Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena will never allow international judges to participate in an accountability mechanism, said a government minister at a press briefing on Tuesday.

Provincial Councils and Local Government Minister Faizer Musthapha insisted that foreign judges wouldn’t be accommodated in any proposed court dealing with cases of international humanitarian law violations “under any circumstances”.

The Minister added that the president would not give in to international pressure, saying "various people can make recommendations though we’ll not accept anything inimical to Sri Lanka".

His remarks were reiterated by former MP Reginald Cooray, who is widely tipped to become the next Governor of the Northern Province.

Former army commander Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka, who is suspected of being responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity, has been sworn in as an MP, after his appointment by the ruling coalition.

He was appointed by the UNP through the national list, after another MP died.

Mr Fonseka remains a highly controversial figure. A UN report released last year details heinous crimes committed by the military while he was in charge.

The UNP's Vijayakala Maheswaran, the state minister for child affairs has refused to hoist the Sri Lankan flag at a function in Jaffna on Monday night.

Ms Maheswaran, who is Tamil, was the chief guest at the opening of a science lab in the Meesalai Veerasingam College in Thenmaratchi, in the Jaffna district.

"I have been a member of parliament for six years. However not one day have I hoisted the lion flag out of principle and I will not give up on this principle," she said.

UNHRC spokesperson Rupert Colville says the media had 'slightly misconstrued' the high commissioner's comments on Tamil political prisoners.

Mr Colville, who accompanied High Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein to Sri Lanka, said he did not want to 'interfere in the release of the detained alleged LTTE cadres and that he was 'non-committal'.