Sri Lanka’s army commander has said the army can reinstate camps in the North if necessary and clamoured for the forces to be given powers to deal with Jaffna’s gang problem.

Speaking at the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, commander Mahesh Senanayake said “the army is strong and national security is one of its main duties. We know better about national security than others. Nothing has changed. It is the army which secured victory for Sri Lanka in its fight against the LTTE. Similarly, the army will be always ready with its services to safeguard the country.”

A group of Sinhalese people including two Buddhist monks who had been handed over to police in Mullaitivu for attempting to install a Buddha statue have told the court they were just carrying out research.

The Sri Lankan president on Friday claimed the LTTE was preparing an air strike from Chennai during the end of the armed conflict in 2009. 

“The Tigers were going to operate an aircraft from Chennai or some other jungle in Tamil Nadu to bomb and destroy targets in Colombo,” Sirisena was quoted by Economy Next as saying. “I was the acting defence minister. All the others had fled because they feared air attacks.”

“Even I did not stay in Colombo. I was at several locations outside Colombo in case the Tigers attacked the capital city.”

Sri Lankan police this week arrested three men who took a photograph at Pidurangala Rock with their bottoms showing.

The arrest was made after a Buddhist monk filed a complaint claiming the men had made a religious insult by taking the photograph with the Sigiriya rock in sight. 

The Sri Lankan prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe has also ordered an investigation into the photograph. 
 

Sri Lanka’s finance minister has claimed it “is not the end of the world” despite Sri Lanka’s rupee continuing to tumble to record lows this week as foreign investors exited government securities.

The rupee hit a new low of 169.40 per dollar, despite interventions from Sri Lanka’s Central Bank in an attempt to stop the fall. Foreign investors sold a net 110.5 million rupees worth of shares on Thursday, extending the year-to-date net foreign outflow to 5.77 billion rupees worth of equities, according to Reuters.

The murder case of the Sunday Leader editor, Lasantha Wickrematunge has been postponed until January 17.

Progress on the investigation was presented by the Criminal Invesigations Department (CID) yesterday. 

Two officers, former OIC Sugathapala and the Senior DIG Prasanna Nanayakkara, are accused of concealing and destroying information pertaining to the murder of the former Sunday Leader editor who was gunned down in Colombo and are key suspects in the case. Both were granted bail in July. 

The International Monetary Fund has urged Sri Lanka to push through with pledged reforms to large state-owned enterprises. 

"Reforms need to accelerate to strengthen the Sri Lankan economy's resilience to domestic and external shocks, given still significant vulnerabilities," the IMF official, Manuela Goretti said following her visit to Colombo from September 13 to 27. 

"In the face of greater market volatility in emerging markets, the authorities have maintained a strong policy stance with prudent monetary policy and further fiscal consolidation," she added. 

Parliamentarians from the United National Party welcomed the Sri Lankan president’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly this week, where he rejected ‘foreign influences’.

“What president told at the General Assembly is that Sri Lanka should be allowed to work independently without any interference,” said UNP MP Hector Appuhamy, speaking alongside fellow parliamentarian Kavinda Jayawardene at a press conference. “This is something that has to be done, and therefore, what President said was correct.”

Sirisena was accompanied by Buddhist monks and a senior leader from the extremist Jathika Hela Urumaya party during his visit to the United Nations, where he vowed to protect the “pride of the security forces” and call for war crimes charges against Sri Lankan troops to be dropped.

The head of Sri Lanka’s air force was invited to attend a military conference in Hawaii earlier this month, as Sri Lankan increases its military relations despite concerns regarding human rights abuses committed by troops.

Kapila Jayampathy attended the conference of Chiefs of Defence in Honolulu, Hawaii earlier this month, meeting with other senior military officials from across the Asia-Pacific region.

The Sri Lankan military has been assisting Sinhala Buddhists monks in Punanai who are attempting to expand a vihara that has been illegally constructed on a Hindu temple’s land, according to the local temple administration.