Tamil women “have been protesting for the past three years, demanding army returns their land confiscated during the civil war,” Al Jazeera reports.

Chandraleela Jasinthan and her neighbours were forced out of their homes during the last days of the civil war. 10 years later and the army is still occupying their land.

“For more than three years, Jasinthan and dozens of other women in Keppapilavu have held one of the longest protests in Sri Lanka’s history at the entrance to an army camp they say was built on their ancestral land.”

The Sri Lankan military has begun quarantining foreign arrivals in detention centres hundreds of miles away from Colombo and in the Tamil North-East, as part of moves to tackle the spread of the coronavirus despite public health concerns and Tamil opposition.

In Vavuniya, the Sri Lankan army began quarantining arrivals from abroad by sending them to the Pampaimadu Army Camp.

At least six people have been arrested by Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force earlier today after locals protested against the transfer of a patient suspected of having coronavirus to the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital.

Sri Lanka’s Election Commission said preparations for parliamentary elections that are scheduled next month are continuing, despite rising numbers of COVID-19 coronavirus cases on the island.

Commission member S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole told the Daily Mirror that the election schedule is based on Sri Lanka’s Parliamentary Elections Act and the date was set in motion by a presidential proclamation.

“To postpone the election, only the President can act by revoking his proclamation and issuing a new one,” Hoole said.

The commander of the Sri Lankan security forces in Jaffna met with Afghanistan’s ambassador this week, where the two reportedly discussed “nation-building and reconciliation efforts”.

The meeting comes despite Sri Lankan troops counting to occupy large swathes of land across the Tamil North-East and reports of ongoing human rights abuses. 

Queues were seen across petrol stations in the North-East today, as locals sought to stock up on essential goods in light of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.

Supermarkets and other stores across the region were unusually busy, as shoppers flocked with news that the number of coronavirus cases on the island has risen.

Sri Lanka’s Bureau of Foreign Employment announced that it would be barring all travel abroad for employment, as the state enforced more restrictions in light of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.  

The announcement comes after the government said it was suspending its visa on arrival system for all foreign arrivals.

The Sri Lankan military is running two detention centres it has constructed, with the war crimes accused head of the army Shavendra Silva, calling on the public to “confide” in the army.

Anyone travelling from Italy, Iran or South Korea will be quarantined for 14 days, the government announced.

Armed Sri Lankan soldiers questioned a Tamil journalist and intimidated locals as they gathered to mark 11 years since the massacres of thousands of Tamil civilians in Mullivaikkal this week.

Hindu priests alongside the locals from Batticaloa came together on March 8, to carry out religious rituals at Mullivaikkal beach. Tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were killed by Sri Lankan military shelling on the beach more than a decade ago.

The Sri Lankan military has acknowledged the stepping up of security operations in both Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu, claiming that it is aimed at preventing “election violence”.