The UK’s All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils has voted in a new chair and agreed on new objectives for the new Parliament.

Conservative MP for Kingston and Surbiton, James Berry, was elected as the new chair of the group.

Creating a new set of objectives at the group’s AGM, several MPs, including Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers, agreed to work to ensure that the OHCHR Investigation and the UN international and independent investigation are completed; and to assess their conclusions and ensure that appropriate international action is taken in the light of those conclusions.

Speaking to Tamil Guardian after the AGM, James Berry MP said that although the group did not wish to prejudge the contents of the UN report, they would not rule out encouraging the British government to employ soft powers, to further the objective of promoting reconciliation and human rights in Sri Lanka, including through supporting the UN investigation into war crimes.

Mr Berry also said that he would prioritise the objective to get the Sri Lankan government’s ban on legitimate diaspora organisations withdrawn, commenting that the proscription of certain Tamil organisations was “absolutely absurd”.

Several prominent Tamil civil society groups from across the North-East have urged the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussain to “act swiftly” to prevent the “undermining” of the inquiry into Sri Lanka’s mass atrocities conducted by his office.

In a letter to the high commissioner, the 15 organisations, led by the Tamil Civil Society Forum, said the government has not consulted with victims in initiating a process to design a domestic justice mechanism, noting that Mr Hussain urged Sri Lanka to do this.

“We write to state with regret that we are unaware of any such process of consultation that the Government of Sri Lanka has initiated with the victims. A huge majority of these victims as you are aware are from the Tamil community and the government has not had any consultation at all with the Tamil community in the design of a mechanism,” it said.

Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa will contest in the upcoming general elections under the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), reports Ceylon Today.

The news comes as current president Maithripala Sirisena said that Mahinda Rajapaksa would not be allowed to contest in the upcoming elections under the SLFP section of the UPFA.

Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) vowed to focus on safeguarding the Sinhalese people and Buddhism, in a press conference held by the organisation’s general secretary on Friday.

Announcing the political agenda of the Bodu Jana Peramuna (BJP), the political wing of the BBS, Galagodaatte Gnanasara said the party’s “objective and the ideology would focus on safeguarding Buddhism, the Sinhalese community and the country from the threats they were facing”.

“There is political instability in the country at present,” said the monk, stating that the BJP, which will be contesting in the upcoming elections would “put the country first”.

Furthermore, it would attempt to field a Buddhist monk in every one of the districts it is contesting in, announced Gnanasara.

A coalition of international non-governmental organisations has called on ambassadors of UN Human Rights Council Member States to maintain scrutiny of Sri Lanka on issues of justice and accountability.

In a letter written to ambassadors on Friday, the organisations said that despite a delay in releasing the report of a UN investigation into mass atrocities committed during the final phase of Sri Lanka’s armed conflict, there is “serious concern that there has been no visible progress in these areas till date”.

“In the last few months, the government has expressed its categorical unwillingness to allow international investigations within Sri Lanka, and has thus far not publicly demonstrated real cooperation with the UN High Commissioner by providing access to information relevant for the report,” said the letter.

Signatories of the letter included Forum Asia, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Conectas Direitos Humanos, Human Rights Law Centre, International Commission of Jurists, International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism, International Service for Human Rights and the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice.

The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) warned that there were plans underway by the government, to sell areas of strategic importance to national security in the North-East to “pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam” groups in the Tamil diaspora for US$450 million.

The governor of Sri Lanka’s Central Bank on Wednesday rejected demands to stop foreign borrowing until after the elections, scheduled to be held on August 17.

UPFA MP and former foreign minister GL Peiris in a letter to the secretary to the ministry of finance and the governor Arjuna Mahendran called on them to "act in the best public interest and ensure that the management of public finance, the economy and external debt will not be permitted to get further deteriorated during the ensuing 6-8 weeks."

Mr Mahendran, in a letter to The Island, responded that the continuing borrowing could save the treasury money.

"The Department of External Resources has solicited proposals on direct US Dollar term loans to the Government of Sri Lanka from reputed international financial institutions. These direct loans are expected to be contracted at, as the letter states much lower rates of interest than what the Treasury could reasonably obtain through the issuance of Sri Lanka sovereign bonds and thus save the Treasury considerable sums of money,” the letter said.

The Sri Lankan navy has declared a general amnesty for deserters, a statement by the defence ministry said.

The amnesty will start today and run till the end of September this year. The Sri Lankan air force declared a general amnesty for all deserters last week.

An earlier amnesty in March saw 12,060 deserters return to the military.

Sri lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena is reported to have refused to allow his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa to contest the forthcoming general elections on an SLFP ticket, Ada Derana quotes political sources in Colombo.

Mr Rajapaksa had announced on Wednesday amidst huge fanfare that he would contest the elections in August, without specifying which party he would run for.