The British government has said that it continues to “underline the importance of accountability, justice and reconciliation” in its engagement with the government of Sri Lanka.

FCO Minister of State Nigel Adams Provided written answers this week for questions posed by Afzal Khan, the Labour shadow minister for the home office and immigration.

The Sri Lankan government rejected the claims made by the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, including among other things that “significant gaps exist particularly in upholding accountability and access to justice as well as ensuring non-recurrence of human rights violations.”

^{File photograph: Sri Lankan soldiers in Jaffna.}

“Tensions among ethnic and religious communities persist” the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief said in his report.

“Significant gaps exist particularly in upholding accountability and access to justice as well as ensuring non-recurrence of human rights violations,” the report added.

Ahmed Shaheed, the Special Rapporteur, conducted his country visit to Sri Lanka 15 August to 26 August 2019.

In recent weeks, the Sri Lankan military has constructed several new checkpoints across Mullaitivu as the intensified militarisation of the Tamil homeland since Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected president continues.

A Sri Lankan brigadier who was found guilty by a British court of threatening Tamil protestors in London, has once more been promoted in Sri Lanka, taking up the post of 15th General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 58 Division Headquarters this week.

The US embassy in Sri Lanka sent its congratulations to the Sri Lankan navy this week, after the security forces claimed to have seized a record drug haul worth over $33 million, in an operation conducted 600 nautical miles away from Sri Lankan shores.

Four men from Poonakary have been arrested by the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) after being accused that they were in possession of gunpowder used in the production of domestically manufactured bombs.

Five persons have been arrested and taken into custody for allegedly sword possession in Vavuniya by Special Task Force officers.  

The Office of Missing Persons (OMP) released a statement yesterday, on their second anniversary of its establishment, calling for the “unstinted cooperation of the Government and state agencies”, so that truth and justice for the missing and disappeared persons’ and the protection of the rights of their relatives are ensured.

The Geneva Director of Human Rights Watch urged on the Core Group of countries at the United Nations Human Rights Council to lead the call for an international justice mechanism on Sri Lanka “instead of placing faith in empty government promises”.

The director of Vavuniya-based Thinapuyal newspaper, Sakthivelpillai Prakash and his wife alongside another editor, were summoned by Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) on Monday, following the paper’s coverage of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has granted a request to dismiss a case against the current Sri Lankan president and accused war criminal Gotabaya Rajapaksa without prejudice, leaving room in the future for potential legal action, once he leaves office.

A collective of Tamil artists from the diaspora and across the North-East teamed up to celebrate the beauty of the Tamil homeland earlier this year, in a music video that has racked up thousands of views so far.

‘Zha Mann’ or ‘Our Soil’ is a track made by UK-based Tamil artist Santhors, singer S Ravi, rappers C V Laksh and Baveena and a collaboration of Parai drummers, and has over 20,000 hits and counting.

Tamil Guardian caught up with some of the artists involved in the project, to speak about the song, the Tamil music industry and about the Tamil homeland.