Bilateral trade between Sri Lanka and China crossed the US$4 billion threshold for the first time said Sri Lanka’s Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen.

Speaking at the inauguration of the second China Products Exhibition (CPE) in Sri Lanka, Mr Bathiudeen commended the Imminent Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two nations adding,

“There is a six fold trade growth within a decade – and this trend would grow further as both countries move towards the proposed FTA.”

The Sri Lankan government announced this week it had agreed to initiate dialogue with Sinhala Buddhist groups, Bodu Bala Sena and Ravana Balaya. 

“The agreement was reached at a meeting I had with members of the Bodu Bala Sena and other groups in the Parliamentary Complex," the minister of justice and Buddhist affairs, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told journalists. 

The announcement follows a spate of recent incidents where Sinhala Buddhist monks have incited racism and directed hate speech towards Tamils and Muslims. 

People in the North can mark Maaveerar Naal (Tamil national remembrance day) without mentioning the LTTE, Sri Lanka's minister for national co-existence, dialogue and official languages minister, Mano Ganeshan was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying this week. 

Stating that it was a human right to remember loved ones, Mr Ganeshan pointed out that the JVP also commemorated their heroes. 

Police disrupted a student birthday celebration only minutes after it had begun at the Balasingham hostel at Jaffna University last night.

Carrying arms, the police stated they came due to an emergency call made to them from the hostel stating that students were being asked to come out for a midnight birthday celebration, but did not identify who called or what they said.

Students also reported that no one came forward to say they had called the police and there had been no emergency situation at the hostel requiring police attention.

The Tamil nation, in the homeland and in the diaspora, holds steadfastly to records of the liberation struggle. The well-known dates and the lesser known dates are tirelessly observed. Heroes are canonised in the Maaveerar Naal calendar.

But with the destruction of LTTE records and cemeteries, it becomes inevitable that some names are lost to us, at least momentarily.

The record of Muslim fighters remains incomplete. Their contribution to the Tamil struggle for liberation is often overlooked in the mainstream commemoration of Maaveerar Naal.

Sri Lanka's State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene said that the government will never allow the LTTE to be commemorated, days before the annual Tamil remembrance day when those who died fighting for the movement are commemorated across the world.

Responding to a question about NPC Councillor Shivajilingam's recent statement about the right to commemorate Maaveerar Naal, Mr Wijewardene said,

"We cannot permit what Hon Sivajilingam has said. We will allow those who died during the war to be remembered. But we will never allow the LTTE to be commemorated."

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) realised concerns about the safety and security of the opposition leader R Sampanthan in parliament today.

Speaking in Parliament MP E Saravanabavan said the opposition leader had been given vehicles that were not secure enough and called on the government to take immediate action to address the concerns. 

In response, the Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayakee said that he will look in to the concerns raised by the MP, reprots Colombo Gazette.
 

Speaking at the Raviraj Memorial in Chavachcheri yesterday, TNA Spokesperson and MP, M.A. Sumanthiran, said that while the constitutional sub-committee reports don't have everything the Tamils asked for, if asked whether the Tamils got what they need from them, the only answer can be yes.

The UN Human Rights Committee has ruled the Sri Lankan government must "provide adequate compensation" to a Tamil man currently living in Canada, reported National Post. 

Mr Roy Samathanam filed a complaint with the Committee three years ago after he was accused of being a "Canadian Tiger" by the Sri Lankan security forces during a visit in 2007 to Sri Lanka and later imprisoned and tortured. 

“We are thrilled with the committee’s conclusions,” Matt Eisenbrandt, legal director of the CCIJ, told the National Post. 

A statue of the former Tamil MP and human rights lawyer, N Raviraj who was assassinated 10 years ago this month was unveiled in Chavakachcheri on Sunday. 

The official unveiling ceremony was attended by a number of Tamil politicians including the leader of the Tamil National Alliance, R Sampanthan, and other TNA MPs.