Sri Lankan opposition MPs have accused the government of covering up the assassination of Lasantha Wickramasekara, a politician who was shot dead inside his office this week, as others raised fears of more death threats and violence.

Sri Lanka’s Prisons Commissioner and Media Spokesman, Jageth Weerasinghe, has called for the implementation of the death penalty for large-scale drug traffickers, claiming it is necessary to “protect future generations” as the majority of drug addicts are “Sinhala-Buddhist.”

Thailand’s government has announced plans to hold urgent talks with Sri Lankan authorities to repatriate two Thai elephants that were gifted decades ago, following growing outrage over reports of their mistreatment and poor living conditions.

Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister of Defence, Major General (Retd.) Aruna Jayasekara, told Parliament that over 700 acres of land in the North and East have been “returned to the public”, as the government continues to station tens of thousands of Sri Lankan soldiers in the region.

The Sri Lankan cabinet has approved a programme titled ‘Sri Lankan Day’, which it claims will promote “unity and understanding”, and declared that its organisation and implementation will be overseen by the Ministry of Buddhasasana.

A Sinhala Buddhist monk and head of the hardline Ravana Balaya organisation, Iththa Kande Saddhatissa, has launched a public attack on the National People’s Power (NPP) government over the appointment of Muneer Mulaffer as the new Deputy Minister of Religious and Cultural Affairs, describing the move as an attempt to “hurt the Sinhala-Buddhist people.”

During a parliamentary session, Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) parliamentarian for the Vanni District, Dr P. Sathiyalingam, questioned the Sri Lankan government over the continued military occupation of civilian lands in Vavuniya - including the site of an LTTE cemetery.

The Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) has pledged to take legal action against the Sri Lankan military for the construction of an unauthorised military hospital on privately owned land in Vasavilan, Jaffna — an area still occupied under the guise of a so-called High-Security Zone.

Sri Lanka has extradited six persons who were arrested in Nepal in connection with the high-profile murder of underworld leader Sanjeewa Kumara Samararathne, widely known as Ganemulla Sanjeewa, who was shot dead inside a Colombo courthouse earlier this year.