Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who oversaw a military offensive that killed tens of thousands of Tamils and stands accused of committing genocide, claimed that “war is never a solution” after a visit to the Palestinian  embassy in Colombo on Monday.

“I have consistently supported the Palestinian cause as the Founder President of the Sri Lanka Society for Solidarity with Palestine," said Rajapaksa.

"War is never a solution," he added.

The Sri Lankan Navy said it had conducted “special operations” and arrested 27 fishermen from Tamil Nadu, as well as seizing five trawlers in Jaffna and Mannar.

The latest arrests come as the detention of fishermen from Tamil Nadu, an issue that has plagued relations between Colombo and Chennai for years, continues.

In a move that is seen to further inflame tensions in the Mayilathamadu Madhavanai area of Batticaloa, a new Buddha statue was installed on Sunday under the leadership of controversial monk Ambitiya Sumanaratna. The installation ceremony also saw the participation of former Governor of the Eastern Province, Anuradha Yahampa.

The British Minister of State for the Indo-Pacific, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, recently paid a visit to Jaffna where she met with Tamil parliamentarians and other officials, as part of her first visit to the island.

The 37th commemoration of the death of Lt. Col. Victor, a key commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who was martyred in 1986, was held in Mannar last week.

The event, organised by Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), a constituent party of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), paid tribute to the former commander of the Mannar district, who played a significant role during the armed struggle.

Buddhist monks led a Sinhala nationalist rally in support of Israel and its offensive on Gaza this week, reiterating Israeli military support during Sri Lanka’s war on Tamils.

“At that time when the international community was not helping us, the Israel state assisted us unconditionally to save us from terrorism,” claimed Senapathiye Ananda, a Buddhist monk from the little-known North & East Sinhala Association.

^{Photograph: Sunday Times}

As many as three different protests have taken place in Colombo this week, denouncing Israel’s assault on Gaza and expressing solidarity with Palestine.

Sri Lanka’s president Ranil Wickremesinghe “urged a fresh approach” to solving the Israel-Palestine conflict and aired the idea of “four-state solution involving Israel, Palestine, Gaza, and Lebanon,” in public remarks last week.

Speaking at an event held by a think tank that he founded, the Geopolitical Cartographer, Wickremesinghe first told the audience that he had concerns over whether the United States could “multiple international issues simultaneously”.

In a historic moment, the ferry service between Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu, and Kankesanthurai (KKS) in Jaffna, was inaugurated on October 14, 2023. The high-speed ferry, operated by the Shipping Corporation of India, marked the revival of sea connectivity between Tamil Eelam and Tamil Nadu after a hiatus of 40 years.

The journey commenced from Nagapattinam port in the morning with 50 passengers and staff on board, reaching Kankesanthurai at 12:20 pm.

An Eelam Tamil family, who had been displaced from their homes and were residing in Tamil Nadu for more than 30 years, have been arrested as they returned to Jaffna this week.

The family, which consists of a woman, her husband and her mother, originally fled from Eelam in 1990 during the midst of the armed conflict.