Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena said Sri Lanka needs to maintain the “unitary status” of the island, at the opening of a new building at a defence university on Tuesday.

"Having assessed the bitter experiences the country had to undergo in the past few decades, if Sri Lanka were to overcome future challenges, the country's unitary status needs to be maintained," said Mr Sirisena.

His comments echo recent pledges made by a range of Sinhala parties who have spoken out against devolving power to the Tamil North-East, ahead of the general election later this month.

Mr Sirisena continued to say that the “knowledge we should earn for national security is unlimited”, according to the Ministry of Defence.

“The importance of the Kotelawala Defence University is invaluable when we consider about how to cope with the invasive strategies, effects and plans of powerful countries,” added the Sri Lankan president.

The Bodu Bala Sena’s political party, the Bodu Jana Peramuna, said it is the only true saviour of Sinhala Buddhists, as the major parties, as well as members of the Buddhist clergy, have turned a ‘blind eye’ as Sinhala Buddhist rights are gradually eroded.

Speaking to media, BJP’s Colombo district candidate Anika Padmini Perera the party is only contesting the elections because of the “mounting challenges” faced by the Sinhala population.

She said those speaking for Sinhala rights have been branded racists, while Tamil political leaders “promoting separatism” received praise.

The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, has called for a review of parties based on ethnic and religious lines, saying they were “inimical” to social cohesion.

The archbishop, an ethnic Sinhalese, was speaking at an event organised by the Congress of Religions, alongside members of the Buddhist clergy.

Asked by The Island whether the Congress of Religions believed that the new constitution, demanded by the cardinal, should contain provisions to deny recognition to political parties based on ethnicity and religion, Buddhist monk Dr Itthepana Dharmalankara Nayaka said he fully endorsed Mr Ranjith’s stance and that such parties should be abolished and formation of new parties prohibited.

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister described plans to open up the economy to the private sector and lower taxes to raise the island’s export income and set a target of US $50 billion for the island, reports Colombo page.

Delivering a keynote address at the Sri Lanka Economic Summit, Ranil Wickremesinghe stressed the importance of achieving economic development by increasing export incomes.

Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa says he will win an outright majority in the elections later this month, and is hoping to become prime minister.

Speaking to the BBC’s Sinhala service, Mr Rajapaksa said he was confident of winning more than half the seats in parliament.

"Clearly we will secure 117 seats," he told BBC Sinhala and rejected claims by the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickramasinghe, that the SLFP campaign was in disarray, due to the split between him and President Maithripala Sirisena.

Mr Rajapaksa challenged the government to investigate killings and abductions which occurred while he was in power, accusing the prime minister of not doing enough.

Sri Lanka’s government said the United Nations and the Northern Provincial Council will not be able to deal directly with each other on projects providing assistance to the region.

Responding to a statement by UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, who last week said the UN was exploring provisions of assistance at the request of NPC Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran, foreign ministry spokesperson Mahishini Colonne said any support must be provided through the government and not through the provinces.

“There are no major projects except one where only immediate assistance for the resettled people is provided by the United Nations. According to the normal procedure, it will be done through the Ministry of Resettlement. They do not directly deal with the provincial councils,” Ms. Colonne said.

The United National Party has always stood for a united Sri Lanka and never wanted it to be divided, Plantation Industries Minister Lakshman Kiriella said while presenting the party’s manifesto to leading Buddhist monk Tibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Mananayake.

The International Truth & Justice project Sri Lanka says it will only collaborate with the government of Sri Lanka, on investigating evidence of human rights abuses, once a credible and independent mechanism, trusted by the victims, is established.

The government responded to the latest ITJP report, which detailed ongoing cases of torture and sexual violence, by saying it could not investigate any of the cases detailed as the ITJP had not shared information.

"The Sri Lankan government has sufficient information to begin numerous reports of abduction, torutre and sexual violence by its security forces, should it so wish," the ITJP said in a statement released today.

"The ITJP looks forward to colloaborating with the Government of Sri Lanka when it has established a credible independent mechanism that is trusted by the victims to address the long-standing international crimes and violations that have been committed against it own citizens and includes witness protection."