A complaint filed by the Sri Lankan police against a Tamil politician for ‘breach of peace’ was dismissed by the Mullaitivu magistrate’s court on first hearing.

Mulliyavalai police had filed a case against Karaithuraipatru (Maritimepattu) Divisional Council (PS) member Thavarasa Amalan claiming he had breached the peace, after he had taken journalists to a well to expose how Sri Lankan military forces were exploiting the public water source.

The specific incident had occurred in October but had been preceded by ongoing disputes between locals of Kanukkeni West and the military, who locals accuse of pumping out millions of litres of ground water from the tube well and causing pollution and damage to the rest of the area’s water supplies.

Locals of Oddusuddan, Mullaitivu are concerned about threats to the ancient Vavettimalai hill, whose history intertwines with the district’s iconic Thanthondreeswarar temple. Large scale stone mining in the area is destroying the hill’s archaeological and spiritual characteristics, locals say.

The massacre of 53 schoolgirls by the Sri Lankan air force was remembered in the Tamil homeland on Wednesday on the thirteenth anniversary of the attack.

Sri Lanka’s former defence secretary, who oversaw the military offensive that killed tens of thousands of Tamils in Mullivaikkal, officially launched his presidential bid this week.

Amnesty International has said that reforms are required in Sri Lanka if new investigations into the ‘Trinco 5’ massacre are to be effective.

An Indian government-funded model village was inaugurated in the Jaffna District on Saturday.

Sri Lanka’s tourism industry sees signs of a gradual recovery after the tragic Easter Sunday bombings, which killed over 250 people.

Tourism is one of Sri Lanka’s largest revenue streams, with tourists arriving from Europe and Asia-Pacific accounting for 90% of the total visitors. Sri Lanka’s Tourism Development Authority reports that after the attack on 21 April, the number of tourists halved in July from a year ago.

Sri Lankan soldiers stationed at the University of Jaffna stood by as Sinhalese students clashed outside the campus on Wednesday, instead harassing passers-by and onlookers.

The soldiers forced onlookers away from the incident and berated individuals who had filmed the clashes, forcing them to delete all photographs and videos.

A team of Sri Lankan Air Force personnel are to be deployed to Central Africa next month to undertake United Nations (UN) peacekeeping duties.

The Passing Out Parade of the No 5 contingent of the Aviation Unit under the UN helicopter deployment was held yesterday at the Sri Lankan Air Force Base in Katunayake.

The helicopter deployment includes 18 officers and 92 airmen and are scheduled to start in September 2019.

A Tamil think-tank based in Jaffna was visited and its staff questioned by Sri Lankan terrorism police.

Kumaravadivel Guruparan, executive director of Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research (ACPR) and senior law lecturer at Jaffna University, reported that the office of ACPR were visited by three TID (Terrorism Investigation Division) officials who claimed to have been sent by their superiors in Colombo to inquire into the human rights policy-think tank.

The massacre of 63 Tamils in cold-blood by Indian Peace Keeping Forces (IPKF) in Valvai on August 2, 1989 was remembered on Friday, 30 years on.

A prominent Tamil disappearances activist and her daughter were attacked and hospitalised in Batticaloa on Sunday evening.

Security booths have been installed in Jaffna ahead of the Nallur Kandasamy Kovil’s annual festival, with Jaffna police ordering that all devotees must be searched before entry.

The orders came following the Easter Sunday bombings in Colombo and Batticaloa earlier this year.