Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jaya Jayalalitha has hit out at an offer by India to train officials from Sri Lanka’s navy.
She called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to review the “insensitive policy of defence co-operation” as it was in “utter disregard” of the sentiments of Tamil Nadu.

“I wish to convey our strong protest against this insensitive policy of defence co-operation with Sri Lanka, which totally ignores the impact it may have upon the feelings of the people of Tamil Nadu,” she said in a letter to Singh, responding to an offer made by Indian Navy chief Admiral DK Joshi in Colombo on Friday.

“In utter disregard of the sentiments and emotions of the people of Tamil Nadu, the Government of India is persisting with the policy of defence co-operation with the Sri Lankan Armed Forces.”

The TNA MP S Sritharan's comments in Parliament the day before Maaveerar Naal have ruffled more than a few feathers within the Sri Lankan state.

Amidst the Sri Lankan state's attempt to quash any acts of remembrance, defending the right of Tamils to commemorate fallen LTTE cadre on Maaveerar Naal, Sritharan said the majority of Tamils in the North-East see the LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran as the nation's leader.

Slamming the Sri Lankan government's announcement of a war survey to count the dead, the Global Tamil Forum, told Tamil Guardian, that it was the latest "escape mechanism" by the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, employed each time "the noose falls on his neck".

Speaking to Tamil Guardian last night, the GTF's spokesperson, Mr Suren Surendiran said,

"Mahinda Rajapaksa always comes up with ideas of commissions of various kinds every time when the noose falls on his neck as an escape mechanism. He thinks that he can fool the international community every time by suggesting of steps that are basically a delaying tactic as he himself and his siblings are accused to have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity"

On the back drop of the Sri Lankan state's failure to provide justice to the Tamils, Mr Surendiran said that Mahinda Rajapaksa "has a track record of lying which gives zero confidence to anyone particularly to the victims that this idea of counting the dead and disappeared has any credibility whatsoever."

"He has blatantly lied to the international community on several occasions," he added.

Former Sri Lankan cricketer, Sanath Jayasuriya, on Saturday, dismissed British Premier David Cameron’s recent calls for an international probe into allegations of war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan Government.
Speaking as a chief guest at a cricket tournament organised by the Thiruvanathapuram Press Cub, in Kerala, Jayasuriya said,

“There is no need for any international probe because we have our own judicial system and the process of law is going on.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry has announced an extension on exemptions from sanctions on oil purchases from Iran.

“As President Obama has made clear, the United States will continue to vigorously implement our existing sanctions on Iran as the P5+1 seeks to negotiate a comprehensive deal with Iran that will resolve the international community’s concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear program,” he said in a statement.

Jaffna-based Tamil newspaper Uthayan have been awarded the 2013 Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Prize, joint with Muhammad Bekjanov an imprisoned Uzbek journalist.

The award was announced in a ceremony in Strasbourg on Thursday.

RSF's director-general Christophe Deloire said:

A Catholic priest of the Guadalupe Church in Trincomalee was threatened by unidentifiable Sinhalese individuals claiming to be 'intelligence officers' on the night before Maaveerar Naal, 26th November 2013.

Rev. Fr. Johnpillai was grabbed and had a gun pointed at his head by assailants who accused him and Catholic priests in Jaffna, Mannar and Trincomalee as being 'pro-LTTE' and as leading the Tamil people 'astray'.

The problem? He had held mass as usual on Nov 26, and thus 'honoured' LTTE leader Prabhakaran's birthday.

See our earlier post: Letter to UN from NE Sri Lanka Clergy (Feb 2013)

Rev. Fr. Johnpillai's account of Tuesday's attack follows:

Sri Lanka, in a new twist to prove its commitment to justice and accountability has announced that a 'census' counting all those killed in the civil war.

P. B. Abeykoon, reportedly the top civil servant in the ministry of public administration who will supervise the census declared that "the government has nothing to hide".

Another official of the census department said:

'If Only Sharukh Khan', a play by Raani Moorthy, premiered in London yesterday, November 27th. Framed around three characters' love of the Bollywood actor, Shahrukh Khan, the play allows the audience enter the lives of three South Asian women including a former member of the LTTE.

Watching the premier last night and reviewing the play for Tamil Guardian, was Sinthujan Varatharajah...

The Sri Lankan government has received $1.9bn worth of loan commitments from other countries, with China leading the way.

China has committed $517mn up to September this year, with Japan committing $421.5mn, Asian Development Bank £371.2mn, World Bank $196.4mn, The UK $103.7mn and the US $64.9mn, according to LBO.