Photograph: ColomboPage

The head of Myanmar’s government Aung San Suu Kyi met with Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday, where she praised the “democratic transformation” on the island according to the official

The mass rally in Jaffna last month that drew tens of thousands of protestors, was a move by the people of the North-East to “show their resistance” to acts such as Sinhala Buddhist colonisation to the international community, said Batticaloa District Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian Gnanamuttu Srinesan.

In an interview with Ceylon Today, Mr Srinesan said the change of government last year had led to the people of the North-East hoping the Sri Lankan state would “fulfil their demands”.

Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council C V Wigneswaran revealed details of plans to assassinate both him and Tamil National Alliance leader R Sampanthan, reports Ceylon Today.

Justice Wigneswaran said he received an email in Sinhala and a phone call from a man in Balapitiya, who detailed an assassination plot to hire a contract killer to assassinate Mr Sampanthan for a sum of Rs 25 million. The LTTE was to be blamed for the killing.

Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian M A Sumanthiran said that he was “confident of success” in changing a proposed draft counter terror law, which has been approved by Sri Lanka’s cabinet.

Speaking to The New Indian Express, Mr Sumanthiran said he would ensure the bill is discussed at Parliamentary Oversight Committees for Justice and National Security at the end of October, where he would work to ensure the law is changed.

“I am a member of both and am confident of success,” said the MP.

His comments come just hours after a draft of the legislation was being circulated.

A confidential draft of Sri Lanka’s proposed anti-terror legislation has been circulated across the internet, days after it had been approved by the Sri Lankan cabinet.

The new legislation, known as the Counter Terrorism Act, has incorporated a broader range of offenses which the government has determined will amount to terrorism. In particular, and highlighted repeatedly throughout the text are “acts” or “words” that challenge Sri Lanka’s sovereignty or unity according to the draft.

A group of Sri Lankan policeman accused of torturing and killing a Tamil youth have been produced before the Kilinochchi District Court on Friday.

The four policemen, who manned the Chunnakam Police Station, stand accused of being part of a group of officers, involved in the torture and murder of Sumanan Sriskandarajah.

Mr Sriskandarajah was one of five Tamil youth who were abducted by a white van in November 2011. The group were subsequently taken to Chunnaakam police station, where police tortured them.

Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama visited Switzerland last week, where he met with Tamil Hindus at a temple in Bern as part of his visit to the country.

The Dalai Lama went to the House of Religions, a community project that opened in 2014 with eight religious places of worship housed in the building. Tamils from the North-East who now reside in Switzerland, set up the Saivanerikoodam Temple there in 2014, one of several Tamil Hindu temples dotted across the country.

Marking the 50th year since the 21st October 1966 uprising against caste and untouchability in Sri Lanka, the Mass Movement for Social Justice held a conference today in Kokuvil, Jaffna. A series of academics and activists spoke about the history of the struggle against caste on the island and also about the ongoing perpetuation of caste-based discrimination and the disregard paid to it by Tamil political parties and leaders.

8 months after the Sri Lankan government passed a resolution establishing a Constitutional Assembly to draft a new constitution, the government has launched a website detailing the constitutional drafting process and the membership of those involved in the Steering Committee, the Sub-Committees and the Panel of Experts.

Locals in Vavuniya on Friday signed their names against a petition calling for the release of Tamil political prisoners. 

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Sivasakthi Ananthan also joined locals in signing the petition. 

The event was organised by the Mass Movement for Social Justice.