Sri Lankan soldiers “should not be allowed to wear the blue helmet” of United Nations peacekeepers, said Canadian parliamentarian Gary Anandasangaree in a piece published in The Star this week.

Writing ahead of the United Nations Peacekeeping Conference taking place in Vancouver later this month, the Liberal MP said the Sri Lankan military “has a long record of rights violations”.

The clearing of destroyed LTTE cemeteries continues in the North-East in the run-up to Maaveerar Naal.

Soldiers from the Sri Lankan army carried out repairs on the roof of a school building in Jaffna last week, as criticism over its involvement in civilian activites in the North-East continues.

Two STF intelligence officers have been arrested in connection with the murder of a Tamil man in Ariyalai last month.

The intelligence officers attached to the Jaffna Pannai Special Task Force camp were arrested this morning after the weapon and vehicles believed to have been used in the murder were recovered from the camp on Wednesday.

Don Bosco Rikman, a 24-year-old Tamil fishermen from Uthayapuram in Ariyalai East was shot on October 22nd. He died in hospital from internal bleeding caused by the shooting injuries.

A delegation of European Parliament members currently visiting Sri Lanka met with the Northern Province governor to hear his thoughts on how reconciliation could be achieved between Tamils and Sinhalese, and how the North could be developed.

The governor Reginald Cooray told the delegation that a key concern in the North was a lack of job opportunities, especially among young graduates, and said that employment opportunities must be created in order to develop the Province.

S. P. Thamilselvan, the head of the political wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was remembered by the Tamil National People's Front on Thursday, on the tenth anniversary of his assassination by the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF).

The leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) told the constitutional assembly on Wednesday, the situation for Sri Lanka would only get worse internationally if the government failed to address the national question. 

"Sri Lanka knows very well that all the problems it has faced in the international arena, particularly since 2012, is because of its failure to manfully address the National question. Things can only get worse; they cannot get any better if the same attitude remains," Sampanthan was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying. 

A delegation of EU MEPs who are currently visiting Sri Lanka said they were disappointed about the lack of progress on repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act. 

“We were told ‘it will be done’. We were under the impression that there will be rapid change but there isn’t. We hope once the Budget process is out, Parliament will take measures to change this piece of legislature,” the MEP, Jean Lambert who led the delegation was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying at a press conference today. 

Two Indian navy ships and an Indian coast guard vessel docked in Colombo today, as they arrived for a training visit in Sri Lanka.

A Hindu temple in a Vavuniya village was attacked on Wednesday night.