Tens of thousands of Tamil voters have cast their ballots early across the North-East amidst a ramped-up security presence and heightened tensions, as Sri Lanka’s presidential elections were underway on Saturday.

Tamil voters have reportedly begun stocking up on supplies and groceries, amidst fears of violence in the wake of a close election between the two leading candidates Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Sajith Premadasa.  

Sri Lanka’s white van squads abducted, tortured and murdered victims before feeding their bodies to crocodiles, admitted a man who was supposedly a driver for the squads under the previous government. 

In a dramatic press conference in Colombo on Sunday, Anthony Fernando was introduced by Sri Lanka’s health minister as white van driver who had personally witnessed kidnappings and torture.

Pressure from the Sri Lankan military has led to the University of Jaffna barring the head of its law department from engaging in private practice, after he took up a public interest habeas corpus case into the 1996 disappearance of more than two dozen Tamil youth.

Outrage has erupted over social media after images of recently issued stamps in Sri Lanka with a racist depiction of Tamils surfaced.

Today marks twelve years since S. P. Thamilselvan, the head of the political wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was assassinated by the Sri Lankan air force (SLAF).

On November 2, 2007 Sri Lankan air force jets carried out a strike on a residence of members of the LTTE's political division. Five other LTTE officials - Lt. Col. Anpumani (Alex), Major Mikuthan, Major Nethaaji, Lt. Aadchiveal and Lt. Maavaikkumaran - were killed alongside Brigadier Thamilselvan, in the attack.

The assassination came as the Sri Lankan government ramped up its military offensive in the Tamil homeland. Brigadier Thamilchelvan was a member of the LTTE negotiating team that took part in peace talks with the Sri Lankan government in 2002 and 2003, becoming the Chief Negotiator after the death of Anton Balasingham.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' (OHCHR) report into Sri Lanka's atrocities (OISL) noted that Sri Lanka's military killed the LTTE's political head before it officially withdrew from the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) in 2008. It noted that the attack was preceded by a military budget that "had reportedly risen by 40 percent and the Army had tripled in size from 100,000 to 300,000, with almost an additional 5,000 troops recruited per month between 2005 and 2008". 

Kalaiyarasi Kanagalingam, a 14-year-old survivor of Mullivaikkal, spoke about the last memory of her father and the importance of Tamil genocide recognition at a conference hosted at the Houses of Parliament and attended by several senior British politicians and international legal experts on Thursday.

Read her full speech to the conference below.

On Thursday, the APPGT (All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils) hosted it's first-ever conference on Tamil Genocide Recognition in the Houses of Parliament were politicians from across the political spectrum voiced their support in obtaining justice and accountability for the massacres of Tamils.

The conference was well attended by MPs from all major political parties, including the leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn, the former Conservative party leader, Iain Duncan Smith, and the Deputy Leader of the Liberal-Democrats, Sir Ed Davey. The conference also featured a number of eminent academic and legal experts including a panel featuring former UN Assistant-Secretary General Charles Petrie, former UN Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights Ben Emmerson QC, current Member of Canadian parliament Gary Anandasangaree, and head of Together against Genocide, Jan Jananayagam. 

Senior Sri Lankan navy commanders are complicit in serious crimes including torture, disappearances and murders, revealed a new report by the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka's upcoming presidential election may bring a new face to power, but concerns remain from Tamils on the island and around the world that their plight may remain unchanged.

Updated

Five Tamil political parties signed a memorandum today, highlighting key demands of Tamils, which are to be presented to all of Sri Lanka's leading presidential candidates.

The demands have been formulated in order to help decide the position of Tamils in the upcoming Presidential election. 

The key demands include: