The leader of the opposition United National Party Ranil Wickremesinghe has stated that he saved leading members of the government from being hauled before the International Criminal Court, whilst campaigning in the south of the island.

Addressing an event in Sirikotha, where the UNP was launching its election manifesto for the upcoming Southern and Western Provincial elections, Wickremesinghe accused the Rajapaksas as “masquerading as the greatest patriots”, according to the Island.

Updated 18:41

A Tamil rights activist campaigning for the families of those ‘disappeared’ in Sri Lankan military custody is tonight herself being held, along with her 13 year old daughter, at an unknown location.

Earlier today Sri Lankan police and soldiers entered Balendran Jeyakumari’s home in Tharmapuram, as hundreds of troops were deployed in the area.

 

Local residents told the Uthayan newspaper late this evening they had seen Ms. Jeyakumari and her daughter being arrested and taken away by police.

 

The Sri Lankan government says that it will formally reject the resolution that is to be proposed at the UN Human Rights Council.

Minister Dinesh Gunawardena told media that the government is willing to accept constructive criticism, however it will not abide by any resolution which could harm Sri Lanka’s interests.

Foreign Secretary William Hague reiterated the British government’s support for an international investigation in a written statement delivered in parliament on Thursday.

Hague said, as no credible domestic accountability process had been established, the time has now come for international action and that the UK has been talking to a wide range of UNHRC members to garner support for a resolution calling for an international investigation.

“[N]o credible domestic accountability processes have been set up to date in Sri Lanka. As a result, the time has now come for international action on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka."

A resolution on stopping the military from being invited to take part in school and civil events in the Northern Province will be considered by the NPC, reports Uthayan.

Speaking to press after a meeting with the French ambassador, the Chairman of the Northern Provincial Council, C V J Sivagnanam, outlined that the resolution was being discussed and drafted within the Council leadership.

The Sri Lankan government has expressed its regret at the “unconstitutional removal” of the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych.

In a statement, the External Affairs Ministry said the removal aggravated the political crisis.

The Health Minister for the Northern Province, Dr P Sathiyalingam, stated that families had made complaints that over 100 acres of land in the Vavuniya, were in the process of being appropriated by the Sri Lankan government to settle Sinhala military families.

The minister reiterated that the land was native to Tamils, and had been occupied by the military, whilst civilians fled the region during the end of the ethnic armed conflict in 2009.

Tamil National Alliance MP and spokesperson, Suresh Premachandran said the UN Human Rights Council resolution addressing accountability in Sri Lanka was not satisfying and called for it to be strengthened, reports the Thinakurral newspaper.

According to Thinakkural, the Jaffna MP met with representatives at the US embassy on the island, demanding an international mechanism that will address accountability and for the subject of demilitarisation to be explicitly mentioned in the draft resolution.

The speaker for the Northern Provincial Council S Sivagnanam met with the French Ambassador earlier this week, where he described the ubiquitous militarisation in the North and asserted that normality could not return whilst the army occupied the region.