Over 50,000 upcountry Tamils will be unable to vote at the Uva Provincial Council election, in the island's south, as their employers have refused to grant them leave in order for them to cast their vote, reports Colombo Page.

The Tamils, employed in the private sector in other parts of the island such as Jaffna, Colombo, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, will not be able to return to the Uva province, in order to cast their vote.

The producers of 'Kaththi', Lyca productions, held a press conference on Tuesday, denying any links to the Rajapaksa regime amid calls to boycott from students in Tamil Nadu.

Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa criticised Chief Minister of the Northern Province CV Wigneswaran for “not cooperating” with the government’s development in the region, while speaking at a UN Habitat event.

Rajapaksa said the chief minister’s lack of cooperation was affecting the “ordinary people” in the north of the island, and that political differences with the central government resulted in some officials, showing reluctance to work with the government.

The defence secretary pointed out that the Colombo Municipal Council is working with the Urban Development Authority and Ministry of Defence, despite it being governed by the opposition UNP, adding that the Northern Provincial Council must also work with the government, in the best interest of the people in the region.

The British Deputy High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, noted that difficulty in dealing with issues regarding land ownership and coexistence with the military forces remained for the people in the Eastern province, in a statement on her recent visit to the province.

“New roads and bridges have opened up markets and encouraged tourists, but many issues around land remain and the reality of co-existing with military forces is still difficult for many,” said Laura Davies.

Nigeria's chair of the House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora Affairs, Abike Dabiri-Erewa slammed the treatment of a Nigerian man by Sri Lankan authorities at Colombo's airport as "highly discriminatory", after he was quarantined and deported by the authorities who suspected him and his family of being infected with the Ebola virus.

Condemning the stigmatisation of Nigerian nationals due to the Ebola epidemic in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, Dabiri-Erewa said it “must be addressed instantly before it spirals out of control.”

"Our citizens are mainly harassed and unfairly treated for the fact that they are Nigerians, and in some case sent back from the airport. This act is very predatory and must be checked immediately," she was quoted as saying by Nigeria's Daily Times newspaper.

Citing the example of a Nigerian national, Adeseye Adeyemi, who travelled to Sri Lanka to get married but his journey turned "to sadness," she added, "by the terrible treatment received from the Sri Lankan authorities.”