As Tamils all over the world gathered to mourn their dead, Sri Lanka held its annual ‘Victory Day’ parade, celebrating the defeat of the LTTE.

Over 13,000 personnel from the navy, army, air force and Special Task Force took part in the parade, overseen by Mahinda Rajapkse.

India's Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid telephoned his Sri Lankan counterpart GL Peiris on Friday and urged him not to dilute the 13th amendment, according to reports.

Reportedly concerned by increasing calls to abolish the 13th amendment, sources said,

The military's presence in the North-East was 'nothing but a necessity', said the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, speaking to The Island.

Ontario's leader of the opposition Progressive Conservative party endorsed the call for accountability, in his statement marking Annual Tamil Memorial Week.

Former Australian diplomat Bruce Haigh has called for Australia to boycott the upcoming CHOGM, due to be held in Sri Lanka, comparing the island to Apartheid South Africas.

He slammed Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr's position on Sri Lanka, stating that 'in all conscience Australia must also boycott CHOGM'.

See his full piece here. Extracts have been reproduced below.

"In the face of a great deal of evidence to the contrary, Bob Carr has declared Sri Lanka an ideal democracy."

"He has declared their institutions sound, and scoffed at the idea of corruption within the ranks of the Rajapaksa government."

"He has declared the police, army and navy to be clear of charges of detaining and torturing members of the Tamil minority. He believes that the Sinhalese majority are free of triumphalism and ethnic abuse of Tamils, amounting to state sponsored genocide, following a bloody civil war that occurred because of the very attitudes and practices being deployed against Tamils today."

Prime Minister David Cameron’s upcoming visit to Sri Lanka for the Commonwealth heads of Government meeting has faced criticism at Prime Minister’s Questions in parliament today.

Due to Cameron’s visit to the US, he was represented by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

The deputy leader of Clegg’s Liberal party, Simon Hughes, said he “cannot support” Cameron’s decision, because of Sri Lanka’s human rights record.

Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh also questioned the decision to attend the meeting.

Nick Clegg said that the decision was “controversial, especially in the light of the despicable human rights violations”, but that the visit would “cast a spotlight on the unacceptable abuses”.

“If such violations continue, and if the Sri Lankan Government continues to ignore their international commitments in the lead up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, of course there will be consequences.”

See below for exchange in full.

Tamil schoolchildren in Killinochchi sang songs honouring the Sri Lankan Army at a ceremony earlier this week, in front of the Ranaviru Smarakaya monument.

Sri Lanka held a ‘Jaya Pirith’ ceremony earlier this week, which saw thousands of monks gather in Colombo this week to invoke blessings upon Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Sri Lankan Army.

Over a thousand Tamils of the Northern Peninsula  filed  a petition, to the Appeal Court, demanding that steps to be taken against an acquisition notice ,marked 'P1', that advocates the appropriation of 6381 acres of land which contain their traditional homes.

A Sri Lankan soldier was acquitted by an all Sinhalese jury, after previously being sentenced to death for the killing of five Muslims, in Pulmoaddai, Trincomalee.

The Commander of the Sri Lankan Security Forces in Vanni has stated that not one single civilian has gone missing and pledged to defend the government on any international forum.

Major General Boniface Perera who is also the Officer-in-Charge of Displaced Persons in the Northern Province said,