Tamils across the North-East have stated that remembrance activities for Maaveerar Naal on November 27 will go ahead despite increased fears after the election of accused war criminal Gotabaya Rajapaksa as president last week.

India stated that its external affairs minister called on Sri Lanka’s new president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to “reconciliation to arrive at a solution that meets the aspirations of the Tamil community for equality, justice, peace and dignity,” after the two met in Colombo earlier this week.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar told a press conference that,

While there has been jubilation in much of the Sinhala south, Tamils and Muslims across the North-East fear that the return of a Rajapaksa regime means further rights abuses, wrote Thusiyan Nandakumar, Tamil Guardian’s editor-in-chief in The National this week.

“For communities such as Tamils and Muslims, there is now an overwhelming sense of fear and trepidation,” said Nandakumar.

The Tamil road names of a street in Colombo have been removed from signs, tweeted a former Sri Lankan minister, as yet anti-Tamil language incident erupted on the island.

“Barely one week since the election, the ugly face of majoritarianism is raising its ugly head again,” tweeted former Sri Lankan minister Mangala Samaraweera.

Sri Lankan police attempted to shut down a local authority-led clear-up of a public ground in Jaffna and intimidated Tamils taking part by videoing individuals and their vehicles.

The incident took place today as a clear-up was underway of a Valvettithurai Urban Council owned ground in Theeruvil. The ground houses the destroyed monument to 12 fallen LTTE cadres including Lt Col Kumarappa and Lt Col Pulenthiran, which a court ruled last year could be rebuilt by the urban council.

The brutal oppression in Sri Lanka “should be recognised as an attempt at genocide against the Tamils,” says UK Labour Party’s Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, in a video statement earlier today.

Former Sri Lankan President and chairperson of the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR), Chandrika Kumaratunga, has resigned from her position as chairperson of the ONUR.

The ONUR was established in 2015 and coincided with the Sirisena’s administration’s co-signing of UN Human Rights Council resolution 30/1. Both expressed Sri Lanka’s commitment to reconciliation but have been sharply criticised for a lack of tangible results.

Westminster Magistrates Court has postponed the final verdict of Brigadier Priyanka Fernando case to December 6th. 

<p>Gotabaya Rajapaksa, won the recent Sri Lankan Presidential election "on the basis of Sinhala chauvinism," writes Chris Slee for the Green Left.&nbsp;</p> <p>Gotabaya was defence secretary in 2009, when the Sri Lankan armed forces massacred tens of thousands of Tamils in the final stages of their war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE were fighting for an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east of the island of Sri Lanka.</p>

Newly appointed Defence Secretary, Kamal Gunaratne, has threated legal action against individuals who threaten 'national peace'.

In his statement, he maintained that fear of political vengeance, abductions and violence were 'irrational' and 'unnecessary'. These fear are driven by the appointment of Gotabaya Rajapaksa as President of Sri Lanka.