Sri Lankan military personnel on Friday threatened and evicted journalists from the court room where the inquiry into the gang rape of two Tamil school girls, aged 11 and 9, in Karainagar by Sri Lankan navy personnel is currently taking place.

Dressed in civilian uniform, the military officers confiscated cameras and mobiles phones from the journalists, and deleted any photographs that had been taken, sources in Jaffna told Tamil Guardian.

The media personnel were told not publish news related to the incidents and the parents of the victims were offered money and threatened to drop the case.

Outside the court room, locals held a protest condemning the ongoing rape and sexual assault against Tamil children by military personnel, as well as calling for an end to the intimidation and harassment of victims.

The Colombo-based Centre for Policy Alternatives has expressed “deep concern” over the recent expansion of the presidential commission, which was initially found to solely investigate disappearances in the Northeast.

A recent gazette notification by the government expanded the mandate of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to Investigate into Complaints Regarding Missing Persons (COI), to include “from violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law (IHRL) including the recruitment of child soldiers and suicide attacks, to the criminality of financial and other resources obtained by the LTTE”.

The leader of the British opposition Labour Party, Ed Miliband has stressed the importance of not forgetting the lives lost during Black July, in a statement to commemorate the pogroms in 1983.

“This month, in remembrance of Black July, we commemorate the lives of Tamil men, women and children that were lost and those who were displaced and exiled as a result of the regrettable violence,” Mr Miliband said in his statement, released on Friday.

"We may never know exactly how many lives were lost, but it is clear that the memories of the violence that ensued still live on. And it is important that we never forget."

Sri Lanka’s president declined an invitation by Britain to take part in a Commonwealth event to commemorate the beginning of the World War I in Glasgow on August 4, due to “deplorable security lapses” around Tamil protests and Britain’s failure to rein in “LTTE groups”, referring to British Tamil diaspora organisations.

In a letter to Britain’s culture secretary Sajid Javid, External Affairs Minister GL Peiris criticised the British government for turning a blind eye to “violent protests” against Sri Lankan officials, including President Mahinda Rajapaksa, during previous visits, said The Island.

The Sri Lankan government has expressed “deep concern” at the escalating violence in Gaza and said it condemns all “deliberate attacks causing mayhem and loss of life of civilians”, in a statement read at yesterday’s special session on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in the UN Human Rights Council.

Sri Lanka welcomed the convening of the session to address the current human rights issues in the region and said it was “deeply concerned [at the] tragic loss of civilian lives, and extensive damage to property”