Sri Lanka’s president stated that his government would “extend its highest respect to the security forces,” as he praised troops at a military ceremony on Monday.

Maithripala Sirisena stated that his government “will execute its responsibility to strengthen them to help to win their future challenges, gratefully remembering their commitment made through many a sacrifice during the period of conflict”.

The Sri Lankan government must turn “words into action” said Ann Hannah, head of International Advocacy at Freedom from Torture, warning that every new case of torture or harassment by security forces undermines Colombo’s rhetoric on reconciliation.

Responding to the release of a report by the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Torture, FFT said the release “demonstrates the need for a real political commitment from the Sri Lankan government to end torture”.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) had a 75-member delegation participate at the eighth annual Jaffna International Trade Fair (JITF).

The 32nd anniversary of the Vaddakkandal massacre was marked today at the Vaddakkandal Government Tamil Mixed School in Mannar.

Former Sri Lanka Army commander Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka claimed that there may be “seven or eight” individuals in the armed forces who are responsible for war crimes, as he lashed out against Sri Lanka's former president for a loss of "discipline" in the army.

Mr Fonseka, who is now Sri Lanka’s Regional Development Minister, said that in Sri Lanka 200,000-strong army “there might have been seven or eight” individuals responsible for human rights abuses that blighted the final stage of the island’s armed conflict and called for them to be punished.

Sri Lankan soldiers in Jaffna took part last week in a programme designed to improve their knowledge of humanity and human life.

Kayts locals protested on Friday, calling for justice for the murdered pregnant woman and an end to the violence that has plagued the Tamil people since the end of the war.

Civil society, students and the business community all participated in the demonstrations, which included a human chain made on the main road and shops and businesses shutting down in solidarity.

The Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council called on the Sri Lankan government to lift the ban on all Tamil diaspora groups, in order to “make use of their talents and wealth for our betterment”.

Speaking in Jaffna on Thursday Justice C V Wigneswaran called for the de-proscribing all Tamil diaspora groups, and not just a partial lifting of a ban on the organisations, as was announced by the current government last year.

Sri Lanka's ministry of foreign affairs opened a new consular office in Jaffna on Thursday, with the foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera, the leader of the Tamil National Alliance, R Sampanthan and the chief minister of the northern province, C V Wigneswaran attending. 

The office will provide services ranging from attestation of birth, marriage and death certificates as well as educational certificates for their use abroad; extending assistance to family members of Sri Lankans who may be stranded abroad; facilitation of redress and compensation claims of families of migrant workers; and repatriation of human remains from abroad, the ministry said.