China has welcomed Sri Lanka’s announcement that exiled Tibetan leader the  Dalai Lama was unlikely to be allowed to visit Sri Lanka, reports Colombo Page.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, speaking on Friday,  said,

“The Sri Lankan side fully understands and respects China’s concerns on relevant issues, and we appreciate that.”

“The Chinese government is firmly opposed to Dalai’s engagement in separatist activities in any country under any name and excuse. This remains clear and consistent,” she added.

Speaking to Reuters, a senior Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry official said that Sri Lanka-China relations were more important than the Dalai Lama and that Sri Lanka had not changed stance on its once China policy.

Sri Lanka ordered a review of 35 Chinese investment projects, which were approved by the previous government, on Friday.

Sri Lanka's navy arrested 37 Indian fishermen on Friday and seized five trawlers, reports Daily Mirror.

The men were arrested off the coast of Point Pedro, accused of alleged poaching in Sri Lankan waters and have been transferred to the Kankesanthurai fisheries harbour, said the navy spokesperson, Indika Silva.

China is happy to see the growing relationship between Sri Lanka and India a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.

Commenting on reports that the Chinese president had proposed a trilateral meeting with China, India and Sri Lanka, Hua Chunying, said,

An 11-year old girl has been reported missing from a children's home in Anaippanthi in Jaffna, the Uthayan reported.

An official from the home reported to Jaffna police that Thilakki Nishanthan has been missing since March 31.

A Sri Lankan government official said the Dalai Lama is unlikely to be allowed to visit Sri Lanka, after an invitation was extended by a some Buddhist monks.

"They can invite, but the government may not grant a visa," a top foreign minister official told Reuters, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject.

"The Dalai Lama is very important. But the close relationship with China is more important and we have not changed our stance on 'One China' policy."

The invitation was extended by a group of high-ranking Theravada monks from Sri Lanka's Mahabodhi Society when they attended a theological discussion in late March in New Delhi, according to senior monk Banagala Upatissa.

An Indian couple were found dead under suspicious circumstances in a hotel in the Wellawatta region of Sri Lanka's capital this week, reports the Daily Mirror.

The couple, a 28 year old woman and 30 year old man, arrived to Sri Lanka on March 27.

Just met w/ #SriLanka FM @MangalaLK; Agreed that success depends on accountability & reconciliation pic.twitter.com/k0lsvVvxIL — Tom Malinowski (@Malinowski) April 2, 2015

The United States Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor met with Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister today, emphasising the importance of accountability and reconciliation.

Tom Malinowski met with Sri Lanka's Mangala Samaraweera in Colombo where the issue of accountability was discussed.

Mr Malinowski also addressed a forum on 'Women's Role in Post-War Reconciliation', telling the audience, “thanks to your dedication, Sri Lanka has a chance now to achieve reconciliation, justice and true peace.”

All Photographs:Naangal

A local civil society group called ‘Naangal,' which operates in the North-East of Sri Lanka, over past weeks has carried out a series of welfare activities across North-Eastern districts.

On the 28th of February, activists in Jaffna handed out school stationary and shoes to students from families that were detrimentallly affected by the ethnic conflict.

The government lacks political will in pursuing truth and justice and has done virtually nothing to consult victims in the design of an internal mechanism to establish these, the Tamil Civil Society Forum said today.

In a memo to the visiting Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of Non‐Recurrence, Pablo de Greiff, the TCSF said the current regime’s characterisation of final phase of the armed conflict as a humanitarian operation, does not bode well with the government’s promise to conduct a credible inquiry.

“The UN Human Rights Commissioner in his address to the Council on the 5th of March 2015 insisted that GoSL should consult the victims in designing this internal mechanism. To date no such process has been initiated,” the memo said.

“We submit that it is more than clear from the above that the current Government has done very little or nothing to consult the victims in the design of its internal mechanism. The entirety of the process is being designed in secrecy. From what has been made public GoSL is attempting to show progress by rehashing the previous regime’s strategy of talking to the South Africans and using the services of a person whose credibility and standing are highly suspect.”