The Sri Lankan military’s Psychological Operations department held a series of public meetings in the last week, reportedly “in view of the recent upsurge of violence and the birth of Muslim fundamentalism”.

A Sinhalese settler in Mullaitivu was arrested on the charges of obstructing a government official from carrying out his duty, after he assaulted the Kokkilai West village officer.

The incident occurred on May 14 when a confrontation occurred between the village officer’s team of officials and Sinhalese settlers about a government housing scheme that was to be built in Mugathuvaram.

The village officer was assaulted and had his motorcycle keys and work diary snatched from him.

While the officer filed a police complaint the next day, police failed to take action for a week.

Sri Lanka's president, Maithripala Sirisena yesterday urged the international community to relax travel advisories, stating the security situation was 99% ensured. 

Sri Lanka’s tourism industry continued to suffer, despite government efforts, in the wake of the devastating Easter Sunday attacks last month.

Voice of America reports industry experts as saying hotel occupancy rates across the island have fallen by at least 85 percent. “Most beaches, eateries and stores in popular tourist areas are now empty,” it added.

Sri Lanka’s military commanders who have been put in charge of the recent ramp up in security across the island pose “an enormous potential risk to rule of law”, said the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) and Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) in a joint dossier released last week.

The Sri Lankan military reported that 10,000 extra troops have been deployed as emergency rule was re-enacted, grating the security forces wide ranging powers of detention. 

Sri Lankan police have arrested three people yesterday over a WhatsApp group which allegedly shared extremist content. 

The group, entitled 'Dharga town Breaking News' included 100 members. The three suspects, aged 20 - 23, are all believed to be from Dharga town. 

The administrator of the group, a 23-year-old resident of Lotus Road, arrived in the country after being employed abroad, the police reported. 

Twenty-five people left the group today, the Sunday Times reported  

Students at the University of Jaffna continued their campaign to have their student leaders cleared of terrorism charges with a protest on Thursday.

Following the Easter Sunday bombings by Islamist extremists, the president and secretary of the university’s student union were arrested when a photograph of LTTE leader V Prabhakaran was found in their office during a search operation of the campus. A canteen manager was also arrested and detained when a photo of Thileepan was found in the dining area.

Jeshanika Thivanithan was in grade 8 at St Cecilia’s Girls College in Batticaloa and excelled at extra curricular. The second of three daughters, Jeshanika’s death at the hands of suicide bombers on Easter Sunday has devastated her family.

On Sunday, April 21, thirteen-year-old Jeshanika and her sister, ten-year-old Jeromika, were attending Sunday school at the Zion Church of Batticaloa. They were sitting on the church’s staircase when the first blast went off.