Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi extolled the virtues of the classical Tamil literary and philosophical text Thirukkural in a tweet on Thursday.

A Sinhala nationalist monk has lodged a complaint with Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Commission (HRC), after the leader of the extremist Buddhist nationalist group Bodu Bala Sena had his account blocked from Facebook due to complaints of racism.

Journalists in the Eastern Province staged a demonstration in Batticaloa on Saturday, demanding that the Sri Lankan state halt the intimidation of journalists, after a newspaper photographer was manhandled and threated by a police officer outside a Colombo courthouse last week.

The British government said it will “keep all evidence and potential listings under close review” when questioned on whether Sri Lankan officials involved in rights abuses would be added to a newly announce sanctions regime, but refused to speculate on names that may be added.

Sri Lanka has slammed plans by Israel to annex parts of the occupied West Bank in a statement delivered to the UN Human Rights Council this week, even as Colombo continues with its own Sinhalisation of the Tamil North-East.

India is currently in discussions with Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, over the topic of a debt moratorium, despite concerns over Sri Lanka’s human rights record.

The United National Party launched its manifesto today, pledging to ensure that the Sri Lankan state “takes the responsibility of safeguarding and nourishing Buddhism”.

“We, in the United National Party, are bound through life to safeguard the Sri Lankan identity,” declared the manifesto.

“With this foundation in place, a United National Party government will ensure that based on Lord Buddha’s teaching that all beings will be treated equally and justly ensuring equality before the law,” it added.

The manifesto went on to state that “the foremost position in the country will be granted to Buddhism,” as it already is under Sri Lanka’s current constitution.

The editor of Eethalaya, Srilal Priyantha, has been interrogated for over four hours by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for his 2017 article on the 2009 murder of the Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lanka’s former Prime Minister and leader of the United National Party (UNP), has called on the government to “reveal the true impact of the coronavirus spread” as he maintains that there is “serious doubt” on the “accuracy of the COVID-19 figures given by the authorities”.

The human rights situation in Sri Lanka has seen a “deterioration” said a report from the British government today, including “controversial senior appointments” that “called into question Sri Lanka’s commitment to human rights and reconciliation”.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) are "appalled by the way a Sri Lankan police inspector reputedly close to the president was allowed to manhandle and threaten a newspaper outside a courthouse" they said in a press release. 

The Human Rights Commission Of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) announced the establishment of a new unit “to investigate allegations of Human Rights violations by government officials in the context of the 2020 Parliamentary Election”.

The announcement was made this week, as Sri Lanka gears up for parliamentary elections next month.

The commission was initially set up in 1996 with the aim of fostering a culture of human rights in Sri Lanka.

Tamil political prisoners – some of whom have been held for up to 24 years – are being held in prisons where others have been infected with coronavirus and face “imminent danger of spreading it further among them,” warned Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) leader Mavai Senathirajah, in a letter to Sri Lanka’s president this week.

Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary, and alleged war criminal, Kamal Gunaratne vowed that the government would not allow for religious extremism or terrorism and was fully committed to ensuring national security.