The JHU MP Champika Ranawaka on Friday urged the government not to devolve police powers to the provincial councils arguing that such a move would like to violent groups and terrorism. 

The Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena on Saturday said he was "not ready to govern the country on the opinions of NGOs which were operating on international relationships and file charge sheets against the security forces," the Daily Mirror reported. 

Mr Sirisena also pledged to protect the armed forces from any international prosecutions as well as reiterating his objection to international judges in any accountability mechanism. 

Sri Lankan president, Maithripala Sirisena, told military force personnel in Jaffna that he would never bring charges against them.

Two Sri Lankan navy officers were arrested over the disappearance of 11 Tamil school children in 2006 in Colombo. 

The arrests, which included a commodore, were made by the Criminal Investigation Department on Friday, reported the Daily Mirror. 

The Sri Lankan president, Maithripala Sirisena reiterated his rejection of the inclusion of international judges in any justice mechanism stating that he had the "backbone" to voice such a view. 

Speaking at a meeting of the SLFP executive committee, Mr Sirisena was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying, "two weeks ago the UN Human Rights High Commissioner in his report on Sri Lanka called for a probe by foreign judges. Within 24 hours, I rejected it saying I am not ready to bring foreign judges here."

The chief minister of Tamil Nadu urged the Indian prime minister to secure the release of 13 fishermen arrested by the Sri Lankan navy this week. 

The fishermen from Rameswaram, Nagapattinam and Pamban were arrested on Wednesday evening, The Hindu reported.

In a letter to Mr Modi, Tamil Nadu's current chief minister, Edappadi K. Palanisamy called on the Indian premier to secure the release of not only the recently arrested fishermen but all 53 fishermen currently detained as well as 123 impounded fishing boats. 

The lands of some Pilavu villagers who had been protesting for all of February were released on Wednesday.

Although the release was cause for jubilant scenes for some, there was also widespread anger as only sections of the lands were returned, with some protestors, including permit holders, being told they couldn't access their lands.

The remaining lands were released later in the evening.

The homecomings were bittersweet, as villagers found that homes, buildings and wells had been entirely destroyed, so the released lands will not be immediately habitable.

The current legal framework in Sri Lanka perpetuates the risk of torture, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture told the human rights council in an interactive dialogue on Thursday.

Presenting the findings of his predecessor Juan Mendez, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of punishment, Nils Melzer said:

The measures taken by Sri Lanka since October 2015 have been inadequate to ensure real progress a report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights released on Friday in Geneva concluded, reiterating the need for a hybrid court with international judges and lawyers. 

Assessing the progress made by Sri Lanka in implementing resolution 30/1 which it co-sponsored at the Human Rights Council the report urged "stronger, tangible results need to be forthcoming without further delay to prevent any further dissipation of hardearned trust."

The deputy minister of foreign affairs Harsha De Silva this week sought to allay ongoing rumours that Sri Lanka had agreed to a number of reforms in order to regain GSP+ by reiterating that the country was "under no obligation to any foreign body". 

“Sri Lanka will do what we have undertaken to do and we re doing what we are doing for ourselves,” Mr De Silva was quoted by Economy Next as saying.