The Sri Lankan Army continues its involvement in Tamil schools as children from a Koppay preschool were taken on a tour of the Palali air base.

The air base falls within occupied land which the Sri Lankan Army maintains as a “high security zone”, nine years after the end of the war.

Teachers reported that Sri Lankan Army officials actively go to Tamil preschools to arrange such visits and activities and that teachers feel powerless to raise objections.

The No-Confidence motion against the Sri Lankan prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe is to be debated in parliament on April 4. 

The motion, reportedly signed by 55 MPs, was handed over to the Speaker of the House, Karu Jayasuriya on Wednesday. 

A state minister and two deputy ministers have signed the motion, the Sunday Times reported. 

Pakistan and Sri Lanka on Friday signed three Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) on Friday, as the Sri Lankan president, Maithripala Sirisena visited Islamabad. 

The countries also pledged to enhance trade and economic relations. 

President Sirisena was reported by the Colombo Page as praising "the continuous assistance provided by Pakistan to Sri Lanka when the country face disastrous situations and also expressed his appreciation over the assistance provided by the Pakistan government to the security forces by training them, during the war period." 

India has delivered, what will be the Sri Lankan Navy’s most advanced ship, 25 days ahead of schedule reports, Colombo Gazette.

The purchase of Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV) from India formed one of the largest and most significant form of defence ties between Sri Lanka and India, with the purchase being considered one of India’s largest export contracts to a neighbouring nation.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the vessel, India’s Rear Admiral Shekhar Mital said,

The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramun (SLPP) has elected a new Mayor in the United National Party (UNP) controlled region of Negombo.

After joining forces with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) the SLPP local government members elected Dayan Lansa of the SLPP as the new mayor.

The Negombo Municipal Council was won by the United National Party at recent Local Government elections.

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The chief minister of the northern province, C V Wigneswaran this week urged the Sri Lankan president, Maithripala Sirisena to release a Tamil political prisoner, whose wife died this month, leaving their children without a present parent. 

"Considering the age of the hapless children Your Excellency could use your discretion to grant pardon to the prisoner on humanitarian grounds," Mr Wigneswaran wrote in a letter. 

Families of the disappeared in Muthur staged a protest in Bharathipuram on Wednesday.

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) on Thursday reiterated the importance of involving international judges in an accountability mechanism in Sri Lanka, stating without this it would not be credible. 

"The ICJ reiterates that, in line with operative paragraph 6 of resolution 30/1, 1 the accountability mechanism cannot be seen as credible without involvement of international judges, prosecutors and investigators," the ICJ said in a statement. 

Two Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) officers were yesterday granted bail over the killing of a Tamil man in Ariyalai in October last year. 

The officers were arrested in November, after the murder weapon and vehicles used in the shooting were found in the Jaffna STF camp. 

The victim, 24 year old Don Bosco Rikman died from a bullet injury.  

The son of the former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa said he was blocked from entering the United States this week after spending time in Moscow as an election observer. 

"I won't make my Houston Flight as #US Officials instruct them to not let me board. Sure it has nothing to do with my name, being part of #lka opposition or my travel from #Russia," he tweeted yesterday.

Mr Namal Rajapaksa has been charged with money laundering in Sri Lanka, along side other family members.