Speaking to The Island, Suren Surendiran of the Global Tamil Forum, asserted that the international community and India in particular should bring Sri Lanka to its knees using measures similar to those adopted against Apartheid South Africa.

Writing in the Asian Correspondent, the former BBC journalist and author of Still Counting The Dead, criticised the arts festival Colomboscope which was funding by the British Council.

See here. Reproduced in full below:

'Perhaps most shocking was that they came in military uniform to an arts festival. It could have been a bold move to include a session on war reporting in the latest literary event in the Sri Lankan capital – Colomboscope. Sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank and organised by the British Council and Goethe Institute, the boundaries of freedom of expression should at least have been nudged forward a little.

But three of the four-member panel were government spokesmen. The only dissenting voice a very articulate German war correspondent, who didn’t seem to have actually reported on the end of the war in 2009 (another journalist was invited, but later pulled out). She looked increasingly frustrated and uncomfortable as the session proceeded and she came under attack as part of an undefined western conspiracy against Sri Lanka. Her words about coming to terms with the past were applauded by the audience but made little impact on the panelists bent on rewriting history to their advantage.

Updated

Speaking in Tamil Nadu, the leader of India's BJP party, Yashwant Sinha asserted that there was "no stopping" oppressed people rising up for independence.

Sinha said:

See here for the Economist's story on worsening relations between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka.

Extracts reproduced below:

Dock workers at one of Sri Lanka’s main container ports have called for a boycott of cargo shipped from neighbouring India in response to the anti-Colombo protests continue to take place in Tamil Nadu.

Hundreds of people have attended a protest organised by the “Ravana Balaya” Buddhist group, which includes several monks, outside the headquarters of Sri Lanka’s cricket board.

The office of the Tamil newspaper Uthayan was vandalised and its employees attacked on Wednesday morning by a group of unidentified persons.

The Sri Lankan Army dispelled allegations of media intimidation, claiming instead, that special interest groups were being funded to highlight that there is no media freedom in Sri Lanka.

French charity Action Contre La Faim (ACF) has reiterated calls for an international, independent investigation into all allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka, noting that the recently passed resolution at the UN HRC on Sri Lanka was "not enough".

The leader of the UNP, Ranil Wickremasinghe, left on a two day official visit to India today.

According to party sources the visit is following an official invite by the Indian government.

The suspects in an attack on a Muslim business have been released, after a court in Colombo dismissed all charges against them.

Seventeen people, including 3 monks, were arrested after last week’s attacks on a clothing store owned by Muslims, one of several attacks on Muslims in recent months.

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, an opposition Marxist party in Sri Lanka, has called upon all 'Sri Lankans' to completely reject the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Comission, a report by the Office of the High COmmissioner for Human Rights, and resolutions passed at the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2012 and March 2013.

Prominent members of Tamil Nadu's film industry held a day-long fast on Tuesday, in solidarity with state-wide student protests.

The Barnabas Fund has reported that there has been a sharp increase in attacks on Christians by Buddhists in Sri Lanka.

The charity said there were 10 anti-Christian attacks in March alone, including the bruning down of a church and a “brutal attack” on the home of a pastor.