Sri Lanka's main opposition, the United National Party,  has called for an "independent international inquiry" into the killings of unarmed protestors by the army in Weliwariya last week.

The Sri Lankan Air Force and the United States Pacific Air Force are currently holding joint exercise codenamed “Exercise Pacific Angel” in the Jaffna peninsula.

The program is aimed at enhancing disaster responses, according to ColomboPage.

Both militaries will also host a Health Services Outreach and Engineering Civil Programme on the peninsula.

Amnesty International criticised the decision to allow the army to police the demonstrations at Weliweriya and has said hat the army should  not be allowed to investigate itself.

Amnesty International’s Asia Director, Polly Truscott said:

The DMK leader M Karunanidhi has called for the Indian government to boycott the forthcoming Commonwealth heads of government Meeting in Colombo.

The failed Mattale Rajapakse International Airport will become a Maintenance and Repair Centre, reported The Sunday Leader.

Chairman of Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Limited, Prasanna J. Wickramasuriya, claimed that the centre was needed in order to make Sri Lanka a regional aviation hub.

“We are very disturbed by the repeated use of violence against journalists in Sri Lanka,”

“At best, the police take no action when journalists report that they have been the targets of violence. At worst, the army itself, equipped with lethal weapons, organizes and executes these attacks, as it did in Weliweriya.”

“These unacceptable incidents show that, although the civil war is now over in Sri Lanka, violence by the armed forces is still far from being brought to an end and that freedom of information is still in great danger.”