Writing in Himal, the BBC correspondent, Charles Haviland shared his thoughts on his journey to the North-East.

Over 100 Sinhala Buddhist monks and supporters attacked a Japanese Buddhist Temple in Kollupitiya on Sunday, forcing worshippers to barricade themselves in for fear of assault.

The Sinhala monks, followers of the Theravada sect of Buddhism, reportedly launched the attack to protect Sri Lanka from the Mahayana sect of Buddhism - the form practised at the Japanese temple.

One worshipper who hid inside the temple as the Sinhala monks stormed the temple, said,

“The Buddhist monks forcibly entered the premises shouting out that we stop our prayer session.

The monks said we should only have Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka and not Mahayana,”

Worshippers were trapped inside for over four hours before the police were able to free them and escort them to safety.

In addition to the aggression exhibited by the protesters, the rescue operation was further hindered by five bhikkus who sat in front of the closed door and refused to permit the police to enter.

Further to our analysis last week on Sri Lanka’s trade, debt and currency quandary, see this report by LBO:

5 people have been arrested for printing 20,400 copies of the JVP newspaper ‘Lanka’, the Daily Mirror reported.

Despite an ever-increasing call for an international, independent investigation into the allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity, Rajapaksa asserted that the world should commend Sri Lanka on its 'rehabilitation programme' for alleged LTTE cadres and the release of 1800 Tamil men and women from detention.

A last-ditch attempt at halting the deportation of Tamil asylum seekers to Sri Lanka has failed.
42 men and 8 women were arrested and questioned by Sri Lankan police on arrival at Colombo airport.

There is now serious concern for the wellbeing of the deportees.

Channel 4 documentary providing video evidence of war crimes, 'Sri Lanka's Killing Fields' was screened at Parliament Hill, Ottawa, on Thursday.

The event, co-hosted by NDP MP Rathika Sitsabaiesan (Scarborough-Rouge River), Conservative Party MP Patrick Brown (Barrie) and Liberal Party MP John McKay (Scarborough-Guildwood), was well attended.

Leaked US embassy cables, state that MP Mervyn Silva was believed to be giving patronage to drug traffickers in 2009, along side his son, Malika Silva.

Sri Lankan officials attempted to prevent the broadcasting of the Channel 4 documentary, 'Sri Lanka's Killing Fields' on Norweigan TV channel NRK2 on Tuesday.

The documentary, containing first-hand video footage of war crimes, has already been broadcast worldwide on several mainstream news outlets.

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird has warned that the UN’s significance is endangered when it fails to act on its founding principles, stating Sri Lanka’s war crimes as one such issue.   

Addressing the UN General Assembly, Baird said,