MULLAITIVU, Sri Lanka — Relatives of 24 Tamil civilians killed in an airstrike 27 years ago gathered at a road junction in northern Sri Lanka on Tuesday to light lamps and scatter flowers, holding the annual commemoration themselves after the groups that had arranged it in previous years withdrew, citing pressure from government intelligence officers. Community organizations and other local groups had helped organize the ceremony at Manthuvil, in the Puthukkudiyiruppu area of Mullaitivu Distric

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — M.A. Sumanthiran, one of Sri Lanka's most prominent constitutional lawyers, has republished a speech he delivered in Parliament during the 2013 impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, answering critics who have questioned his opposition to a government plan to extend the retirement ages of senior judges. Mr. Sumanthiran, a President's Counsel and general secretary of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi, the main Tamil party in the island's north and east, posted the