A Sri Lankan government minister has slammed “Western countries” and “British imperialists”, commenting on a Swiss embassy employee being abducted in Colombo and the UK Conservative Party’s manifesto pledges on Sri Lanka.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Sunday Observer published today, Wimal Weerawansa said that the abduction of the Swiss embassy employee was a “diabolical lie” and also rejected devolving land and police powers to provinces as per Sri Lanka’s 13th Amendment.

The head of the All Ceylon Makkal Congress has said the lack of Muslim ministers in Sri Lanka’s latest cabinet is “just fine”, as he argued that the new government headed by an accused war criminal would treat all on the island fairly.

“They won with a majority,” Rishad Bathiudeen told reporters in Colombo. 

“They can appoint the Cabinet as they want, that’s their right. If they see us too as Sri Lankans and if they treat us equally, that is enough for us.”

Amnesty International released a graphic novel highlighting the discrimination faced by LGBTI people in Sri Lanka. 

The novel, ‘Spectrum: Four Stories of Discrimination Faced by LGBTI People’, follows four characters to illustrate the ‘discrimination and violence in their daily lives, from workplace bullying to police harassment.’ 

Based on true events, the stories depict the ‘alarming ways the police in Sri Lanka handle cases involving LGBTI people.’

A retired Sri Lankan soldier who was protesting outside the Swiss embassy has now claimed that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had falsified evidence about the navy abduction ring which killed 11 youths.

Ajith Prasanna, a retired soldier, lawyer and convenor of the self-proclaimed ‘War Heroes for Motherland’ organisation held a press conference on Friday in which he alleged that the CID had pressured former navy officers and a former LTTE cadre to give false statements about the abductions.

Prasanna presented former navy officers and the LTTE cadre in question to ‘corroborate’ his claims, Ada Derana reports.

An organisation of Buddhist monks have written to the United National Party (UNP), calling on it to ensure that members who have “insulted” monks to not be given any parliamentary nominations in upcoming elections.

The Tri Nikayika Tharuna Bikkhu Sangamaya - an organisation of young Buddhist monks that represent the island’s three Buddhist chapters - handed a petition to the party this week, with demands made to the UNP leadership.

The Sri Lankan and Indian militaries began an exercise in Pune this week, as military ties between the two governments continued to grow.

The exercise ‘Mitra Shakthi - VII, comes despite concerns of human rights abuses committed by Sri Lankan troops, under new president Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The Sri Lankan government has called the prosecution of a Sri Lankan brigadier “politically motivated” and maintained he has diplomatic immunity, despite a British court ruling on Friday which found him guilty of violating the Public Order Act.

“The Government of Sri Lanka continues to maintain that Brigadier Fernando as a diplomat who was attached to the Sri Lanka High Commission in London is entitled to diplomatic immunity as per Article 31 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961,” said an official Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry statement this morning.

Former Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan has reiterated his support for Sri Lanka’s new president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who stands accused of heading a military offensive that killed tens of thousands of Tamil civilians.

“I support President Rajapaksa because he is the right person to lead our country,” Muralitharan told the Hindustan Times, shrugging off the reports of human rights violations.

A Sri Lankan brigadier who motioned death threats to Tamil protestors in London last year has been found guilty by a British court of violating the Public Order Act, after a protracted legal battle.

Westminster Magistrate’s Court upheld a previous ruling that Sri Lanka’s Brigadier Priyanka Fernando “is  not  protected  by  diplomatic  immunity”, despite pleas made by Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry.

<p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/New%20Jersey/download.jpeg"></p> <p>The speaker of Sri Lanka’s parliament, Karu Jayasuriya, has accepted the request of Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, the General Secretary of the UNP, to appoint Sajith Premadasa as opposition leader.</p> <p>The Daily Mirror claims that the appointment of Premadasa would be announced by the speaker formally when parliament begins on 3 January.</p> <p>This reporting follows contentious claims that Ranil Wickremesinghe would become the leader of the opposition. More than 40 MPs signed a letter requesting that Premadasa keep his position as leader of the opposition.</p>