeni road by the army.

The newspaper he was distributing featured an article about southern politicians’ remarks about the LTTE leader and a photo of the leader as its cover photo.

The distributor was released after questioning.