President Maithripala Sirisena said the government is not facing any pressure from the US regarding Sri Lanka's foreign policy, Colombo Gazette reported.

A documentary chronicling the life of Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam 'Taraki' Sivaram, who was abducted and murdered in Colombo 10 years ago, was screened in Chennai to mark World Press Freedom Day this weekend.

Screened at the Chennai Press Club, the film explored Sivaram’s life and looked at the issue of media freedom for Tamil journalists on the island of Sri Lanka.

The Sinhala Buddhist organisation, Bodu Bala Sena said it will meet elections commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya to speak about forming a new political party, the Daily Mirror reported.

Chief Executive Office Dilantha Vithanage said the BBS will remain “apolitical” while backing the new party, which will be guided by Buddhist monks.

“BBS will back the new political party, but will continue to remain as an apolitical organisation. Buddhist monks will guide and provide instructions to the political party. However, the candidates will be laymen,” Mr Vithanage said, adding they had yet to decide on a name and a symbol for the party.

In January the BBS said it would launch a party to protect "Buddhist values" from a "minority threat".

Reports that President Maithripala Sirisena and former president Mahinda Rajapaksa will meet tomorrow, have been denied by the latter’s spokesperson.

Rohan Welivita said Mr Rajapaksa was not aware of the meeting, adding that the reports could be a deliberate attempt to give the impression that the former president backed out of the meeting.

SLFP spokesperson Dilan Perera however said that there were no factions in the party the meeting will take place as announced, Asian Mirror reported.

The only condition to the meeting is to "send Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe home, Mr Perera further said.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) has expressed concern over the evidence of torture by Sri Lanka’s security forces working in cooperation with the Australian Federal Police (AFP), reports Colombo Mirror.

An investigation by ABC news, found that two former asylum seekers that were deported form Australia in 2009 were abused by members of Sri Lanka’s Central Investigation Department (CID) in the presence of an Australian Federal Police officer in Sri Lanka.

The victims’ lawyer, Lakshan Dias, said that CID officers beat men with wooden planks and threatened to rape their family members.

One of the victims, aged 31, Sumith Mendis, told reporters,

“I was tortured. I was unable to pass urine for two days. I had unbearable pain in my body.”

The AFP confirmed that an officer was in the building at CID building at the time of the event but denies that it witnessed the abuse.

Speaking to ABC news, an AFP spokesperson said,

“The AFP can confirm records indicate an AFP officer was present in the building on th day the offence was alleged to occur. At no stage did the AFP officer witness any mistreatment by CID officers of any persons held in custody.”

The Buddhist festival of Vesak is currently being held in Jaffna, organised by Sri Lanka's security forces.

The first day of the festival was declared open on Sunday by the commander of the security forces in Jaffna, Major General Nandana Udawatta.

Sri Lanka will only sign the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with India if it is advantageous to the country, deputy minister of policy planning and economic development Harsha de Silva said at an event in Colombo.

“We have to be convinced that this agreement is beneficial to Sri Lanka. I don’t represent the government of India, I am representing the government of Sri Lanka,” he said at a seminar on CEPA and its implications on the Sri Lankan economy, organised by the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka in Colombo.

“We will win for this country and therefore our government will not enter into any agreement that is not in the best interest of our country.”

"Tamil leaders say Sirisena's government has not fulfilled pledges to withdraw security forces from the north, where soldiers still watch over public sites and counter-terrorism police patrol towns and villages on bicycles. Sirisena has not said whether he will repeal a controversial anti-terrorism law that activists say is being used to detain hundreds of Tamil prisoners without charges.