Environmentalists in Sri Lanka have added to concerns over an Australian mining project being carried out in Mannar, already the subject of local protests and criticism from Australian environmental experts.

Australian drilling company Titanium Sands Ltd plans to carry out extensive limonite sand mining on ‘fragile’ Mannar Island, despite the company reportedly not obtaining the relevant permissions and environmental approval.

The mining would create great damage throughout the Mannar Island as well as to the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park (officially part of Tamil Nadu), the Sri Lanka-based NGO Centre for Environment and Nature Studies (CENS) has said.

The Sri Lankan army’s Jaffna district commander has been promoted to army chief of staff.

Major General Senarath Bandara assumed his new duties on Tuesday, following a five-month stint as commander in Jaffna, during which time he continued with the programme of militarisation of the North.

In advance of the 46th UN Human Rights Council session, a leaked report on Sri Lanka, allegedly from the UN Human Rights Chief, has highlighted that the country remains in a “state of denial about the past” and calls on member states to advance “criminal accountability” by considering a referral to the International Criminal Court; establish investigations and prosecutions under universal jurisdiction; and, imposing sanctions on Sri Lankan officials implicated in international crimes.

India will continue to give due importance to its ‘Neighbourhood First Policy’, the country’s prime minister assured Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Twitter.

On Sunday, President Rajapaksa congratulated the Indian prime minister on the country’s successful roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine, tweeting, “my heartiest congratulations to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on the successful roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine & his generosity towards friendly neighbouring countries.”

Prime Minister Modi thanked Rajapaksa the following day and said “We will [continue] to give due importance to our Neighborhood First policy while collectively fighting the pandemic.”

Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, is set to visit Sri Lanka next month, reports The Hindu.

His visit is reportedly likely to coincide with the start of the 46^th UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session in Geneva, where a new resolution on Sri Lanka may be tabled.

Pakistan, a long-time ally of Sri Lanka, having consistently provided military and diplomatic support, is a current member of the UNHRC.

Jaffna Tamils have successfully pushed back against an attempted land grab by Sri Lanka’s Navy who began surveying over 7 hectares of private land belonging to 29 Tamil residents in the Mandaitivu and Mankumban regions of Jaffna.

Officials who were forced to back down were attempting to expand the already existing Velusamana Navy camp and had made previous attempts in June 2018 and April 2019 before facing fierce opposition from residents and Tamil parliamentarians.

As Sri Lanka announces yet another internal inquiry ahead of the UNHRC session, this time investigating all previous human rights commissions and committees previously established, Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticises the government’s “disingenuous attempt to avert urgently needed international action”.

The European Union has agreed to fund counter-terrorism training provided by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) despite on-going human rights concerns.

Troels Vester, a representative of UNODC Sri Lanka and Maldives, announced the training on Twitter, specifying that the training would range from “human rights to successful convictions”.

Sri Lankan troops involved themselves in Thai Pongal festivities on 14 January, in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu, in an attempt to “strengthen reconciliation efforts between the Sri Lanka Army soldiers and civilians,” regardless of mounting criticism over the increased militarisation throughout the North-East.

The Sri Lankan state portrays those arrested for allegedly committing terror offences, to date mainly Tamils, and after the Easter attacks also Muslims, as guilty from the point of arrest, writes Ambika Satkunananthan in GroundViews.