The Buddhist monk group Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) and several other Sinhala-Buddhist organisations are engaging in social media campaigns promoting Minister Champika Ranawaka as the next President of Sri Lanka.

Ranawaka is a member of Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the monk-led Sinhala nationalist and influential political party.

According to Asian Mirror, BBS backed social media pages stated the need for a "Sinhalese President" to rescue Sri Lanka.

A Muslim-owned clothing store has been destroyed in a suspected arson attack on Saturday morning with reports of further attacks on mosques and Muslim businesses across the island.

A group of unidentified persons carried out an attack on a mosque in Jaffna in the early hours of Saturday morning, in a spate of attacks carried out on Muslims places of worship and businesses across the island.

The Sri Lankan Navy has arrested 7 more Indian fishermen on Friday, just days after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa wrote to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemning the continued arrests.

The arrested men, from a coastal village in Nagappattinam district, were held for allegedly crossing the international maritime boundary lane (IMBL). The arrests on Friday follow the earlier 46 Indian fishermen on Wednesday, bringing the total arrested to 53.

"It is in context of such commitments, both in the Commonwealth and in the United Nations, that we continue to call on Sri Lanka to cooperate with the international investigation mandated by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in March, and to fully implement the specific recommendations in your own Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission report, including on accountability and ensuring justice for victims of all sides during the conflict," he added.

The Sri Lankan government is set to take over a private resort worth over Rs. 500 million rupees, according to Lanka Business Online.

Dunamis Capital Plc, the company that has a 76 percent stake in the land, said the property in Nuwara Eliya was valued at Rs. 536 million.

The recent outbreak of Sinhala mob violence against Muslims in southern Sri Lanka has “underscored the majoritarianism that has dominated the politics of the country” said The Hindu in its latest editorial on Friday.

Noting that the group that is largely blamed for instigating the violence, Bodu Bala Sena (or Buddhist Power Force) has been ceremoniously visited by both Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the editorial said the moves were “signalling powerful patronage and giving it a stamp of legitimacy”.

The Hindu went on to say that amidst the “unsettled question of Tamil political aspirations”, Sri Lankan leaders were “driving the Sinhala nationalist desire for new enemies”.

To ensure accountability and justice for the Buddhist mob violence against Muslims this week, Sri Lanka must investigate links between its security forces and extremist Buddhist groups, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement Thursday.

“Sri Lankan authorities need to do more than arrest those carrying out the anti-Muslim violence. They need to investigate and identify any instigators,” said HRW’s Asia Director, Brad Adams.

“That means taking a hard look at the role and relationship between extremist Buddhist groups like the BBS and the Sri Lankan security forces,” he said, referring to the ultranationalist Buddhist movement, Bodhu Bala Sena, or Buddhist Force.