President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday met with senior member of the Buddhist clergy, Elle Gunawansa, and discussed the UN Human Rights Council investigation into mass atrocities in Sri Lanka.

Mr Gunawansa, who is the head of the Dharmayathanaya temple in Colombo, also discussed the economy with the president, the Daily Mirror reported.

Sri Lanka's justice minister, Wijeyedasa Rajapakse said on Sunday the government would not take any action on the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, which was signed by 112 MPs and handed to parliament secretary general, Dammika Dassanayaka on Saturday.

“Opposition’s motion would not be taken up for Parliamentary debate, since the UNP based government was authorised to decide whether to take action on it or not,” he said according to the Daily Mirror.

“Even a grade two child is able to guess the result if the motion is taken up in Parliament, where the Opposition has the majority,” Mr. Rajapaksa said.

“The government has acknowledged that 20th Amendment to the Constitution would not get passed if the disruptive behaviour of some Parliamentarians, who are joined with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s political campaign continues,” he said.

Ranil meanwhile defended himself against the accusations he had become prime minister "through the back door", saying he had a clear mandate.

Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa said the no-motion confidence against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was signed by half of all sitting MPs because of the unethical manner the new government is conducting itself in.

In a press release, Mr Rajapaksa said that he has also been at the receiving end of this and accused the new government of setting up a "Gestapo-like" police unit.

“This situation is not surprising given the unethical conduct of this government of which I too have been at the receiving end," he said in the statement.

"While propagating falsehoods about the misuse of funds during my tenure, the government is mired in a massive Treasury bond scam which has already caused a loss of Rs.50 billion,

Sri Lanka's foreign exchange reserves have dropped to $6,850mn in May 2015 from $7,454mn in April, Economy Next reported.

The reserves are the lowest since March 2015, when total reserves fell to $6,835mn, according to data from the central bank.

In April foreign exchange reserves recovered, partly helped by a $400mn swap with the Reserve Bank of India.

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Tamils are still having to deal with the ‘genocidal agendas’ said the Tamil National Alliance MP R Sritharan at a local civil society event in Kilinochchi last week.

Highlighting a prevalence of drug sales in the region, Mr Sritharan said,

Tamil National Alliance MPs took part in a ceremony commencing the construction of a memorial shrine commemorating 21 school children that where killed in a Sri Lankan Air Force attack on a school in Jaffna 20 years ago.

TNA MPs including Mavai Senathirajah and M A Sumanthiran were present at the ceremony and took party in laying the foundation stone for the shrine on Tuesday.

Speaking to the Colombo Gazette the Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mahishini Colonne said, the review of individuals and entities on the ban occurs annually and is currently underway.

The diaspora ban was widely condemned by people in the North-East and foreign governments.