Storekeepers of clothing outlets and vendors selling firecrackers across the North-East said there was a noticeable decline in sales this year as Tamils celebrated the New Year, amidst the high cost of living and ongoing economic turmoil.

Tamil residents of Nagathalvu village in the Mannar District have complained about Sri Lanka’s continued occupation of a public cemetery in the region and have appealed for at least another site that could be used, as locals are forced to find vacant plots of land to bury their dead. 

The All Ceylon Shasanarakshaka Bala Mandalaya presented a set of proposals last week, calling on the Sri Lankan government to ‘secure temple lands and safeguarding Theravada Buddhism nationally and internationally’.

The Buddhist monks presented the proposals to Secretary to the President, Saman Ekanayake, at the Presidential Secretariat and claimed there was a “nexus between diminishing religious education and the surge in societal crime”. The Sri Lankan President’s Media Division touted the proposals as an attempt to “foster a virtuous society”.

As Sri Lanka’s presidential elections draw closer and Tamil parties debate whether a common candidate should be selected, Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) MP Charles Nirmalanathan said that Tamils were “yet to identify a Tamil leader of the likes of Velupillai Prabhakaran,” referring to the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Tamils in Mullaitivu commemorated Annai Poopathy as a memorial float dedicated to her travelled through Mullaitivu today. 

The Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) organised a memorial float to travel through the homeland to mark 36 years since Annai Poopathy’s fast unto death. 

The Sri Lankan military carried out a series of events across the North-East, as the occupation marked both Tamil and Sinhala new year.

Image courtesy of Virakesari 

A Buddha statue has been secretly inaugurated at the Veerakathy Pillaiyar temple in Madathady, Trincomalee, after it was installed illegally last month. 

Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) MP Selvarajah Kajendren has written to Sri Lanka’s prime minister urging him to “prioritise the needs” of the Tamils who have been longing for a separate divisional secretary in Kalmunai North. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recognised the "important contributions" made by Tamils in Canada, in his statement marking Tamil New Year. 

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak extended his wishes to the Tamil community celebrating the new year and thanked them for their 'tremendous contribution' to the country. 

Tamil families of the disappeared in Vavuniya marked 2611 days of continuous protests on Tamil New Year as they continue to campaign to know the fate of their forcibly disappeared relatives. 

Last week, the leader of Sri Lanka’s Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and National People’s Power (NPP) coalition undertook a tour of the Tamil homeland. Though the party trumped up the visit, Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s speeches lacked substance. His explicit ruling out of political solutions to the decades-old ethnic conflict will have done little to enthuse Tamils to vote for him. Instead, his remarks have done the opposite, reaffirming to many that there is little to differentiate him from the other Sinhala candidates. Dissanayake’s electioneering has fallen flat.

The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) has pledged to work on lifting the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and push for a referendum on establishing Tamil Eelam in its manifesto as elections in India are set to take place later this month.