India is to provide equipment and training to the Sri Lankan military reports Colombo Page.
Bi-lateral cooperation is expected to increase between India and Sri Lanka with India working to build Sri Lanka’s military capacity by providing training and hardware.
The Jaffna Press Club held a memorial service over the weekend, remembering the lives of two Tamil journalists - Mylvaganam Nimalarajan and Mr Sachithananthan.
The event was held on the date marking the 14th death anniversary of Nimalarajan, who was a senior journalist having contributed to the BBC Tamil and Sinhala services, the Tamil daily Virakesari and Sinhala weekly Ravaya. The Committee to Protect Journalists stated he was gunned down in his home due to his coverage of the political violence before and during the 2000 parliamentary elections. Members of the government aligned paramilitary group the EPDP, are suspected of carrying out the killing.
Sri Lanka's opposition party, the United National Party (UNP) blamed the government for the European Union's annulment of anti-terror measures against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last week.
"When we come to power we will work to reinstate the ban and we strongly urge the government to do everything it can to ensure the Tamil Tigers remain proscribed as a terror organisation," UNP MP Eran Wickramaratne was quoted by the Global Post as saying.
Wickramaratne blamed the government's "politicised" foreign service, and lack of career diplomats.
The Sri Lankan government's re-introduction of travel restrictions to the North, preventing all foreign citizens from entering the region without prior written permission from the Ministry of Defence, is aimed at stopping Tamils from giving evidence to the UN inquiry, said the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF).
"The fact that the travel restrictions on foreign passport holders to the North has come at this juncture is not a surprise at all," the TNPF president, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam told the Tamil Guardian on Sunday.
"The government would have been observing closely and its intelligence sources would have revealed that the Tamil victims of the most heinous crimes are very eager to give evidence to the OHCHR Investigation into Sri Lanka (OISL). The only hesitation Tamils have is with regards to how the evidence can be submitted whilst maintaining secrecy. One of the safest ways would be to transfer the evidence through diplomats or foreigners who would be most likely to be able to get the evidence out of the country safely," he said.
Sri Lanka is to challenge the annulment of anti-terror measures against the LTTE by the General Court of the European Union on Thursday, by dispatching its ambassador to Strasbourg on Monday.
Ambassador Rodney Perera is to urge the Council to act on the Court ruling, attend the EU parliament's plenary session, and meet with foreign affairs and defence committees, reports the Colombo Page.
Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence has requested Tamils in the North to register their name, address, email address, telephone phone number and other personal information, including names of household occupants, in order to search for any property lost after 1980, the Sunday Times reports.
Travel restrictions have been placed on the North to prevent foreign elements funding another war against the Sri Lankan government, said the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) coalition party's general secretary on Monday.
The recent European Court of Justice ruling to lift restrictions placed on individuals and organisations allegedly linked to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is a result of “pro-LTTE” diaspora and opposition parties attempting to oust the current presidency said the Sri Lankan president on Monday.
Sri Lanka’s information minister Keheliya Rambukwella has confirmed that the presidential elections will be held in January, two years earlier than scheduled.
Rambukwella, who is also the government spokesperson said at a public meeting on Monday that a final announcement will be made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa met with Indian Defence Minister Arun Jaitley in Delhi earlier today and discussed “a number of issues”, PTI reported.
The Australia based group, Tamil Refugee Council, welcomed the decision by the business tycoon, James Packer, to watch the 'No Fire Zone' documentary, ahead of launching a multi-million dollar casino in Sri Lanka.
Packer pledged to view the documentary, which was recently nominated for a prestigious Emmy award, at the annual general meeting of his business enterprise, Crown Resorts, in Perth this week.
Local refugee activist, Victoria Martin-Iverson, gave Packer a copy, after questions were raised about his plans to build the casino in Colombo.
"My heart bleeds for people caught in conflicts," Packer was quoted as saying by the West Australian newspaper, expressing sympathy for those, including Tamils in 2009.
Urging Packer to reconsider his business venture, the spokesperson for the Tamil Refugee Council, Trevor Grant, said Packer's decision was "welcome news".
