British South Asia Minister, Lord Tariq Ahmad, has been on a whirlwind 3-day tour of Sri Lanka landing in Colombo and making trips to Jaffna and Trincomalee where he stressed the importance of human rights and accountability.

This was the first time the minister visited Jaffna.

Following a meeting with Britain’s Minister for South Asia, Tariq Ahmad, People Uprising Movement (P2P) has released two letters detailing the ongoing plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka and their demand for self-determination.

Responding to a diplomatic visit by British Minister for South Asia, Tariq Ahmad, Tamil families of the disappeared have released a statement slamming the minister for his silence on the “burning issues of enforced disappearances” and prioritisation of engagement with Sri Lanka.

Experts have said the censorship of the Tamil voices by Facebook threatens press and cultural freedom worldwide after the Tamil Guardian Instagram account was twice suspended last year, writes Sam Biddle in The Intercept today.

Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry slammed Canada’s latest travel advisory on travel to the island, labelling the warnings “erroneous and outdated”.

Speaking to The Morning, recently released poet and teacher Ahnaf Jazeem described the torture he faced during his imprisonment by Sri Lankan security forces over his Tamil poetry, as he called for all prisoners detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act to be released.

Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian M A Sumanthiran criticised a speech by Sri Lanka’s president, calling his remarks “an insult” and stating that the Tamil people have been fighting for self-determination and self-rule.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) joined a host of other international organisations in denouncing the death penalty handed to a senior prison official over his role in the killing of at least 27 inmates in a prison massacre, calling it stating it “does nothing to address the very real concerns” over the 2012 killings.

Sri Lanka’s controversial minister of public security announced that Sri Lanka’s 600th police station had been opened as the current government continues with its intense militarisation and securitisation of the island.

In a lengthy address to Sri Lanka’s parliament this morning, Gotabaya Rajapaksa doubled down on denying human rights violations had taken place under his command and instead blamed “misconceptions” in the international community.

A host of British parliamentarians and other politicians joined the British Tamil community in Westminster on Monday to celebrate Thai Pongal in London.

Lawmakers took to the stage and praised the British Tamil community, paying tribute to their contributions in several fields and pledging solidarity with their struggle for justice and accountability in the homeland.

Sri Lanka’s president Gotabaya Rajpakasa paid a “surprise visit” to the Kuragala Sinhala Buddhist site last week as a restoration project gets underway, whilst a nearby Islamic site remains under threat.

“Sri Lanka finds itself looking down the barrel of a gun,” wrote The Economist last week, as it highlighted the economic crisis on the island and the government’s opposition to intervention from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“The numbers are sobering,” said The Economist.

“Interest obligations on government debt in 2021 amounted to 72% of total revenues, while public-sector salaries and pensions came to 80%. Multiple downgrades have in effect locked it out of the international private-credit market.”