Talks held in Singapore this weekend between Tamil and Sri Lankan groups on promoting reconciliation and strengthening democracy in Sri Lanka, faced criticism this week over a lack of transparency over the process.

"The fact that the above initiative is shrouded in secrecy raises serious concerns whether the legitimate aspirations and long term interests of the Eelam Tamils will be addressed by the above initiative," said the International Council of Eelam Tamils (ICET), a network of 14 Tamil diaspora groups worldwide, on Tuesday,
stating that the meeting also lacked proper Tamil representation. See full statement here.

"[It is] important to note that we did not try to get a full comprehensive representation of Tamil diaspora to the meeting," Ivor Jenkins of the South Africa based dialogue promotion group, In Transformation Initiative (ITI) which organised the meeting in conjunction with the Swiss government, told Tamil Guardian on Tuesday, when asked which organisations were present at the meeting.

Highlighting that the former ruling coalition and opposition parties were now both in the new government, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA)  said  that it was the largest party in parliament outside of government, on Sunday.

Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) ships docked in Colombo last week, where they were welcomed by the Sri Lankan navy.

Sri Lankan navy officers and Buddhist monks held a religious ceremony in Nainativu, where the extension of a Buddhist temple was officially declared open last week.

The “alms hall” of the Purana Rajamaha Viharaya, situated in the Jaffna peninsula islet, was declared open on the Buddhist Bak Full Moon Poya Day. According to the Sri Lankan navy, construction of the hall was carried out by “civil engineering personnel of the SLN”.

The Sri Lankan navy continued to say the construction, “fulfils (sic) a long-felt need of the historic temple and enables devotees to offer alms to the Maha Sangha at a spacious building, which is equipped with all facilities required for the purpose.”