"One of my clients was on the verge of being put on the bus to the airport. He and another failed asylum-seeker were taken off the bus. Another of my clients, was already at the airport and was taken off the plane."

“The growing number of Buddhist temples in the area, the militarization of the north and the fact that there are new Sinhalese settlements in many areas of the North shows what the Defence Secretary wants to do is to change the demographic patterns of the Northern province”.

“The most recent census revealed that out of the 954,000 residents in the North 900,000 are Tamils and 23,000 Sinhalese, so what is the Defence Secretary trying to say? Almost all the census carried out by the governments, have revealed this demographic pattern. Is he saying that this is not true?” 

“Inside the university, those associated with the military and those who can be considered as military intelligence, roam freely without revealing their identity. There have been many situations like this. Even though we have notified the University authorities about this, no guarantee have been given to ensure our safety.”

“Last year the President of the Student’s Union was subjected to a similar attack. After this attack, discussions took place between the University, Police and Military authorities. We were then given the assurance that such an attack will not be carried out on students in the future and our safety will be ensured. However, after that promise, this attack that has been carried out on this student has ridiculed us and sent shockwaves among the students. “

“If there’s any truth when they say “one people” and “one nation”, if they have real affection towards the Tamil people, then they shouldn’t have celebrated it as a victory. When the war was brought to an end, the tragedy that also unfolded should have been given prominence, and it should have instead been marked as a day of mourning.

While the Tamil people suffered in this manner, this celebration by the majority and the Sinhalese politicians is something that really hurts the Tamil people.”

“Yet three years on, May 18th defines precisely what cannot be reconciled.

As we remain confounded by our nation’s collective loss, the Sinhala nation praises its government and celebrates its military.

What the Eelam Tamil nation calls genocide, the Sinhala nation calls ‘victory’.”

According to reports there has been a heavy military presence surrounding Jaffna University since Monday night.

See here and here.

Despite ongoing tension between Jaffna University students and Sri Lanka's security forces, the Sri Lankan army spokesperson, Brigadier Ruban Vanikasurya, claims the military presence is due to a request made by the university administration and university student leaders to Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe for 'security'.

Many students meanwhile continue to speak of intimidation by the military.

See Jaffna students speak on military intimidation (30 May 2012)

Last week Jaffna university students boycotted their lectures to protest against the attack on the secretary of Jaffna University Student Union (JUSU), Paramalingam Tharsananth. Tharsananth was attacked by iron bars hours before he was to address a Mullivaikal remembrance event in Jaffna. 

A delegation of British Conservative MPs is expected to visit Jaffna to look at concerns about high levels of military personnel, reported the Daily Mirror.

Presidential advisor Arun Thambimuttu said ten Tory Members of Parliament, including former defence secretary Liam Fox, MP for Croydon South Richard Ottaway and MP for Enfield North, Nick De Bois, were invited to visit the north of the island during a recent meeting in London to monitor the situation themselves.

David Amess (Southend West), Guto Bebb (Aberconwy), Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan), Alan Duncan (Rutland and Melton), Sheryll Murray (South East Cornwall), Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight) and James Wharton (Stockton South) were the other MPs that accepted the invitation, according to the Daily Mirror.

For more on Liam Fox and his links to Sri Lanka please see here.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the UK government to "immediately suspend deportations of ethnic Tamil asylum seekers to Sri Lanka and review its policies in assessing these claims" and highlighted that the next scheduled deporation is due to take place on Thursday.

Noting the Sri Lankan security forces long-standing use of torture against those it deems to be linked the LTTE, HRW said there was a "growing evidence indicates that Tamils who have been politically active abroad are subject to torture and other ill-treatment". 

Citing the recent cases of four deportees who were subject to torture, HRW said their investigations indicate that "torturers interrogated deportees about their political activities abroad".

See here for full statement.

HRW's UK director, David Mepham, said,

"The British government’s asylum procedure is failing to identify Tamils at risk of torture upon return to Sri Lanka despite growing evidence that torture of Tamil activists deported from abroad occurs. Until the government can fairly and thoroughly assess asylum claims based on up-to-date human rights information on Sri Lanka, it should suspend returns."

“The UK Border Agency guidance recognizes the danger of torture faced by those returned to Sri Lanka, and the government practice should reflect that,"

“This is not just a matter of the UK respecting its international legal obligations, but a matter of basic decency.”

Iran invited Sri Lanka's president, Mahinda Rajapaksa to Tehran on Tuesday, to attend the 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in August 2012, reported the Colombo Page.

The invitation by Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was delivered by the Iranian deputy minister of foreign affairs, Abbas Aranghchi, whilst on an official visit to Sri Lanka where he met his counterpart, Neomal Perara.

Aranghchi was accompanied by an Iranian business delegation seeking to increase Iranian-Sri Lankan trade ties.

The pro-government newspaper, The Island, reported on Monday, that the external affairs minister, G.L. Peiris "summoned" the British High Commissioner John Rankin, to "protest against the UK envoy contradicting President Mahinda Rajapaksa's Victory Day speech".

The newspaper added,

"Ministry sources told The Island that Prof. Peiris had expressed displeasure over Rankin disputing President Rajapaksa’s claim of scaling down of the military presence and the non-involvement of the military in civil administration in the Northern Province."

See article here. 

On Saturday, Rankin criticised the on-going militarisation of the North-East in a video broadcast. Answering questions about last month’s report on human rights, Rankin went on to state that Sri Lanka has serious human rights issues that need to be addressed.

The World Bank will lend more than twice as much to Sri Lanka over the next 12 months from July, reports Bloomberg.

Sri Lanka will receive $500 million during that period. Bloomberg reports that currently, Sri Lanka borrows $200 million annually under concessionary terms.

Earlier this year, the former deputy governor of Sri Lanka's Central Bank, W. A. Wijewardena, warned that the economy was heading for trouble despite an official predicted growth forecast of 7.2%. The AFP news agency wrote at the time,

"Sri Lankan economist and former central bank deputy governor W. A. Wijewardena believes the economy is in trouble despite an official 7.2 percent growth forecast for 2012.

He says the balance of payments problem will have a knock-on effect on Sri Lanka's ability to service its large commercially raised foreign debt, the value of the local currency and domestic prices.

The country needs to borrow heavily to finance the trade deficit and repay debt which could push the country into a vicious debt cycle, experts warn."

See AFP report here.

Also see Sri Lanka’s emerging economic crisis  (18 March 2012)

"Why should be that? Why should be that? If you are a Sri Lankan citizen you must be able to go and buy the properties from anywhere."

“Don’t get angry! Usually I get angry, so you don’t get angry. Ok don’t get angry. I am the secretary of defence, I have investigated this. You don’t take the words from these people, take the word from me.

"All this we have stopped... but you don't talk about that. You are supporting the terrorist cause!"

“I don’t know. You have to ask the President. I am not interested! I have not known any of these things. I have a lot of work to do… you can see I am not sleeping…"

“I don’t know … I don’t know! I don’t want to comment! I will stop the interview if you continue with this!”

“You can’t disregard this. If we relax, if we don’t take steps to prevent it there is a possibility it can rise again.”

“That is why the President said we cannot withdraw the military from these areas.”

"Especially on the intelligence side – we have increased military intelligence units. We are training them more and more in advanced methods so they can gather information on these affairs and have an early warning. Then we keep an eye on certain people that we know have been engaged in criminal activity."

“positioned military personnel – camps in very strategically identified places so that we can control certain areas”

"I can talk only about the police powers. This is something we cannot give! This would be detrimental and not practical. Because ours is not a huge country we are small."

There is no logic in that. In fact I asked this from Mr. Sampanthan. By doing this it cannot help the reconciliation process – I don’t see how it can. It will only create unnecessary problems – it is simply not good to do."

The largest party in the Tamil National Alliance, the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi, has called for the merging of the Northern and Eastern provinces into one administrative unit at its annual General Council meeting.

The meeting, held ahead of Sunday’s 14th annual convention, also resolved to call for an end to state-sponsored colonisation schemes, equal rights for the Tamil people and for progress in resettlement and development, in both the North and East.

A leaked cable from the US embassy revealed that international diplomats were unhappy with a 2006 decision by the Sri Lankan Supreme Court to void the merging of the Northern and Eastern provinces.This included US Assisstant Secretary for South Asian Affairs Mark Boucher, who urged President Rajapaksa, to accept the merging as a "given."

See the full text of the cable here.

Meanwhile, the Devanayagam Memorial Hall in Batticaloa, where the convention was set to take place, was reportedly set alight on Friday, just two days before the convention was set to take place. Unidentified persons were also reported to have distrubted leaflets, urging for a boycott of the convention.

“Investigations also revealed that the elder Saudi was the chief agent in the racket, and had been in the country for the past four months, making several visits to the North and East.”

“We fear that the Hikkaduwa find is just the tip of the iceberg, and there may be a larger syndicate with many similar cases gone undetected."

"The abductor who came on a motor bike had later fled to Kilinochchi via Pooneryn, along with the boy,” he said.