Writing in Al Jazeera, the Advocacy Director for the Washington DC-based People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL), and a Human Rights Fellow at the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, Mario Arulthas, urged the international community to take urgent action to protect Tamils in Sri Lanka following the former president's return to power last week. 

"The Rajapaksa brothers have been plotting for a political comeback since their downfall in 2015. Tamil activists, who say they always knew Rajapaksas would one day return, are now revisiting their safety protocols, switching to secure messaging apps and sharing emergency contact details," Arulthas writes.

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As Sri Lanka continues to go back on its promises to investigate and prosecute atrocity crimes, alternative avenues for justice must be found, writes People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) Advocacy Director, Mario Arulthas.

“Nearly 10 years after the end of the conflict, reconciliation and a sustainable peace are far off – contrary to what President Sirisena claimed in his speech at the UNGA,” wrote Arulthas in The Diplomat this week.

Four suspects in the killing of a former member of the Tamil Eelam Police Department were found innocent and freed by a judge in Mannar, reported the Uthayan.

A total of seven suspects were arrested after the murder of 34 year old Naguleshwaran Krishnasuwamy, who was killed in his own backyard by unidentified gunmen in November.

His wife, Kavitha, said her husband had received threats in the days prior to the assassination.

The funeral of two female Kachin teachers, suspected to have been raped and killed by Burmese soldiers, was held today in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin state in northern Myanmar.

Maran Lu Ra and Tangbau Khawn Nan Tsin, aged 20 and 21, were in a remote village in Shan state, to teach children on behalf of the Kachin Baptist Convention (KCB), the group's spokesperson Lama Yaw told AFP news agency.

“The victims are dead and can’t point out who did it to them. But everyone in Myanmar -- not only the Kachin people -- knows the truth,” Lama Yawsaid, referring to KBC claims that soldiers were responsible.

Villagers say they were raped and beaten, and that boot prints were found outside their shared home. Activists and local media say Burmese troops were stationed near the village.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al Hussain called on Myanmar’s government to condemn Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu for the sexist insults directed at South Korea’s envoy to the country, Yanghee Lee, who had highlighted anti-Muslim sentiment.

Mr Wirathu of the notorious Buddhist nationalist 969 movement was slammed by Mr Zeid, who called the language employed by the monk as “sexist” and “incitement to hatred”.

"I call on religious and political leaders in Myanmar to unequivocally condemn all forms of incitement to hatred including this abhorrent public personal attack," Mr Zeid said in a statement.

Ms Lee had said the country’s Rohingya Muslims faced discrimination and criticised draft legislation, proposed by a coalition of nationalist Buddhist monks, which includes restrictions on interfaith marriage and religious conversions.

Last week the UN passed a resolution, calling on Myanmar to grant the Rohingya citizenship.

The monk criticised UN “interference” and attacked Ms Lee at a rally last Friday.

Tamils protest outside the army camp in Aanaikkoddai (Photo: Tamil Guardian)

Tamil land owners protested outside a Sri Lankan army camp in Jaffna, demanding that the land on which the camp was built be returned to them immediately.

Residents said the army camp, situated in Aanaikkoddai within the Jaffna peninsula, was built on land seized by the military.

Earlier this month, the government issued a gazette notification, declaring that the camp of the army regiment’s 11th Battalion will be made permanent on this day, denying the Tamil families any possibility of return to the land and houses they own.

Due to objections by the land owners the government had temporarily halted the permanent transfer of the land to the military, however refused to return it to its rightful owners, said protest organisers, the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF).