The Indian government on Tuesday reaffirmed its commitment to building 50,000 houses for internal displaced Tamils in Sri Lanka, the Economic Times reported.

Addressing the Lok Sabha, India's minister of state for home, Kiren Rijiju said the 50,000 homes project would include the building of new homes, as well as repairing ones that were damaged. The project would be driven via agencies as well as through beneficiary owners.

"The beneficiaries of the housing project are identified through a consultative process," Mr Rijiju said.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) said an accountability mechanism to deal with crimes committed during the final phase of the armed conflict must take place "within the framework of Sri Lanka's Constitution" in a statement released last week.

The statement, addressing the recently passed UN Human Rights Council resolution mandating an accountability mechanism for mass atrocities, acknowledged that "existing judicial and prosecutorial systems have not met the confidence of many concerned".

A Tamil political prisoner has declared a hunger-strike to highlight the ongoing delays in the release of Tamil political prisoners.

Currently being held at the Jaffna Prison, 36-year-old S. Jeleepan is undertaking the hunger strike, which has already come to the attention of the Commissioner General of Prisons.

Jeleepan, originally from Achuveli, was arrested in 2006 while travelling from Mullaitivu to Polannaruwa.