Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa has slammed the United Kingdom's announcement of sanctions against senior Sri Lankan military commanders, rejected allegations of war crimes and called on the current government in Colombo to “stand by and defend former armed forces personnel who face persecution by foreign government”.

Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement criticising the United Kingdom’s recent decision to impose sanctions on four individuals, including three former Sri Lankan military commanders, for war crimes.

In a wide-ranging and reflective online discussion, Eelam Tamil writer and researcher Sinthujan Varatharajah joined Palestinian journalist Hebh Jamal to explore the politics of international solidarity, hierarchies of attention, and the contradictions faced by oppressed peoples organising for liberation. 

The event, titled “Hierarchies of Solidarity”, drew on themes from the book co-authored by Varatharajah and Moshtari Hilal.

The family of a woman and her child who were shot dead by Indian Peacekeeping Forces (IPKF) in 1987 returned to Jaffna to perform their funeral rites in accordance with Hindu traditions, 38 years after the killings. The rituals took place on Sunday (23rd), following a court’s approval to exhume the skeletal remains, which had been buried in the family’s home compound since the time of their deaths.

The Association for Relatives of Enforced Disappearances in Jaffna District staged a protest in Nallur this week, once again drawing attention to the unresolved plight of thousands of Tamils who were forcibly disappeared by Sri Lanka’s armed forces.

Tensions continue to mount in Jaffna’s Thayiddy area, following the controversial inauguration of an illegally constructed pavilion within the Tissa Vihara, a Buddhist temple built on privately owned Tamil land.

Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) parliamentarian Sivagnanam Shritharan commended the UK government’s decision to sanction Sri Lankan war criminals 16 years after the Mullivaikal Genocide, and called on other states to follow suit.

The People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) welcomed the UK government's decision to sanction Sri Lankan war criminals but called on the international community to do more to advance accountability for Sri Lanka’s war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the Tamil nation. 

Yesterday, the UK government sanctioned senior figures from both the Sri Lankan military and a government-affiliated paramilitary group, including individuals linked to extrajudicial killings, torture, and sexual violence.

The United Kingdom has announced sanctions against four individuals implicated in “serious human rights violations”, in a move it says is aimed at promoting accountability and challenging the culture of impunity that continues to shield perpetrators.