The United States plans to “do a lot to support Sri Lanka” said the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary from the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, during an address made to the Washington International Business Council this week.

Richard E. Hoagland said that the Sri Lankan presidential elections which saw the defeat of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa had “brought about a sea-change in our relationship with Sri Lanka.”

“The new president has moved the country away from divisive politics and crony capitalism toward a new path of reconciliation and inclusive development,” said Mr Hoagland.

Sri Lanka’s deputy foreign minister Ajith Perera said that the country would be able to end the restrictions on the GSP+ trade benefits before the end of the year.

Sri Lanka's government has rejected a recent report by the Oakland Institute, which said a "silent war" through the military occupation of Tamil land in Sri Lanka continues to seek “Sinhalese domination in former Tamil homelands".

Deputy foreign affairs minister Ajith Perera said to media the government "strongly rejects" the report published last week.

The Long Shadow of War: Struggle for Justice in Post War Sri Lanka highlighted that at least 160,000 military Sinhalese soldiers remained in the Tamil North-East of Sri Lanka, with the military involved in processes that seized land from local populations and “systematically” suppressed Tamil culture and history.

Noting demographic changes in the eastern provinces, the report found that some areas had seen the Tamil population halve due to state actions.

The SLFP will support former president Mahinda Rajapaksa at the forthcoming parliamentary elections, according to the party's spokesperson Dilan Perera.

Mr Perera, who is also an MP for the UPFA coalition, said the party felt Mr Rajapaksa was popular and should be promoted so the election can be won.

“Today there is huge support for Mahinda Rajapaksa so we must market him at the polls,” he said.

More students have been arrested in Jaffna in connection with a series of protests over the rape and murder of a Tamil schoolgirl last month, as there continues to be a heavy Sri Lankan security presence in the region.

Latest reports suggest that a student from the Manippay Higher Secondary school was arrested on May 31st in connection with a protest outside the Jaffna court complex last month.

The Jaffna Crime Prevention Unit police said surveillance video and other footage was used to identify and apprehend the student. They further stated that he was in possession of illegal drugs at the time of arrest and provided information about other suspects they were searching for.

Meanwhile riot police continue to maintain a heavy presence in Jaffna with travel along a main road near the Jaffna court complex and A9 highway suspended.

Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa will definitely be contesting the forthcoming elections as a prime ministerial candidate, although he has not yet decided which party he would run under, according to his spokesperson Rohan Weliwita.

Mr Weliwita said the former president was optimistic that he would be nominated by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) to contest under the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) or the People's Alliance (PA).

Mr Wigneswaran warned the Tamil student community that circulation of drugs was an attempt to ensure that they “should not excel in their studies, have no freedom of thought, and that no flames of liberation should blaze in their hearts.”

The Sri Lankan government is unlikely to return thousands of acres of private Tamil land to their owners before the parliamentary elections, as it could damage the campaign of the current government led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Returning land held by the military to Tamils is “fraught with great political risk”, The New Indian Express quoted a “highly placed source”.

Meanwhile, resettlement minister DM Swaminathan told the paper he was optimistic the government would return land to Tamils.

“We may or may not get all the 18,000 acres we want now, but we are optimistic. This is because President Sirisena, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and former President Chandrika Kumaratunga (who heads the Taskforce on Reconciliation), are genuinely interested in giving back lands seized from the Tamils,” he said.