Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has issued a posthumous presidential pardon to Diyunuge Edward Henry Pedris, who was executed on July 7, 1915 - but not any Tamil political prisoners, dozens of whom continue to remain behind bars.

Turmoil in the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) over who to support at the Sri Lankan presidential elections has threatened to tear the party apart, as senior figures continue to contradict themselves this week.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to delay its next review of Sri Lanka ahead of presidential polls that are scheduled to be held this month.

Sri Lankan presidential aspirant Namal Rajapaksa, son of accused war criminal Mahinda Rajapaksa, firmly stated that there would be no merger of the North and East, nor would land or police powers be granted under a Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) government.

Sri Lankan police have arrested Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) MP Selvarajah Kajendren as he and his team campaigned for a boycott of the upcoming Sri Lankan presidential elections in Kilinochchi this morning.

Kajendren and other members of the TNPF have repeatedly been harassed by the Sri Lankan security forces in recent weeks.

A new report by the Oakland Institute looking at Trincomalee, a city once dubbed the capital of Tamil Eelam, has found that over the last 12 months, there has been rapidly escalating colonization of the Tamil homeland.

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) MP Tissa Kuttiarachchi claimed there is a conspiracy to assassinate former president Mahinda Rajapaksa and that threats form the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were still present despite their defeat in 2009, as this months polls draw closer.

International journalists attempting to travel to Sri Lanka and cover the upcoming presidential elections have faced visa delays or even outright refusals in recent weeks, as tension continues to build on the island ahead of the polls.