Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake has admitted that members of parliament and cabinet are directly linked to underworld figures running the island’s sprawling criminal and drug networks.

The National Council of Canadian Tamils (NCCT) hosted a high-profile panel discussion at the Geneva Press Club this week, where international legal experts and Tamil civil society representatives reiterated that accountability for atrocities in Sri Lanka can only come through independent international prosecutions, not domestic mechanisms.

An investigative team visited the suspected mass grave site at Kurukkalmadam in Batticaloa last week, to plan the next stage of excavations and exhumations amid renewed demands from Tamil families for international oversight.

Sri Lanka has resumed construction on the stalled Central Expressway with the help of a fresh $500 million loan from China, marking the first major tranche of funding from its largest bilateral creditor since Colombo defaulted on foreign debt three years ago.

A former Sri Lankan police officer has been implicated in illegal sand smuggling operations in Vadamaradchi, raising further questions over the deep entanglement of state officials in the destructive trade.

Tamil farmers in Mayilaththamadu, Batticaloa, marked 730 days of continuous protest this week, as their peaceful struggle demanding the return of traditional grazing lands entered its third year.

Tamil parliamentarian Selvam Adaikalanathan has condemned Sri Lanka’s Deputy Defence Minister Aruna Jayasekara, after the retired Major General claimed that no war crimes had been committed against Tamils and described atrocities as merely “unfortunate incidents” of war.

The 26th anniversary of the Manduvil massacre was marked in Puthukudiyiruppu, Mullaitivu yesterday, as families gathered to mourn the 24 Tamil civilians who were killed in a Sri Lankan Air Force bombardment in 1999.

An investigative report on the murder of Tamil journalist Mylvaganam Nimalarajan was distributed in Mannar and Jaffna last week, as local press clubs and journalists renewed calls for justice more than two decades after his killing.

A former senior Sri Lankan naval officer has admitted that the Indian Navy directly assisted Colombo in destroying Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) vessels during the final phase of the Mullivaikkal genocide in 2009.

Signature campaign in Jaffna demands international justice for Chemmani mass graves and Tamil genocide

A spokesperson for former Sri Lankan president and accused war criminal Mahinda Rajapaksa has claimed that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Prabhkaran “would be pleased” with the way Colombo has treated the ex-head of state, after he was compelled to vacate his official residence in Colombo under new legislation.

A young Tamil man was left critically injured on Wednesday night after being struck by a Sri Lankan military vehicle in Avarankal, Jaffna in a stark reminder of the dangers posed by the heavy militarisation of the Tamil homeland.

Former Sri Lankan president and accused war criminal Mahinda Rajapaksa lashed out at the government this week, claiming that the island was witnessing “political terrorism” driven by “personal revenge,” after he was compelled to vacate his luxury Colombo residence under the newly enacted Presidents’ Entitlements (Repeal) Act.