A Hindu temple in Jaffna has been demolished by the Sri Lankan military, who have built a statue of the Buddha in its place, said a priest earlier this month.

Saivite priest  P S G Sri Ayyappadasa Sampasiva Shivachariyar said that the temple, which was located in the village of Veemankaamam has been completely destroyed by the military, in an interview with LankaSri earlier this month.

The Pillaiyar temple provided a place of safety for the local Tamil population during more than 30 years of war, said the priest. Its destruction has now “created fear among the Hindu community,” he said, adding that it was a “painful” act.

Noting that every human has a right to worship their own religion, the priest drew on the Buddha's teachings. “Buddha taught that those who follow Buddhism should go only in the path of non-violence,” he said.”But, ignoring that, in a place that constitutes a complete Tamil Hindu population, a Hindu temple has been brought down to the anguish of the Hindu community, and a Buddhist vihara has been built up in its place”.

One of the front running candidates vying to become the next United Nations Secretary General accepted that there are “legitimate criticisms” of how the global body handled the final stages of the armed conflict that killed tens of thousands of Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka.

Helen Clark, a former New Zealand Prime Minister, said “there were legitimate criticisms of the way the UN dealt with Sri Lankan abuses,” reports the Guardian.

However Ms Clark sought to distance herself from the global body's failings, documented in an internal report in November 2012.

“It was before my time,” she said.

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake told Sri Lanka's parliament that the recent student clashes at the University of Jaffna were due to racial hatred spread by groups in the North.

Raising concerns in parliament on Wednesday over the clashes, Mr Dissanayake was quoted by Colombo Gazette as saying, "the clash cannot be seen simply as a clash between two student groups."

India and Sri Lanka will have the next round of discussions on the Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) starting August 9th, the minister of development strategies and international trade, Malik Samarawickrama told parliament on Thursday.

The Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council called for an inquiry into the violence between Sinhala and Tamil student at Jaffna University on Saturday, and said the “underlying causes” of the tensions must be resolved.

“Such incidents should not be viewed from a purely criminal law standpoint,” said the Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran, in a statement co-signed with the leader of the opposition of the NPC S Thavarasa. “We must first try to find out the underlying causes that led to their violent behaviour... This would ensure that such incidents will not be repeated.”

The unprecedented move to issue a joint statement was acknowledged by the two, who said “We have both come together to issue a joint statement to show the world that the Northern Provincial Council views such incidents beyond the mundane political differences that usually engulf us”.

Sri Lankan soldiers involved themselves in yet another Hindu temple festival in Jaffna this week, as the military continued to bear a heavy presence in civilian life in the Tamil North-East.

At the chariot festival of the Sri Gnana Durga Amman temple in Thenmaradchi, in the Jaffna district on Wednesday, troops from the 52nd battalion of the Sri Lankan military were seen pulling the chariot.

The Government of Sri Lanka and the World Bank signed agreed a $55 million loan to Sri Lanka to improve urban services, preserve cultural and environment assets and improve liability in Jaffna said the World Bank in a press release yesterday.

 The credit will add development of rapidly urbanising Jaffna to the existing Strategic Cities Development Project (SCDP) added the statement.

Norway, together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Thursday signed an agreement to extend the country's support to resettled families in North-East, including "improving access to justice".

Trincomalee and Jaffna districts were highlighted as areas of need, with particular reference to Tellipalai and Sampoor.

Charges have been filed against 13 Tamils in Switzerland who are accused of allegedly raising $15.2 million in funds for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during late 1990s until early 2000s.

"They have been indicted with supporting or being members of a criminal organisation, fraud, false certification, and money laundering," the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) was quoted by Reuters as saying on Wednesday.