Speaking at the inauguration of the first Jaffna International Film Festival, Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran highlighted the deade-long ongoing discrimination against the Tamil people by the state.

See below for excerpts of his speech:

"The cinematic art could be used to bring communities together or to divide and destroy communities. Let us make up our minds to mend fences that have kept our communities apart from each other. While doing so let us be aware of the power of the cinematic art to subtly condition the minds of our people in such a way as to deviate them from their desired goals.

"The Tamil community has been discriminated against continuously since Independence. I was fortunate enough to have lived during my early childhood in many parts of this Country as a citizen of the Great British Empire which ruled us then before independence. My early education was in Kurunegala and Anuradhapura before I joined Royal Primary in Colombo. My father was also stationed in Kandy and Tangalle as a Government Officer. As an original Court Judge later I had functioned in different parts of this Country. The significant thing I have noticed is that the camaraderie, the good will and wellbeing, the brotherly and humane relationship that existed prior to independence in this country is lacking now. Tamil speaking people who used to live and own lands and do businesses in many parts of the South had been driven out from their residences by pogroms and riots,

The SLFP said it will protect those who dedicated their services to safeguard the sovereignty of the country, according to general secretary Duminda Dissanayake.

Mr Dissanayake said the party had set up a committee to look at the document released by the UN's human rights office on Wednesday and that its response to the recommendations will be announced once the committee had studied and submitted a report on it.

Sri Lankan President Maithriapala Sirisena said that he is expecting to approve capital punishment on the island by next year, if he receives parliamentary approval.

Speaking in Galle today the president said that though he did not have to seek parliamentary approval, he would do consult with parliament and seek its opinion.

Earlier this year, whilst meeting with Buddhist monks Sri Lanka’s Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe also stated that his government was prepared to implement capital punishment in order to put a halt to an increase in crime.

The New York Times called for a special court with international magistrates and investigators to prosecute those responsible for mass atrocities committed in Sri Lanka, in an editorial published on Thursday.

Writing on the release of the OISL report, it said the was “a clear rejection of the proposal made on Monday by Sri Lanka’s foreign minister, Mangala Samaraweera, who told the Council that his government would set up a truth, justice and reconciliation commission, and draft a new constitution”.