Responding to US sancions on Iranian oil, Sri Lanka's petroleum resources minister, Susil Premajayantha, reiterated Sri Lanka's dependency on Iranian oil.

“The festival was in full swing. All the great writers from around the world were present, topping up their tan by the pool. Sorry I mean all the great white writers. The UK-returned natives were keen to stay out of the sun. Listen, you must understand, on this island paradise, the darker you were the harder it was to find a spouse and the more likely you were to be killed. It’s true.”

“The Festival sponsors strutted about and got lots of exposure. The organisers played at blind-man’s bluff. And the tan-toppers drank a lot. I’m telling you, all was as it should be.”

 “One or two people were a bit worried about security.

            ‘Did you hear a Russian girl was raped?’

            ‘No, no,’ SS told them, waggling his head. ‘That didn’t really happen! It was a play put on for the purpose of the Festival. It wasn’t the real thing!’

            ‘What about that Red Cross guy who was killed?’

            ‘That was in the play, too. Remember your Hamlet? The play’s the thing and all that…’

            ‘Oh okay,’ said the foreigners and off they went for a swim thinking, gosh, these people are incredibly friendly. They just smile and smile…. wasn’t there something like that in Hamlet, too?”

Dismissing the LLRC report for falling "dramatically short of international standards applicable to accountability processes", the TNA (Tamil National Alliance) called on the "international community to institute measures that will advance accountability", in a 70-page response to the LLRC report, released Sunday.

Tamils from Manalaaru in Vanni, who remain forcibly displaced by the Sri Lankan army since 1984, have urged the TNA to act or else the "structural genocide [of Eelam Tamils] will be complete in Mullaiththeevu in 2 years" reported Tamilnet.

The Sri Lankan president's advisor on reconciliation, Rajiva Wijesinha, called for a "ministry of reconciliation" to be created and "be charged with fulfilling the recommendations of the commission". 

“The British Government is, on the whole, disappointed by the report’s findings and recommendations on accountability. Like many others, we feel that these leave many gaps and unanswered questions.

We welcome the acknowledgement that “considerable civilian casualties” occurred during the final stages of the conflict and the recommendation that specific incidents require further investigation. But we note that many credible allegations of violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law, including from the UN Panel of Experts report, are either not addressed or only partially answered."

“We believe that video footage, authenticated by UN Special Rapporteurs, should inform substantive, not just technical, investigations into apparent grave abuses."

“continue(d) to believe it is important that an independent, credible and thorough mechanism is put in place to investigate all allegations of grave abuses.”

Four US government officials will be visiting Sri Lanka over the next two weeks, the US embassy confirmed on Thursday.

Highlighting the Sri Lankan government's "lack of both accountability and meaningful attempts at reconciliation", Canada's foreign affairs minister, John Baird, urged Sri Lanka to take "decisive action" following the release of the LLRC report and "demonstrate the principles of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law."

In a statement published Wednesday, Baird expressed concern that, "the report does not fully address the grave accusations of serious human rights violations" and noted that "many of the allegations outlined by the UN Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka have not been adequately addressed".

"We continue to call for an independent investigation into the credible and serious allegations raised by the UN Secretary-General’s Panel that international humanitarian law and human rights were violated by both sides in the conflict," Baird urged.

Baird had raised concerns regarding accountability for war crimes, with his Sri Lankan counterpart, GL Peiris, September last year, and criticised the UN's inaction on the issue.

Wednesday's statement adds to the on-going calls from a number of Canadian MPs  and prime minister, for a credible, independent investigation into the allegations.

Warning that there continued to be a "threat", Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary, speaking at a lecture on ‘Future Challenges of National Security in Sri Lanka’ on Tuesday, said,

“LTTE front organisations can encourage and facilitate ex LTTE cadres and those who escaped from the military during the war and pave way for a re-emergence.

Those who did not surrender are probably following the ideology of the LTTE. Even though 11,000 of them were rehabilitated there must be cadres who are not 100 per cent rehabilitated."

“We cannot forget everything just because we defeated them militarily. Still the threat is there. There are lots of enemies in the international front taking active steps to derail the path the government is taking to achieve economic development.”

Despite renewed calls for Sri Lanka to curtail its ever increasing militarisation of the North-East, the Defence Secretary justified the military's sweeping reach, saying,

“That is why we still maintain a strong military and that is why a considerable portion of the budget is given to the military. Still it is only two and a half years after defeating the LTTE militarily."

“To establish a camp anywhere in Sri Lanka is a decision and concern of the country as it is a sovereign state."

“In 2011, Sri Lanka ranked fourth worst in the world in terms of allowing murders of journalists to go unpunished, according to our global Impunity Index.