The PHU’s General Secretary Udaya Gammanpila says the proposed bridge linking Tamil Nadu with the North-East of the island would make Sri Lanka another Indian state.

The MP, part of the SLFP group in favour of Mahinda Rajapaksa, said the move would work in favour of India and that New Delhi didn’t mention that Sri Lanka would also have to pay part of the $5.2bn loan from the Asian Development Bank.

“This is clear evidence that the project if monopolised by India to solve their issues, to send their people to Sri Lanka. Just like there is a Great Wall to protect China, the Indian Ocean protects our island. If the project went ahead, our sovereignty will be destroyed. President Maithripala Sirisena will end up being a Chief Minister of one of India’s States,” Mr Gammanpila told media on Monday morning.

A Sri Lankan minister says a political solution for the Tamil people will be implemented through the proposed constitutional reforms and that the government will hold talks with Tamil parties to reach a resolution to the issue in the North-East.

Highways Minister Lakshman Kiriella said once the political solution is agreed, it will be included in the constitutional reforms which will be presented to parliament for approval.

“We will seek a 2/3 majority from Parliament for this,” he said.

Mr Kiriella stated that the United National Party (UNP) decided to work with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) in a national government in order to solve key national questions and that this would be difficult without majority support in parliament.

Thousands of Tamil protestors gathered in Geneva on Monday to call for an international criminal mechanism that will see justice served for mass atrocities committed in Sri Lanka.

Protestors from across Europe came to the United Nations Human Rights Council, as member states gathered to discuss a resolution on Sri Lanka. People had travelled from the United Kingdom, France, Italy and across Switzerland to take part in the demonstration, which drew thousands of people.

Holding Tamil Eelam flags and placards calling for an international mechanism of accountability, protestors chanted “we want justice” and “stop genocide”.

The Sri Lankan government labelled a draft United Nations Human Rights Council resolution dealing with mass atrocities on the island as “repetitive, judgemental and prescriptive” in comments made during an informal discussion on Monday.

In a written statement distributed to member states, Sri Lankan Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha said the current draft of the resolution was “imbalanced” as it was “emphasizing excessively on the criminal justice aspects”.

“My delegation is of the view that a lengthy resolution of the nature of the current draft before us which contains 24 preambular paras and 26 operative paras, which is repetitive, judgemental and prescriptive is not in keeping with the spirit of the process of reconciliation and reform that is underway in my country,” he added.

“Certain terminology used such as 'verification' is new and intrusive language,” said the statement, and added that the resolution “must also observe clear, cogent language that the people of Sri Lanka find respectful”.

The former commander of the Sri Lankan army reiterated his rejection of the OISL report, stating Sri Lankan troops did not target Tamil civilians during the final stages of the armed conflict.

Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka told the New Indian Express that the Sri Lankan army had saved Tamil civilians. "It was the LTTE which fired on civilians trying to flee to the army-controlled lines and killed them,” said the recently promoted commander. “The Lankan armed forces on the other hand had a policy of welcoming them and providing them safe shelter."

"We were constantly telling the civilians to come out, assuring them that they will be well treated and looked after. With the result, people kept coming out," he said.

The OISL report stated that “civilians heeded the Government's call to proceed to NFZs”. It went on to state “almost immediately after their creation, the NFZs, including protected civilian objects, such as hospitals, came under sustained fire from the Sri Lankan security forces”.

Together Against Genocide (TAG) released a report last week, detailing the danger faced by Tamil witnesses of mass atrocities committed by Sri Lankan troops during the final stages of the armed conflict.

The report, released at the Geneva Press Club on Wednesday, stated “that Sri Lanka is not a safe place for witnesses or victims seeking justice”.

“If prosecutions are conducted in Sri Lanka, the vast majority of witnesses who contributed to the OISL will not be able to provide evidence,” it added. “The victims who participated in the OISL process will be dis-enfranchised; and any further ‘consultation process’ that requires Tamil victims to come forward and self-identify themselves to GoSL as seeking justice will place those victims at further risk of persecution.”

The OISL report, which detailed the crimes committed during the final stages of the armed conflict, had also said there was an “absence of any reliable system for victim and witness protection, particularly in a context where the threat of reprisals is very high”.

“A consultation process that requires Tamil victims to come forward and self-identify themselves to the Sri Lankan government as seeking an international mechanisms for justice will place those victims at further risk of persecution,” said TAG.

The National Freedom Front's Wimal Weerawansa has requested the speaker of Sri Lanka's parliament for a debate on the recommendations of the OHCHR report, which includes the call for a hybrid justice mechanism.

The Tamil National People’s Front has stressed the need for a criminal judicial process following the findings of the OISL report.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, the party’s leader Gajen Ponnambalam welcomed the report’s finding that a domestic investigation mechanism would not suffice.

Updated 1100 GMT

Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday claimed that his government was able to stop the UN’s human rights office from publishing names of members of the security forces thought to be responsible for mass atrocities, whilst prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe blamed the former government for agreeing to a domestic investigation.

Speaking to the press in Colombo President Sirisena said the OHCHR Investigation in Sri Lankaintended to identify key people as perpetrators of human rights violations and barred them from travelling abroad and impose other sanctions, JDS reported. He said that 'international powers would have insisted on hard strictures and conditions on Sri Lanka in the Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, if not for the change of government in Presidential Election of January 8 this year.'

"Our stand is to have a domestic inquiry,” he reiterated. “We can't avoid this situation. If we try to do that, we can't face the United Nations or the international community. Our stand is to have a domestic mechanism."

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, echoed Mr Sirisena's calls, saying, "What I emphasise is that, there will be no 'international inquiry'.”

“Nobody knows what a hybrid court is although they talk through the local media,” he said. “We do not accept this... We haven’t sold our sovereignty or integrity.”

Mr Wickremesinghe also blamed former president Mahinda Rajapaksa for agreeing to carry out a domestic inquiry into reports of human rights violations in a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in 2009.

“During the meeting I was privy to the agreement between UN Secretary General and President Rajapaksa; I was surprised to see that,” said Mr Wickremesinghe. “But I could not say anything since it has already been adopted”.