“There are no unlawful killings taking place in Sri Lanka and also no paramilitary groups operating as mentioned in the report.”

Tamil political detainees have called off their hunger strike, after the government promised to deal with the grievances raised by them.

The Sri Lankan Government has said it will establish four new special courts to deal with Tamil detainees swiftly.

Over 200 political prisoners were on a hunger strike for six days, demanding that they either be charged or released from prison. Some of the detainees had been imprisoned for over five years without being charged.

The ‘killers’ of the Canadian Tamil, Anthonypillai Mahendrasa, have been caught, according to the pro-government newspaper, The Island.

The newspaper claims that a police investigation discovered the ‘mastermind’ of the murder. According to the police, the murder was committed as the suspect believed the victim was carrying a lot of cash.

It has been reported that the Asian Athletics Association (AAA) secretary Maurice Nicolas told Sri Lanka, that their elections for the Sri Lanka Athletics Association (SLAA) were not held fairly and were not recognised by the association, resulting in postponement of the games.

Members of the Tamil National Alliance and its constituent parties are to go on hunger strike in Vavuniya on Wednesday, to show solidarity with the over 300 reported Tamil detainees protesting across the island.

According to Ceylon Today, TNA Spokesperson and the Jaffna District Parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran stated that various parties, including the TULF, PLOTE, EPRLF, TELO TAK, TNLF and DPF would be on hunger strike on Wednesday, urging the government to release all Tamil political prisoners.

The recent murder of Canadian-Tamil  Anthonypillai Mahendrarasa, has underscored the “enduring ethnic violence” in Sri Lanka, reported the Globe and Mail on Tuesday, after the slain businessman’s funeral last week near Montreal.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has criticised pressure on Sri Lanka to allow an international probe into war crimes and human rights abuses, Russian media reported on Wednesday.

Speaking at a meeting with Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister GL Peiris, Mr Lavrov stressed that Sri Lanka has already had a home-grown and trustworthy commission to look into war crimes.

A group of young Tamil activists burnt copies of the 1972 constitution, at the same spot where the mother of the LTTE’s leader, Parvathi Amma, was cremated, TamilNet reported today.

Over 40 youths burnt the copies at Oorani cemetery in Valvettithurai on Tuesday afternoon.

According to TamilNet, the youths raised some slogans and distributed leaflets to the public before leaving the scene.

A draft of the constitution was burnt by ITAK leader SJV Chelvanayakam and others, 40 years ago in Jaffna.

The leader of the Tamil National Alliance, R. Sampanthan, has called for a removal of military camps in the Northeast of the island.

Speaking to Tamil media, Sampanthan said his party would continue to campaign for a reduction in military presence.

"The current ratio of security personnel in the north of the country is one soldier to every eight civilians. This is too much and we have highlighted the need to reduce the military presence to restore normalcy to this region," he said.