Sri Lanka's state-run water supply board has asked customers to stop the use of tap water to wash cars and water plants in order to help avoid water cuts, as hot weather and drought gripped the island.

National Water Supply and Drainage Board Chairman B W R Balasuriya warned that the agency may have to implement cuts to the water supply if the high usage currently seen continues, according to The Sunday Times newspaper.

Tea plantations have been hit hard, with several estates reducing output.

Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena has urged the joint opposition to give up its struggle to topple the government and instead join the government in "rebuilding" the country.

"Some say that this government cannot go on. Their dream will never come true. I invite them to join us in rebuilding the nation instead of seeking to change the administration," the president said at an event in Eravur, in the Eastern Province.

The Sri Lankan prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe this weekend announced a military show would be held in August in Galle.

The event is hoped to be a tourist attraction, the Daily Mirror reported.

Mr Wickremesinghe made the announcement while visiting a youth camp in Sigiriya, where he also pledged to make the Mattala airport commerically viable.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe praised the role of the navy at a ceremony on Sunday, as he looked to expand the military’s role to “protecting sea routes” across the Indian Ocean.

Sri Lanka’s official navy website reported the prime minister as highlighting “the importance of safeguarding the sea area from Maldives through Pacific Ocean up to the Strait of Malacca and Singapore”.

“The Sri Lanka Navy will have to play a role in protecting the sea routes across the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the sea off Banda Aceh and the Strait of Malacca,” he was quoted as saying. “We will have to prepare for that.”

Speaking at a commissioning parade in Trincomalee, situated in the Tamil North-East, Mr Wickremesinghe also praised the navy and called on the newly commissioned officers to “dedicate their service to the betterment of the Navy and motherland”.

Sri Lanka’s president and prime minister pledged a future “devoid of extremism and terrorism” at the closing ceremony of a youth program held at a military camp in Sigiriya last week.

The Sri Lankan government reinstated the Yowun Puraya Program, which is being held with assistance from the Sri Lankan military and police services, after 28 years.

Under the theme “Future Begins”, approximately 5000 youth took part in the program, which was held at the Sri Lankan Air Force Base in Sigiriya from March 30 to April 3.

Activities at the camp included raising the Sri Lankan flag every morning, alongside “physical fitness programs” on the air force runway. There were also musical shows by the Sri Lankan army.

A total of 1450 army personnel also took part in a military tattoo, which showcased a series of security exercises, as the commander of Sri Lanka's army watched on.

A set of secret documents obtained by a journalist reveal that during the last years of the war, British aid helped set up a vigilante network which supplied Sri Lanka's notoriously brutal police force with intelligence.

The documents, seen by VICE, show that the British government was aware of the risk of human rights abuses but continued to support the Sri Lankan security establishment regardless of that.

VICE's Phil Miller says that in 2008, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence "merged" a community policing project, that was being delivered by UK advisers, with civil defence activities which "involved forming unarmed youth vigilance groups to report on any suspicious items/people".