“At the outset, let me take this opportunity to reiterate, in no uncertain terms, that Government attaches the highest importance to the safety, security and welfare of Indian fishermen.”

The Tamil National Alliance MP Seenithambi Yogeswaran said that his party will announce by the end of the month which one of the two presidential candidates it will support.

Speaking during a conference in India on Saturday, Yogeswaran said the TNA did not want to influence the outcome of the elections by backing a candidate pre-maturely and that the party would wait for both ‘anti-Tamil’ candidates, incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa and his challenger Maithripala Sirisena, to release their manifestos, The Hindu reported.

The MP said the TNA will not boycott the election.

“We will take part in the democratic process and exercise our democratic right,” he said.

“As of now, Mr. Sirisena’s prospects look bright.”

Meanwhile the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), the largest constituent party of the TNA, said its members are “keen” to exercise their franchise and vote at the elections.

Two Tamil women have testified that their children were shot and killed by the Sri Lankan Army, as the Presidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints Regarding Missing Persons (PCICMP) began to collect testimonies from Vavuniya on Sunday.

Uthayan reports the two mothers describing to the Commission how their children failed to return home from a visit to the Chettikulam hospital, and were shot dead near an army camp three days later.