Sri Lanka and India commenced joint military operations on Monday, following the 'Annual Defence Dialogue' talks held last month between the two countries and co-chaired by Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his Indian counterpart, R. K. Mathu. 

The Sri Lankan government's actions and policies only make Tamils want to secede said the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Suresh Premachandran.

"The government’s every activity only encourages Tamils to live separately: exclusive pass system to the Northern Province, denying powers for the NPC, economic measures not being implemented properly in North, military occupation, sexual assaults by the military," Premachandran said during the budget debate in parliament, reports Uthayan.

The Chinese defence ministry said there was nothing “unusual” about its decision to dock submarines in Colombo, after Sri Lanka opened its port to China, despite Indian reservations, reported the Times of India.

The second docking of a Chinese submarine within two months comes despite India raising “serious concerns” to Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, during his visit in October.

China said "there is nothing unusual for naval vessels to dock at Colombo port despite concerns raised by India".

"It is an international common practice for navy submarine to stop for refueling and crew refreshment at an oversea port," a Chinese defence ministry official said, suggesting that India was more perturbed about China's "warming relations" with Sri Lanka than the submarines.

The spokesperson of Sri Lanka’s catholic church said that they have requested the government not to hold the election immediately after the visit and appealed to all political parties not to use the visit to gain political mileage.

"If an election is to be held before the visit, it must be held in such a way that ...the preparation for the visit should not be disturbed by such an event. We have appealed to the President to have a sufficient gap between the two events, and they have assured us that everything will be done in order to go ahead with the Pope's visit without any disruptions due to an election," Cyril Gamini Fernando said.

He added that the decision to hold an election and the dates to be fixed for such an election is entirely in the hands of the government and the commissioner of elections, and that the Church has no interest in intervening in the matter, according to Ceylon Today.

The Church previously said it would reconsider the visit in view of the poll, as it would be “inappropriate” for the pontiff to visit during the election period.

Transparency International's Sri Lanka (TISL) chapter has complained of death threats and intimidation targeting its staff in the country, reports the Sunday Times.

In a letter addressed to the Inspector General of the Sri Lankan Police (IGP), the group listed a number of events of intimidation aimed at disrupting TISL events.

“The primary target of these attacks appears to be events organised for Tamil medium journalists from the North and East,” TISL said in its report.

Photograph Sunday Times

The leader of the opposition party UNP, Ranil Wickremesinghe, marked the 18th anniversary of the death of his predecessor, J. R. Jayawardene.

At an anniversary event held at the J. R. Jayawardene Centre on Saturday, the Ranil Wickremesinghe served food for Buddhist monks. He was joined by Chamal Rajapaksa, the Speaker of the House, the Sunday Times reported.

The Sri Lankan president rejected foreign aid offers to deal with the recent Upcountry landslides deeming them to be an attempt by international NGOs to gain popularity in Sri Lanka, reports Ceylon Today.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Friday, Mahinda Rajapaksa said that Sri Lanka would not be accepting foreign relief assistance.

"We will reject assistance from any foreign country, as this is the 'chance' for some NGO's to creep in to gain popularity and we detest that,” he said.