Students at Jaffna University cut a cake and put up posters around the campus celebrating the 61st birthday of LTTE leader Veluppillai Prabhakaran today.

A cake was cut on campus and sweets handed out to students, whilst posters celebrating the occasion were also seen. One of the posters was signed off by 4th year students at the university.

Northern Provincial Council member M. Shivajilingam said the Tamil people must be allowed to remember their heroes, as Sri Lankan military intelligence in Jaffna increases ahead of Maaveerar Naal tomorrow.

Mr Shivajilingam called on the government to allow the Tamil people to light lamps and remember their war dead in homes and places of worship across the North-East – a practise that was banned under the previous government.

“If the JVP are able to hold commemoration events in November, we can’t we?” asked the councillor.

Photograph: Uthayan

A set of posters marking LTTE leader Veluppillai Prabhakaran’s 61st birthday have been found in Kilinochchi on Thursday, reports Uthayan.

Publishing the posters on its front page, the Uthayan stated that the posters were discovered and seized by the Sri Lankan police on Thursday.

Sri Lankan military intelligence personnel have threatened security guards working at Jaffna University to give up any information regarding Maaveerar Naal posters, which have appeared across the campus.

The interrogation of the campus security guards on Thursday comes after posters calling for the commemoration of Maaveerar Naal, appeared across the university last week.

All schools across the Northern Province will be shut on Friday in order to commemorate the death of a Tamil student who committed suicide in protest at the continued detention of Tamil political prisoners.

The Northern Provincial Council's Education Secretary Ravindran made the announcement as hundreds of students at Jaffna University called for justice for the death of 18-year-old Rajeswaran Senthuran, who took his own life in protest at the Sri Lankan government's failure to release Tamil political prisoners.

Friday also marks the Tamil day of remembrance, Maaveerar Naal.

Britain will discuss Sri Lanka’s progress on implementation of the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution on accountability for mass atrocities at the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Malta.

Speaking to The Island a British High Commission spokesperson said “the UK has welcomed the commitments made by the Sri Lankan government to the UN Human Rights Council to address issues of reconciliation, accountability and human rights” and “we believe it is vital that the legacy of the conflict in Sri Lanka is properly addressed, to allow the country to fulfill its huge potential”.

The spokesperson went on to add:

“Sri Lanka is not on the formal agenda at the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta, but we look forward to discussing progress in our meetings with the Sri Lankan delegation”.

The United Kingdom said that it will continue to monitor the situation of detainees held by the Sri Lankan government under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and would "raise issues of ongoing concern with the Sri Lankan government".

British Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Hugo Swire responded to questions tabled by member of parliament Joan Ryan regarding Tamil political prisoners by stating Britain continues to "regularly raise matters of concern with the Sri Lankan government, including the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the detention of Tamil political prisoners without trial".

"We noted that on 17 November the hunger strike by Tamil detainees was temporarily suspended until 15 December," added the minister. "We will continue to monitor closely the situation of detainees held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and to raise issues of ongoing concern with the Sri Lankan government."

Students at Jaffna University marked the remembrance month of November by donating blood.

The blood drive was held on Tuesday at the university's library auditorium, with over a hundred students participating.