The number of asylum applications in Switzerland by individuals from Sri Lanka has increased by 87% in 2014, compared to the previous year.

A total of 1,277 refugees from Sri Lanka, the vast majority of whom are thought to be Tamils, made claims for asylum, making them the third-largest group of asylum seekers, after Eritreans and Syrians.

Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera will travel to Brussels on Monday, to seek postponement of the ban on imports of Sri Lankan fisheries products into the European Union.

“We will try to see if we can get a postponement of this ban for at least for six months till we rectify whatever was not correct at ground level,” the Mr Samaraweera told The Sunday Times.

The new government presented a bill in parliament last Tuesday, to amend the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act to comply with measures to get the ban.

The leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has claimed that western countries, particularly the US, supported and armed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), The Island reported.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake, whose JVP is a key ally of the new governing coalition led by President Maithripala Sirisena, said the armed conflict would not have lasted for 30 years, without western support for the LTTE.

Former external affairs minister, GL Peiris, has complained of “harassment” from the Criminal Investigations Department, who questioned him on the alleged coup former president Mahinda Rajapaksa and his allies are suspected to have planned.

“In the overall context of the current strident emphasis on good governance, I expressed deep regret that I was subjected to this harassment without any semblance of justification,” Mr Peiris said in a statement.

The former minister said Mr Rajapaksa instructed his secretary to facilitate the handover to the new president and “not one word” was uttered about a coup.