The Australian immigration minister Scott Morrison snubbed Tamil politicians and civil society during a visit to Jaffna last night, meeting instead with the retired Sri Lankan army general and Colombo appointed governor, G.A. Chandrasiri.

According to The Australian, the Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C.V. Wigneswaran said he "knew nothing of the Immigration Minister's visit".

The Sri Lankan government has announced that it will enact new laws, requiring all non-profit organisations to register as a non-governmental organisation with the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development, with plans to impose sanctions on those that fail to comply.

The director of the National Secretariat for NGOs Saman Dissanayake said to Ceylon Today that according to the new legislation, organisations that do not register with the defence ministry will not be allowed to receive foreign funds and will have their bank accounts closed.

The ministry said that non-profit organisations, currently registered under the Sri Lanka Companies Act No. 7 of 2007, are acting like NGOs.

The Australian government has funded a project to introduce biometric passports in Sri Lanka, in line with efforts by both countries to tackle the flow of refugees.

Australia has provided Rs500mn (£2.3mn) for the project, with Sri Lanka contributing another Rs50mn (£230,000).

The project, spearheaded by the International Organisation for Migration, will introduce Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) and digital pantographs in line with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards, reported The Island.

The commander of the Sri Lankan Navy, Vice Admiral Jayantha Perera has praised Australia’s “Operation Sovereign Border” policy, turning back boats with asylum seekers.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with the chief prelates of the Buddhist clergy, Perera said that the people in the boats were “merely economic migrants”.

The Sri Lankan Ministry of External Affairs has defended the recent circular, sent to NGOs, prohibiting them from engaging in certain activities.

A statement by the ministry said that the restrictions, including a ban on holding press conferences and work shops, were based on “provisions of the legal framework” of several acts.

“The aforementioned instructions, issued by the Director/Registrar of the NGO Secretariat were sent to all NGOs registered with the NGO Secretariat. As required by the related Regulations, all NGOs registered with the NGO Secretariat are liable to submit annual Action Plans containing details of the activities which would be undertaken in the forthcoming year for approval,” the statement said.

"In the event that NGOs conduct press conferences, workshops, training for journalists, and disseminate press releases, which are not connected to the activities in the approved annual Action Plan, those NGOs would be acting beyond their given mandate.”

A Sri Lankan government minister, today, accused the US of colluding with the Sri Lankan United National Party (UNP) opposition to force a regime change using social media, reports Colombo Page.

According to Wimal Weerawansa US embassy officials have created a plan with the UNP to create hostile public opinion against the government using social media.

Weerawansa alleged that, thousands of youth were being recruited to create an anti-government narrative in social media.

The US Ambassador to Sri Lanka has been nominated by President Barack Obama to be the new Deputy Representative of the United States to the United Nations Security Council.

Ambassador Michele Sison was also nominated to be the “Deputy Representative of the United States to the United Nations, with the rank of Ambassador”, according to a press release by the White House.

The leader of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) said on Tuesday that the violence in Aluthgama and the surrounding towns could have been scripted.

“When we analyse the facts one by one, we realise that the Aluthgama incident may be a scripted drama. We cannot imagine whether it was a drama of the Government or the Opposition. There was a peaceful atmosphere in Aluthgama and this was the first time such a clash occurred even after several incidents were reported," BBS General Secretary Galagoda Gnanasara said at a news conference.

The US Department of State has expressed concern about the recent letter sent to non-governmental organisations in Sri Lanka, restricting the activities they could engage in.

“The United States is concerned by reports that the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defense has ordered registered Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and civil society groups to cease their media engagements and activities.” State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said in a press statement.