Assistant Secretary of State Robert O. Blake is visiting Sri Lanka next week and will meet with External Affairs Minister GL Peiris to discuss ‘a wide range of issues, including progress in implementing the LLRC action plan’, according to the State Department.

He will also hold a roundtable with civil society representatives said a statement on the State Department’s website:

Two people have been ‘summoned’ for inquiry in connection with the waving of the Eelam national flag during a protest in Nelliyadi, Jaffna, reports Uthayan. 

The incident involved masked men on motorbikes driving through carrying Tamil Eelam flags while the Sri Lankan Army stood by and watched.

Tamil civil society activists have written to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, expressing their concerns that Sri Lanka will use an upcoming visit from Pillay’s team to propagate a manufactured view of progress in post-war efforts on the island, reported TamilNet on Saturday.

Extracts reproduced below:

“While we welcome the visit of the team, we are concerned that the team might not be given the access that would enable an independent assessment of the Government of Sri Lanka’s performance of its obligations under Resolution A/HRC/19/2.

“To avoid giving the GOSL the opportunity of appropriating the UN OHCHR team’s visit for their propaganda purposes we consider it important that your office seeks guarantees from the GOSL that the mission will have sufficient freedom in being able to devise their own agenda... particularly during their visits to the North and East parts of the country.

“A visiting football team sends out the superficial message: all is well in Sri Lanka. It does not reveal that 4,000 university teachers have been striking for the past two months demanding better wages and greater spending on education, or that the government ordered the closure of all universities last week. It conceals a genocide that claimed 1 lakh Tamil lives in 2009 and a structural racism that marginalises minorities. In enthusiastically supporting the sporting spirit, even sections of the media fail to note that the football team had no permission to play in Tamil Nadu.”

External Affairs Minister G L Peiris spoke to an all-party Parliamentary delegation in the UK regarding the unfavourable travel advisory released by the FCO on Sri Lanka.

Peiris told the British MPs:

Sri Lanka has given Chinese corporations permission to fish in the sea off Pottuvil, Amparai reported Uthayan on Friday.

Local fishermen from Pottuvil have expressed discontent at the move, saying that two Chinese fishing vessels are engaging in illegal fishing methods in the Pottuvil marina.

A South African business delegation arrived in Sri Lanka on a four-day visit amid criticism.

Comprising of members of the ANC's Progressive Business Forum, the delegation was led by the deputy minister of economic development, Professor Hlengiwe Mkhize.

Sri Lanka's minister of industry and commerce, Rishad Bathiyutheen, asserted, "I have no doubts that this visit would help further strengthen the current trade levels of $65 million".

The visit has drawn criticism from a coalition of civil society groups - the Solidarity Group for Peace and Justice in Sri Lanka (SGPJ), which includes the South African Tamil Federation, The Tamil Coordinating Committee and The World Saiva Council, along side other stakeholders - who have stated that it is "untenable" that South Africa had "chosen economic interests over the promotion of a just and equitable solution" for the Tamils.

Fearing reprisal attacks from the Sri Lankan Navy, fishermen in Tamil Nadu have called on protesters to refrain from targeting Sri Lankans in Tamil Nadu.

The Fishermen association in Rameshwaram condemned the attacks, saying that it would lead to further attacks from the Sri Lankan Navy, as has happened previously.

"The fishermen are worried and we believe that they will not venture farther due to these issues," said N Devadoss of Tamil Nadu Fishermen Welfare Association. He went on to say, "we strongly condemn the attacks on pilgrims and tourists from Sri Lanka and hurting them is wrong. The state and Centre should take stringent measures against these outfits."

Highlighting that many of those 'Sri Lankan nationals' who were targetted by protesters were Sinhala speaking Tamils, Devadoss said,

"the Tamil outfits, which want to take political mileage should have thought as to how Buddhist Sinhalese people will come to churches here and must have verified the facts thoroughly."

The JHU, partner of Mahinda Rajapakse’s SLFP, have called for the ban on animal sacrifices at religious events.

The party, made up of Buddhist monks, said it is preparing a draft document on the proposed ban on rituals, conducted by some Tamils on the island.