Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena called for the organisers of an Enrique Iglesias concert to be “whipped with toxic stingray tails”, calling the behaviour of concert goers “uncivilised”.

Addressing a public meeting in Amparai, Mr Sirisena was outraged by reports that female fans at the concert had thrown undergarments at the 40 year old singer, while one fan got on stage and kissed him.

Mr Sirisena said that this type of behaviour would have usually elicited violence from locals towards the female fans, but he felt in this instance it was the organisers who deserved the beating.

The new “Tamil Makkal Peravai” TMP platform must act prove that it will act in a way that avoids mirroring the Tamil National Alliance’s (TNA) political naivety to prove itself relevant to furthering Tamil aspirations, writes Colombo based Journalist Kusal Perera.

Highlighting the TNA’s failure to mobilise its electorate into action and pressure the new Sirisena government during the early days of forcing reform, Mr Perera added that the formation of the TMP highlighted doubts regarding the "capability and wisdom of the TNA leadership that seems a failure in advancing the political aspirations of Tamil people for realistic answers."

Full op-ed reproduced below.

President Maithripala Sirisena has announced that the term of all local government bodies will be extended by 6 months.

The terms were scheduled to expire on December 31 however President Sirisena said the decision to extend the terms was taken to facilitate the forthcoming amendments of the electoral system of the local governments.