A controversial new Sinhala colonisation program in the Tamil North-East of the island will also see new villages being constructed in the Sinhala south and named after former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Housing and Construction Sajith Premadasa said the ‘Village Reawakening’ program was to construct a new village in Hambantatota after Mr Rajapaksa, who is accused of overseeing and directing mass atrocities during the final stages of the armed conflict on the island.

“We are hoping to build villages to be named after all former presidents and rulers of Sri Lanka,” added Mr Premadasa, himself the son of a former president R Premadasa who initiated the scheme.

Last week the minister opened a new village in the Tamil North-East as part of the program.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Sri Lanka 141st out of 180 countries in its annual World Press Freedom Index for 2016.

The latest ranking is an improvement from last year, where under the previous government Sri Lanka had ranked 165th.

“By electing Maithripala Sirisena as president, Sri Lanka freed itself of the reign of terror imposed by the Rajapaksa family and its allies,” said RSF, adding “the new government said journalists and cyber-dissidents would no longer have to fear reprisals for their political views or for articles on such sensitive subjects as corruption and the military”.

“The Tamil media – long a target of the authorities, including after the official end of the civil war in 2009 – have seen a decline in harassment and hope it will last,” it added.

A 25 year old Tamil was arrested on Thursday for watching a YouTube video of a Tamil Eelam song, produced by the LTTE, on his mobile phone.

The man, who was watching the video near his home in the Gurunagar part of Jaffna, was caught by police officers in civil clothing, who heard the song and took the mobile phone from him, before arresting him.

He was produced before magistrates in Jaffna and remanded for 14 days.