Sri Lanka lifted its travel advisory against travel to Tamil Nadu on Tuesday.

The ban was instigated citing attacks against Sri Lankan pilgrims in Tamil Nadu.

In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said:

“Following a series of unfortunate incidents faced by Sri Lankans visiting Tamil Nadu, in particular a group of Sri Lankan pilgrims visiting the Poornimatha Church in Thanjavur in early September 2012, the Government of Sri Lanka was compelled to issue a travel advisory for Sri Lankan nationals visiting the state of Tamil Nadu.

The Government of Sri Lanka views these incidents as an aberration, and acknowledges that Sri Lanka nationals numbering approximately 200,000 who visit India every year are received warmly in India, including in Tamil Nadu.

The Government of Sri Lanka is pleased that the Government of India, in close consultation with the concerned state governments, has taken and will continue to take all measures to ensure the safety, security and wellbeing of Sri Lankan dignitaries and visitors to all parts of India including Tamil Nadu.

People-to-people contact plays an important role in the multifaceted India-Sri Lanka relationship, especially in further promoting historical, cultural and political ties as well as economic and business relations.  The Government of Sri Lanka is of the view that this age-old natural process of interaction between our two peoples must flourish, unhindered.

In this context, the Government of Sri Lanka appreciates the comment made by the Hon. Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu that the state government of Tamil Nadu is determined to ensure that Sri Lankan visitors to Tamil Nadu are not harmed in any way.

The Government of Sri Lanka has received a large number of requests to lift the Travel Advisory. The Government of Sri Lanka believes that the Travel Advisory is no longer required.”

Judges in Sri Lanka protested on Monday, after a High Court judge was beaten with pistols and stabbed. In a statement, judicial association would not work for one day in protest at the attack.

Speaking to Reuters, a judge who asked not to be names, said,

"He was attacked by four gunmen asking if he was the secretary of the Judicial Service Commission,"

"He was attacked with pistols on his face and manhandled."

A 38-year-old mother of five was sexually assaulted and killed in Batticaloa on Monday, repored TamilNet on Monday.

Ms A Sinnapillai was gagged and dragged out of her home by two Sinhalese workers and allegedly raped and murdered in a nearby jungle. Her body was found dumped upside down in a pit.

Staff at Batticaloa Teaching Hospital were suspicious of the injuries on the victim’s body which was sent to a Colombo hospital for further medical examination. However the Batticaloa staff told TamilNet of the reluctance of Colombo’s medical authorities in issuing medical reports confirming rape.

In another case, villagers caught a Sinhalese worker attempting to assault a 17 year old girl on Thursday.

The man was taken to the Chairman of the Piradeshiya Sabha, who is reportedly a member of Pillayan’s paramilitary group, whereupon the policemen acting as security allowed the suspect to walk away uncharged.

A large number of Sinhalese workers from the South have been deployed in construction and infrastructure works in the East, while unemployment among Tamil youths remains high in the Batticaloa province.

Malaysia is planning to sign a memorandum of understanding with Sri Lanka regarding the oil and gas sector, reported the Daily News.

Malaysia’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Azmi Zainuddin said the MoU could help the Sri Lankan Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat to formalise business and investment opportunities with Malaysian firms.

“We recognise the potential that Malaysian oil and gas companies could offer Sri Lankan companies in this sector.

"Malaysian oil and gas companies have built their capabilities, resources, knowledge and relationships with business partners and vendors over several decades, and may help their Sri Lankan counterparts to significantly shorten their own learning cycle.”

Saliya Wickramasuriya, Director General of the PRDS said,

“Malaysia has demonstrated that their home grown companies have the capabilities to move out from their domestic markets and to venture into the international arena, where they are now credible and reputable in the oil and gas sector.

"We expect Sri Lankan companies to one day do the same.”

"We need to pay greater attention to human needs of the people being resettled to enhance recovery."

“The TID has gathered reliable information that these LTTE cadres have been in contact with LTTE activists and the Tamil Diaspora who are conspiring set up a transnational state of Tamil Eelam"

“It is with a sense of relief that we are able to finalise this matter and take a final decision because the international community, the UN and other global agencies are looking at Sri Lanka and expressed concern about these LTTE detainees.”

“the main objective of those behind the conspiracy, is to destroy the independence of the judiciary and rule of law.”

“Although there has been a need in this post-war period to carry out civil society services for people caught in the war, the Sri Lankan government has only hindered this work.”

“The Sri Lankan government continues to carry out a campaign of ethnic cleansing. It has planned to carry out this genocide in various forms.”

“Native Tamil lands are being hijacked by the army. Much the land of the Tamil people has been grabbed as ‘high security zones’. Sinhalese settlement programs are modifying the ethnic demographics of the region.”

“Tamil people’s language rights are being ignored. There is increasing political interference in the administration of justice.”

“We will now try to walk on our own feet. Che Guevara once said that our enemy determines the weapon we choose. But for Tamil people, the arms we will take up next will be determined by the international community. Tamil people are not prepared to trust the Sri Lankan state.”

“The Tamil people are not satisfied with the findings of Sri Lanka’s LLRC report. However we welcome the implementation of certain recommendations.”

The Sri Lankan army is “very happy” by the display of its own man in the Sri Lankan cricket team.

2nd Lieutenant Ajantha Mendis produced two of the best ever spells of Twenty20 cricket during Sri Lanka’s match against Zimbabwe.

"Mendis is our man and he has made us proud,” said an army officer to a gulfnews.com reporter.

He is also said to have remarked that he had worked with Mendis in the army.

“It was the Sri Lankan Army that noticed Mendis’s talent and groomed him to be a top cricketer. In a match against the army’s under-23 team, Mendis produced a great spell and that was his turning point. The Sri Lankan Army gave him a job,” he said.

Mendis was on active duty during the armed conflict with the LTTE, as part of the same Sri Lankan Army that stands accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Having moved on from the battlefield, he now plays cricket around the world, including against England last week at the T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka, which ended today with a loss of the hosts to the West Indies.

Mahinda with ICC delegation (Picture: ColomboPage)

A delegation of the International Cricket Council met with war crimes suspect Mahinda Rajapakse on Saturday evening.

The president of the ICC, Alan Isaac, led the delegation that was hosted by Rajapakse a day before the Twenty20 World Cup final in Colombo.

See here our view on comments by the Governor of the Bank of Sri Lanka Nivard Cabraal, who said that the image of cricket can 'fade away' the horrors of war crimes and genocide.

Speaking to the Sunday Leader, Ravina Shamdasani from the Communications Section of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the UN, said that Navi Pillay was yet undecided about whether to visit Sri Lanka later this month or not.

Shamdasani said,

“Ms. Pillay is being briefed by the mission delegation and will make a decision on this (visiting Sri Lanka) in due course."

The government of Sri Lanka invited Navi Pillay to the island stating it wanted her to see the 'development' for herself.

The members of the Kegalle Lawyers’ Association have released a statement condemning the threats, intimidation and reported attempts to influence the Judicial Service Commission.

It was this hostile environment that formed the basis of a resolution that was unanimously and unreservedly agreed upon by the association.

The resolution condemned the current environment and called upon the Sri Lankan government to respect the independence of the Judiciary and implement the provisions of the 17th amendment, which would allow the formation of fully Independent commissions.

The resolution called on all members of the legal fraternity to condemn the current environment whilst imploring the government to allow the judiciary system to, “bring culprits to justice; to uphold integrity; independence and impartiality of the judiciary; and to ensure a non-recurrence of this nature.”

Frances Harrison's book, 'Still Counting The Dead' was launched on Friday to a packed and diverse audience in London that included many activists, journalists, artists, and Tamils. The event included presentations on upcoming projects by visual artists and directors that intend to depict the suffering of Tamils in 2009 and to this day, through various mediums.

Benjamin Dix revealed his current project of an animated graphic novel that follows the story of one Tamil man, Anthony, and this family, through the horrors of May 2009, to the displacement and confinement of Menik Farm through to seeking asylum in the UK and the psychological impact of the suffering he experiences. The graphic novel will be published online chapter by chapter.

Christine Bacon from theatre company Ice and Fire, spoke of how she was inspired to produced a stage production based on 'Still Counting The Dead' after Frances Harrison sent her a few chapters of the book and she was instantly "completely gripped". Reflecting on her previous ignorance of the events of 2009, Bacon said it now motivated her produce this play as "the epic scale of human tragedy was astonishing".

The director of the Channel 4 documentary 'Sri Lanka's Killing Fields', Callum Macrae revealed plans for a feature length film and played the film's powerful yet harrowing trailer. Macrae said, "this film will be different to the others, we want this to be a call to action," and said he hoped it to be released by February next year.

The launch event also saw a lively discussion chaired by HardTalk's Stephen Sackur, and included a panel consisting of the former Norwegian diplomat Erik Solheim, Yasmin Sooka of the UN Panel of Experts commissioned to report on Sri Lanka, and the International Crisis Group's Alan Keenan. 

Live commentary of the discussion from our Twitter page: @TamilGuardian reproduced below (in chronological order of tweets):