The Sri Lankan government said it was very happy that the BJP’s strong showing in India’s election means that the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa will not be able to influence the central government, reported PTI.

Spokesperson and Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said his government was pleased that they could conduct business with Narendra Modi without Tamil Nadu exerting “undue influence”.

A death threat has been issued to staff and students at the University of Jaffna, as well as journalists over their attempts to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the Mullivaikal massacre despite the military banning any public events.

In a flyer distributed around Jaffna today, the staff, students and journalists were given a "final warning" against those "encouraging or resurrecting terrorism".

Some individuals, including journalists who played prominent role in reporting on remembrance events held this weekend as well as the heavy military presence around political party offices and temples, have been explicitly named.

Stating that previous warnings had been ignored, the death threat said "they still do not reform, the final sentence is a death sentence. The final day has been marked for some."

"Do not take this lightly as with previous warnings. You are guaranteed to be freed from this world," it concluded, signed by the 'Nation Guarding Force' and dated May 18.

India’s Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi has pledged attention on the killings of Tamils by Sri Lanka, said the leader of Tamil Nadu’s MDMK, Vaiko.

Vaiko, whose party is an ally of Modi’s BJP, met with the future prime minister in Delhi and said he raised the issue of the previous government’s support for the Sri lankan government with Modi, reported ANI.

Sri Lanka should comply with the March 2014 United Nations Human Rights Council resolution, which created an international investigation into allegations of serious abuses by both sides, Human Rights Watch said today.

The New York-based organisation said Sri Lanka had resisted taking meaningful steps to investigate allegations of war crimes as recommended by previous resolutions in 2012 and 2013.

“The Sri Lankan government denounced the Human Rights Council resolution, yet for five long years it has failed to act on its promises to investigate and bring to justice wartime atrocities,” said Brad Adams, Asia director of HRW.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has arrived in China for the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), where Sri Lanka is an observer state.

The summit will be held in Shanghai until Thursday under the theme of “Increasing dialogue, mutual trust and collaboration to build a new Asia that is peaceful, stable and cooperative”.

“CICA is a multinational forum comprising 24 countries and nine observer states including the US. Sri Lanka is attending the Summit for the first time,” Presidential spokesman Mohan Samaranayake told the Daily News.

Foreigners married to Sri Lankan citizens will not be allowed to receive dual citizenship, according to new regulations currently under review by the Immigration Department reported the Daily Nation.

Previously a foreign spouse or widows/widowers of Sri Lankan citizens were eligible for citizenship if they were resident in the country for more at least 7 years.

The Labour party would seek to pass a resolution at the European Union in view of facilitating discussions on sanctions against Sri Lanka, party MEPs, MPs and running candidates, said at a press conference on Friday.

Claude Moraes, a Labour party MEP, said that the party stood ready to ask questions that looked to move further than the international war crimes investigation into Sri Lanka by raising resolutions in order to ensure justice for victims through different methods such as sanctions.

German Tamils have commemorated the fifth anniversary of Mullivaikal with a rally in the capital of the most populous German state North-Rhine Westphalia.

The Tamil Youth Organisation – Germany organised a flashmob outside the main train station of Düsseldorf. A subsequent march proceeded towards Graf Adolf Platz in the centre of the city, where cultural performances, by TYO and the Volksrat der Eelam Tamilen, were held and flowers and candles were laid in remembrance of the dead.