Sri Lanka’s Buddhasana Minister Gamini Jayawickrama Perera said that some 2,000 Buddhist viharas across the island will be “developed” with extra facilities and accommodation for monks, according to a report in the Daily News.

The minister stated that about 2,469 temples “have no basic facilities” and these would be developed with support from the Education Ministry, Prime Minister’s Office and the Presidential Secretariat.

Despite continued calls for the de-militarisation of the North-East, Sri Lankan military constructed a new tennis court exclusively for the use of its soldiers inside its military headquarters in Mullaitivu last month.

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe commissioned a new Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessel (AOPV) for the Sri Lankan Navy on Thursday, a ship that was entirely Indian built.

Families of the disappeared at Kilinochchi paid tribute to Annai Poopathy on the 30th anniversary of her death on Friday.

The protestors at Kilinochchi, particularly the mothers of forcibly disappeared young Tamils, paid tribute to Annai Poopathy’s commitment to obtain justice through peaceful protest, similar to their ongoing protest, and to her resilience as a mother that had suffered the shooting and killing of two of her sons by the Sri Lankan Army.

The Sri Lankan government has deployed the notorious Special Task Force, in order to protect foreign tourists in the south of the island after a group were assaulted earlier this month.

Police Chief Pujith Jayasundara said the move was a “temporary measure to stabilize the law and order situation” according to the Daily Mirror.

The body of a Tamil man reported missing last month was recovered from a forested area of Mannar.

71-year-old Manuelpillai Albert of Thottaveli was reported missing by his wife on 26th March.

His body was discovered in the forested area near the Mannar - Talaimannar main road on Wednesday.

Tellipalai residents receiving maternity care from the local hospital protested on Thursday, demanding improvements in care standards and the appointment of a specialist obstetrician/gynaecologist.

The United State’s State Department highlighted militarisation and impunity as significant human rights issues in Sri Lanka in its annual human rights report.

“The most significant human rights issues [in Sri Lanka in 2017] included unlawful killings; torture; sexual abuse; arbitrary arrest; lengthy detention; lack of property restitution by the military; and surveillance and harassment of civil society activists and journalists,” the report’s executive summary said.

British Tamils protested against Sri Lanka’s president Maithripala Sirisena outside the Commonwealth Secretariat in Pall Mall London.

Sri Lanka’s president and a high level ministerial delegation are currently in London for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting CHOGM 2018.

CHOGM 2013, saw mass protests in London as the British Prime Minister at the time David Cameron went to attend the meeting in Sri Lanka. A trip that saw him, leave the meetings in Colombo to visit the Tamil North-East. 

The 30th death anniversary of Annai Poopathy, who fasted unto death in protest against the atrocities committed by Indian Peace Keeping Forces (IPKF), was commemorated in Batticaloa.