The British High Commission in Sri Lanka stated the UK was still fully committed to the UN process, including the upcoming report on mass atrocities on the island, yet called on the Sri Lankan government “to make progress domestically”.

In response to a query from The Island a spokesperson for the High Commission said:

"The UK remains fully committed to the UN process, including the OHCHR investigation and the publication of its report in September. It will then be for the government of Sri Lanka to demonstrate what progress it has made towards reconciliation and accountability, and how it will take forward the recommendations of the OHCHR report.”

The spokesperson went on to say:

“We have consistently called for Sri Lanka to make progress domestically. It is important that any accountability process is credible, inclusive, transparent, independent and meets international standards."

The Tamil National Alliance has laid claim to the leader of the opposition post, in Sri Lanka's parliament.

In a statement published on Saturday, the TNA said as the party with the second-highest number of seats, the UPFA, has decided to form a national government with the UNP, it is not anymore an opposition party and as such the TNA is now the largest opposition party.

"It has been announced that a National Government has been formed and that Members of Parliament who contested and were elected under both the UNP and the UPFA have accepted cabinet portfolios. Accordingly, both the UNP and the UPFA bear collective cabinet responsibility. As political parties in Parliament, they thus must publicly support all Governmental decisions made in Cabinet. This support includes voting with the Government when sitting in Parliament. There is thus no question whatsoever of the UPFA sitting in opposition in Parliament," the statement said.

A newly elected parliamentarian with the ruling UNP government has ignored three consecutive summons to appear before a magistrates court for threatening a police sergeant, The Island reports.

Sri Lanka's police force is said to have requested an arrest warrant for Sujeewa Serasinghe after his initial failure to appear in court, however the magistrates only reissued a notice for the MP to come before the Homagama court.

Any investigation by Sri Lanka into mass atrocities committed at the end of the armed conflict must be credible to the international community and must have some degree of international involvement, said the US assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, Tom Malinowski, speaking to journalists in Trincomalee on Thursday.  

Elaborating on yesterday's statement by the US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs that the US would work with Sri Lanka to table a resolution at the upcoming UN Human Rights Council session and support a domestic process, Mr Malinowski said,

"The important thing is that there be a judicial process that is credible to the people of Sri Lanka and to the international community."

"For that process to be credible, I don’t think it has to be a completely international process, but it does have to be independent of political leadership."

"It has to be led by people who are trusted by the minority communities and it should have some degree of international involvement, even if it is a domestic process organized under the laws of Sri Lanka."

Mr Malinowski said in Colombo, in an earlier press conference, that,

“We support a domestic mechanism that will be credible to all of the affected communities in Sri Lanka... I would also add that international support for this process has been, and will continue to be important to building trust and confidence”.

The Tamil National Alliance will stand firm in their calls for an international investigation into Sri Lanka's war crimes, Northern Provincial Council chair C. V. K. Sivagnanam has said.