The birthday of the LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran was marked in the East today, November 26. 

Similar celebrations were held across the North-East, ahead of Tamil National Remembrance Day tomorrow. 

Posters of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran have been plastered across walls of the University of Jaffna, both to mark his birthday today and Monday's Maaveerar Naal, Tamil National Remembrance Day.

A hand-made version of the Eelam Tamil national flag was raised by villagers in Valvettithurai, the birthplace of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, a day ahead of Maaveerar Naal commemorations.

A stash of old weapons were removed from a ditch along a busy roady in Pommaiveli, Jaffna, security forces have claimed. 

Police officers, Special Task Force and the military personnel were present as the weapons were taken. Assault rifles, grenades and ammunition were amongst the weapons removed from the location. 

The 63rd birthday of the leader of the LTTE, Velupillai Prabhakaran was marked at the ruins of his birth home in Valvettithurai on November 26. 

Parents of Maaveerar held an event on Friday of Tamil Heroes Remembrance Week to inaugurate the Chatty Thuyilum Illam for Maaveerar Naal commemorations.

Visvamadu Thuyilum Illam, Mullaitivu district

Resting homes for fallen LTTE cadres (Thuyilum Illam) which have over recent days been cleared are now being decorated with red and yellow bunting in preparation for Tamil National Remembrance Day (Maaveerar Naal) on November 27. 

The senior Buddhist monk, Muruththettuwe Ananda criticised reports that the former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was going to be arrested, warning that monks would take to the streets. 

Sri Lanka's prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday told journalists that talks with this Indian counterpart during his visit to New Delhi had been "successful". 

"I had extensive talks with the Indian Prime Minister and our discussions concluded positively," Mr Wickremesinghe was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying. 

Sri Lankan soldiers at the Koppay army camp which is partly built over an LTTE cemetery have been increasing security and surveillance around the camp and blocking access to surrounding public roads.

- Thusiyan Nandakumar, Jaffna.

As the sun began to set over the Vanni last November, thousands of locals stood before the crumbled remains of gravestones at an LTTE cemetery in Kilinochchi. The graves had been bulldozed by the Sri Lankan military years before. Few had ventured to the site since, fearful of reprisals from security forces. But last year, with the military seemingly restrained, residents of the town cleared the rubble and constructed a makeshift monument with the remains. At 18:05 precisely, they lit lamps and played a song in remembrance of those buried there. It marked the first time since the brutal end of the armed conflict on the island that Tamils had gathered to publicly mark Heroes' Day – or Maaveerar Naal.

The All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils called on Sri Lanka’s government to allow Tamils to freely remember their war-dead in the North-East.

Condemning the government’s destruction of cemeteries in the North-East, the cross-party group of British parliamentarians said they stood with the Tamil community as they “rebuild their destroyed cemeteries as part of ongoing remembrance efforts.

The UNP minister, Sajith Premadasa called for anyone who does not accept the Sri Lankan flag to be denied citizenship. 

Highlighting the Northern Province Minister of Education's refusal to hoist the flag at a public event in Vavuniya earlier this month, Mr Premadasa told an audience in Hambantota said, "those unwilling of the country’s national anthem and flag should be denied citizenship."

The Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchu on Friday held a public discussion on the proposed new Sri Lankan constitution. 

The meeting, led by the TNA leader, R Sampanthan and the ITAK leader Maavai Senathiraja, was heated with youth present criticising the ineptitude of older members who were elected for internal administrative bodies previously.