Sri Lanka’s prime minister Ranil Wickremasinghe called on people to “shed petty divisions to solve problems faced by the country,” reports Colombo Page.

Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa has denied his son Yositha Rajapaksa's involvement in the suspected abduction, torture and murder of Wasim Thajudeen, who played rugby for the national team alongside Yositha.

Sri Lankan Minister Champika Ranawaka said the LTTE “would never be allowed to regroup or be revived ever again” and assured that security was not under threat, reports Daily Mirror.

Mr Ranawaka, who is minister of technology and research in Sri Lanka, told a news conference that current President Maithripala Sirisena “was elected on the promise of protecting national security and sovereignty and integrity and the UNFGG manifesto is based on this policy and our plans for the next five years”.

“National security is in the forefront of everything,” he added.

The minister continued to accuse former president Mahinda Rajapaksa of supporting federalism and devolving power to the North-East. “It was we who changed his mind and convinced him to support a unitary state,” said Mr Ranawaka.

 The US issued a security warning on potential election related violence to its citizens living or travelling in Sri Lanka.

Advising citizens to stay away from political rallies and demonstrations, the statement said,

A vehicle owned by Sri Lanka’s first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa has been linked to the murder of a Sri Lankan national rugby player Wasim Thajudeen.

Three members of Sri Lanka's former Presidential Security Division (PSD) are suspected to be responsible for the murder, reports economy next.

The United People’s Freedom Alliance accused the United National Party government of furthering interests of multinationals by privatising water rights to allow companies to provide services to Sri Lanka.

Addressing media at the Sri Lanka Freedom Party Headquarters, former minister Wimal Weerawansa said that the government moves would make people pay taxes for water, adding,

“We will cancel that Cabinet paper under a UPFA government after August 17.”

Sri Lankan soldiers organised a volleyball tournament for schoolchildren in Mullaitivu last month, reports an army website.

Troops from the 62 division, dressed in full military uniform, alongside a parade of traditional Sinhala dancers, opened the tournament which was held in Weli Oya on 30 July.

Brigadier KGD Perera, commanding officer of the 62 Division, was the chief guest at the event, which was also sponsored by Nestle, with a sales executive handing over prizes to the winning teams.

See more of Sri Lanka’s militarisation of schools in the North-East in our previous posts:

Continuing militarisation of Tamil school children across North-East (17 Feb 2015)

Northern Provincial Councillor MK Shivajilingam in a letter today urged the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussain, to consider a purely international mechanism to address accountability in Sri Lanka.

The councillor highlighted ongoing abuses and said the Tamil nation was being "systematically destroyed".

He also requested the high commissioner to take measures to "judicially address the genocide against the Tamil people", and to press Sri Lanka to sign and ratify the Rome statute, in order to prevent further atrocities and protect the Tamil population.

"The Tamil people have been subjected to Genocide and massacres, their churches and temples have been destroyed, their lands have been taken away, their rights have been denied, and they have been oppressed and occupied. The injustice against the Tamils continues even at this very moment," Mr Shivajilingam said.

The Sri Lankan military held Buddhist ceremonies across the North-East last month, to call for blessings to be invoked on soldiers.

A ceremony was held in Kilinochchi and another in Mullaitivu, as Sri Lankan troops marked “Poya Day” on 31 July.

Troops and commanding officers dressed in white and gave offerings to Buddhist monks, whilst praying at the viharas.

A military website reported the events “invoked blessings on serving Army personnel and transferred merits on fallen War Heroes”.