The Sri Lankan navy reported it had arrested at least 9 people in Point Pedro this week, claiming that those held had been engaged in “illegal sand mining”. 

The “9 civilians and a tractor” were reportedly held along the Point Pedro – Manatkadu road on Monday. They have since been taken to the Point Pedro Police Station for “further investigations,” according to an official navy website.

The arrest comes as part of a crackdown and a spate of arrests by Sri Lankan security forces in the peninsula.

The Sri Lankan military held a Buddhist ceremony as their Eastern province headquarters “to invoke blessings on troops,” reports an official military website.

Thunnalai residents have filed a complaint against STF and police round-up operations, that resulted in 24 arrests in the area, to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka.

Thunnalai locals, including mothers of some arrested youths, filed a complaint at the HRCSL regional office in Jaffna on Wednesday.

The residents have said that the search and round-up operations which lasted three days were carried out inhumanely and led to wrongful arrests.

The 24 young Tamil men arrested in Thunnalai and neighbouring villages were charged with violent infractions related to protests following the killing of a local man by Sri Lankan police.

Tamil war widows from the Northern and Eastern Province are being trafficked as slaves to the Gulf regions finds a feature report by Reuters.

Reports suggest that at least 1000 war-widows from the northern province may have been coerced into illicit job opportunities abroad which often puts them at risk of traffickers who sell them as slaves overseas.  

Security staff at the Eastern University in Batticaloa were attacked by Sinhalese students when a protest against the university’s administration turned violent on Tuesday, reports Battinatham.com.

Two of the security staff were hospitalised, including one female member of staff.

The Sinhalese students had reportedly protested for several days demanding accommodation and for academic suspensions to be revoked.

The Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) on Tuesday said the government should hold a referendum before the 20th Amendment to the constitution allowing provincial council elections to be held on one day was implemented. 

"One clause of the proposed amendment says the election for all provincial councils should be held in one day and that the day should be decided by parliament. Perhaps, after the amendment, an election for a provincial councils may never be held," he was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying at a news conference.

The chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday condemned what he described as the Sri Lankan navy's "unwarranted display of military might against poor innocent Indian fishermen" as "unacceptable". 

In his latest letter to the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Palaniswami urged that the matter be taken up with the Sri Lankan government. 

Discussion of the no-confidence motion submitted against the incumbent Minister of Foreign Affairs Ravi Karunanayake has been delayed by 8 days reports aadaderana.lk.

The Parliamentary Secretary General of Staff Neil Iddawela stated that any motion of this nature must be analysed by the speaker to ascertain its compliance and legitimacy.

Mr Iddawela added that the motion must be submitted in Sinhalese, Tamil and English to be considered for further discussion.

Protesters gathered in Kilinochchi today to call for the release of all Tamil political prisoners who are currently detained in prisons across Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka's president, Maithripala Sirisena paid a visit to Kandy to seek blessings at the Sacred Tooth Relic site which is holy for Sinhala Buddhists. 

The president visited the senior Buddhist clergy of the Malwathu and Asgiriya chapters in the country.