Muslim property ablaze in Aluthgama (Picture: BBC Sinhala)

Several Muslim owned shops have been burnt down in the town of Aluthgama on Sunday, after a rally by Sinhalese in the town resulted in clashes.

The rally was organised after reports that a monk was attacked by a Muslim man emerged last week, with a subsequent protest by Sinhalese residents seeing several Muslim shops attacked.

According to The Republic Square, another rally earlier today resulted in further violence, after Muslims threw stones at the Sinhalese rally, with Sinhalese mobs later roaming the streets, attacking Muslim businesses and mosques.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa tweeted in English and Sinhala that an investigation into the incidents in Aluthgama will be conducted to hold those responsible to account, urging all parties to act with restraint.

The Government will not allow anyone to take the law into their own hands. I urge all parties concerned to act in restraint. -MR (1/2)

— Mahinda Rajapaksa (@PresRajapaksa) June 15, 2014

An investigation will be held for law to take its course of action to bring to book those responsible for incidents in Aluthgama. -MR (2/2)

— Mahinda Rajapaksa (@PresRajapaksa) June 15, 2014

Bodu Bala Sena leader Gnanasara threatened violence against Muslims at the rally, before the clashes.

“In this country we still have a Sinhala Police, we still have a Sinhala Army. After today, if a single Marakkalaya (Muslim) or some other paraya (alien) touches a single Sinhalese...it will be their end,” the leader of the BBS, a group made up of Buddhist monks, said .

The Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), a ruling coalition party, has reiterated their rejection of a UN inquiry into allegations of atrocities in Sri Lanka, which is due to begin at the end of this month.

The Asian Development Bank is set to grant Sri Lanka $1.4 billion over the next 4 years for “health, sanitation, education and energy” projects according to the Official Government News Portal of Sri Lanka.

ADB Country Director for Sri Lanka Sri Widowati was quoted as saying,

"ADB remains active in Sri Lanka and we want to do more. We will continue to focus on infrastructure development, including renewable energy, transmission efficiency, expansion of water supply urban areas with lower leakages at the same time focusing on the education sector.”

Sri Lanka has dismissed Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire’s comments to the Tamil Guardian, criticising the country for not attending the summit on ending sexual violence in conflict, held this week in London, saying they were not invited.

Acting High Commissioner Neville de Silva said the criticism was "surely misplaced", according to The Sunday Island.

"British Foreign Office specifically noted earlier that Sri Lanka cannot participate as it had not been invited" he claimed.

"Swire might remember that he wrote to External Affairs Minister, Prof. G. L. Peiris, referring to the upcoming summit," he added.

“Since the Minister was unable to attend, he nominated officials to participate. When the high commission contacted the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in order to announce our participation and register the participants, the British Foreign Office specifically said that Sri Lanka cannot participate as it had not been invited", De Silva told The Sunday Island.

The United Kingdom has reiterated concerns over the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, highlighting the North, in a statement in parliament earlier this week.

Speaking as the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence was under way, Senior Minister of State Baroness Warsi stated in parliament,

A missing school boy has been admitted to Vavuniya hospital, after he was released by a group of unidentified persons and discovered blindfolded near his home, earlier this week.

The student, seventeen year old Mahalingam Rajeevan, was reported missing after he failed to come home on May 27th.

A senior police official from Jaffna has said that anyone gathering in groups unnecessarily will be arrested, reported the Uthayan.

Vimalasena said that gatherings around public places, such as temples, will not be allowed.

A survey by the UNHRC in parts of Sri Lanka’s Northeast found nearly 40% of women feel they are not safe at home, with militarisation being a key reason, press reports quoted the UN Population Fund’s representative in Sri Lanka, Alain Sibenale, as saying.

Sibenale was speaking Wednesday at an event at the British High Commission in Colombo to mark the ‘End Sexual Violence in Conflict’ conference being held in London.

See reports by Daily Mirror and Colombo Telegraph.

“This [sexual violence] is an issue that has affected every part of Sri Lanka but at the same time, we need to recognize that the North and East have specific degree variations of vulnerability that do differ from the rest of the country,” he said.