Pakkiyaselvam Ariyanenthiran, the common Tamil candidate, held a press briefing in Mannar this week, stating that his candidacy in the upcoming Sri Lankan Presidential election serves as both a lesson for the Sri Lankan government and an opportunity for Tamils in the homeland to stand united.

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe unveiled his manifesto ahead of the presidential polls, stopping short of fully implementing the 13^th amendment and devolving land and police powers to the Tamil North-East

The manifesto states that power will be devolved to the Provincial Councils “as per the constitution” but that the vesting of police powers “will be decided by the new Parliament”. It goes on to list the select few powers that Provincial Councils will have, including “tourism promotion” and “vocational training”.

The Northern Province Fisher People Unit association has announced a collective protest by fisherfolk, civil society, and other organizations which is scheduled to take place on the 10th of this month. 

The central committee of the Ilankai Arasu Tamil Katchi (ITAK) announced that it would back Sajith Premadasa at the upcoming Sri Lankan presidential elections, in a move that has highlighted the splits and turmoil within the already troubled Tamil political party.

India’s leading low-cost airline, IndiGo, launched its newest international route from Chennai to Jaffna this week, becoming the second Indian airline to operate the route.

The new route is a daily non-stop flight lasting 75 minutes, and is the 34^th international destination for IndiGo. This route holds significant potential to further strengthen ties between the Eelam Tamil and Indian Tamil communities. 

The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) will send 26 long-term observers to Sri Lanka by tomorrow, intending to increase observers closer to the presidential elections.

Observations will take place before, during and after elections, monitoring activities such as the opening of polling stations, the voting process, the counting of ballots, and the tabulation of results around election day.

The EU EOM has also announced it will recruit 32 short-term observers from the EU diplomatic community and other partner countries.

Sri Lankan police officers of Chunnakam Police Division assaulted and tortured a Tamil man last week, in yet another cause of ongoing police brutality in the North-East.

Sri Lankan policemen broke into the man’s home in Chunnakam, Jaffna, on 28 August to arrest him without apparent cause before assaulting him with various weapons.

Namal Rajapaksa released his manifesto as he vies to become president of Sri Lanka this month, pledging to continue the legacy of his father, accused war criminal Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The younger Rajapaksa asserts that the "Mahinda Chinthana," the title of his father’s 2005 manifesto, had set a progressive plan for Sri Lanka.

Justice C V Wigneswaran, a Member of Parliament from the Jaffna District, expressed his support for the common Tamil candidate Pakkiyaselvam Ariyanenthiran at the upcoming presidential polls, urging Eelam Tamils across the island to seize the opportunity to assert their aspirations and undeniable rights as a united force.

“The Tamil people fought non-violently and engaged in the armed struggle when the Sri Lankan government began its genocidal war with the intent of destroying the very existence and individuality of the Tamils,” the manifesto states. “This ongoing state of terror is aimed at the extermination and ethnic cleansing of the Tamils.”

The election manifesto for Pakkiyaselvam Ariyanenthiran, the common Tamil candidate endorsed by a coalition of Tamil political parties and civil society, was launched in Jaffna on Tuesday.