The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, has called for a review of parties based on ethnic and religious lines, saying they were “inimical” to social cohesion.

The archbishop, an ethnic Sinhalese, was speaking at an event organised by the Congress of Religions, alongside members of the Buddhist clergy.

Asked by The Island whether the Congress of Religions believed that the new constitution, demanded by the cardinal, should contain provisions to deny recognition to political parties based on ethnicity and religion, Buddhist monk Dr Itthepana Dharmalankara Nayaka said he fully endorsed Mr Ranjith’s stance and that such parties should be abolished and formation of new parties prohibited.

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister described plans to open up the economy to the private sector and lower taxes to raise the island’s export income and set a target of US $50 billion for the island, reports Colombo page.

Delivering a keynote address at the Sri Lanka Economic Summit, Ranil Wickremesinghe stressed the importance of achieving economic development by increasing export incomes.

Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa says he will win an outright majority in the elections later this month, and is hoping to become prime minister.

Speaking to the BBC’s Sinhala service, Mr Rajapaksa said he was confident of winning more than half the seats in parliament.

"Clearly we will secure 117 seats," he told BBC Sinhala and rejected claims by the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickramasinghe, that the SLFP campaign was in disarray, due to the split between him and President Maithripala Sirisena.

Mr Rajapaksa challenged the government to investigate killings and abductions which occurred while he was in power, accusing the prime minister of not doing enough.

Sri Lanka’s government said the United Nations and the Northern Provincial Council will not be able to deal directly with each other on projects providing assistance to the region.

Responding to a statement by UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, who last week said the UN was exploring provisions of assistance at the request of NPC Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran, foreign ministry spokesperson Mahishini Colonne said any support must be provided through the government and not through the provinces.

“There are no major projects except one where only immediate assistance for the resettled people is provided by the United Nations. According to the normal procedure, it will be done through the Ministry of Resettlement. They do not directly deal with the provincial councils,” Ms. Colonne said.

The United National Party has always stood for a united Sri Lanka and never wanted it to be divided, Plantation Industries Minister Lakshman Kiriella said while presenting the party’s manifesto to leading Buddhist monk Tibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Mananayake.

The International Truth & Justice project Sri Lanka says it will only collaborate with the government of Sri Lanka, on investigating evidence of human rights abuses, once a credible and independent mechanism, trusted by the victims, is established.

The government responded to the latest ITJP report, which detailed ongoing cases of torture and sexual violence, by saying it could not investigate any of the cases detailed as the ITJP had not shared information.

"The Sri Lankan government has sufficient information to begin numerous reports of abduction, torutre and sexual violence by its security forces, should it so wish," the ITJP said in a statement released today.

"The ITJP looks forward to colloaborating with the Government of Sri Lanka when it has established a credible independent mechanism that is trusted by the victims to address the long-standing international crimes and violations that have been committed against it own citizens and includes witness protection."

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister said that Colombo would address issues raised by the UN investigation into Sri Lanka through a domestic process.

Speaking to the Gulf Times, Mr Wickremesinghe said,

A domestic inquiry into violations of international humanitrain law would be the “final insult” to Tamil victims of the armed conflict, said film maker Callum Macrae, the director of the documentary, 'No Fire Zone: the Killing Fields of Sri Lanka'.

Writing in the August issue of Vice Magazine, Mr Macrae outlined the massacres that occurred during the final stages of the armed conflict in 2009, including the killings of Tamil television reporter Isaipriyai and the 12-year old son of the LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

“One UN report concluded that as many as 40,000 Tamils may have died, mostly as a result of government shelling,” said Mr Macrae. “A subsequent UN report suggested the true figure could even reach 70,000.”

“But while the new government has made promises to mount a domestic inquiry into the crimes, they have also promoted or reinstated military officers accused of direct or command responsibility for those crimes,” he added.

He went on to say,

“For the traumatized Tamils, such a domestic process would be the final insult—nothing less than victor's justice over a beaten people. Meanwhile, a report ordered by the UN Human Rights Council has been delayed until September, and some fear that the call for an international judicial reckoning is weakening. Although the evidence is now here for all the world to see, the search for justice is far from over.”