India and Sri Lanka began bilateral discussions as the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi arrived in Sri Lanka on the early hours of Friday morning and met with the Sri Lankan president, Maithripala Sirisena.

The US has welcomed the release of Ms Balendran Jeyakumari, a human rights activists, who had been detained without charge for a year.

Speaking at the daily press briefing of the State Departmen, spokesperson Jen Psaki said,

"The United States welcomes the March 10th release of eight Sri Lankan detainees, including human rights activist Balendran Jeyakumari, who had been arrested under the previous administration and held without charge. We understand Ms. Jeyakumari has been released on bail pending trial, and we encourage the Government of Sri Lanka to afford the individuals and all detainees due process of law. We applaud this positive step and encourage the government to continue its efforts to ensure human rights and fundamental freedoms for all Sri Lankans."

Ms Jeyakumari and her teenage daughter Vipoosika were detained on March 13 2014, by Sri Lanka’s anti-terror police under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Vipoosika was later released, however, her mother was transferred to Boosa prison, notorious for its endemic use of torture and sexual violence against Tamil detainees.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on Sri Lanka to go beyond the 13th Amendment and reiterated his belief in “co-operative federalism”, as he began his visit to the island with speeches in Colombo.

Speaking to the media on Friday morning, Mr Modi said,

“We stand with [Sri Lanka] in your efforts to build a future that accommodates the aspirations of all sections of society, including the Sri Lankan Tamil community, for a life of equality, justice, peace and dignity in a united Sri Lanka.”

“We believe that early and full implementation of the 13th Amendment and going beyond it would contribute to this process,” added the prime minister.

He later addressed the Sri Lankan parliament where he said he was “a firm believer in cooperative federalism.”

Photograph: Tamil Guardian

Reiterating that the report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Investigation into Sri Lanka (OISL) would be strengthened and released before 30 September the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Al Hussein, said that he would use his judgement to decide when exactly it was released.

Speaking to NGOs at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Human Rights Chief Zeid, said,

“I said the report is going to be released so it will be released, it can be released tomorrow if I wanted to. That needs to be made clear.”

Sri Lanka will remain a priority for the UK in 2015, including on issues such as "respect for human rights, a sustainable political settlement and accountability for alleged war crimes", according to the 2014 Human Rights and Democracy Report by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

"The human rights situation in Sri Lanka continued to be of concern in 2014, with little overall improvement. The UK remained concerned over a number of issues: restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly; increases in attacks on Muslim and Evangelical Christian minorities; reports of torture and allegations of extrajudicial killings; and restrictions faced by minority Tamils in formerly conflict-affected areas in the north and east. Human rights defenders (HRDs) and those with dissenting voices were intimidated and subjected to harassment," the report says.

Last year saw no progress on a political solution for the Tamil community, the report further said, urging the Sri Lankan government to work with the TNA.