In a hard-hitting letter, Justice C V Wigneswaran, Member of Parliament from the Jaffna District slammed Sri Lanka's former High Commissioner to India Milinda Moragoda proposal to absolve the provincial councils and reiterated calls for a United Nations supervised referendum in the North-East.

Photo of Sri Lankan police

Responding to a brutal assault of a Tamil youth by Sri Lankan officers, attached to the Achchuveli Police, the Jaffna regional office of the National Human Rights Commission has initiated an investigation into the incident.

Sri Lanka’s president defended his controversial appointment of Deshabandu Tennakoon as the head of the island’s police force, and claimed that Constitutional Council “is part of the Executive,” in a demonstration of his apparent willingness to consolidate power in the president’s office.

The son of Chamal Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s former speaker and minister, Shasheendra has been appointed by Ranil Wickremesinghe as the State Minister for Irrigation and Water Resources Management, in a move that sees a member of the Rajapaksa family back in government, after the former president was ousted by protests in 2022.

Sri Lanka's preparations to mark its 76th Independence Day have already been marred, after two paratrooper mishaps resulted in four military officers being hospitalised, whilst the ongoing economic crisis has angry citizens in the south taking to the streets in protest. 

File photograph: Tamil protest for justice after Nagarasa Alex was tortured to death in November 2023

Kanesh Nishanthan who was recently released from Jaffna prison, died yesterday, sparking suspicion over the cause of his death.

Five individuals have been arrested on Tuesday over an alleged assault on two Sri Lankan police officers in Jaffna.

Both Pakistan and India have conducted naval exercises with Sri Lanka despite ongoing concerns over the ill treatment of Tamil fishermen.

In the nation-state identified as Sri Lanka, police and other security forces either committed atrocities toward Tamil citizens or stood by and allowed Tamil homes and communities to be pillaged and bombed. It is outrageous that the Peel Regional Police Chief would plan for a collaboration to strengthen the Sri Lankan police force that is currently led by Deshabandu Tennakoon, who has been deemed guilty by the Sri Lankan Supreme Court of violating many constitutional rights of citizens, police officers, and journalists alike and also personally tortured many while in the custody of the police force.

Sri Lanka has slipped further down places in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, from a rank of 38 in 2018 to 34 this year.

Transparency cites that the weak scores reflect the lack of delivery by elected officials on anti-corruption agendas, together with crackdowns on civil society and attacks on freedoms of press, assembly, and association. 

Batticaloa district organiser of the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF), Kanapathipillai Gukakumararajah, and his son face extended remand until February 7, for attempting to commemorate Maaveerar Naal.

Eighteen years have passed since seven Tamil Rehabilitation Organizations (TRO) humanitarian workers were abducted by Sri Lankan government-backed paramilitaries in Batticaloa.

A Tamil political prisoner was attacked by a former Sri Lankan army officer in Welikada prison, in what has been described as shocking “act of vengeance” by a Tamil lawmaker.