Reiterating Sri Lanka's rejection of the UN inquiry into mass atrocities in Sri Lanka, President Rajapaksa stressed "we will not allow an external inquiry".

"We want a local enquiry here to find out what happened to them. Obviously many are missing in the war, both from the civilians and the Army. But we reject this UN commission, and how it was formed," he told The Hindu during an interview, published Thursday.

A court in Tamil Nadu ordered issue of summons to the BJP leader Subramaniam Swamy in relation to the case filed by the state's chief minister J. Jayalalitha.

Swamy had written to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arguing the chief minister had only pushed for the release of fishing boats, held by Sri Lanka, as they were owned by someone she knew.

Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said he would like to meet non-governmental organisations openly critical of the government, reported the Daily Mirror.

Rajapaksa was speaking to representatives from 11 NGOs, who were involved in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and the Commonwealth People’s Forum, when he expressed an interest in meeting those groups.

The defence secretary urged the NGO community to discuss their issues with the NGO Secretariat, instead of “internationalising” them, and spoke about the “unwillingness” of NGOs to engage in dialogue with the government.

National Peace Council Executive Director Jehan Perera, who was one of those present at the meeting said, “It was a very cordial discussion but because it was the first meeting of its kind we did not go into details of the various suggestions that were made to improve the situation. But most importantly, the Defence Secretary himself requested and expressed an interest in meeting other NGOs including those that have been very critical of the Government.”

The Madras High Court confirmed that Sri Lankan minister Douglas Devananda can face trial for a murder charge through video conferencing from Colombo on Tuesday.

Devananda, who also heads the government-linked paramilitary Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), faces a murder charge relating to a 1986 shoot-out in Chennai which killed one person.

India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested a Sri Lankan citizen on suspicion of spying for Pakistan on Wednesday.

The man, Arun Selvarajan, had reportedly gained access to several high security installations and also had criminal cases pending in Sri Lanka. See an official NIA statement on the arrest here.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne declared in Parliament that the government is to purchase all stocks of potatoes currently being held by farmers.

Jayaratne made the announcement, stating that the Sri Lankan cabinet had approved the purchase of all remaining potato stock at a price of Rs. 80 per kilo.

The move comes as Sri Lanka banned the import of potatoes earlier this week in a bid to protect local farmers.

Jayaratne also said that all district secretaries and government agents were instructed to continue with a fertiliser subsidy for the farmers, provide agriculture loans at 7% relief interest and to supply locally produced seeds at concessionary prices.

See more here.

Also see our earlier posts:

Sri Lanka bans import of potatoes (09 September 2014)

Atchuthan Sivasubramaniyam, a 25 year old who was the sole earner supporting his parents and 3 siblings, committed suicide on Wednesday, after struggling to maintain a lease hold on a lorry that helped provide for his family, reports the Uthayan.

Sivasubramaniyam’s lorry was violently repossessed by t leasing company before the incident occurred.

The United Nations Secretary General, noted the Sri Lankan government had failed to reply to concerns raise by special mandate holders regarding the intimidation of human rights campaigners, in a report entitled “Cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in

The Northern Provincial Council passed a resolution calling on the Sri Lankan government to allow United Nations investigators into the country, in order to carry out a probe into mass atrocities.

The resolution, which was adopted on Wednesday, said,

The Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi passed a series of resolutions this week, condemning the Sri Lankan government's genocidal actions and calling for the maximum possible devolution of power to a merged North-East province.

Photograph: Uthayan

Hundreds of protestors took to the streets of Chennai earlier this week, to rally against Sr

The Sri Lankan government has introduced another new bill into parliament, looking to restrict land ownership by foreigners, foreign companies and companies registered in Sri Lanka that have foreign owners.

The bill entitled “Land (Restrictions on Alienation)” is set to be debated on in Parliament before it is passed.

(Pictures: BattiNews)

A commemorative event for Tamils killed in the 1990 Saththurukondan Massacre, committed by Sri Lankan forces in Batticaloa, was stopped by a court order, preventing relatives of those killed and Tamil politicians to observe the anniversary on Tuesday.

Tamil National Alliance MPs P Ariyanenthiran, P Selvarasa and C Yogeswaran, along with several family members of those massacred, attempted to proceed to the site of the event in Kokkuvil, however police read out a court order which banned the event to “prevent damage to people and properties”, issued by Batticaloa District Court.

At least 184 Tamil men, women and children were hacked to death after being taken to the Sathurukondan army camp, on September 9, 1990.

The relatives and the MPs were forced to go to a temple in Saththurukondan, and lit candles there in remembrance of the dead.

TNA MP Ariyanenthiran condemned the hypocrisy shown by the authorities in cracking down on Tamil remembrance events, while allowing Sinhala and Muslim events to go ahead.

“Muslims and Sinhalese are free to hold events to commemorate their dead, but Tamils are not able to do so,” he said to the Tamil Guardian.

Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure the release of the six fishermen, arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on Tuesday.

In a letter to Modi, Jayalalithaa said that it was “inhumane” of Sri Lanka to detain the fishermen, who were in distress, due to a technical issue with their boat.

"These boats in distress and Indian fishermen on board are being apprehended and remanded to custody in Sri Lanka. This is a totally inhumane approach and completely against the ethics of maritime search and rescue operations," she said according to PTI.

The Sri Lankan strategy of keeping the apprehended fishing boats of the fishermen in its custody had "snatched away" the source of their meagre livelihood and "is also fuelling despondency and great unrest amongst the fishermen," Jayalalithaa said.