A prominent TNA MP says the party will continue to demand an international mechanism, despite the recent announcement by the US that it would support a credible domestic inquiry.

Sivagnanam Shritharan, who won the highest number of votes of all TNA MPs, said the party will act according to its manifesto, which demands an international inquiry.

“We will not accept it, if the US calls for an internal inquiry into the alleged war crimes and human rights abuses during the final phase of the war, we will demand an international inquiry as stated in the election manifesto," he said.

Tamil families affected by enforced disappearances rejected proposals for a domestic inquiry at a vigil for the disappeared in Mannar.

Emphasising the need for an international investigations into disappearances and abductions during the war and its aftermath, hundreds of relatives of missing persons marked the International Day of the Disappeared with an emotional vigil in Mannar on Sunday.

photograph IBCTamil.com

The vigil was organised by the Organisation for the Families of Forcibly Disappeared Persons - North and East Provinces, with the Mannar Citizens Committee.

The event’s chief guest, Reverend Father Elil Rajan, representing the Tamil Civil Society Forum, emphasised the Tamil people’s disappointment in the international push for domestic investigations.

Sri Lanka will look to borrow $4 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help tackle a widening balance of payment deficit, reports Sundaytimes.lk.

A senior government official, who wished to remain anonymous said that there was a proposal to borrow US $4 billion to support reducing the increasing deficit in Sri Lanka’s balance of payments.

The Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP) on Saturday rejected calls by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that it should be given the post of opposition leader, reported Sri Lanka's Sunday Times.

“The opposition leader’s post should be given to the party which has the highest number of members and are not supporting the National Government,” the SLFP's acting general secretary, Duminda Dissanayake, was quoted as saying.

A new monument commemorating dead soldiers of the Sri Lankan military was unveiled in Galnewa this week, "in memory of the gallant soldiers who made supreme sacrifices on behalf of the country", the ministry of defence's website said.

"Names of 60 war heroes who made supreme sacrifices have been engraved in the monument," the ministry of defence added.