Leader of the Opposition Nimal Siripala de Silva, flanked by SLFP General Secretary Anura Priyadarshana Yapa and President Maithripala Sirisena, sleeping during an SLFP rally on 20A on Monday (Pic by Saman Abeysiriwardena/The Island)

Sri Lanka’s cabinet agreed to draft legislation to implement electoral reforms as the 20th amendment to the country’s constitution by Friday, at a special meeting last night.

The number of MPs will remain at 225, despite attempts by some parties to increase the number to 255. It was proposed to elect 125 MPs from the constituencies, 75 according to the Proportional Representation System by district, and the remaining 25 from the National List, under the new system, the Daily Mirror reported.

On Monday President Maithripala Sirisena called on all parties to declare their positions on the reforms, saying the passing of the amendment was “the need of the hour”.

Mass atrocities carried out during the final phase of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka compelled developers to launch a new smart phone app that allows war crimes to be documented and verified instantly.

Named “eyeWitness to Atrocities”, the app was designed after developers saw mobile phone footage of Sri Lankan soldiers executing Tamils who had surrendered in May 2009. It will allow users to instantly upload photo and video footage of potential war crimes to a secure database and to legal experts, so that evidence can be used in the prosecution of war criminals.

Iran has struggled to invest the pledged amount into the project due to ongoing sanctions against its government said the Mahaweli Development and Environment Ministry Secretary, Nihal Rupasainghe.

Pakistan and Sri Lanka discussed ways of enhancing bilateral defence ties on Saturday, reports Colombo Page.

Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Raheem Sharif, held discussions with Sri Lanka’s army commander Crishanthe De Silva, during an official visit to Sri Lanka.

Members of the Catholic clergy from the North-East say it is “too early” to return asylum seekers back to Sri Lanka, as it still is not safe.

Speaking to The Guardian, Catholic priest and lawyer Fr Veerasan Yogeswaran, who runs the Centre for Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, says although the new government has brought in some positive changes, concerns remained.

“My general view of the countries holding asylum seekers: please do not send them back immediately,” he said. “There are positive developments. But at the same time these are not signs that everything is good and everything is democratic now.”

The priest from Trincomalee said the human rights situation in Sri Lanka remains unresolved and uncertain.

“The minority communities are of the opinion still that we do not feel safety and security in this island. And that is one of the reasons that they are also fleeing. There may not be abductions but there can be constant harassment and intimidations,” he said, adding that the heavy military presence continued to cause insecurity.

The Buddhist organisation Bodu Bala Sena will meet with the governor of Sri Lanka’s Central bank to object to the launch of financial services under Islamic principles by a private bank recently.

In a letter to the governor, the BBS said:

“We have got a number of complaints from bankers and citizens that CBSL is not taking any measures to ban introducing religious based banking practices which might create social division in the country. We strongly believe this leads situations against equal rights ensured in the constitution,

“Our organisation decided to send a delegation to CBSL to meet with you or any responsible officer to discuss this nationally important matter.

Members of the Sri Lankan military organised an event in cooperation with a garment producer to employ Tamils from Kilinochchi in the south of the island.

According to news.lk, troops with the 9 Sri Lanka Engineers (SLE) Regiment under the Security Force Headquarters-Killinochchi, worked with Tri Star Apparels (Pvt) Ltd conducted a series of interviews in May, and selected 58 Tamil youths from the town in the North-East.

The Tamils will be employed in the Ratmalana branch of the company, a town near Colombo.