Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena “appears to be indicating a withdrawal from the obligations” his government has committed to, said a statement signed by Tamil and sections of Sri Lankan civil society groups on Thursday.

The statement, which condemned Mr Sirisena’s recent comments, said the Sri Lankan government negotiated a consensus resolution passed at the 30th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in October 2015, and “now appears to be backtracking from even these compromised commitments”.

“Of particular concern was his accusation, quite similar to that of his predecessor, that those who allege such things have an LTTE connection,” added the statement, endorsed by 144 groups and individuals.

The civil society organisations also noted that just days later Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said his government would abide by commitments given in Geneva, stating:

“These contradictions between the President and the Prime Minister are however not new and have been a constant feature of the Government’s public communications about their commitments under the resolution ever since the resolution was passed”.

The British government has been urged to ensure Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena meets commitments agreed to under a UN Human Rights Council resolution passed last year, in a question raised in parliament today.

Wes Streeting, Member of Parliament for Ilford North and Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils told parliament:

Farmers of the Northern Province were honoured with a Farmers Festival in Mullaitivu on Saturday.

The event was presided over by Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran as well as several Northern Provincial Council Ministers, and prolific Tamil poet Vairamuthu attended as chief guest.

The Sri Lankan government took no significant measures to end impunity for security force abuse, including police use of torture, said Human Rights Watch (HRW) in their 2016 World Report.

Released on Wednesday, the HRW report went on to state that “at time of writing, the government also had not yet repealed the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), despite promises to do so, and continued to detain people under it”.

“While Sri Lanka has legislation prohibiting torture, the government failed to ensure disciplinary or criminal prosecutions against police officers and their superiors,” the report added, noting that “many alleged perpetrators remained in active duty or were merely transferred to another police station”.

“Victims of torture and their families faced a daunting path to redress and justice... Many reported ongoing harassment by the police when back in their villages,” it said.

Whilst acknowledging that “Sri Lanka’s new government has begun to address some of the country’s chronic human rights problems,” Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch said “much remains to be done”.

Reports of over 40,000 Tamil civilians having been killed during the final stages of Sri Lanka’s armed conflict is a “myth” claimed the chairman of Sri Lanka’s presidential commission into disappearances on Wednesday.

Justice Maxwell Paranagama released a statement, criticising  a Channel 4 News report which detailed unresolved human rights abuses and continued military occupation in the North-East.

“Once again Mr Snow makes repeated references to the genocidal figure of 40,000 civilians killed in the final weeks of the war,” said Justice Paranagama, adding that “all available figures... makes the allegation of 40,000 a myth”.

He went on to address reports that the Sri Lankan army deliberately shelled ‘No Fire Zones’ declared during the closing weeks of the conflict by saying, “the LTTE never agreed to no fire zones… Therefore in international law they do not exist”.

He has previously rejected the UN Panel of Experts' estimated death toll of 40,000 Tamil civilians at the end of the armed conflict in 2009, as well as criticism from UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al Hussain who called for the disbandment of the commission.