Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa hit out at the resolutions passed earlier this week by the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi, one of the main constituent parties of the TNA.

An “irate” Rajapaksa, accused ITAK of attempting to cause “fresh political turmoil” and said a tangible campaign was necessary to neutralise the threat by the party, The Island reported.

The resolutions adopted by ITAK earlier this week included demands for maximum possible devolution to a merged Northeast Province and an appeal to the international community to halt the genocidal actions of the Sri Lankan government.

The defence secretary said that almost all the resolutions encouraged “separatist sentiments”, undermining the Sri Lankan government, and urged the supporters of the TNA in the international community and other local parties to examine the proposals.

The Sri Lankan navy arrested 53 fishermen off the coast of Talaimannar and Jaffna on Thursday morning, reports PTI.

According to the Fisheries Association, 30 of those arrested were from Rameswaran in Tamil Nadu, whilst the remainder were from Poompuhara. Six boats and a fishing trawler have also been seized.

The arrest comes after five Indian fishermen and one child, were arrested Tuesday by Sri Lankan navy personnel.

Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said he would like to meet non-governmental organisations openly critical of the government, reported the Daily Mirror.

Rajapaksa was speaking to representatives from 11 NGOs, who were involved in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and the Commonwealth People’s Forum, when he expressed an interest in meeting those groups.

The defence secretary urged the NGO community to discuss their issues with the NGO Secretariat, instead of “internationalising” them, and spoke about the “unwillingness” of NGOs to engage in dialogue with the government.

National Peace Council Executive Director Jehan Perera, who was one of those present at the meeting said, “It was a very cordial discussion but because it was the first meeting of its kind we did not go into details of the various suggestions that were made to improve the situation. But most importantly, the Defence Secretary himself requested and expressed an interest in meeting other NGOs including those that have been very critical of the Government.”

The Madras High Court confirmed that Sri Lankan minister Douglas Devananda can face trial for a murder charge through video conferencing from Colombo on Tuesday.

Devananda, who also heads the government-linked paramilitary Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), faces a murder charge relating to a 1986 shoot-out in Chennai which killed one person.

India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested a Sri Lankan citizen on suspicion of spying for Pakistan on Wednesday.

The man, Arun Selvarajan, had reportedly gained access to several high security installations and also had criminal cases pending in Sri Lanka. See an official NIA statement on the arrest here.

The Hindu reported an NIA official as saying,

Sri Lankan Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne declared in Parliament that the government is to purchase all stocks of potatoes currently being held by farmers.

Jayaratne made the announcement, stating that the Sri Lankan cabinet had approved the purchase of all remaining potato stock at a price of Rs. 80 per kilo.

The move comes as Sri Lanka banned the import of potatoes earlier this week in a bid to protect local farmers.

Jayaratne also said that all district secretaries and government agents were instructed to continue with a fertiliser subsidy for the farmers, provide agriculture loans at 7% relief interest and to supply locally produced seeds at concessionary prices.

See more here.

Also see our earlier posts:

Sri Lanka bans import of potatoes (09 September 2014)