Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary on Tuesday denied reports published this month by the Associated Press of recent rape and torture of Tamils by security forces, calling the allegations "baseless and unfounded". 

"The government of Sri Lanka is for zero tolerance with regard to sexual abuse and so on," Kapila Waidyaratne was quoted by The Associated Press as saying. 

"The investigations that have been carried out have been concluded and closed," Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary added. 

Sri Lanka faced pressure to deliver a time bound benchmarked action plan on full implementation of its commitments in United Nations Human Rights Council resolution 30/1 on reconciliation, accountability and human rights during its Universal Periodic Review.

Making interventions during the interactive dialogue of Sri Lanka’s Universal Periodic Review, UN member states including Macedonia, Austria, USA, UK, Germany, Canada, Finland and Denmark called  on the Sri Lanka to “produce an unambiguous timeline” detailing “adequate resources” for the full implementation of the resolution commitments.

The Sri Lankan government has blamed opponents who accuse them of inviting foreign interference for its slow progress on improving human rights.

“Unfortunately, each step taken to reconcile the nation and acknowledge the legacies of our difficult past is contested,” Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister of National Policies and Economic affairs said at the UNited Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Sri Lanka's minister of ports and shipping, Mahinda Samarasinghe criticised proposed changes to the shipping sector outlined in the 2018 budget released last week as a move towards liberalisation. 

He condemned the proposed plans to allow 100% foreign ownership in the sector as "completely wrong", the FT reported. 

Human Rights Watch called on UN member states to "press Sri Lanka for a time-bound action plan on reforms" during the country's third Universal Periodic Review, which commences today. 

"Successive Sri Lankan governments, including under President Maithripala Sirisena, have failed to ensure accountability for serious rights violations and other important commitments," HRW said in a statement. 

A Sri Lankan soldier was arrested for smuggling cannabis by Vavuniya police on Sunday.

Puliyankulam police station’s officer-in-charge said the solider was arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning on a night bus from Jaffna to Trincomalee.

The 24-year-old soldier who is based in a camp in Jaffna was in possession of around 2kg of Kerala ganja.

The increase in drug smuggling in the Northern Province has been due to the protection and patronage of Sri Lanka military forces and police authorities, the TNA MP S. Sritharan said.

The Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils, MP Paul Scully called on UN Human Rights chief to launch an investigation into the most recent reports of torture in Sri Lanka.

“The investigations by the Associated Press once again highlights the gravity and scale of continuing human rights abuses against Tamils on the island,” said the British MP.

In a statement released Monday, Mr Scully questioned the British government’s spending on security sector reform in Sri Lanka, stating,

The current good-governance regime in Sri Lanka will allocate plenty of funds to rehabilitate the North-East, the UNP parliamentarian and State Minister for Women’s and Children’s Affairs, Vijayakala Maheswaran has claimed.

Ms Maheswaran criticised the previous regime for overspending on defence and security forces, stating that the current government would be more focused on addressing the needs of the Tamils and Muslims of the North-East, including war widows and the displaced.

However the government’s highest allocation in this year’s budget remains for the Ministry of Defence.

Four Tamil men have been hospitalised following a resurgence in sword attacks in Jaffna this week.

In one incident on Monday, Srikanthan of Koppay North was pursued from Jaffna Town by assailants on two motorcycles before being attacked just 500 metres from Koppay police station.

In another attack on Monday night, a Tamil man was injured at his home in Navaly when the house was broken into and attacked.

Two other Tamils were hospitalised in an attack in Gurunagar on Sunday.

An Indian national was arrested by Sri Lankan police in Vavuniya on Tuesday for allegedly over staying his visa. 

The man, who has not been named was detained by Vavuniya hospital, AdaDerana reported. 

He will be produced before Vavuniya Magistrate's Court, the paper reported.