<p>Pakistan Prime Minister, Imran Khan, telephoned&nbsp;Gotabaya Rajapaksa,&nbsp;to congratulate him on becoming Sri Lanka's&nbsp;newly elected president, Colombo Gazette<em>&nbsp;</em><u><a href="http://colombogazette.com/2019/11/19/imran-khan-telephones-gotabaya-and…">reported</a></u><em>.</em></p>

India’s foreign affairs minister met with Sri Lanka’s new president Gotabaya Rajapaksa this week, passing on an invitation from the Indian prime minister to make an official visit to Delhi.

S Jaishankar met with Rajapaksa in Colombo yesterday, where he said he conveyed Narendra Modi’s “message of a partnership for shared peace, progress, prosperity & security”.

<p>The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) have called on newly elected President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his government to uphold human rights and address impunity on the island.</p> <p>Commenting on the allegations of war cimes faced by Gotabaya, Frederick Rawski, ICJ Asia Pacific Director, said:</p> <blockquote><p> “The election of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, after a highly polarizing campaign, has alarmed human rights defenders in Sri Lanka and abroad, who have little reason to believe that someone facing such serious allegations of perpetrating human rights violations can be relied upon to meet the country’s obligations under international law.”

Former Sri Lankan president and brother of the newly elected president Mahinda Rajapaksa is to be sworn in as Sri Lankan prime minister tomorrow, as the current prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe announced his decision to resign.

A new cabinet will also be appointed tomorrow, reports BBC correspondent Azzam Ameen.

As Sri Lanka’s new president Gotabaya Rajapaksa takes up office, we look back on a brief selection of interviews he gave to international media outlets during his tenure as secretary of defence.

<p>Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force (STF) troops have arrested a Tamil youth in Mullaitivu alleging possession of explosives with the intention to smuggle.</p> <p>The 24-year-old from the Valli Punam area was placed in the custody of Puthukudiyiruppu police.</p> <p>The STF said that following a tip-off they recovered over 52kg of explosives from the arrested youth’s home.</p>

Kamal Gunaratne, a former Sri Lankan military commander accused of overseeing war crimes and who called for supporters of a new Sri Lankan constitution "traitors", was this week appointed as Sri Lanka’s Secretary to the Ministry of Defence.

Updated 1145 GMT

Ranil Wickremesinghe has announced that he will resign from his role as Sri Lanka's prime minister and will be informing the new president of his decision tomorrow.

Sri Lanka’s extremist Buddhist hate group the Bodu Bala Sena announced that it would disband in the wake of Gotabaya Rajapaksa becoming Sri Lanka’s new president, claiming that a “good leader” has come to power.

The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), or Buddhist Power Force in Sinhala, held a press conference, where leader Galagodaaththe Gnanasara claimed “the country has a good leader now”.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R Sampanthan defended war-crimes accused Gotabaya Rajapaksa's landslide among Sinhalese voters, a day after the Rajapaksa camp essentially declared the TNA as obsolete.

“Many people who voted for [Gotabaya] have done so because of their disappointment with the performance of this government. The non-delivery on various fundamental issues like costs of living, corruption, fertiliser [subsidy], and employment,” Sampanthan told The Hindu, emphasising there were “various factors”.