Reacting to revelations that a trip by British MPs to Sri Lanka was cancelled at the eleventh hour on Thursday, the British Tamil Forum (BTF) urged UK politicians to be wary of being co-opted by the Sri Lankan government into whitewashing its rights abuses.

“It is important that the UK politicians realise the serious nature of the crimes that Sri Lanka is trying to cover up by using them in its propaganda,” BTF representative S.A.N Rajkumar told Tamil Guardian.

“I am not surprised that the trip has been called off – the MPs have had a narrow escape as their visit would have been a propaganda coup for the government” at a time of intense international attention on Sri Lanka’s rights abuses, he said.

Sri Lankan police have arrested 65 Tamils over the past month on accusations of attempting to revive the LTTE, a spokesman told reporters in Colombo on Thursday.

See reports by AFP and Daily Mirror.

"The UK sees accountability for alleged war crimes, respect for human rights, and a political settlement as essential elements of post-conflict reconciliation."

A Tamil asylum seeker in Sydney set himself on fire and is in a critical condition, after the Australian government decided to deport him back to Sri Lanka, reported The Sydney Morning Herald.

The man, Janarthan, who suffered 98% burns to his body, is unlikely to survive, said
Trevor Grant from the Tamil Refugee Council.

A suicide note left by Janarthan said he would rather die in Australia than in Sri Lanka, Grant added.

Despite Sri Lanka’s achievement of Millennium Development Goal one, the halving of extreme poverty, poverty remains in the Northeast of Sri Lanka, which has a large Tamil population, Britain's parliament heard on Wednesday.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague told parliament on Tuesday that he had “encouraged” Sri Lanka to take part in a summit on sexual violence in June, as it would be “highly appropriate” for the country attend, given events in recent decades.

Responding to a question by MP Stella Creasy, Hague said that Sri Lanka has been invited to the event, but that he cannot force any country to attend.

Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire also spoke on Sri Lanka, saying it was important for the country to listen to what was said at the UN Human Rights Council and allow an investigation through the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

TNA MP Selvam Adaikalanathan has called for a removal of the Sri Lankan military from the Tamil region of the island, saying that a “frightening situation” had developed, reported the Uthayan.

Adaikalanathan said that arrests were widespread and that there was an increase in the number of security forces on the streets, with sudden round-ups common.

He questioned how Tamils can confidently get involved in talks about a political solution when such a “burden” was on the daily life of Tamil people, adding that an environment to foster mutual trust needs to be established and signals of goodwill need to be sent before any discussion on power sharing.

Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Co-operative and Internal Trade has announced it will set the price of rice from midnight today, reported Ceylon Today.

The rice harvest is expected to be hit hard by the current drought and farmers have been asked to refrain from growing the water-intensive crop, said LBO.

"The drought is worrying us to some extent," Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said.

"In the agricultural side we have to make sure that there is no unnecessary spike in prices. At the same time we can have an impact where generation of electricity generation is concerned."

The Sri Lankan government is arresting and mistreating innocent female relatives of men who it suspects are attempting to revive the LTTE, according to a rights group based on the island.

The Women’s Action Network has detailed the cases of six women who were arrested from the Northeast in a statement, adding that the Criminal Investigations Department is keeping the women in inhumane conditions denying them medical care, reported the Associated Press.

The rights group said five of the women were arrested for links to “Gopi”, who the government claims to be the “new leader” of the LTTE.