Farmers of the Northern Province were honoured with a Farmers Festival in Mullaitivu on Saturday.

The event was presided over by Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran as well as several Northern Provincial Council Ministers, and prolific Tamil poet Vairamuthu attended as chief guest.

The Sri Lankan government took no significant measures to end impunity for security force abuse, including police use of torture, said Human Rights Watch (HRW) in their 2016 World Report.

Released on Wednesday, the HRW report went on to state that “at time of writing, the government also had not yet repealed the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), despite promises to do so, and continued to detain people under it”.

“While Sri Lanka has legislation prohibiting torture, the government failed to ensure disciplinary or criminal prosecutions against police officers and their superiors,” the report added, noting that “many alleged perpetrators remained in active duty or were merely transferred to another police station”.

“Victims of torture and their families faced a daunting path to redress and justice... Many reported ongoing harassment by the police when back in their villages,” it said.

Whilst acknowledging that “Sri Lanka’s new government has begun to address some of the country’s chronic human rights problems,” Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch said “much remains to be done”.

Reports of over 40,000 Tamil civilians having been killed during the final stages of Sri Lanka’s armed conflict is a “myth” claimed the chairman of Sri Lanka’s presidential commission into disappearances on Wednesday.

Justice Maxwell Paranagama released a statement, criticising  a Channel 4 News report which detailed unresolved human rights abuses and continued military occupation in the North-East.

“Once again Mr Snow makes repeated references to the genocidal figure of 40,000 civilians killed in the final weeks of the war,” said Justice Paranagama, adding that “all available figures... makes the allegation of 40,000 a myth”.

He went on to address reports that the Sri Lankan army deliberately shelled ‘No Fire Zones’ declared during the closing weeks of the conflict by saying, “the LTTE never agreed to no fire zones… Therefore in international law they do not exist”.

He has previously rejected the UN Panel of Experts' estimated death toll of 40,000 Tamil civilians at the end of the armed conflict in 2009, as well as criticism from UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al Hussain who called for the disbandment of the commission.

The Tamil National Alliance’s position is for a “power-sharing arrangement that is in consistent with the principle of federalism,” said MP M. A. Sumanthiran to reporters on Tuesday.

Speaking from Colombo, Mr Sumanthiran said the TNA was taking part in discussions regarding a new constitution.

“We will state our position that to the two main parties and the Sinhala people in this country that it is an arrangement that is on federal lines that will best ensure that there will not be a call for the division of the country,” said the parliamentarian.

His comments come amid reports that TNA leader R. Sampanthan has left for Scotland, where he will be involved in talks regarding power sharing and federalism.

In a report submitted to the UN Committee Against Torture, the government refuted claim of ongoing torture and impunity,  adding,