The Sri Lankan president issued an order to the security forces and police chief to arrest all who incite racism, the Daily Mirror reported. 

The statement was made at a meeting at the president's official residence in Colombo this week. 

Hundreds of Sri Lankans joined Sinhala Buddhist monks in an anti-Muslim protest in Kandy on Saturday. 

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickrmesinghe assured the Constitutional Assembly that the clause on religion in Sri Lanka’s constitution would not be changed, reports Colombo Page.

Mr Wickermesinghe was speaking at the submission of the constitutional sub-committee reports to the Constitution Assembly on Saturday.

Sri Lanka's justice minister on Friday told parliament that 32 Muslims had joined Islamic State in Syria. 

"All these [Muslims] are not from ordinary families. These people are from the families which are considered as well-educated and elite," Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said. 

The International Monetary Fund on Friday announced it had completed its first review of the Extended Fund Facility granted to Sri Lanka, and would approve US $162.6 million disbursement. 

The three year program was approved in June, allowing US $1.45 billion.

In a letter to the Sri Lankan president and prime minister the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) reiterated its rejection of pre-fabricated steel homes, and called for proper houses for Tamils displaced in the North-East. 

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremensighe has outlined plans to lease large stake in the Hambantota port to a Chinese Company reports Colombo Page.

The Prime Minister said that the government planned to lease the Hambantota port or $US 1.2 billion to a Chinese company China Merchant, in an attempt to aid in Sri Lanka’s Balance of Payments.

Hours after the head of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) organisation in Sri Lanka threatened to incite bloody attacks against Muslim communities unless a Muslim leader was arrested, Sri Lanka’s police arrested the Secretary of Sri Lanka Thawheed Jamath (SLTJ) Abdul Razick.

In a situation brief released today titled "Student killings, Aava gang and the Securitisation of Jaffna", the Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research (ACPR) raised alarm at the Sri Lankan government's "failure to meaningfully confront systemic policing and military intelligence issues that have once again been brought to the forefront by the recent killings of two Jaffna University students by police."

In an op-ed published this week on Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, researchers at Together Against Genocide, Vinesh Mistry and Brami Jegan called on the EU not to miss the opportunity "to insist on meaningful transitional justice, rather than giving its blessing to a government whose commitment to human rights deserves serious scrutiny"

The Colombo based Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) on Friday expressed concern over what it described as "a spate of recent events with ominous portents for ethnic and religious harmony and reconciliation in Sri Lanka."

The Brussels based media organisation, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Free Media Movement on Friday condemned the attacking of a journalist in Trincomalee on November 15. 

“The IFJ condemns the attack and threat to journalist in Trincomalee and urges the Sri Lankan authorities to take every measure to ensure punishment to the responsible; and to establish a safe working environment for journalists in Sri Lanka," the IFJ said in a statement. 

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on Thursday demanded foreign judges to be involved in the post-conflict accountability process. 

“The president has told Meera Srinivasan of The Hindu in an interview that he will not agree to foreign judges. Then how can we expect justice?” TNA parliamentarian, S.Sritharan was quoted by Colombo Gazette as asking parliament. 

By Dr Arujuna Sivananthan

IMPROVEMENT

Sri Lanka’s 2017 budget seems to be receiving several accolades, not from those outside Sri Lanka or anyone credible within, but from politicians in the ruling coalition. So it should!