Indian soldiers who died during an operation as part of the country's disastrous peacekeeping mission in 1987, were remembered at a ceremony in Jaffna earlier this month.

Consul General of India in Jaffna Shri A. Natarajan and Commander Security Force Jaffna Major General Nandana Udawatta placed wreaths at the monument in the Palali high security zone, occupied by the military.

The soldiers died during Operation Pawan, an attempted landing in Jaffna's main stadium, which was beaten back by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, then in control of the town.

The Indian Peacekeeping Forces (IPKF) are accused of committing several atrocities and war crimes against the Tamil population, during their occupation of the region. They ultimately withdrew after sustained resistance by the LTTE.

Sri Lanka is committed to international human rights law and there is renewed political commitment and will in the country, to strengthen human rights law compliance mechanisms, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka in Geneva, Ravinath Ariyasinhe said at an ICRC conference.

Sri Lanka will conduct an economic forum with the participation of world-renowned economists, including some from Harvard University, to provide advice on the implementation of the government's economic plan, Deputy Foreign Minister Harsha de Silva said to the Daily Mirror

Families of missing Tamils have decided to boycott Sri Lanka’s presidential commission into disappearances, and staged a protest in Jaffna to express their disappointment with the commission.

Photographs Tamil Guardian

Members of the organisation representing the relatives of missing persons in the North-East agreed to fully boycott the Presidential Commission’s inquiries, demanding instead that any further investigations should be carried out by independent, international actors.

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) found the Sri Lankan police guilty of violating international law in a landmark case last week, over the use of excessive force when dispersing student protestors in Colombo.

"(The) police action is a violation of the universal declaration of human rights as well as the international covenant on civil and political rights," said the commission said in a 32-page report last week.

Students who protested in Colombo in October were violently dispersed by police officers. "Students had been subjected to cruel and degrading treatment in violation of their rights guaranteed by the constitution as well as international human rights covenants," said the HRCSL.

Former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said the release of Tamils detained for political reasons posed a serious threat to national security.

Claiming the Tamils were "hardcore LTTE members", Mr Gotabhaya said that some of those on the list to be released were involved in major attacks on Colombo.