A hunger strike has been launched in Batticaloa, in solidarity with a British Tamil woman who is protesting in London, as calls for Sri Lanka to be referred to the International Criminal Court continue to ramp up.

Families of the disappeared and civil society members commenced their protest in front of the Mamankeswaram Pillaiyar temple in Batticaloa yesterday, as similar hunger strikes also took place in Jaffna and Canada.

Students at Jaffna University echoed demands for Sri Lankan to be referred to the International Criminal Court, as a rotating hunger strike being carried out by students entered its fifth day.

Jaffna University Arts Students' Union President P. Ujanthan spoke to reporters in Jaffna this morning and called on the international community to exert diplomatic pressure on Colombo in order to ensure justice for genocide.

Gareth Thomas, MP for Harrow West called on the UK government to "play a much bigger role" in holding Sri Lanka accountable for the human rights abuses they committed at the end of the armed conflict in 2009. 

The British parliamentarian drew attention to the UN High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet's "devastating report" which highlights that "progress on human rights has continued to be very poor in Sri Lanka." 

Writing in Just Security, Dharsha Jegatheeswaran, Co-Director of the Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research, a human rights think-tank based in Jaffna, illustrates how the “Tamil families of the disappeared have shown, there is no hope for truth and justice domestically in Sri Lanka”.

“The only way to provide these families their long-overdue answers and justice to all victims in Sri Lanka is to break the seal around the military through international accountability”, she maintains.

Pakistan has extended a US$ 50 million line of credit for defence to Sri Lanka, following Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit last week where several memorandums were signed aiming to deepen relations between both countries.A joint statement released following the end of the visit where both sides stressed the need for a ‘stronger partnership for supporting and coordinating with each other in matters related to security, terrorism, organized crime and drug and narcotics trafficking as well as intelligence sharing’.

Two people have been admitted to the Vavuniya hospital after being shot by the Sri Lankan Army in Omanthai. The incident took place at around 4am on Wednesday.

According to the army, armed troops intercepted a vehicle carrying illegal timber from the forest area in Omanthai Semadu. They claim that the gun was fired while trying to prevent the vehicle from escaping from Paranattankal.

Prasad, 39, and Saivan, 29, from Semamadu were admitted to the Vavuniya hospital with injuries.

Following a landmark judgement from Britain’s Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission last year, the Home Office now has 90 days to “reconsider” an application to de-proscribe the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom.

The Commission held a hearing on relief last month, ruling that a referral to Britain’s parliament was not necessary, and instead referred the decision to the Home Office.

Germany has granted Sri Lanka €1 million through the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), despite concerns of Sri Lanka’s human rights record. 

According to a tweet from the Permanent Mission of Germany to the Office of the UN and to the other International Organisations, “Germany UN Vienna”, the funds are aimed to build capacity to prevent and counter-terrorism and transnational organised crimes on the island. 

Tamil residents of Iranaitivu staged a protest today morning in opposition to the Sri Lankan government’s decision to bury the victims of COVID-19 on the island. A letter has also been sent to the government urging them to reconsider their decision.

The Sri Lankan government has designated Iranaitivu, the island reclaimed by Tamils in 2018 after more than 25 years of military occupation, as the burial site of COVID-19 victims.