The Sri Lankan Ministry of External Affairs has defended the recent circular, sent to NGOs, prohibiting them from engaging in certain activities.

A statement by the ministry said that the restrictions, including a ban on holding press conferences and work shops, were based on “provisions of the legal framework” of several acts.

“The aforementioned instructions, issued by the Director/Registrar of the NGO Secretariat were sent to all NGOs registered with the NGO Secretariat. As required by the related Regulations, all NGOs registered with the NGO Secretariat are liable to submit annual Action Plans containing details of the activities which would be undertaken in the forthcoming year for approval,” the statement said.

"In the event that NGOs conduct press conferences, workshops, training for journalists, and disseminate press releases, which are not connected to the activities in the approved annual Action Plan, those NGOs would be acting beyond their given mandate.”

A Sri Lankan government minister, today, accused the US of colluding with the Sri Lankan United National Party (UNP) opposition to force a regime change using social media, reports Colombo Page.

According to Wimal Weerawansa US embassy officials have created a plan with the UNP to create hostile public opinion against the government using social media.

Weerawansa alleged that, thousands of youth were being recruited to create an anti-government narrative in social media.

The US Ambassador to Sri Lanka has been nominated by President Barack Obama to be the new Deputy Representative of the United States to the United Nations Security Council.

Ambassador Michele Sison was also nominated to be the “Deputy Representative of the United States to the United Nations, with the rank of Ambassador”, according to a press release by the White House.

The leader of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) said on Tuesday that the violence in Aluthgama and the surrounding towns could have been scripted.

“When we analyse the facts one by one, we realise that the Aluthgama incident may be a scripted drama. We cannot imagine whether it was a drama of the Government or the Opposition. There was a peaceful atmosphere in Aluthgama and this was the first time such a clash occurred even after several incidents were reported," BBS General Secretary Galagoda Gnanasara said at a news conference.

The US Department of State has expressed concern about the recent letter sent to non-governmental organisations in Sri Lanka, restricting the activities they could engage in.

“The United States is concerned by reports that the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defense has ordered registered Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and civil society groups to cease their media engagements and activities.” State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said in a press statement.

The South African deputy president and special envoy to Sri Lanka, Cyril Ramaphosa, discussed with the Chief Minister of the Northern Province, CV Wigneswaran, issues faced by Tamils in the Northeast, during a meeting in Jaffna on Tuesday, reported the Colombo Gazette.

Ramaphosa also met with Tamil National Alliance MPs in Colombo, where the party outlined the post war situation in the Northeast, highlighting continuing land grabs by the Sri Lankan military.

The TNA told the envoy that the landgrabs have to be stopped immediately, as the first step towards reconciliation.

The leader of the Bodu Bala Sena Galagoda Gnanasara told reporters today that the Pope should apologise for atrocities committed against Sri Lankan Buddhists by Christians during colonial times.

“Previous Popes have publicly apologised to certain countries because they destroyed, they killed. We had a similar situation, where most of the Buddhist temples were destroyed by them and Buddhist monks were killed. We would like to see a public apology from him,” Gnanasara Thera told a meeting with foreign correspondents in Colombo.

The leader of the Patriotic National Movement Venerable Elle Gunawansa said on Monday that the Dalai Lama has been mislead on how Sri Lanka’s Muslims were treated by Buddhists.

“It appears the Dalai Lama has been misled to issue this statement by stating that the Muslims in Sri Lanka are been cruelly treated by the Buddhists. Every Buddhist in Sri Lanka has continued to live according to the precepts of the ‘Dhamma’ extending loving kindness and compassion,” Gunawansa said in a statement, according to the Daily Mirror.

“There is a conspiracy against Sri Lanka. International efforts have also tried their best to tarnish the image of Sri Lanka in the past many decades and are becoming more aggressive. These sinister motives are to discredit and tarnish the image of Sri Lanka and if possible to destroy it,” he said.