Sri Lanka’s president Maithripala Sirisena met with the heads of the military at his office in Colombo this evening, after his move to dissolve parliament was temporarily stayed by the Supreme Court.

Maithripala Sirisena met with the heads of the army, navy, air force, police and the chief of defence staff. The newly appointed Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ravinatha Ariyasinghe was also present at the meeting.

<p>Ranil Wickremesinghe, the UNP leader who is battling for position of prime minister, has called for the Sri Lankan police force to adhere to the speaker of parliament’s demands in the wake of a Supreme Court decision that will see parliamentarians reconvene tomorrow.</p> <p>“Today we have witnessed a resounding victory for the people’s franchise,” Wickremesinghe said on the Supreme Court’s decision to temporarily stay an order from president Maithripala Sirisena to dissolve parliament.&nbsp;</p> <p>“The powers of the president are limited and he must act according to the law,.” He added. “He is not above the law.”</p>

<p>Sri Lanka’s parliament looks set to be reconvened on Wednesday morning, following a decision from the Supreme Court to temporarily stay the dissolution of parliament.</p> <p>Speaker of parliament Karu Jayasuriya met with the JVP following the Supreme Court decision, with UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe urging him to recall parliament. Wickremesinghe is currently contending with former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa for the seat of prime minister, with both men tussling to control a majority of lawmakers in Sri Lanka’s parliament.</p>

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on Tuesday temporarily stayed president Maithripala Sirisena’s order to dissolve parliament, as political turmoil on the island continues.

The court said that hearings for a decision on the legality of parliament’s dissolution will be fixed for December, 5, 6 and 7. 

Political parties including the United National Party (UNP), Janantha Vimukthi Permanuna (JVP), the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) and the All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and civil society organisations filed petitions with the court, challenging Sirisena’s move.

This week Kilinochchi district residents continued to clear their local thuyilum illams, LTTE cemeteries, in preparation for Maaveerar Naal - the Tamil National Remembrance Day - on November 27.

Clearing took place at Mulankavil and Kanagapuram, with locals, families of fallen cadres and local politicians contributing.

Western diplomats shunned the newly appointed foreign minister, Sarath Amunugama, who held a meeting today.  

Ambassadors of Britain, Netherlands, Norway, France, Australia, South Africa, Italy, and Canada did not attend in protest against the Sri Lankan president's decision to sack the prime minister and dissolve parliament, Reuters reported. 

However, the United States, Germany and the European sent representatives to the meeting. 

India sent a junior representative, the news agency reported. 

<p>Sri Lankan civil society organisations joined political parties in mounting a legal challenge to the president's decision last week to dissolve parliament.&nbsp;</p> <p>The UNP, TNA, JVP, the TPA and ACMC, as well as the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) have filed petitions at the Supreme Court today. &nbsp;</p> <p>Announcing its decision to take legal action, the TNA spokesperson said, the 19th amendment to the constitution makes it ‘crystal clear’ that the president did not have the authority to dissolve parliament before it had passed its four and a half year term.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said the UNF would form a new alliance in order "save the nation".&nbsp;</p> <p>Urging all political parties to join this force, Ranil vowed "we will not allow anyone to destroy this nation which we have managed to safeguard at the risk of our lives."</p> <p>"I promise to pull this nation through the present curse by associating myself in a new and a broad alliance. Therefore I invite everyone to join this new political force,” he added.&nbsp;</p>

The promise of reforms “have vanished” in Sri Lanka, said The Hindu in an editorial this morning, as it called the move to dissolve parliament an “act of desperation” and warned that confidence in writing a new constitution for the island has been undermined.

“Sri Lanka is at a crossroads where it has to make a crucial choice between democratic consolidation or a retreat to authoritarianism,” said the paper. “The judiciary has a crucial task at hand.”

It added that the “promise held out by the 2015 reforms seems to have vanished with [Maithripala Sirisena’s] actions”.

Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force has deployed troops to state media institutions: Lake House; Rupavahini; Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation; and ITN; as well as to the Attorney General’s Department and the Department of Government Printers, claiming that this is to bolster 'security'. 

State media agencies were among the first institutions to be taken under the control of the de facto Rajapaksa-Sirisena government, with Rajapaksa supporters taking the institutions by force within hours of him swearing-in as prime minister last month. 

Journalists and media workers said they were thinking of quitting their jobs as a result of the political interference.