The National Freedom Front (NFF), a constituent party of the ruling coalition in Sri Lanka, has called for the deportation of the British High Commissioner John Rankin, after he criticised the disproportionate military presence in the Northeast of the island.

At a press briefing, Piyasiri Wijenayake of the NFF, said it was not up to the British High Commissioner to decide on the withdrawal of military camps in the country, ColomboPage reported on Wednesday.

Welcoming the High Court ruling halting the deportation of Tamil asylum seekers from the UK on Thursday, David Mepham, the UK director of Human Rights Watch said,

"This is a very dramatic development. It is incredibly welcome that a High Court judge has recognised the serious risk facing failed Tamil asylum-seekers.

“The growing number of Buddhist temples in the area, the militarization of the north and the fact that there are new Sinhalese settlements in many areas of the North shows what the Defence Secretary wants to do is to change the demographic patterns of the Northern province”.

According to reports there has been a heavy military presence surrounding Jaffna University since Monday night.

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A delegation of British Conservative MPs is expected to visit Jaffna to look at concerns about high levels of military personnel, reported the Daily Mirror.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the UK government to "immediately suspend deportations of ethnic Tamil asylum seekers to Sri Lanka and review its policies in assessing these claims" and highlighted that the next scheduled deporation is due to take place on Thursday.

Iran invited Sri Lanka's president, Mahinda Rajapaksa to Tehran on Tuesday, to attend the 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in August 2012, reported the Colombo Page.

The invitation by Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was delivered by the Iranian deputy minister of foreign affairs, Abbas Aranghchi, whilst on an official visit to Sri Lanka where he met his counterpart, Neomal Perara.